At the end of May 2012, my career as an instrumentation came to an end at the former PPG plant. If you don’t know what an instrumentation does, INTERNET DEFINITION: An Industrial Instrumentation Technician is responsible for the installation, maintenance, calibration, and repair of measuring and control devices used in industrial processes such as manufacturing, power generation, refining, and chemical processing. A challenging position that requires continuous learning, especially in these days of electronic control systems.

I always figured the men and women who took on this work wanted a challenging job that required an on-going desire to be challenged in their daily work. I have to be honest after six months on the job, I began to wonder, had I taken on a career that was more than I had expected.

After a time, a light bulb lit, and I began to see that I was enjoying the work and the people I worked with. And that perhaps was the most interesting part of the job.

I am sure you remember the television series “Mash”. A collection of people working together in a difficult job. Well… that is how I saw the crew of people I worked with. Different, offbeat and talented. I learned the job working as an apprentice. I studied books at home and worked with different men who knew their jobs down to the letter. Some were easy to work with and some were challenging to communicate with at times. Still, they each were skilled and proud of the job they did.

It was a crew and position that if you messed up, you didn’t have to worry about the boss getting on you, the guys in the crew were quick to point out that you had screwed up and that reflected on the entire crew. Truth is from time to time we all had problems and you could count on the others in the crew to step in and give you a hand. Later at break, you would be the brunt of the humor that day. The next day it was someone else’s turn. We weren’t picky, all were roasted at times.

On those times when the conversation wasn’t about the job, the unique group of men had hundreds of stories to tell. Some about growing up in the Ohio Valley, others from their time in the service. Some of the best stories were passed down through families.

In our team was a guy we called “Louie”. That was not his real name, it was just what the guys called him. Louie was quick, witty and generally had a story to tell the guys. One of his stories was told down through his family, it was the story of “Elderberry Storms.”

I don’t remember all the details, but the joke was that in the early summer, when the elderberry bushes were in bloom, thunder storms would come down from the north west and bring fast moving heavy violent rains.

When he first told that story, we were looking out the windows in the shop towards the west, ominous black clouds filled with flashes of lightning inside were moving toward the Ohio Valley. We closed the windows quickly just as the rains began beating on the glass. Sheets of rain covered the windows, making looking into the passing storm impossible. The windows shook each time the storm rumbled with anger. Then just as quickly as it began, it ended with bright sun on blue skies following the storm. Louie smiled as he said, “See I told you, Elderberry storm.”

With my ability to remember things from the past in photographic images, I see him smiling and the guys laughing, telling him, you just got lucky in your telling.

I went about discovering if the world around us could help predict the weather. First, I called Doctor Dave, the weatherman at the time on TV 7. I posed the question to him and he seemed a little baffled as to what I was asking. Finally, he explained they taught scientific prediction in college, not looking out the window.

Following his response, I began asking people how they predicted the weather. Some told me in the spring of the year they listened for spring peepers to sing. That meant a soft rain was coming. Others explained if they heard birds, and bugs; they figured it was going to be clear. Many pointed towards the sky and talked about the clouds, and their shapes foretelling of coming weather.

Several people recited the old sailors saying, “Red at night, Sailors Delight, Red in Morning, Sailors take warning.” That is the one my dad told us kids.

As I wrote this story, I looked on the internet for Elderberry Storm. I found an answer, but not the one I figured. The internet gave me this answer: Elderberry and the Risk of Cytokine Storms. A cytokine storm is an excessive and uncontrolled release of inflammatory cytokines in response to infection. While inflammation is normal and necessary for healing, unregulated inflammation can damage tissues and is linked to severe outcomes in influenza, COVID-19, and other viral infections.

Wow, I never saw that coming. If Louie reads this story, he will discover there is more than one way to predict both the weather and health when pondering the arrival of an Elderberry Storm, as I see it Through the Lens.