Stampede the Wind

A lot of flooding going on around the country the past few days. Texas and Arkansas have been hit. I called my brother yesterday and they were safe on the farm, although there had been street flooding in Charleston and the nearby town of Lavaca. Paul David said the Arkansas River was as high as he'd ever seen it. I hope everyone will be safe.

We've had a lot of rain here as well, although we're more used to it. Louisiana gets 80 + inches of rain a year. Last night we had more heavy rain and a hard wind. Our back yard is a pool this morning and I had to feed the birds around the edges of it.

Around 4:00, I woke up to a banging sound and thought either something had hit the roof or the door to our tool shed had blown open. I grabbed a flashlight and went outside. I barely needed the flashlight because of non-stop lightning. I didn't see any bolts of lightning, just a strobe-light effect in the clouds.

The rain was mostly holding off for the moment. A few heavy drops. But the wind! It ran like a stampeding herd of mustangs through the trees. We are surrounded by trees, mostly pines, which reach very tall. When I looked up I could see the top of the pines bending over in a steady wind. But on the ground where I was it as only a little breezy. Even our trash cans didn't blow over.

I stood there in the dark a bit. I like the feeling of energy and power that a storm births into the world. Finally I went back inside and lay down. The wind rushed on, then slowed as if the stampede had finally passed us by. After a while I slept again, and dreamt of horses.

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