My friend Sharlee called recently to report the Channel 4 weather to me. According to them, the tornado was directly over my house. I had already received several phone alerts about the situation. All of the alerts were for the Cape, not here. Needless to say, I found her phone call quite alarming.

When I went outside to check, it was dead calm and pouring rain. Not a leaf was moving. For some reason, that calmness really scared me. I do not remember the last time that weather frightened me. Maybe the blizzard of 1978.

We are unaccustomed to tornadoes here, so what to do is questionable.

When I was growing up in Rew, Pa., a neighboring town called Kane experienced a tornado. The next morning, we found the checkbook of someone from Kane in our yard. It was 30 miles away.

Here on the Island, the day after the tornado warning dawned clear and beautiful.

I’ve been busy moving geraniums from the greenhouse into an unheated back room for their winter’s sojourn. Nothing is as simple as it sounds. Why are there obstacles at every turn?

Big thanks to daughter Naomi. She helped prepare, lime and plant winter rye in several vegetable beds. My usual custom is to cover the beds with weeds and hay. I found it provided a cozy resting place for tons of voles.

Since my ancient barn cat has gone on to his rewards, I finally adopted a somewhat feral cat from SPCA. He comes for food but won’t let me touch him. No matter, if he does his job.

Here it is just a week from Thanksgiving and I have yet to harvest most of the Irish potatoes, leeks and celeriac. It’s been so mild of late that I do not yet feel pressured. That should change abruptly any day now.

There are actually several fall tasks left undone. For starters, some of the dahlias have yet to freeze. They like a good black frost to cure them before digging for storage. I leave most right in the ground. I started them from seed and often they will come back in the spring. I do dig some of my favorites.

What’s up with the inordinate amount of crows hanging around the Vineyard Haven post office? Is there some popular dumpster in the area?

I had a Kenmore washer for more than 30 years. Now I am awaiting the arrival of my third one since then. Nobody fixes them and they are designed to break. I think it’s called planned obsolescence. And we wonder why there is so much trash worldwide.

Last week, I mistakenly identified the red Nagoya ornamental kale as red peacock. The latter is much more frilly.

I don’t think Donald Trump was the worst president in my lifetime — and I go back to Harry Truman. Shocking, I know! In my opinion, that dubious honor goes to Ronald Reagan. I know he is sainted in many circles. I’m not in those circles. Thanks to him, we disdain poor people, think giving subsidies and tax cuts to the rich and corporations will somehow trickle down to the rest of us, and government is our problem.

He thought Medicare was taking away our freedom.

He was The Great Communicator and he did his job well. The present day Good Old Party still abides by his policies. He was just more soft spoken and less abrasive than some in the party today.

Follow his thinking all the way to Jan. 6. Government needs to be brought down to size.

The odd thing about this original big lie is all those people want to be in the government and wield power. They defer to Trump because they are afraid of losing their cushy government jobs.

The sad thing is that common working folks believe it too and vote gains their own interests.