Xiaoniu 小妞

This post was actually written Monday afternoon, but could not be posted until now due to the power outage.

The weather has been relentless today. It was hot and humid last night. Then at 6:30am today our area got hit with a big thunderstorm. Luckily for us it was pretty much over by 7:15am and I happened to park my truck in the garage. I’m thankful since it can be very difficult to maneuver an umbrella with a baby seat and lunch bag full of bottles. Otherwise, Emelia gets wet.

The morning storm was nasty. Downpours and plenty of wind. It was bad enough to take our the local radio station. They were not on the air again until I was at work at 7:45am.

During the day temps got up to around 95F and it was so muggy you could take a bite out of the air. On the drive home I saw lightning and pulled inside of the garage immediately. With Emelia safe inside the rain started. About 4:50.

If you watch the entire video I posted earlier you get a feel for how the second storm of the day went. Keep in mind that I already spent time on the porch just in awe before I thought to get the camera. It was about midway through when I started recording. The lights went out for about 2 seconds during this storm.

Another came about 6:15. Sue was ready for a nap so I was watching Emelia. She got bored and tired so she went into bed with mommy and I went to make sure the house wasn’t washing away. Very heavy downpours again. This one was probably as bad or worse than the second storm. The power went off and on again about 6 times. It has been off for about 15 minutes now. I don’t think it’ll be back for a little while.

I learned a couple valuable things tonight. First off the gutters really, really need to be cleaned. It seems the spring time crap that comes off our trees fills all of the gutters. I thought I cleaned all that needed to be done weeks ago. The gutters on the porch and rear of the garage didn’t do too well. They filled up and just overflowed.

The second thing I learned is that Emelia is not yet affected by loud thunder storms. As long as you’re okay she’s okay. I realized that earlier from other storms, but seeing as she was awake through three good ones today I’m happy to see that she doesn’t get skittish with all the noise. That doesn’t mean she won’t change. I completely expect her to get more cautious about storms as she gets older.

Anyway, I now need to find something to do whilst in the dark. Reading is tough without light so books and flash cards are difficult. The battery on the laptop is only half full (and emptying as I type this) and with no power the modem and router are dead. The fridge will stay closed until the power is back on, otherwise, we may end up losing some in the warmth. Maybe a nap for me is in order.