Today Lexi woke up early, a little after 6 am, when the sky was turning light but there was still no sun. She woke up because of a thunderstorm, only I didn’t know that at first. What woke me up was her barking, running from window to window. In my dream-interrupted state, I thought it could be aliens or giant hamsters.
I used to love thunderstorms, especially storms like this one, when, instead of rain, there’s just the strange charged stillness in the space between night and day, lightning through the windows like a camera’s flash, the anticipatory seconds before thunder finally breaks and rolls right through you.
Love that.
Hate Lexi’s crazy barking, especially at six in the morning on a Saturday. It’s the opposite of magical, and it’s louder than thunder. I took her out on the balcony. Between claps I explained how far away the storm was, how there was nothing to be nervous about. I pointed out the beauty of it, the dark storm clouds against a glowing sky. The air was tinged with orange, and I waved my hand through it. “Look how cool this is!” I told her, and she stared up at me expectantly. She wagged her tail. I felt we’d reached an understanding.
The lightning flashed. We waited, Lexi staring up at me, me smiling down at her. The thunder, when it finally came, seemed to break all around us. Lexi leaped over me in a single bound, shouting something frightening in dog speak.
I grabbed her collar so she wouldn’t clear the balcony railing, brought her inside where she acted like a spaz for the duration. By the time it was over, maybe a half hour or 45 minutes from its start, everyone in the house was up. Chad gave up on the notion of more sleep and went downstairs to make coffee. The boy wondered why we thought a dog was a good idea in the first place. I couldn’t quite come up with a “Stuff That Makes Me Smile” post.
Lexi, satisfied, lay back down and went to sleep.
Update:
The thunder is back. So is the spaz… Wish you were here.
If it weren’t that it happened early in the morning, there is something kind of glorious about dog’s barking at thunder and lightning. It certainly is an expression of our place in the universe. Perhaps that can make us smile.
My Ginger would get so scared during thunder storms too . . . I wish I had her here to attempt comforting her again. On the 4th of July (and weeks before when folks were already ‘playing’ with their fireworks) even doggie downers wouldn’t help. Give Lexi a big hug for me! Maybe you can all schedule an afternoon nap in front of the fire if the weather is rainy :-) It’s actually sunny and warm here in Portland — I think the report said 94 yesterday!
wolfwriter (hereafter referred to as ww because i’m lazy), you’re right, actually. there is something glorious about it. though it’s harder to appreciate it that early in the morning.
carey, it’s warm here. like louisiana weather. balmy. i sort of like it. wish lexi did.
I kind of miss sitting on the porch down south, enjoying the light show of a late summer thunderstorm just before dusk. Given the almost every day frequency, our dogs took it all in stride.
kid
:) well.. I feel sorry for you guys, but… you certainly made us smile!
I’m fondly thinking of how our cats sleep outside but if it’s a really bad thunderstorm, they do wake us.
I’m very lucky to have had 3 princess-less days over here, and that’s the reason why I didn’t wake up today at 5 AM.
She’s coming back tomorrow though so I’m not looking forward to it.
Wish I had Lexi here to scare princess into behaving :P
How soon can you ship her over?
Oh and you should take a video of her while barking from window to window (although I would’ve loved to see your conversation!) :)
And to keep in mind your lovely lists… Maybe you can sing her a song to calm down?
Kid, Summer thunderstorms and southern porches… two of my favorite things.
Estrealla, THAT made me smile. (Laugh, actually.) Thank you!
The storm is “all over” Facebook, but I slept through it. No dog to wake me up and I had practically just gone to bed.
Animals are “nice” like that huh? They wake you up and then go to sleep. It almoast as if they just want someone to keep guard while they sleep.
Well, then, maybe an afternoon nap on the front porch in a rocking chair? I cannot recall if you have a front porch? I think you do?! You could fix one of those Mint Julep’s since you’re in that Southern kind of mood . . .
Terre, Too bad you missed it but I like your theory – the animals are waking us up so we can stand guard!
Carey, Mint Juleps. Now you’re talking!
Well, picturing this was stuff that makes me smile.
But shouldn’t you be disturbing her nap by barking and spazzing? Fair is fair.
Alright, I can’t believe I am going to talk about the weather but what the heck…
It is about 90 degrees in LA today and pouring down sheets of rain on the city streets below. yep, really!
Well, to be fair, the rain is not exactly coming from the heavens but from nine office building rooftops in downtown that the film crews have spent all week setting up with sprinkler systems. Add to that a huge overhead water system draped across the intersection and volia…”Give me the rain!”
Its been pouring, instantly off and on, for hours. Looks to be more of the same for tomorrow.
To add the animal feature to the story, as you did so well, I can say that my cat looks out at all the commotion, then looks back at me with a “You gotta be kidding me, right?!” expression!
Oh well, let Lexi know she can come and hang out here with the rain and NO thunder when she feels like it!
Linda, True confessions. Not long after we got Lexi (maybe a month or so), I was revising my novel, and my computer crashed. I could not recover the file and had lost about 200 mss pages of revisions. I don’t remember it clearly, but I think spaz maybe too kind a term for my behavior.
Whatever I did, Lexi now gets very nervous whenever I sound distressed. If I cry, her tail goes between her legs and she slinks off to safer ground. Maybe her lightning behavior is HER version of fair is fair! ;-)
Bobby, If one of us gets to come hang out at your very neato apartment in LA, it’s me, not Lexi. (I guarantee Kitty will like me more.)
Well, animals are awake guarding us and then when they are ready to go to sleep, it is our turn. I don’t know that I really think that it just something that occurs to me sometimes when the cat wakes me up for no apparent reason. My mind needs SOMETHING to cling to.
(WAY over 30k! Wahoo!)
really well said – looking forward to more
Terre, I know! *blushing* Yay!
Dean, Thank you. My decidedly (not) poetical adventures are always here for you. ;-)
You are so cute. Since you are being so modest about it. I am going to do the shouting
30,360 hits for Zebra Sounds!!!!!!!!!
STRIKE UP THE BAND! (I am so excited for you!)
YOU ROCK!
Great BIG smile! Thank you, Terre, for rocking the blog!
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