Last night around here was not like this at all. Jon and I woke up at about 12:30 am to crazy wind gusts. Jon ran about the house trying to close windows, but I was extremely worried about my pergolas. Two years ago we lost our gazebo in just such a freak wind storm. Unlike that one, this one was totally unexpected. Since we do not have television, I grabbed my phone looking for the weather alerts. There was a Severe Thunderstorm Watch, but that was all I could see.
As I watched the wind outside my bedroom window, I commented to Jon that this was the craziest storm I had ever seen. The lightning was constant and illuminated the wind as it literally whipped the trees around in our back yard. I watched our twenty foot birch tree bend parallel to the ground. The covers on the pergola were like sails, and eventually, as I watched, the ties snapped right off. Within a very short time, the wind died off and the rain pelted the house. By this time my phone apps showed a Severe Thunderstorm Warning with "gusty winds" and "hail" possible.
I'm not really a fan of weather, so I listen for the sirens and I get anxious. I just know that I would be really angry with myself if my children were hurt because I was too ignorant to pay attention and seek shelter... So when things seemed like they were moving out, Jon and I laid back down to try to sleep. This is when the thunder began. Livi woke up frightened. Like good parents, we told her it was nothing and sent her back to bed.
As it turns out, there were five tornadoes that touched the ground in our area this night... 41,000 lost power, many for more than two days, including the hospital I work for. Everywhere you go, the streets are lined with downed trees. Generator is the most popular word around here. We probably saw the outer bands of the closest one which touched down about three miles from our home and is said to have been on the ground for ten minutes. It was like nothing that I have ever seen.
In other news, these photos were taken on our vacation... Fishing was a big hit again this year. This photo, is all that was captured after Livi's very first cast. She had a huge bite, and it was a big fish, but right after this was taken, it got off the hook. We never actually saw the fish. I can't wait for her to be patient enough to sit through and understand Grumpy Old Men... she will sympathize.
Taylor caught plenty of his own, but all the rest (except for the trout from the trout farm) were little Bluegills, sun fish, ect...
