This has been one of the strangest years on the planet weather-wise, at least here in Central Virginia. Typically we have a mild winter, a wet spring, a hot dry summer and a mild, damp fall. Hurricanes and their effects are not unlikely around November, but they are rarely bad, meaning we don't get the full force of the storm. But not this year, oh no.

It started off with a good deal more snow than normal... we had at least four two inches or more snows in January and February. Then we had one of the wettest Springs on record, followed by what had to be one of the wettest summers ever for our region. The dog days of August were milder than usual and then came Isabel. All in all she could have been worse, but she was bad enough to begin with, because of the angle of approach she hit harder than any storm in recent memory, not to mention the tornadoes she spawned. Then the cold weather came earlier than it has in forever, even bringing a wee bit of snow. Then yesterday the earthquake. I know we have fault lines here and we often have un-registrable seismic activity, but this was a full-fledged shake your house down for loose change type bugger.

I would just like to say, WTF?