Chance of Thunderbird

The evening was pleasant when I decided to take Joie for a bit of a longer walk. The air was comfortable. The sky was overcast, but nothing that looked sinister in the twilight's quickly dimming light. There was no thunder or lightning, or at least nothing appeared nearby. It is not uncommon in the Denver area to see lightning across many miles.

The walk started off pleasantly. Joie was doing all the dog things that a dog does on a doggy walk, and I was enjoying the evening's ease, peace and pleasant pine and other natural aromas carried on the gentle wind. As we turned the corner around the second street we often walk, right in front of me was a massive lightning strike. I stopped and instantly count...

    "...one one thousand"

        "....two one thousand"

            "...three one thousand"

                "...four one thousand"

                    "...five one thousand" (one mile away)

                       "...six one thousand"

                            "....seven one thousand"

                                "...eight one thou..."  The thunder rumbles loudly over us!

It is less than two miles away. That means it can strike anywhere nearby at any moment. I am definitely not going to continue to walk another quarter mile in the direction of the strike! I turn us around immediately and begin running back home. I'm paying attention to my hair, hoping to not feel the pre-strike hair fuzz or the audible buzz.  Almost instinctively, I take my hand up to jostle my hair as though that would really stop lightning from striking.

We run back down the connector road, across a main road, then directly onto our street. Joie is not as fast as she used to be but after some initial nudging, she works to keep up. Another lightning strike...less than one mile away now! I am not even bothering to stay on the sidewalk. We run a direct path to our home, at a sharp angle to the street.

As we are rushing through our front door, another bright lightning strike hits behind us. My count barely made it to "one" before the thunder clapped at our backs! Both Joie and I jolt in surprise and I rush us through the door as fast as possible. That strike was no more than a block away!

As I write this, lightning is still striking nearby as the storm clouds roll on. We are relatively safe inside, and I am not inclined to go on another jaunt this evening.