This is too good to resist!
Despite our family's genuine relief that we are safe and our house is in one piece, I am not feeling too kindly about hurricanes right now. We drove twenty- five miles in seven hours trying to evacuate and then had no choice but to run out of gas or to return home. (We opted for the latter.) Today my husband spent half the day searching for gas to put in the car and the other half waiting in line (only a slight exaggeration --
). There is only one store in our neighborhood open, and the shelves have more empty spaces than food! Our electricity keeps flickering on and off with power surges; cable and computer connections and even the phone are up and down for some strange reason. Still, we are extremely grateful for what could have been so much worse.
Here are some of my Middle-earth candidates:
The Spiders of Mirkwood -- A category three hurricane is like a pack of scary web weavers, spinning out of control. They inflict major damage on some poor victims while letting others slip out of their clutches. You may think you have escaped their web, but then the little critters send out new strands still hoping to cause you minor misery.
Shelob - The mother of all mothers....the category five hurricane that thankfully never came.
Saruman - The kind of guy you can never trust. You think you know what he is doing but then he turns around and does something totally different.
Watcher in the Water - You forget he is there since he generally stays out of sight. You go about your business and conveniently forget that you are living fairly close to the water in a place that can be quite dangerous. Then he sticks out his tentacle to try and claw you in, and you are actually surprised.