Lightening: 1 Puny Humans: 0

Re: Thunderstorms

I still love thunderstorms. I still love to watch the massive display of raw power, and hear its crash just seconds later. I think its cool, and I think it makes cool pictures. I don't like to work on these nights - for several reasons. 1) I'm stuck inside, and unable to watch the storm 2) I'm focused on protecting other people while they are at the pool 3) The roads are usually a gong show afterwards on my way home.

All this you already knew about me. What is new, is my blatant realization of exactly how dangerous and powerful these storms really are. This last one that hit central Alberta spanned from Red Deer/Camrose to Edmonton/Devon/Leduc area. Again, I was working. Here is the effect of the storm on some of these locations.

Leduc: Trees on powerlines, cops having a nightmare with roads. Large objects previously thought unmovable flying across the sky. Lost connection with Leduc's major power source - blackout across 90% of Leduc. The only place with power? The pool. This is because you have to do some serious damage to make us get more than a power surge. You have to kill a transformer entirely. We had a few power surges, causing the lights to go out for about 10 minutes at a time, a few alarms to go off, and fire/ems to show up because the alarms go off. Our roof is being repaired, so it rained inside the building alot more than usual.

Devon (aka my house): When my parents got home they discovered that our big glass patio table had been shattered by the hail. Not just cracked. Shattered. Our garden was flattened, and our patio swing canopy was mangled. Leaves, branches, and sometimes full trees everywhere. The Devon outdoor pool had to deal with large tree branches in the pool. No worries, they clear it the second it looks like lightening.

Camrose: Big Valley Jamboree was on this weekend, and you may or may not have seen this on the news. The insane wind caused their main, big performance stage to flip, trapping people underneath. At least one person was presumed dead before the end of the night, and there were at least 15 people in critical condition. The last day of the event was cancelled.

Yep. Lightening/Hail/Wind gets a score of one, and the pathetic humans get none.

Thunderstorms

One of my favorite things about spring/early summer is the thunderstorms. I always sit on my bed watching out the window for every flash of lightening. As I get older the urge to go outside and get soaked increases. Last night we had a thunderstorm - but I was stuck at work! Ugh! Instead of frolicking in the pouring rain and watching the beautiful flashes of electricity I was watching children splash around inside. It didn't even last until we left work. Nope, when it was time to leave it had all cleared up and was sunny! I missed most of the spring thunderstorms while I was in Europe, and I can't even get a good one now that I'm back. Not fair.

My "real" summer begins today. That's because summer swimming lessons begin today. I get to teach all four sessions of lessons, and I really don't mind. I'm taking Education in University, so I'd better love what I do. The only problem with teaching swimming lessons so much is the perma-stench of chlorine that engrains itself into my skin. I'll have a weeks worth of hot showers before it goes away. Yuck.

Finally, the highlight of my day. Colette comes home tonight!!! Lucky bum has still been in Europe for all of June. Taking some classes, but nevertheless, still in Europe. I won't see her until tomorrow at work, but I'm so excited! Unfortunate souls, also known as coworkers, that have to put up with our reunion. Muwahahahaha.