Never brag........

only show gratitude. The picture is exactly what it looked like yesterday afternoon as we peered out of the office building window. In all my years I really don't remember seeing such black clouds envelope an area the way these did. I was reminded of the movie, Independence Day, where the alien ship slowly takes over the entire sky over the city.

It was in the 90's and miserable. A nice rain was needed....but not a storm. As soon as the black clouds were visible from the windows, we started trying to get to the Internet to see what was going on weather-wise. Over the fire radio, we could hear the fire departments west of us going out on run after run for downed wires, trees, etc. We knew we were in for it.....yet there was this faint glimmer of hope that it may miss us. We've been fortunate in the fact that a lot of storms go south of us. Something had happened because we were not able to get to the Internet....probably lines down somewhere. So we just had to depend on our own eyes and listen to emergency services do their thing.

Within minutes it was as dark as night even though it was only about 3 in the afternoon. Then the winds and the rain came......it poured so hard that cars were pulling off the roadway. The phones started ringing with people asking if we were under tornado warnings. What? People still haven't learned to tune in to their TV or radio for up-to-the-minute notices. I didn't know much more than they did.....that it was raining and dark. And yes.....frightful looking. Now here is where the selfishness creeps into my being. In the back of my mind I was hoping desperately that I would not lose power. I have a freezer nearly full of food, plus that.....its NINETY SOME degrees out and I love....LOVE my central AC.

The storm whipped through in about 10 minutes or so.....just long enough to cause havoc in some areas. The sun was coming out as I dialed my home phone number. If my answering machine picked up, then I would know that I still had power. We had heard on the radio that a major intersection a little over a mile from me was down due to a tree on a transformer. YES! I silently yelled to myself....the answering machine picked up. I had POWER! I was already thinking of sleeping in comfort during this hot spell.

Through-out the afternoon I heard from several co-workers.....a lot of them were going home to no power. One lived about 2 miles from me. Just before I left for home, I called my house again and heard my own voice answer as the machine picked up. I had a smile on my face. I was lucky! But I know not to brag. I've lived long enough to know what happens when you brag.

It only takes me 11 minutes to drive home. I saw evidence in that 6 mile drive of the storm's fury. Lots of branches and traffic lights out. I pulled into my driveway, got the mail, and hit the remote to open the garage door as I got back in the car. Nothing. I hit it again. Still nothing.

You know us humans are funny that way. When something won't work, we just can't seem to give up. We always have to keep trying it....3 or 4 times before we finally accept the inevitable.

Needless to say.....since my garage would not open, that meant that I had no power. I parked outside my garage door and came into my house. It was still cool inside but I knew it wouldn't stay that way for long. Thinking about all the power outages in the area, it could be days before I would be restored. What about my food in the freezer. I do have a generator, but haven't the strength to operate it any longer....if it still works. Its been a long time since I've fired that puppy up.

I came inside and laid across my bed.....ticked off. Yes, ticked off. I could hear my neighbor's generator running. I could probably get him to help me, even though I really hate bothering people. All of a sudden the power came back on and I felt truly blessed. So far, it has stayed on but.....nothing would surprise me. Its going to be in the mid-90's again today, tomorrow and over 100 the next day. I hope the storms stay away but we all know.....extremely hot weather and electrical storms just seem to go together. They are predicting strong storms again on Friday.