What is it about nice people that attract total idiots?Nice people are martyrs. Idiots are evangelists.

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Tuesday, June 25, 2013

The Big Wet One

If you are a Facebook friend, you already have a clue about what's coming next.

The story begins at around 9 PM last night.  I assumed it would be cool enough to get that walk in and maybe see some things in the gloaming.  What I hadn't seen was this:

Note the time stamp...


So off we went.  The are wasn't humid per se, but it was heavy... hard to breathe.  Especially when you are 1 foot tall, going through buckhorns taller than you, and aren't smart enough to turn off your sniffer for a few minutes.  Nonetheless, we made it to the soccer fields and thence across to the woods.

Just starting to get dark.


Lotsa lightning bugs!
If anything, the air was even worse in the woods- no air movement.  Scrappy seemed to be struggling.

By the time we went down the back side and back into the woods, it was even darker.



Some people might say it was getting creepy, but not us.  Any of our friends who might jump out and scare a person were nowhere around.


There were creepy new fungi...


...and bats!

However as we cleared the woods down Dead Tree Lane, I saw the FIRST thing I didn't want to see...

 
 
Yup, that looks like a storm coming!  So we were gonna cut up along the lane beside the soccer fields, when I saw the second thing I didn't want to see...

...a skunk!

 
Worse, Scrappy saw him, too!

 

 So now I have to change course, take the longer way to the road, pull Scrappy from trying to go after the skunk...

...and the wind hits.

And I'm not talking a pleasant breeze.  No, this was 41 gusting to 63 mph, grab yer hat, is that rain or dust coming towards us, run for your life wind- so strong it rolled up my sleeve!

  By the time we hit the Plex, it had slowed a bit, but the rain was starting.  We had 750 feet of parking lot, 975 to the fence line, and a third of a mile home.  No problem!

So we took off running (imagine that, Juli) and just as we started the rain REALLY let loose, and threw in the occasional lightning bolt just for fun.  Scrappy could only run for about 5 seconds without slowing to shake, and at about the 700 foot mark I was so out of breath I was contemplating what a nice wet corpse I'd make.  We finally made it to the fence line...

...pouring behind us...

...pouring ahead of us.
What's worse, the wind kept shifting so that no matter where we were in the fence row, we were getting poured on!  So after just long enough to catch our breath, I took off my now-less-than-useless glasses and we ran the remaining 800 feet for home... albeit a lot slower than we did the first 700 feet.


Click on Scrappy to see just how wet he really is.

How I managed to have one dry sleeve, I don't know.  God knows nothing else was!
By morning, my shorts were almost dry, hat and shoes still damp.  Scrappy is dry, but he was still wet- even after toweling off- two hours later when Laurie got home.  My legs told me on no uncertain terms what they thought of running- the rest of the night, going from sitting to standing was a two-attempt deal, and the first step upstairs one knee buckled.  The second step, the other knee buckled.  And by halfway up, my back was trying to convince me to try slithering up.  But a night's sleep and all is good as new.  And I can breathe without coughing again!

21 comments:

  1. Holy cow! What a rain storm!!

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  2. Glad you made it home and didn't remain in the parking lot to become a wet corpse.
    I do not like getting caught out in the rain. I like to watch it from the comfort of my dry home.

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    1. Would have been my first preference as well.

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    2. Hopefully you can watch the next one from inside. :)

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  3. Oh dang... that's a lot of rain. What were you thinking going out trying to beat that one :)

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    1. Thus, "Notice the time stamp." Weather warnings were issued about the time we first entered the woods. Before then, there was nada.

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  4. CWM:
    My Lord...what a misadventure that turned out to be...
    The best of intentions turned into a soggy-bottom saga.

    That pic of Scrappy's "tail-end" was funny... a "reflector" might be a nice gift.
    You got a lot MORE rain than we had down here.
    We got wet, but nothing close to a downpour.
    Amd no, I can no longer run BETWEEN raindrops either, like in the good YOUNG days.

    But I can walk INTO them just fine, thank you.

    Glad you both made it home okay, albeit more than a bit soaked.

    Take care, rest yourself, and stay safe up there.

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    Replies
    1. I got in between the drops just fine. It was the five thousand other drops sharing the same space that gave me the problem!

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  5. So I guess complaining about the heat isn't such a good idea, huh?

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  6. Hubby got caught out on his bicycle ride. Told me when he checked the radar before hand, that the storms were still on the other side of Chicago. He didn't even get to the halfway point of his ride when he noticed the sky getting ugly. Yep, he got just as soaked as you! His clothes had to go into the washer on the spin cycle before putting them in the dryer.

    I'm just glad our tree damage wasn't worse.

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    1. I think we got off because most of our vulnerable trees either got it in last year's dereccho or in the Great Pruning four months thereafter.

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  7. Oh man, that had to have been fun! We finally got rain down in the Greenwood area. We've been missing it every time it has passed through the state. But, I wasn't a big fan of the thunder and lightning waking my kid at 2:00 a.m.

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    1. Oh, it was a joy. We went out yesterday afternoon (big mistake) and got just about as wet sweating!

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  8. Scary! I don't like when summer storms pop up like that. That dry sleeve must have rolled up and hid on you. Glad you made it home safe and sound.

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    Replies
    1. Funny thing was, it wasn't the sleeve that got wind-rolled! That's what made it more curious.

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  9. yeah, not much fun getting caught in a storm like that.
    At least you made it home in one piece if a little soggy

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