Stormy Weather

Filed in: blog

JUN

2010

8:45 am

Do thunderstorms scare you? For some reason, they usually don’t scare me all that much.

Maybe it’s because they remind me of my dad and Texas. I vividly remember watching the storms as they crossed the fields of our ranch by his side. We’d sit on the couch, drink Cokes, and ooh and aww over the bold flashes of light illuminating the night sky. Dad taught me to count ‘one Mississippi, two Mississippi’ in between the flash of light and the roll of thunder so we could try to figure out just how many miles away the lightning was.

To this day, I still don’t know if that little trick is even remotely accurate-and I’m not sure I even care. It was just fun to smile at him and start counting.

Here in our little town north of Cincinnati, we’ve had quite a lot of storms this week. The rain’s come down hard, and there’s been a lot of lightning, too. Usually, I just like to look out the window and watch it all go by.

But on Tuesday night, I was home alone. There was also the possibility of tornadoes, so I kept the television on, but turned the volume down low so I could read Tricia Goyer’s newest WWII novel. I lit a candle, plopped Suzy, my little dachshund, on my lap, and settled in. Tricia’s book was great, Suzy was happy as long as I had her head covered, and the time went by quickly. So much so, I hardly minded being all alone in the midst of a very bad thunderstorm.

How has the weather been where y’all are? Stormy? Hot and humid? What are some of your favorite things to do when storms come rolling in over your house?

8 Comments

Comments

Jeanette says:

June 17, 2010 at 2:34 pm

Hi Shelley,

You make thunder storms sound exciting and I can just picture in my mind you and your Dad watching the storm in the distance and counting.

However, I do not like storms.And if it is a particlarly bad one, no matter what the hour, and especally if there are tornado warnings, I will get out of bed and get dressed including shoes and socks because I don’t want to get caught in my nghtgown and no shoes if a tornado strikes.

A tornado went through where my grandparents lived once and their home was one that was left standing so people were gathering there. She told how a man was caught with his clothes off and came to her door asking for a pair of pants. She said she was so upset that she hadn’t even noticed that he was naked.

When i was a small child my mother would take me and my brother to the neighbors whenever there was a storm. They had a cellar and we didn’t.

I hope I didn’t bore you with all of this, it’s probably a longer response than you were expecting.

Jeanette

Shelley says:

June 18, 2010 at 5:46 am

Jeanette, you had the perfect response! Wow on your grandparents’ home. And no wonder you got completely dressed! That would be awful, to get caught in something you don’t want anyone to see!

A few years ago, I was at a RWA conference and a fire alarm went off in the middle of the night. Let me just say that I was amazed at what people wore (and didn’t wear!) out to the parking lot. : )

Thanks for visiting, and writing a note!

Tammy says:

June 20, 2010 at 9:52 pm

Hello, Shelley.

I’m Tammy, from upstate NY, and may I just say that I love “Hidden” and “Wanted.” I’m not quite finished with reading “Wanted” yet, but I’m excited to keep those pages turning!

Well, about storms… I was terrified of them when I was little, but lately, especially having finished a year of college, and having friends who love storms, I’ve grown to love them myself. Here is my favorite account:

My best friend and I were stuck in the campus center after having eaten lunch together, and we needed to get back to our dorm; it was all the way across campus! It was pouring and there were a few claps of thunder. I was scared, but Maria, being the brave one, dragged me outside, made me take my shoes off, hike up my skirt and run with her through the rain to get back to St. Mary’s Hall.

The rain was coming down so hard that we could barely keep our eyes open to see where we were going! Screaming the whole way, we passed some students carrying umbrellas, and I bet that we startled them with our shrieks at the loud rolls of thunder. When we finally reached our building, we laughed till our stomachs ached, and, even then, proceeded to dance in the wet grass before heading inside.

Once we made it to Maria’s room, the storm picked up and there were some flashes of lightning. We spent the next hour changing, drying our clothes (and our hair!) and just listening to soft music that accompanied the heavy rain and thunder.

Since then, I’ve loved listening to storms, sitting on porches and watching the beautiful and mysterious show happen before my eyes. I still do get a little scared of the terribly loud and ear-splitting thunder claps, but overall, it’s been so great to sit and journal, read, or listen to some light music with my roommate this year.

P.S. This is, most definitely, a much longer response than Jeanette’s, so Jeanette, don’t feel bad! Haha

Shelley says:

June 21, 2010 at 3:34 pm

Hi Tammy,

First, I have to tell you that whenever I hear of someone being from upstate New York, I think of snow. Lots of snow! You’re already my hero for being able to handle that all winter long.

I loved your story about running and dancing in the rain!!You’re lucky to have such a great roommate.

It’s funny, we had storms roll through here this morning-and our power was off for about four hours. At first I was in a panic~It was Monday morning and I wasn’t writing! But then I settled down and pulled out a book and just enjoyed the peace and quiet.

Somehow, I know my Amish friends would have approved. : )

Thanks for stopping by, Tammy.

Tammy says:

June 22, 2010 at 6:01 am

Haha! Yes, we do get soooo much snow. There are some Amish families in the countryside near a friend of mine, and I wonder how they make it through the harsh winters up here… Brrrr!

More often than not, I imagine, power outages can be a real blessing, not to mention a time when my school was dismissed early due to a squirrel getting into the power box and causing one!

We had a rough storm this past weekend up here, and it was really nice to have rain to cool the 85 degree weather down.

P.S. I just finished “Wanted” yesterday, and I loved it. I went shopping at Wal-Mart and looked for “Forgiven,” and found “Winter’s Awakening” instead. Haha Is there any chance you may make a trip up to NY at all, anytime soon? We have plenty of Farmer’s markets here, and there may be plenty of folks who would love Amish fiction.

Shelley says:

June 24, 2010 at 7:58 am

Tammy, now there’s a story! Yay for that squirrel! I still get excited for snow days, even though I only have my daughter left at home.

I’m so glad you enjoyed Wanted. I hope you will be able to find Forgiven soon…

I’d love to come to upstate New York! Actually, my agent lives in Canton, which I *think* is near Syracuse. It would be so fun to be in y’all’s neck of the woods.

Jeanette says:

June 24, 2010 at 11:32 am

Hello Shelley and Tammy

I bet that squirrel didn’t think the power outage was so good. I have a vision of “fried squirrel”.

It’s interesting how reading what other people write reminds a person of things in the past.

When I was almost five years old we moved to a new house which my father built half way up the hill at the neighbors advice. They said that a flash flood might reach where dad and mom orignally planned to build on the flat land near the “runs”. There were two small streams that met and formed one.

Anyway, within the year of moving we had a bad thunderstorm with lots of lightening and rain. Our poor dogs were penned in the bottom so when the water rose out of its banks and kept on rising my mother was afraid it would reach the dogs, so she put on her coat, and rubber boots and went down to turn them loose. She said that she saw lightning strike right by her and thought the only thing that saved her was her rubber boots. I’m sure God had something in it too!

I wonder if anyone still wears rubber boots when it rains. I bet that the Amish probably do.

Another time several years ago my mother,daughter and I were traveling home from the Columbus area and Interstate 70 was flodded near the Buckeye Lake exit.

Traffic was backed up forever and by the time we reached the flooded area it was dark and all you could see was a line of tail lights in front and headlights in back. One car after another was following into the water.
Of course we didn’t know how deep it was until it was to late. That was one of the longest and most frightening rides I can remember although I’m sure we were only actually in the water a few minutes. I just knew we were going to go off the road like the abandoned car we saw head first in the median which was lower than the road with its doors standing wide open and water on the hood.

My daughter was driving and went into an asthma attack while we were in the water. I was afraid she would pass out she was having so much trouble breathing. And she said later that all she could think was that Mom (myself) couldn’t swim and would panic and Grandma was helpless. (My mother had arthritis and didn’t get around too well.)
My daughter said it it felt like the wheels were lifting up off of the pavement every so often. All you could see were the headlights, taillights and water everywhere. It’s something I will never forget and I swore that never again would I ride or drive into a flooded area.
And by the way, there was an article in the newspsper that said the highway patrol didn’t close the road until the water was about 18 inches deep. (Much too deep in my opinion)

I bet you never thought your storm blog would get such long replies as Tammy’s and mine.

Jeanette

Tammy says:

June 24, 2010 at 1:22 pm

Oh, my gosh!!!! Those stories are sooooo scary, Jeanette! Wow. God definitely must have had a hand in both of those situations! By the way, I love wearing rubber boots in the rain. Just about every girl on my college campus wears them too. Haha! I never thought of them as potential lifesavers, though! I’ll be sure to remember that and let my friends know that we’re doing ourselves some good wearing them during storms.

And Shelley, that’s so cool that your agent lives in NY. Canton, however, is very close to the Canadian border, way up North. Haha Syracuse, where my school is, is pretty much right smack in the middle of the state, though (for some reason) we are called “upstate.” Maybe you could have your agent check out the different farmers markets that are all over the central area of NY, and you can make rounds or something. There would definitely be beautiful bed n’ breakfasts and inns you could stay in during your travels, for sure.

Stormy Weather

Comments

post a comment