Fitful sleep

My eyelids are drooping today. We had company for dinner last night and stayed up a little past our normal bedtime. But no biggie. We'd sleep in.

At 3:30 AM I heard a car driving down the dead-end road in front of our house. We rarely get traffic, especially at that hour, so I woke up. It drove by and then cruised slowly by on its way back toward the main road. A short time later, I heard it again. 

Stepping out of bed, I moved to the window and peered out in stealth mode. Again the car drove to the end of the road and back.

Off to the north, lightning forked across the sky from one cloud to another. It took almost a minute to feel the rumble of thunder.

I'd hoped the storm would stay to the north, but the longer I stood by the window, the shorter the interval between light and rumble became.

Both Caillou and Taz stood at my feet trembling slightly. Jilda called out from the bedroom asking about storm warnings.

I herded the dogs back into the bedroom and clicked the knob on the box fan to high, hoping it would calm their fears. I would have had better luck sedating them with Benadryl because the storm stomped over our house. 

Two of the strikes were so close, they struck the phone equipment putting enough current in the lines to ring our house phones.

The lights flickered, but thankfully the power never went off. 

We both slept fitfully for the rest of the night. 

Today, we've walked around in a daze. My brain was so fried. This is the kind of flower pictures I take when I get too little sleep. 

The bed is calling. Have a great week.