Stormy Morning

I got up this morning at a little bit after 6 to feed the dogs and cats and start the coffee and read the news, as is my habit. I poked my head outside to feel the air and MY GOD the humidity was impressive even for the Washington, DC area, which is essentially a malarial swamp.

I drank coffee and occasionally glanced out at the gradually lightening sky (it's darker in the morning than it was just a few weeks ago, have you noticed that?) and thought about the list of stuff I need to do today. Through my early morning brain haze I became aware that I could hear thunder and see flashes of lightning outside.

Y'all, we never get early morning thunderstorms. Our thunderstorms are always in the afternoon. 

The sky turned greenish, then pitch black, as black as night--it was so weird--, and rain came down in torrents. There was no pause between the flashes of lightning, and the thunder was scary loud right on top of the house. The dogs were freaking out, and I was really scared. Not scared enough to go into the basement, but too scared to stand on the screen porch. I couldn't tear myself away from the window where I was watching the trees being whipped by the wind.

There were wind gusts over 60 miles an hour recorded all over the area. It was wild.

I mean, yeah, I'm sure midwest thunderstorms are much worse and way scarier but I was impressed.

Sasha (who lives a mile away) texted me, "HOLY SHIT!" right after some of the scariest thunder. And I was all, "I KNOW!"

And then our power went out, of course.

Josh went downstairs and found that the outside drain by the basement steps was overwhelmed by the deluge, and water was pouring into our basement from under the door that goes outside. Things on the basement floor were literally floating around. Josh stripped off all his work clothes and went outside in his underwear to bail out the drain area.

Oh, how I wish I had taken a picture. (Later, he came upstairs, stark naked, singing "Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it's off to work I go" which, come on, is funny.)

And then it all stopped. Several hours later, the sun is shining and our power is back on. I have been out doing errands with my parents, and have to leave again in a few minutes. I would like to be home by 4:00, when the next batch of thunderstorms is supposed to move through the area. 

See? I can write a blog post that is not about how old my parents are and how depressed I am. 

Comments

[Maggie]

I miss a good thunderstorm (although not the bailing out the basement part). We hardly ever have any kind of extreme or exciting weather here in the PNW. Just a lot of steady grey days and drizzle all winter long. Bleh.

[Maggie]

ACK that should say grAy days.

[pickles & dimes]

Aw, man. I love Josh. I wish my husband could come back inside after dealing with water leakage all happy and sing-songy. (My husband would probably murder the nearest bystander just with the intensity of his rage at the circumstances instead.)

We have intense humidity here, too. It is insane. Even the most mundane task, like getting the mail, becomes this jungle-like adventure where I return home triumphant and overly sweaty.

[the bee]

We take pictures of everything and not a naked Josh? This is a mistake I will overlook this one time but let us not make a habit of it.
I am grateful our power stayed on but let's see how that lasts. How is the basement now?

[Margaret]

My husband would do the same thing, but with all his clothes on. Crazy weather!! We are finally having more summer(80s and sun) but all I can think about is SCHOOL. Yuck.

[Liza Lee Miller]

I'm so with you on the freakout about scary thunderstorms. When the sky turns unnatural colors, I get nervous.

And, DC humidity is not to be forgotten.

And, I love the mental image I have now of Josh out doing storm work in his undies! Sweet!

[vicki]

Personally, I love me some BIG WEATHER although things floating around in the basement- not good. So now I have that idea of Josh in my head. Thanks for that. The other image in this post- the one of your parents? As soon as I saw it the Simon and Garfunkle song, "Old Friends" started up in my head.

[Cathy S.]

Boxers or briefs?

[Gretchen]

Nobody is getting off easy with the weather this summer. Hope your power stays on and your basement dries out. Ames has been without drinkable water since Wed. afternoon due to "unprecedented flooding" but we're counting our blessings that we still have electricity. (fingers crossed)

[kris (lower case)]

we have had about 10 storms like that this summer... it can't rain here without gale force winds it seems.. there is a pond across the street from our house and one afternoon we had a REALLY windy storm (the rain literally was sideways), and the next morning i found a huge frog in my garage...i think he was blown there from the pond across the street. i took him back. poor thing.

[Cazza]

What, no photo of Josh post deluge?

Your days are getting shorter which means ours are getting longer which means the hated daylight saving and summer is just around the corner.

Ageing parents and depression. If I have to share those two things with someone I'm glad it's you.

[Susan Harris]

well said. I wouldn't have even tried.

[blackbird]

My K would have done the same.
Two points for Josh.
I love a good storm.

[Karenth]

Next time we take the kids out on the porch to see a tornado you can go with us! We do that because we are craZEE that way!

[FC]

Earthquakes, unusually powerful storms, ... you are really living on the edge up there.

[MsCellania]

What a way to start the day - and the poor dogberts! OF COURSE Josh was out there in his skivvies - who takes the time to look for a swimsuit when the woild is ending?!
That photo of your folks is sweet.

[bonnie]

Josh, when we said that we wanted to see more of you, this is NOT what we had in mind.

I get teared up whenever I think about you and your love for your dear parents, Mary.

Here (http://www.yogajournal.com/health/859) is my ayurvedic morning ritual. Try it; you'll like it! (Even during a power outage!)

[bonnie]

http://www.yogajournal.com/health/859
Whoops/whoomp; there it is!