An Unusual Guest

In the aftermath of the recent storm, neighbors have been reaching out to neighbors with help in the recovery process. The Facebook page, Western Howard County Shares, has been instrumental in providing useful information. Yesterday the admin Vicky Cutroneo posted:

 

If you need help, or can offer help due to storm, please comment here. I have received a few messages from people concerned about elderly relatives they can't get a hold of due to power outages, etc, or who may need help with blocked driveways and such. If you are a tree service business, feel free to post your services here too.

Ms. Cutroneo herself was presented with a bit of a post-storm challenge when a rather unusual object turned up near her house.

It's ours.

Yay!! I will drop her off, she will be so happy. Might need to watch Netflix for a few days to help recover.

Surprised she only went as far as your woods. With that wind, she could have ended up in Glenelg!!

Just throw it into the yard. Hopefully another twister won't blow her away any time soon. Thanks!

How crazy would this have been had it been a goat?!

The S family are missing an 8ft pizza slice. Anyone?

Oh I wish there was an 8 foot pizza slice in my woods.

She's headed home. Toto, there's no place like home.

 

J, your wingless swan is coming home!

*****

 

This is a light-hearted example of what neighbors in Western HoCo have been doing to help each other out after Tuesday's tornado.

 

In all seriousness, there has been widespread damage to both trees and property. Storm damage hasn't been limited to the Western part of the county, of course, but that is where it has been most severe.

 

I spend most of my time in Columbia proper. I tend to think of places like Glenelg and Lisbon as being "out there" someplace, far from my familiar haunts. It's often too easy to slip from "out there" to thinking of those residents as "other". I've hear people say, "out there in those rural areas" in a way that means, "they're different than we are."

 

Pigeon-holing people according to differences is far too easy and somehow takes away our feeling of obligation to each other as fellow-creatures. We may feel like a large county, but we are not so large that we can't look out for one another.