The Storm

Thunderstorms were in the forecast today, and there's nothing I love more than curling up with "How To Build Web Pages For Dummies" while listening to the rain. Unfortunately, the storm hit in the afternoon when The Youngest, and the dog, were awake. Thunderstorms are on The Youngest's list of things he abhors...like haircuts and going to bed without dessert. And for those of you who have dogs that are afraid of storms, well, I need not say anymore.

So when the storm hit I shut off the computer and sat with them in my oasis. At some point while I was consoling my frightened 4 year-old and trembling dog, The Youngest and I noticed that the cars in front of our house were turning around and heading back the way they came. I stepped outside and noticed some fairly large tree limbs had fallen in the main road and the road to the Country Club, so I threw on my rain boots and a jacket to move them out of the way. As I was dragging them into our yard I noticed a couple of 18 wheelers were stopped about 100 yards up the road. Turns out an entire tree had fallen accross the road and nobody could get past, so I took it upon myself to start directing traffic until the authorities arrived.

It was then, as I was standing in the middle of the road, soaked to the bones, that I just happened to look up and see a branch that had fallen from the tree in the cornor of our yard...the same one that had left branches all over. Only this particular branch had gotten caught in the power lines and was on fire. Almost immidieately it started sparking and popping like you wouldn't believe. I can't remember a time in my life when I've been so frightened. I had no idea if the line was going to snap or not. All I knew was I had to walk underneath it to get back to the house.

It probably only burned for a total of about 5 minutes, but it seemed like forever. After I was sure it was safe I went inside and got Junior to document some of the damage.

Here's the Town's crew clearing out the tree.

And the guys from the utility company removing the offending branches. The one the arrow points to is the one that was on fire.

A dead branch that had been hanging out in a tree finally came down. When it fell it landed right on my "swammock", tearing and bending the canopy.

This is so not where I left it.

And I know this toy lawnmower wasn't in the pool, either.

This one cracked me up. See that concrete ledge? The Husband's smoker was up on that patio, all assembled. Somehow all 3 pieces landed rightside up when the wind blew over. I'm still perplexed.