BOOOM!  That was that last thing we heard when the lights went out last night.  Now, lights going out is not generally a newsworthy item in our corner of the world.  Winter snow, spring winds, summer storms and random acts of God regularly shut the grid down around here. Usually it’s up and running in short order. It was cloudy when we began dinner last night.  By mid-meal we were eating by candlelight and the rain pounded the metal roof above us.  The storm was intense, as prairie storms often are, and soon we had a wall of water all around. The lightning was incredible. With this much sky you see a LOT of it.

So, the rain falls and the house finally cools and little people are put to bed by the flickering light. Around this time son number two calls from a cell phone saying his ride home got stuck on the road about two miles down. (Like many rural Coloradans we live on a dirt road.Rain navigation is a challenge)   Dh got the 4 wheel drive and tow chain and went to retrieve them.  The poor guy who brought him home from work was sitting in his car in over a foot of water. The ditch filled quickly and so did the car. : /  Allen got them out and down to pavement again and came home with Zach.

That was when he noticed that we were the only ones around us who had no lights.  That is not a good sign when you own your utilities. A call to the power company confirmed it was likely a direct hit to our pole.  The one on our property.  The one they charge you to repair. : P  They were on their way.  Not to worry, they would be there in about two hrs. <g>  Did I mention our power company serves just about the entire Eastern half of the state?  Sometime around midnite we awoke to the power truck in the yard and the lights came on again. 

A couple interesting things happened.  First was waking up to Lake Starry Sky and other local attractions (see pics), such as the army of bullfrogs croaking across the road. I hope they are feasting on mosquito larva as I type! Lake Starry Sky is a temporary phenomenon.  The ground under the water is rock hard so today is the safest day to play in it.  With any luck it will slowly sink into the pasture and bring us lots of green grass. In the meantime it made for giddy kids and a well-pleased shutterbug of a mom. It was one of those ‘never forget’ mornings.

The second was realizing my emergency kit was sorely in need of restocking. Little people have been taking dead batteries out of flashlights and putting them back in the battery box. : o  Will be fixing that right quick.  So do yourselves a favor and go check your flashlights everyone! For fun you might want to join your kids in this virtual preparedness tutorial.  Looks like a lotta help around here. Ready Kids

Wishing you all a ‘never forget’ day.  : )