Stormin' The Mid-West

Last night I was awoken by the sounds of strong wind and thunder. The Ohio River Valley is a conduit for crazy-go-nuts weather (cyclones, hail as-big-as-your-head, etc.) and my friends have a house that was constructed specifically to withstand an F4 tornado (the place is built like a bunker; thick concrete walls, reinforced roof - real solid). Yet, regardless, when the lightning hit, and the thunder followed, it was like artillery coming down on us - I have never experienced such an intense electrical storm (I lived in Honduras and saw some crazy weather, but nothing like this). This morning the lightning was so bright and it hit so close to the house that I had to seriously consider ducking under the breakfast table (although my hosts didn't seem too fazed by it). The regular lightning that we have back home is some sort of diluted variety - like someone hit the Dim switch on our stuff. After this I now definitely don't want to see a tornado, but my friends feel confident that we might get one while I'm here. Yippee. I had to go out and make sure that Maru-chan was still here, and not somewhere, say, like West Virginia, or a smoking hole in the driveway. When I was a kid there were all those Irwin Allen disaster flicks always on the UHF channels, so I have a healthy respect for killer bees, killer storms, and killer high-rise towering infernoes (geeez... what kind of life do you suppose Mr. Allen had, anyways?). When I lived in Japan we were always under the threat of earthquakes, tsunamis, land slides and the occasional North Korean Taepodong missle. In New England we get hurricanes, blizzards and Nor'Easters (which are big storms with lots-o-wind & rain/snow). Hmmm... so, I guess we all live in some sort of imminent danger from some sort of natural catastrophe (killer bee or otherwise). Stay safe out there people, stay safe!