Noisy Night

1:30 am: I awake to the sound of raindrops splattering on the still-open windows.

As usual, I am the ONLY one to get up in the middle of the night to lock down all means of entry by Mother Nature. In a stupor, the constant flashes of lightning guides me safely down the hallway. Kitchen, dining room, bedrooms. All get locked up tight as the deluge begins in earnest.

I crawl back into bed.

Booming thunder splits the silence and beats in time with the storm's incredible light show.

I try to get back to sleep.

A torrent of rain beats at our north-facing windows. Then the hail comes and I am positive I will soon hear the crash of shattered panes at any moment. The house shakes with the violent gale-force winds.

I still try to get to sleep, but I give in to curiosity and have to watch.

I am out of bed again, peeking out into the storm at it's worst. Lawn furniture has been carried off the patio and into the middle of the yard. Larger recliners have simply slid across the slick deck, smashing into my terra cotta planters. Potted flowers have flown, limbs are ripped from trees and debris is everywhere.


2:30: I finally crawl back to my waterbed as the squall continues.

And the loudest, scariest noise of the entire night was there beside me.

Yup, hubby snoring, oblivious to the entire hurricane roiling around us.

23 People would rather be commenting:

Stacey said...

Whoa, where in the heck are you that all this madness is happening ?

Damn, wouldn't it be nice to have the ability to be able to sleep through stuff like that!
Must be a "man" thing. My hubby is like that too.

Anonymous said...

Poor, poor planter...
Hey, I woke up during the night, too.
Mind you, I didn't hear the thunder, lightning, hail or rain, I needed to turn off my fan. And then I woke up again to turn it back on.
But I never heard the storm. I think you're making all this up.

PS: Guess who??
PPS: Teehee, html tags are fun...

Maureen said...

Hey..."anonymous"

Yeah, you didn't wake up when I literally had to crawl OVER you to close your window either.

You're welcome, by the way.

Now get off the computer and get to work. Laundry needs doing, take the dog for a walk, feed the cats and clean your room.

Now I must go and deselect the Blogger option of allowing anonymous comments.... damn kids.

;D

Colleen said...

Wow! That sounds like it was quite the storm...

Oh and yeah, I can relate to the other sound as well - every night!!

Rachael said...

Yikes!!! Why is it that women are the only ones that hear Mother Nature in the middle of the night?

Love your last sentence! LOL

Heather said...

Wow! What a storm! We haven't had one of those here for ages. And we could use the rain.
When I was a kid we had a huge storm like that during the day at my grandparents house. My grandma was running around closing everything up and my grandpa was at the dining room table with his head down, fast asleep. I was very concerned and asked my grandma if he was okay and she replied, I can't worry about him right now!

Lynn said...

I heard that you had horrible weather there! We've had lots of rain since about 4:30 this morning and yes... I was the one who got up securing all the windows! I'm always the one who does that stuff. The rest of the house can sleep through anything and everything! Once we had hurricane force winds and a HUGE tree branch broke and fell on the house, I thought the whole house was split in two that is how loud it was and guess what??? Yep,, they all slept through that also.
I think my dh can't hear that stuff because he is snoring so loud the roof is lifting off the house!lol. Have a great weekend.

Ann(ie) said...

Crazy Night!

I can relate to the snoring hubby. My hubby tries to suck the ceiling through his nose each and every night!

Jill said...

Wow! That was quite the weather!!!

I always wish I were a good sleeper...of course, then I probably wouldn't have half my energy.

kittenpie said...

I kinda love a summer storm.

As to Dad Gone Mad, I know he's just doing it to goad people a bit, it's his thing. I do think he's funny. I just felt a need to poke back a bit!

Thanks for coming by Life of 'Pie, though!

Bananas said...

This is a great post. And I love your writing, by the way.

Anonymous said...

I hate summer thunder and lightening storms. I always jump up and have to shut all 17 of the back porch windows. My hubby sleep through the whole thing too, but not my cat and dog. They get so scared they start pacing around the bed. My youngest daughter also wakes up too! The other 2 sleep as sound as dad. It has been so unusually tropical around here, that we are getting more storms than normal at night.
Hope you get better nights sleep and less storms.

Holly said...

The weather here is beautiful at the moment! Sorry to rub it in, but I hope all the bad weather we have had this summer has gone away forever!!

Waterbed Maureen!? Dont you feel like you're trying to sleep on a boat or something?!

Anonymous said...

Well, it's your own fault I'm still here to annoy you. You were the one who kept the tornados from blowing me away when you closed my window.
Thanks, I guess.
I mean, LOVE YOU.

...

And you still didn't remove the anonymous thingamagig.

Bonita Rose said...

I'm the total opposite.. I'm the one who is the sound sleeper.. I usually sleep thru it all too.. lol sounds like quite the storm!

toners said...

LOL!!! Love your style of writing :)

OhTheJoys said...

Urg. I sleep with a snoring man too.

A said...

We missed that storm, though I heard it rolled through western Wisconsin too (we were in Madison- further south) when it happened, but LAST night was a DOOZEY!
We were driving home at 10:30 at night and the wind-shield wipers looked like there was a strobe light on them all the way home- the lightning was THAT constant. And there were torrents of rain. I was glad my hubby was driving and not I. My job was to pray.

We are opposite from you- my husband gets up in the night to close the windows, and if I even wake up, I usually go right back to sleep! Funny how people are so different. As long as each family has one "window-closer" in them, then all will be fine!!!

Anonymous said...

This might be a little confusing, but the previous comment from "a" is actually from me. You see, "a" and I are friends, and she house-sat for me last weekend, and I'm guessing that she used my computer (which is fine) and left her password and identity on there, so when I made a comment, it turned up as her!!! So, really, I am the one who is married- she is still single! Life is funny, isn't it?

Melissa said...

I woke up to storms and crazy thunder and lightning last night too!

aw poor flowers

Marlee said...

Hoping everythings back to normal soon...

had a good laugh abt the scariest thing! :)

Janet said...

Gotta love it. I've got one of those, too. :-) Janet

Cupcake Blonde said...

I love storms like that. They are scary and thrilling all at the same time. Sorry about your plant though.

This post was so beautifully written. I felt like I was there watching the storm with you.

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