Vacation in the Country

I had a good vacation in the country. It went by way too fast though. Zoe and Duke had a blast. She didn’t much like sleeping in the kennel (she’s used to sleeping indoors in her own bedroom) but faired well. I think the coyotes spooked her a bit – I know they did me whenever I’d go out at night. Most of the week was spent without a TV because I jacked up the satellite system the second night I was there. Nothing major—I do it all the time. I knock it off line somehow and can never figure out how to get it back. Anyway after three days of no TV I started having withdraws and had to come to town to rent movies. I did get a lot of writing done however so that’s good.

We had an awesome thunderstorm Tuesday night and I managed to video taped some of it, getting some great lightening shots which I’ll attempt to post. This one shot is really cool it looks like its raining lightening with all these jagged lines coming down from a sideways bolt. Can you tell I love thunderstorms? I grew up in tornado alley in Oklahoma (spent a good portion of my childhood hanging out a basement watching funnels dip down out of the sky). When I was seven or eight I got to see an F3 coming across a field behind our house. It took out several houses in the area, but thankfully no one was injured. Then when I was about thirteen we had another come through the town we lived in that did considerable damage, killing eight. I remember right before it hit we had baseball size hail, and when we came up out of the basement there was this eerie feeling in the air that warned us of the devastation. A few days after it hit me and a friend took a walk downtown, part of the path it took, and I remember seeing a full sized oak tree planted in the center of a car parked at the curb. It looked like it’d just grown up out of it. I never will forget some of the images I’ve seen in the aftermaths of a tornado. Especially an F5 – the kind that destroyed almost the whole town of Greensburg Kansas a couple of years ago. It sure gives a person a healthy respect for Mother Nature I tell ya.

On a happier note, we had our first fundraiser for my Honduras trip today at the church with a lunch/bake sale. It was Citywide Garage Sale Day so we had a nice turnout despite the cold weather. This will be my third trip outside the U.S. I’m really looking forward to it. Hopefully this time I won't come home with a black eye or X-rays as souvenirs. And even if our translator backs out on us, I’ve got the most important word - Elbano - down pat. And of course Coca Cola is universal:).

Hope everyone has a good weekend and an even better work week. Stay safe and be blessed my friends!