Another Big Typhoon

9-29-15 7:48 am Mon.

      I was awakened around 2am by Leona talking in her sleep. This time the typhoon is predicted to start hitting in four hours; around noon. I took almost everything off the patio and removed the fence from around the ledge; part of it got destroyed last time.

      I got four well-wishes from the states from five friends.

      It is 10:00 am and the rain is falling. Leona said the typhoon is moving faster than expected. The winds haven’t come yet.

9-29-15 7:32 am Tues. 

     It is raining outside and has been since the typhoon came through around 10am yesterday. Now it is all rain but little wind. For eight hours yesterday, it was mostly wind with a little rain; that is how typhoons go. I'm sitting in the enclosed patio filled with three rolled up sections of plastic fencing I removed from the ledge on Saturday; it would have been blown away and destroyed if I hadn't removed it. The only things that were blown away were an unused cat litter box and a few plant leaves. 

     Classes at public schools and colleges have been canceled in Taichung today. I'm not sure if I have to go to American Eagle tonight. I don't have Mandarin tutorial this morning anyway. My last ride up the Han River was Sunday. This will be the second morning without a bike ride.

9-30-15 6:38 am Wed. 

     The patio is back to the way it looked before I dismantled it Saturday in preparation for the typhoon. It only took about fifteen minutes to remove the fencing around the ledge but it took almost four hours to put it back up. The old plastic fence had become crispy over months in the Taiwan sun and I had to close many holes with plastic fasteners. It was my exercise for the day. Placing the palm tree down saved it from damage in the wind. The only thing we lost was an empty litter box that blew away. I don't know if one damaged plant will survive; it was in bad shape even before the storm tossed winds. Now he's down to a few leaves at best.

     Again, I didn't ride the bike up the river. In the evening, there was no American English class to ride to.

10-18-15
      There is a woman on the roof of the ugly building across the alley from me leaning over the ledge and talking on the cell phone. She doesn't care that it is 7:18am on a Saturday; she does it without consideration of anyone else but herself. The lot next to her building, which had its tattered aluminum corrugated fence partially blown down in the last typhoon, was reported by someone for tall weeds exposed within. I heard that the owner got a ticket. Men were sent to cut the mosquito forest down. They did so earlier this week without protecting themselves or anyone outside the perimeter as debris and rocks were strewn helter skelter onto the lane where Leona and I were getting her scooter ready to leave. The crumpled fence lies on the ground of the lot covered with unswept leaves and grass from the mowing. It will not be removed; it will rot there until new mosquito colonies invade. Ah, the woman on the roof has moved, but I can still hear her 'ums' and uhs' as the person on the line does most of the talking.