THE STORM

I was awoken at 1 am last night to the deafening sound of wind tunneling through my house, the slamming of doors, the claps of thunder and the flash of lightening. Oh and the fan beside my bed going off. There was a very powerful storm going on outside my windows. The curtains were blowing and from experience I knew there was a puddle accumulating on the floor below the windows. I think it was after the door slammed shut that I got out of bed to see what was going on outside. I have to say again, the sound of the wind was incredibly loud. From what I could see out the window, the trees were a moving. I got up, closed the windows so as not to have a flood in my room in the morning, propped open the door that slammed so it would do it again, then got back into bed clutching tightly to my flashlight. I have to say, this was the scariest storm I have experienced ever...and we had some good ones in October/November.

All was calm when I got up in the morning. There wasn't any noticeable branches down when I looked out the window so I thought all was OK. The first thing I noticed when I walked out the door to go to work was that the small plastic bin that sits on the porch wasn't there...well the lid was but not the bin. As I walked down the stairs and over to the driveway...that's when I saw it. One of the garage doors was lying on the ground. The wind had, not torn it from the hinges (the piece of wood with the hinges is still attached), it had broken the wooden door completely. All I could do was laugh. I thought I heard a loud bang as one point. Oh and my shoes that were on the porch were scattered across the lawn as were a multitude of large pine needles, small branches and one large palm leaf.

We are in the hot season right now, so it is common to have storms in the evenings. Here's hoping tonight is a little less eventful.