Over the holiday weekend, we had quite the thunderstorm roll through our area. Although the weather was beautiful most of the weekend, on Saturday evening, the storm moved through.
I had just finished up my Saturday chores at the house and decided to reward myself with some pool time. It was an extremely hot day! As I was driving over to my parents, I could see there were some storm clouds moving in. Thinking to myself, if figured I could probably get an hour of floating in the pool before the rain came in. I got to my parents, laid in the pool alternating reading my book and watching the sky. After about 30 minutes or so, the wind started to pick up and I decided pool time was over. I cleaned up the deck and sat at the table under the pergola finishing up a chapter and drink, while also being prepared to pack and run. As soon as the first raindrop hit, I grabbed my bag and made a mad dash for the patio door. No, I wasn't afraid I was going to melt with a little rainfall. But the sky was dark, the wind was wild and the rain was coming down fast!
I made it inside just in time and watched the storm from all the windows in the house. It was crazy how more intense it was in the front yard than in the backyard...or at least it seemed that way. It was also lovely to hear the rain pound on the roof of the back patio room and see the lightening streak across the sky. In the front, I could see the force of the wind as trees were bending and branches snapping.
At one point, the wind became loud. Not quite like the roar of a train, but kind of like hearing that muted some, like it was in the distance. That is when I knew I should move to the basement. I turned on the TV to a local channel to get the storm updates. Once the eye of the storm had moved out of the area, I went to assess any damage. And then the lights went out, and quickly back on. Whew!
Throughout the front and back yard, there were downed limbs and branches, but no damage to the house. Out on the pool deck, chairs were blown amuck and one ended up in the pool. Plants were turned over and the pergola cover had a pretty big tear. All in all, the mess was minimal, unless that chair in the pool tore the liner. The rain had slowed to a slow drizzle so I went through the yard and started to clean up. I wasn't looking forward to getting into the pool, but I didn't see any alternative to getting the chair out. As I'm lifting the metal chair over my head and out of the pool, in the distance lightening strikes. At that moment, all I could think is that that would be one dumb way to die and quickly got of the pool and back inside.
Once I had dried off, I was cold in the air conditioning. I went down stairs to find a jacket or sweatshirt to borrow and head what sounded like water running. When I investigated, I found rain just gushing in through the flu. My dad had several buckets and a few towels there already, so I knew this must be a reoccurring problem. I found some spare towels in the garage and began mopping up and creating a barrier to keep the water from getting through the whole basement. After about an hour of this work, I felt like it was under control. And then I found another puddle in the backroom and mopped up some more. Finally, I put all of the towels in the wash and began the wash cycle.
I turned back on the TV and decided I deserved a margarita while I watched a show and waited to finish the laundry. As soon as I got up to make a margarita, the power went out. And it stayed out.
I called my parents as they were on their way to church and filled them in on the events of the day. I then packed up my stuff and was going to head home in hopes I had power and that there wasn't any damage.
As I was walking to my car, Laura comes flying into the driveway like a crazy person. Apparently, her power is also out and she needs to get ready for work. I inform her of the unfortunate and she speeds off to figure out something else. Right before, Bev, comes flying up out front. She's there to check on the house because she too is out of power. I also inform her of the situation and that the house is back in order thanks to all of my efforts.
When I got home, I'm pleasantly surprised that I do have power and it barely even looked like a storm went through. After the adventures of the day, I was so happy to have a relaxed and cozy night at home.
0 comments:
Post a Comment