Storm Thoughts

November 20 – Storms are grand and amazing things. Several weeks ago we had a big thunderstorm in October, a fairly uncommon event around here!

It was a very warm day, right on into the evening with high humidity and a temperature of 85. As I was sitting out on the porch studying and reading, I looked up at the sky from time to time, watching the lovely clouds move on by. Several times I called in to Dale who was sitting inside reading, and suggested he come out to enjoy the scene. He chose not to!

[ Storm clouds ]

When I had finished my reading, I noticed that some darker clouds were rapidly approaching. Since I have always enjoyed watching cloud formations and seeing them turn into faces, or animals, or other pictures of my imagination, I wanted to stay on the porch. However, those clouds began to change their looks! Here and there were blackish ones, traveling from the north and west. Then the wind began to blow, and blow, until I decided to get my camera. Just as I got back to the porch, that wind decided to show me who was boss! Talk about a storm! And the wind and rain came up all at once! I quickly took a couple pictures before I had to dash inside to keep from being soaking wet!

Lightning flashed both near and far as we watched through the screen door. Almost-scary thunder followed, and we were both happy that we were safely inside. And what was making the news on TV? Just what we were experiencing. All through our area and all the way to Kansas City where pictures showed that the storm definitely was part of their evening! Moving quickly across the TV screen were notices that this area, and that one, and still others were under storm watches, and even a possible tornado. As Dale and I stood in front of the set, I always pointed to the letters “Cass,” since that’s where we live. Over and over and over those notices of lightning strikes, flooding, and fallen trees, along with power outages, made us more than thankful that we had not been affected by them.

[ Rummi-kub ]

I can’t remember a storm continuing as many hours as did that one. Later, after we had eaten supper (a late one because we were more interested in news than in food), we sat down to play Rummikub, our favorite game. An hour later we went back to the TV and were shown many uprooted trees, some of them lying on roofs. No power yet. In fact, several thousand customers still had no power in the morning.

[ Cat on the bench ]

And what about Cat? When Dale and I are out on the porch with the cat inside, we continue to hear a plaintive mew as she stands by the door, begging to join us. Of course, I got up from my chair to let her out to enjoy the wind. After jumping up to her favorite resting place on the bench, she practically went to sleep. However, as the storm came on, she decided she would accompany me as I went inside. But she likes so much to be outside that she continued to beg us to let her out!

When it was time for bed, we called and called and begged and begged, but no Cat to be found. “Well, I don’t know about you,” I said to Dale, “but I’m not staying up all night until that cat decides she is no longer the boss and will come in so we can go to bed!” So off to bed we went, about midnight, with the garage door open just enough that she could squeeze under.

Fast forward to about four in the morning. Just for fun, I went out to the garage door area, and before I could call her, there she was! Must have missed out on her usual hours of sleep, because she hardly ever went outside the next day, but just lay on the rug or on the couch and slept, with not even one eye open! – CHRIS