Dream - The tornadoes and the dinosaur tree branch
On Sunday, November 2, 2008, I had a dream about being in Nevada and then in Arizona, driving home, coming to a white building where several tornadoes came. Then I was home and saw the tornadoes had blown down a tree that had a T. rex dinosaur, that I had never finished making, carved in a branch.
In the dream, I was working in Nevada and also somehow going to school as part of work. The school was something that occurred during work. At work, my boss had said, to the Engineering group in general, that later on, a few years in the future, in a later part of the class, we would have to travel some and spend some time in Portland [Oregon]. I had protested, saying I didn't want to travel, that I wouldn't do it. He said I would have to, if I wanted to complete the class. Now the years had passed and it was time to do it, there was going to be some travel back and forth by plane to Portland with possibly weeks at a time being spent there. I didn't want to do it and I didn't want to travel by plane, wanting to drive if I was going to do it, but it was so far, so much distance added to my trip to and from Arizona, that I wasn't sure how I was going to do it.
Then, later, I was back in Arizona and driving home. I went to a low white block building, not very large, completely out in the open with nothing nearby, like it was in the middle of a field. A few other people were with me. The building had large windows and carpet on the floor. We were talking to some people there, something about an auto part I think, about trying to get one or a supply of one. One of the people started talking about the economy. It had nothing to do with what we were there for, he just started talking about it in a kind of conversational oh-by-the-way kind of tone. I was probably actually picking up something from the radio and incorporating it in my dream.
He kept talking and I wandered off a bit and looked to the side out the window to the front. I saw several, maybe five, tornadoes going this way. They were tall and narrow and a very dark bluish color, moving rapidly this way. I called out a warning to the others, repeatedly since some of them seemed to be slow to respond, then dived down near one of the walls, which was also white, almost everything inside was white or pale colored. I think I might have been beside a short section of wall, maybe between it and the main wall. I think someone dived down with me, too. The tornadoes passed over, the sky and room darkened and the building shook, but though things were falling around the building and hitting the building, and some things seemed to be falling inside, the building seemed to have survived without much damage. I had to go home then.
At home, my brother and his (former) wife were over and some other people, including a bunch of kids. His wife looked different, not like she really is. It seemed to be an earlier time, and it seemed to be some kind of special occasion, though I'm not sure what. There was a couch in front of the cabinets in the family room, near the corner by the wall with the sliding glass door. Some of the adults, particularly my brother's wife, walked around in the family room talking. Sometimes some of them sat on the couch. We, mostly not me and mostly his wife, kept talking. The subjects were odd things, not always related. I was probably still picking up something from the real-life radio. At some point most of the kids, there were quite a few of them, went out to a big wading pool, about two and a half or three feet high, that was on the carport. I occasionally looked out at them from the family room, just glancing out the window from where I happened to be. I considered whether I wanted to join them and decided not to. The talking went on...
I happened to look out at the back yard then (I think I may have even been walking around in the yard earlier, though I don't think I noticed anything at the time), and saw a very long bare branch a few inches thick that had fallen off one of the trees and was laying across the top of the swing set and extending off over the top of the fence to somewhere in the alley. I said something about a branch having fallen off one of the trees, saying it a few times. I went out with some of the others, then. I think some kids were already out there. A couple of big sections of the wooden fence were leaning out toward the alley, and most of the lattice work along the top was missing. My mouth was hanging open in surprise and wonder. I said that the tornadoes (I may have said hurricanes instead) must have passed over here, too. I looked at where the tree to the side was and it was entirely gone, there wasn't even a hole or stump left, the ground was just smooth, like a tree was never there. I guessed it must have somehow been rotten and broken off at the base and fallen over entirely into the alley.
I heard sirens, I think, and a bunch of emergency cleanup people came, wearing yellow raincoats I think, in a big truck or two and started working in the alley. They started quickly taking down big sections of the fence. I saw one of them hitting the end of the top board in the corner with his hand or a hammer, popping it up from where it was nailed down to the post. The fence seemed to be in the way. I hoped they would put it back up when they were done. I started trying to move the long branch that had fallen, or maybe I had tried that earlier. I didn't do much with it in any case. I couldn't see what they were doing in the alley or what things looked like out there, the fence blocked the view.
I walked around looking up at the branches overhead. There were still quite a few, either from the fallen tree or the one in the middle of the yard that was presumably still standing. I was talking sometimes with the kids or other people in the yard. Still looking up, I saw a dinosaur that I had made long ago, that I had started but never finished, a huge Tyrannosaurus rex. It was made out of wood, out of part of the tree, and had fallen down some, sticking out past the swing set over the yard, several feet overhead, on its side with the branch it was part of extending behind it. It looked old now and damp, its contours softened and rounded a little. Blackened with mold and age, it almost looked burned. The head seemed to have a sinister grin, made more so by its open eye socket. I looked at it perhaps for the last time. They would take it away with the rest of the tree. I thought somewhat sadly that in this way it would finally be finished, finally be done with.
In the dream, I was working in Nevada and also somehow going to school as part of work. The school was something that occurred during work. At work, my boss had said, to the Engineering group in general, that later on, a few years in the future, in a later part of the class, we would have to travel some and spend some time in Portland [Oregon]. I had protested, saying I didn't want to travel, that I wouldn't do it. He said I would have to, if I wanted to complete the class. Now the years had passed and it was time to do it, there was going to be some travel back and forth by plane to Portland with possibly weeks at a time being spent there. I didn't want to do it and I didn't want to travel by plane, wanting to drive if I was going to do it, but it was so far, so much distance added to my trip to and from Arizona, that I wasn't sure how I was going to do it.
Then, later, I was back in Arizona and driving home. I went to a low white block building, not very large, completely out in the open with nothing nearby, like it was in the middle of a field. A few other people were with me. The building had large windows and carpet on the floor. We were talking to some people there, something about an auto part I think, about trying to get one or a supply of one. One of the people started talking about the economy. It had nothing to do with what we were there for, he just started talking about it in a kind of conversational oh-by-the-way kind of tone. I was probably actually picking up something from the radio and incorporating it in my dream.
He kept talking and I wandered off a bit and looked to the side out the window to the front. I saw several, maybe five, tornadoes going this way. They were tall and narrow and a very dark bluish color, moving rapidly this way. I called out a warning to the others, repeatedly since some of them seemed to be slow to respond, then dived down near one of the walls, which was also white, almost everything inside was white or pale colored. I think I might have been beside a short section of wall, maybe between it and the main wall. I think someone dived down with me, too. The tornadoes passed over, the sky and room darkened and the building shook, but though things were falling around the building and hitting the building, and some things seemed to be falling inside, the building seemed to have survived without much damage. I had to go home then.
At home, my brother and his (former) wife were over and some other people, including a bunch of kids. His wife looked different, not like she really is. It seemed to be an earlier time, and it seemed to be some kind of special occasion, though I'm not sure what. There was a couch in front of the cabinets in the family room, near the corner by the wall with the sliding glass door. Some of the adults, particularly my brother's wife, walked around in the family room talking. Sometimes some of them sat on the couch. We, mostly not me and mostly his wife, kept talking. The subjects were odd things, not always related. I was probably still picking up something from the real-life radio. At some point most of the kids, there were quite a few of them, went out to a big wading pool, about two and a half or three feet high, that was on the carport. I occasionally looked out at them from the family room, just glancing out the window from where I happened to be. I considered whether I wanted to join them and decided not to. The talking went on...
I happened to look out at the back yard then (I think I may have even been walking around in the yard earlier, though I don't think I noticed anything at the time), and saw a very long bare branch a few inches thick that had fallen off one of the trees and was laying across the top of the swing set and extending off over the top of the fence to somewhere in the alley. I said something about a branch having fallen off one of the trees, saying it a few times. I went out with some of the others, then. I think some kids were already out there. A couple of big sections of the wooden fence were leaning out toward the alley, and most of the lattice work along the top was missing. My mouth was hanging open in surprise and wonder. I said that the tornadoes (I may have said hurricanes instead) must have passed over here, too. I looked at where the tree to the side was and it was entirely gone, there wasn't even a hole or stump left, the ground was just smooth, like a tree was never there. I guessed it must have somehow been rotten and broken off at the base and fallen over entirely into the alley.
I heard sirens, I think, and a bunch of emergency cleanup people came, wearing yellow raincoats I think, in a big truck or two and started working in the alley. They started quickly taking down big sections of the fence. I saw one of them hitting the end of the top board in the corner with his hand or a hammer, popping it up from where it was nailed down to the post. The fence seemed to be in the way. I hoped they would put it back up when they were done. I started trying to move the long branch that had fallen, or maybe I had tried that earlier. I didn't do much with it in any case. I couldn't see what they were doing in the alley or what things looked like out there, the fence blocked the view.
I walked around looking up at the branches overhead. There were still quite a few, either from the fallen tree or the one in the middle of the yard that was presumably still standing. I was talking sometimes with the kids or other people in the yard. Still looking up, I saw a dinosaur that I had made long ago, that I had started but never finished, a huge Tyrannosaurus rex. It was made out of wood, out of part of the tree, and had fallen down some, sticking out past the swing set over the yard, several feet overhead, on its side with the branch it was part of extending behind it. It looked old now and damp, its contours softened and rounded a little. Blackened with mold and age, it almost looked burned. The head seemed to have a sinister grin, made more so by its open eye socket. I looked at it perhaps for the last time. They would take it away with the rest of the tree. I thought somewhat sadly that in this way it would finally be finished, finally be done with.
Labels: art, brother, death, dinosaurs, dreams, nevada, oregon, school
posted by Stephen at 10/30/2009 06:51:00 AM
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