Astounding

Tonight, just a very short while ago, we had an astounding thunder/lightning/rain storm. I have never seen the dogs so stressed. Poor Folly was panting and shaking beyond belief. The lightning came so close that Marg made us go away from the windows and turn off electrical things. Spooky. And then there was the torrent of rain. While I consoled the dogs with my reassuring presence in one room, Marg had to buffer the door to the annex with towels to prevent water surging under the door and into the room. I made her wait till the storm passed to go outside and sweep the excess water down the drain. The only other time we had to do such things was, actually, in SFo some years ago, before we built the extension off our kitchen. The decking outside the kitchen was clogged between the planks with dirt, etc. and a powerful rainstorm came in that built up enough water on our deck to threaten coming into the kitchen. What to do?? Grab barbeque skewers and go out there in the pouring rain (no lightning, fortunately) and get soaked while sawing away at the grooves between the planks to create a place for the rain to go other than our kitchen. A memorable event. It sure bent the ^&$**#* out of our skewers. Good thing we don't barbeque much.