Beware the Ides of . . . June??

Gibson and I had just gone into the backyard to play. I heard a loud rumbling-rushing sound and looked up at the trees on the hillside. I was shocked to see them bending and shaking in the wind - there was no wind where we were. I watched for a minute as it came closer and then grabbed Gibson and put him in the house just as a huge blast of wind threw debris down into our yard. Whew! I'm glad I went inside when I did.

A few minutes later the wind hadn't calmed, but the debris had stopped. I went back outside to prep the backyard for the major thunderstorm that the Emergency Alert System was warning about. I've never heard a real one before!

I battened down the hatches and Gibson helped by cleaning up his toys in the backyard. Then we went inside to wait it out. I noticed that the temperature had dropped 10 degrees in 30 minutes. It dropped another nine degrees in the next half hour.

Well, it seems the worst part of the storm passed just to the south-west of us. We did get to listen to a lot of "thunner" and saw a few flashes of lightning; Gibson doesn't like thunder very much. It hailed a little, but we didn't get the flooding downpour or golf-ball sized hail that some of the metro area received.

The worst part of the storm was a surprise clap of thunder that came after I thought the storm was past. Fortunately, Gibson was on my lap at the time. I saw the flash and should have expected the thunder, but when it came, it shook the house. Gibson and I both jumped. I was amazed to see our sliding door pulsing like a boom box.

It was kind of a freak storm. I'd expect it in March, but not in June. This is why I love Portland!