Monday, July 21, 2008

Whew! Storm's Over!


This summer’s batch of Canada Geese are nearly full grown and are now almost the size of the adults. In fact, I know both parents are in this photo, but the only one that’s obviously a parent is the goose on the right watching protectively. The young birds can’t fly yet, but that event won’t be far off now.

The heat wave here on the mountain is not quite broken yet, but it is on its way out. Today it’s only supposed to reach 90 degrees, an improvement. Last evening, not long before dark, I saw the sky darkening and knew a storm was on the way. Thunder rumbled in the distance. I closed all the windows. The wind picked up and was soon followed by a near-torrential rain. All of a sudden, a huge lightning flash scared the heck out of me. The flash was instantly followed by thunder. The power went out, though came back on almost immediately. The cats ran under the bed. Dog tried to climb under the sofa. Baby Dog fled upstairs.

For a few seconds I afraid lightning had struck the cabin. The storm---that single blast of lightning was the only one—didn’t last long. As soon as I felt reasonably safe and the rain let up, I went outside to check the house. Fortunately, everything looked fine. I also checked out the nearby trees and didn’t see anything there either. All I know for sure is that the lightning was extremely close—probably as closes as I’ve ever had it. I haven’t checked too far behind the cabin yet—darkness soon followed the storm. Perhaps this evening I’ll be able to look at more of the trees behind the cabin.

At this point I’m even wondering if the lightning actually struck anything. I was sitting in the living room by the large picture window when the lightning struck. To me, it looked like a big round explosion of light that I’m guessing was some feet into the woods. I never saw a bolt, just that big round light that was blinding. It was almost as though the electrical charge just exploded in the air. As the storm let up, I checked the utility poles near the cabin, and they were all okay, too. So for now this story doesn’t yet have an ending. I just know that I don’t want to have lightning get any closer than that—ever!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Whoa, that does sound like it was a little close for comfort. Proably when all the leaves are down, you'll find the tree that got hit. Unless it hit the ground instead?

Sorta had that last night too, nice flash of light then a few second later ka boom!

Carolyn H said...

Cathy: Yes, that lightning was too close for comfort. I heard from my one neighbor that she heard my other neighbor's well was hit, which surprised us both. Neither of us thought the sound came from that direction. Plus, the wellhead must be 75 yards or more from my cabin, and I thought the blast was closer than that!

Stand by for more today!

Carolyn H.

Cicero Sings said...

Once at work, there was almost a simultaneous flash and ka-boom ... the air felt weird as though weighted and the whole building rattled. It didn't seem to have hit anything but that's the closest I've ever been ... and as close as I want to get!