Thunderstorm~That's My World~080111

Our son stopped by the house yesterday afternoon and after he left, I heard claps of thunder.  I looked outside and yes, indeed!  There were dark clouds all around the valley and up the mountain.  I needed to head up the mountain to the local feed store there to buy some "critter food" for my scrub jay who visits the yard (he loves the peanuts!) and I wanted to also stop by the horse ranch and pick him up some acorns, since I was completely out of them, too.  So, up Highway 74 I headed.  It started to rain big drops down at the base of the mountain, which is at 1,000 feet.  By the time I was heading up the winding, narrow road, it was pouring.  Now, I drive this road at least twice a week and sometimes 3 or 4 times a week during the summer, when I'm off school.  I've driven it through snow, hail, dry heat, but this was the first time I actually thought, "You know, I just might NOT make it off this mountain!"  The rain was coming sideways, it was actually blowing across the road, and my wipers were set on HIGH.  If I didn't know every curve on that road, I would have turned around.  In fact, the Jeep Cherokee behind me pulled over and just stopped.  Thunder was rolling all around and I could see lightning off the side of the road.  Water was running in little streams off the hills.  I spotted a CALTRANS plow going up the road and figured, "Yup.  They are going to have to clear the road from rock slides."  But, I kept going and soon the rain stopped.  I could see more lightning ahead of me and I hit rain a couple more times, but it was nothing compared to my earlier encounter.  I made it to the feed store, bought peanuts for the blue jay, and stopped at the horse ranch to give the horses an extra meal and check on their water.  They were all fine.  They'd received a downpour earlier in the afternoon.  It wasn't raining on the way home and three CALTRANS (California Department of Transportation) plows were at the base of the mountain.  Ahhhh....our summer monsoon season!  That's My World for Tuesday, August 2, 2011.  To see other worlds, please go to:  http://showyourworld.blogspot.com/