Cats and dogs were pounding on my roof last night so I brought up my radar map and there it was, barreling down towards my neighborhood. Big bad red and ugly. I prepped my place for a power outage, which happened within minutes, then I opened my front door, pulled up a chair right to the screen, and watched the show.
Lightning flashes were going off all around me, about one every second. The wind picked up my garbage can and threw it thirty feet. I expected one of the old trees around me to come crashing down any second. And then it was over, so I went to bed in the dark.
This morning I had power but no internet (still don't as I write this). I dug out my old Radio Shack radio and listened to some good old boys talk about the storm that blew through last night with trees down, damage to homes and the roof of the Library took a hit. I took a drive and sure enough, what they said was true, all about 400 yards from my place.
Update: The sun is going down, still no internet, and the radio is telling me that it was a tornado. Check that off my bucket list... Now I'm hunkered down with no phone, tv, email or connection to the world and it makes me realize how much I've come to take all of that for granted. At least I have power, which is really all an old man and his old cat really needs.
Click the photo below for this mornings shots: