Storms

This week we had two good thunderstorm fronts move through our area. The first one left power outages at a friends' home on the next hill and several big trees down in the town nearby. We spent the evening in our friends' (the ones with no power) garage around a faux campfire of flashlights. We intended to have a bonfire and roast s'mores, but it began to downpour once again just as we pulled into their driveway.

The next series of storms passed through the very next night; bringing massive amounts of rain, frequent lightening, strong winds, and penny-sized hail. This time we were the ones without power all evening. Thankfully it came back on just before bed. The heat and humidity were pretty much unbearable. It was an uncomfortable evening sitting around the sweltering living room amidst candle light and stagnant, humid, 95 degree air. The next morning I found a large downed tree branch under our silver maple in the back yard. Our maple trees regularly shed massive branches. They are quite messy.

Last evening, when the weather finally broke and the humidity and temperature were both low for a change, I collected the fallen branches from the front yard and added them to the ever-growing pile of debris.

Although our storms were pretty severe for our area, they were nothing like what Earle and Shawn are about to endure in Japan. A category five typhoon is headed their way. It is expected to hit Tokyo directly on Sunday with torrential rain and 65 mph winds. It will be in a weakened state by the time it hits the capital city, but it should still be very intense. There won't be any sight-seeing or shopping going on that day by my travelers.

Of course they are excited and I am in panic mode! Them: "Oh awesome, we get to experience a real typhoon!". Me: "Get thee off that God-forsaken island and back home to safety where you belong!". Men. My brain just doesn't think the same way theirs does. They are thinking "thrill of a lifetime" I am thinking "unsafe!"

If you care to inform yourselves about the typhoon or other interesting Asian news, I usually get my info from The China Post website. It is based in Taiwan and carries information about all of Asia from a non-communist, fairly unbiased viewpoint. At least they aren't anti-American!

I'm sure the boys will be back safely on Monday as planned, just in time to take care of some storm damage of our own. It will be time to get out their axes and saws to take care of that big fallen tree branch and mow the overgrown, well-watered lawn.