Lightening

So, here I am, sitting in a motel room, waiting for Mel to come back from taking Peter home. They just left, so I have about 45 minutes or so before he'll be back.

My surgery is tomorrow and I confess, I'm more than a bit nervous about it. Not the surgery itself, but the "going under" for it. I guess that normally they don't put you out for cataract surgery. However, I heard the doctor tell his assistant that due to the delicate condition of my retina and the previous surgery (the result of which is that I have no vitreous fluid in that eye - I don't know what's in it instead...), I canNOT move at all during the surgery, so they'll put me out. In just 3 hours I cannot have anything more to drink or eat, no chewing gum or anything. At least the surgery is early in the morning!

I'm writing tonight on a new computer. This one is "Mel's" computer. :) My computer is biting the dust. What is it about coming back to the States, anyway, that kills our laptops????? Grrrr. He has an appointment on the 27th to have a repair guy look at it. It may have to wait until we return to Ukraine, however, before it gets fixed - if it can be fixed. It has been frustrating because I really miss writing and being able to get on the internet. And I have a cute photo to put on this post but I have no way, yet, to make it smaller or crop it or whatever to make it easier to post. I'm glad Mel has a new computer, tho, because the one he's been using in Ukraine has been on it's last legs for several years now, in and out of the shop, crashing or shutting down suddenly right in the middle of his writing, etc.

So, the title of this post is Lightening and I've not even come close to mentioning lightening yet! Well ... now I am. :) :)

Yesterday evening it clouded up with great big heavy gray clouds. Soon we could hear thunder rumbling in the distance and knew that most likely a storm was headed our way.

Florida has the most lightening strikes in the US, with Colorado having the second most. Almost every afternoon, spring through fall, the clouds build up over the mountains and then it sprinkles or rains, or rains and hails, usually accompanied by bright purple lightening bolts flashing across the sky, and thunder that shakes the house and makes the window rattle.

Last night at dinner, Stirling heard the first rumbles and wanted to run out on the deck to watch for lightening. I was surprised. I have always loved to do that, but usually little kids are too scared of the the thunder. Well, after he ate a few more bites of his dinner, he begged his mama and me to come out and "watch the thunder" with him.

The deck is enclosed on 3 sides and the 4th side is now screened in with chicken-wire to keep the cats from getting out (foxes have disappeared several cats over the past couple of years). For the past 30+ years, those of us who love the storms have gone out on the deck to watch and listen, smell the rain and feel the power of the storm. There has never been any problems and when the lightening gets too close, we always go inside anyway.

Last night Stirling, Kara, John and I were all sitting out on the deck (remember - it is enclosed on 3 sides and is 'deep' in depth) when KABOOOM! lightening struck less than a quarter of a mile away down in the valley. The lights went off in the house and then came right back on. Stirling let out a yell and jumped in my lap. We all laughed and he laughed with us. There was lightening flashing around us, but still over a mile away by counting the seconds between flash and thunder. The rain started but we were dry and cozy.

The two dogs, however, went nuts. The funny thing was that Mandy followed me all over the place! We all went in the house and I realized that Mandy - a big yellow lab - was hiding under my chair under the table. She was actually stuck on the rungs under the chair. She finally managed to get herself all the way out from under the chair after her hind quarters were stuck there for almost a minute. Silly dog! I went back out on the deck because the lightening had lessened and she went out with me - terrified and shaking. Silly dog - go back into the house!. I shoo-ed her back inside. After one more really loud strike - a strike that I actually saw hit the house or just behind the house up the hill from us - Mandy was gone. I didn't know where she'd gone, but she wasn't trying to climb in my lap any more.

We all went back out on the deck to try and see if the house up the hill was ok - sometimes hits like that will start a house on fire. While we were looking up the hill, Dad was looking across the valley - and saw a transformer there short out with a loud POP and sparks flying everywhere. The house on the hill was apparently ok. However, when we left this morning, the power company was at another house up the hill behind my parents place, working on the lines from the power pole to that house. Apparently that house had been hit during one of the the 5 strikes that were instant light/sound/shake all at once. Our power went out 5 times but came right back on each time. I had forgotten just how loud thunder can be - and how brilliant lightening is.

I love the sound of the thunder -
it cracks
and rolls across the valley
and booms against the mountains on the other side
and then zig zags back and forth down Ute Pass for several seconds
until it finally dies away.

It was so dark the yard light came on. Dark due to the clouds and storm. Suddenly, someone looked out the window and realized that there was a huge rainbow shining to the east! We hurried back out on to the deck and sure enough - a dark but brilliant rainbow was shining in a deep yellow sky. The setting sun had just enough room between the clouds at the western edge of the storm and the earth to give us one of the most beautiful rainbows - no! a double rainbow!! that I've ever seen. Whew! It only lasted for a short time and it was still lightening and thundering, but oh my - I will never forget that sight!

The storm rumbled off to the southeast and the cracks and booms became quieter and quieter. Several minutes later I went into the bathroom and got a shock. There in the bathtub was Mandy, all hunkered down as low as she could get. I started laughing. "What are you doing in the bathtub, Mandy???" I ran and got my camera and snapped a couple shots and then tried to coax her out. No deal - she refused to get out. She practically filled the tub from end to end - Labs are not small dogs! I went and asked my Mom if she knew where Mandy was and she said, "In the bathtub? That's where she usually hides during a lightening storm. I hope you don't want to take a shower any time soon because she'll be in there for awhile!" And she was - about 2 hours later she finally came out of the bathroom. Silly dog!