Mother Nature 1, homeowner 0

7/15/2007 (this was the day this post was actually written)

When they say you can’t fool Mother Nature, believe her!

Nature by Mom hit hard a week ago Saturday. The summer storms have begun and apparently where we are located, we became target practice. Most likely this was just to remind us that we take a lot for granted. And we do!

I’m not a camper! I don’t camp unless my tent has electricity and air conditioning. I appreciate nature more than anyone but to live in it without my modern conveniences is not something I enjoy doing. We had a test of what it may have been like 200 years ago 3 hurricane seasons ago where we were without power for 18 days. Living off a vintage generator and only ran for 6 hours before quitting made us appreciate just how much running water, HOT water and air conditioning really meant to us, or to me, I should say.

We had a storm, a realllllly baaaad storm. I did my precautions of turning off the AC and the computer and waited for the storm to pass. There was a lot of thunder off in the distance and it was getting closer. Lightening I am afraid of and especially when it gets too close to the house and trees. We have a lot of fires start from lightening and going through another one is not something I wanted to do. The storm got closer and the power flickered and the rain came down like I’d not seen before. The rain was actually coming down in sheets where you couldn’t see through it at all. Buddy took refuge under the ramp but the water was coming down so hard he only put his head under cover. Sometimes I wonder how big a sheep’s brain is? The dogs acted like they do in storms like this, sticking like glue to me but “ok” for the most part. Except for 2, they were fine. The two that were scared are VERY scared and I have to hold them and put a blanket over them. I guess if they don’t see it, it’s not there. One shakes so hard it’s pathetic. I comfort them as best I could but nothing would comfort them when the “big one” hit. The power began to surge in and out and then all of a sudden there was a flash of white light that lasted a fraction of a second, the sound of thunder so reverberating it shook the house and then the sound of all the smoke detectors going off. I jumped so hard I came off the chair with two dogs still glued to my lap. I knew we’d been hit, I just didn’t know where. The rain was still coming down so fast that at least if it triggered a fire the rain would put it out, but, if it hit the roof and made a hole, where and how would I handle this?