Summer Storm

I didn't stray far from the cabin door most of the weekend. The weather was overcast with a near constant threat of storms. I heard thunder rumbling all weekend long. It would start far in the distance and slowly work its way closer and closer. Eventually, it got close enough where I would start to think it was too close to safely be outside, and in I'd go. And then the storm would dissipate or never get any closer. This happened time and again on both days of the weekend.

In the cabin I did my usual chores, all with the lights on, as the days were too dark to see inside without them. All around me, storms battered the region with rain, casuing flooding just a few miles away but at the cabin; I didn't get more than a few drops. Until Sunday afternoon.

Finally, after nearly two days of teasing, the storm didn't back away at the last minute. Late on Sunday afternoon, the rain and the thunder and lightning rolled over Roundtop. At first it was the rain, a downpour that actually hurt to be outside in it, stinging my arms and face the way sleet does. Then the thunder and lightning moved inexorably closer, until it, too, was right overhead. The storm raged for hours, until well after my normal bedtime. Fortunately, it didn't rain as heavily the entire time. Still, it rained heavily enough that I worried about water in the basement, but the lightning was too close to safely risk an excursion outside to the basement door.

At bedtime, the dogs wondered why they didn't get a final trip outside, but the lightning was still too close for me to feel safe enough to be outside. Finally, I gave up laid down, trying to sleep with noisy booms and strobe lights all around.

Later, the silence woke me up. It was after midnight. I hauled myself out of bed, checked the basement (dry), checked the rain gauge (more than 2" inches), and took the dogs outside briefly. The sky was still cloud-covered. The sound of thunder was far in the distance again. The weekend was over, too.