Back in June Kat ordered a replacement oven/range for Kat’s Cradle’s original.  Its grates were badly corroded, and the burners had grown new fire-spouting orifices here and there.  Plus the oven door is attached now by only one screw — the other recently lost its purchase.  The time had come to replace it.  On Labor Day we pulled the Cradle 70 miles to Out of Doors Mart, a big-time Airstream dealer and repair shop where they would install the new range, lube the bearings, check the brakes, and see if we needed a new heating element in the water heater.  They completed the work in a day and on Wednesday we picked up our shiny old trailer just as Dorian approached Florida as a Class 4.  She had been a 5 with gusts over 200; nobody wants anything to do with that.  Not to mention that if you remember Dr. Dorian Lord on One Life to Live you know Dorians are treacherous and vindictive, oh yeah, they mean motor scooters.

Chapel Hill is within the storm cone and our Spring Hill Campground is heavily treed, with mostly hardwoods.  You really don’t want a grown hickory or white oak to fall on your rig, so we decided to stay a few more days in High Point, formerly a furniture Mecca but now a prospering survivor of industrial evolution.  We are camped quite comfortably at Oak Hollow (pronounced ‘Ocala’ which made it a challenge for Kat to find online).

Now we wait for midnight and presumably the worst of Dorian’s impact on High Point.  That’s the forecast, and although one or two spaghetti models have Dorian driving inland right through Raleigh, 20 others have it much further east.  We will be safe here and to celebrate tonight I plan to create a Saveur version of Shrimp and Grits, christening the new range.  I fully expect it to be superb!

Meanwhile we are sipping wine, watching the weather, and chilling champagne to celebrate the new range along with shrimp and grits.  There is a sturdily covered picnic table area 200 feet away.  Now and then we stroll to it to feel the wind and watch the clouds and birds.  This may come as news to you, but birds are fully capable of having fun.  Years ago we saw buzzards playing in the wind as a thunderstorm approached and this morning we saw a flight of Canada geese doing everything but barrel rolls in a sudden gust.  My grandma liked to move her chickens’ water troughs to make the roaches residing under them run, and if a chicken can smile, hers did as they pecked them up.  Many times I’ve seen crows playing in a strong wind, but the crow is a highly intelligent bird.  Does a life form need a big brain to understand and experience fun?  I just don’t think so.

I have been looking for an excuse to post a YouTube version of Neil Young doing “Like a Hurricane” ever since we heard it as background music in a grocery store three months ago.  Here it is for your listening pleasure (don’t get concerned about the lyrics: he wrote them in half an hour while flying close to the edge on heroin).  Neil’s clean and rich now, so don’t worry about him either, except that he’s somehow become old.  70 years can do that to you.

First, if you prefer the much shorter Cliff’s Notes version, is Adam Sandler on David Letterman’s late night show.  If surprise counts, this one will blow you away.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HT2ENDHIZ3c

You get the idea, but if you liked Sandler, try Neil hisownself.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yxiu1o63CA&list=RD-yxiu1o63CA&start_radio=1&t=3