...and your little dog too!

Last night we had movie weather.

Florida is a state of extremes when it comes to weather. And it can happen nightly. You would think that the kind of weather that we see in the summer would be an oddity but oh no, leave your front row seat available because the show fires up nightly. Last night must have been a special show - perhaps that requires extra ticketing - like Disney's Very Merry Christmas Party.

We could see it coming. There was a distinct, low, black wall of clouds crawling across the horizon at dusk. It looked like a huge blanket, full of lightening, traveling across the sky and swallowing everything in its path. We knew then - get ready cos it is going to be dicey.

We checked the radar on TV and the internet - the warnings were up and the forecasters were cautioning - "buckle up, baby". We started unplugging electronics to safe guard from lightening strikes. We live in the lightening strike capitol of the world - along with shark bites. Imagine the t-shirt.

Joe's laptop and the weather radio were our primary defense. Two magenta with blue blobs were headed straight for us. Magenta loosely translates to The Apocalypse and the blue denotes hail.

When it started to hail, the trees bent parallel to the ground and the rain swirling in tight rotations, we headed for the walk in closet. It is our "safe room". The dog ran under the bed but then realizing that she was there alone, she scrambled out and ran to the closet to sit in tight quarters with the rest of us.

We were in the closet for about 20 minutes. It was enought time to take stock of what we would do differently next time. It's Florida, there is most assuredly going to be a next time, and if next time is a hurricane you can be in there for hours. My memory flashed back to several years ago when this town was being torn apart by it's 4th hurricane of the season - we were living in VA but my sister and family were here. We would call her with radar updates letting her know how much longer until the next break in the storm. They were without power and camped out in their interior hallway hoping the roof would hold.

I suggested that we clear more floor space and take time to shove the hamper of dirty clothes out before we went in. Jarrett suggested battery operated tap lights on the wall. Lexi, the dog, suggested that maybe we move the hell out of this state because it is too much for her nerves and she hates going to the bathroom in what feels like an oven every day. Joe just busied himself watching the radar and estimating how much longer until the next wave hit.

Once the storm passed enough that we were out of the magenta color on the radar, we rode out the rest of the storm in the living room where we could at least have our own chair. The whole event was probably an hour.

We walked outside and there was no visible damage. Our pool is completely full - to the point of overflowing. It will have to be drained today as there is a good chance that we will get rain again every afternoon this week.

Just another day in Florida... in the closet.