Wow! That Was Some Storm

I cannot believe that I have had Hiker for 6 months as of today. Seems like I just got her but also seems like I've had her forever. She is such a huge part of my life now. She is my best friend and I do not know what I would do without her. This morning I had my “Ghost Radar” running on my cell phone this morning and it said “Ben”. Maybe he was here. Had been getting bands of rain off and on all morning but nothing major. Around 10:00 am, it started to pour and it started to thunder. We don't get a lot of thunder storms in our area of SoCal, so when they do come, they are kind of “exciting”. It also stayed pretty chilly outside most of the day. Around 11:00 am the brunt of the storm hit us. I have not seen or heard a storm like that here in years. We were having constant lightning strikes and they were close. One was so close that I didn't even count to 2 before I heard the thunder. It was raining so hard, I could barely see the house across the street. One lightning strike made the TV and lights go off for a second and the house was shaking from the thunder. Hiker at first barked at the thunder but then when she started seeing the bright lightning flashes and the thunder started getting really loud, she hid in the entry closet. At one point I was sitting on the floor next to her in the corner. She was between me and the wall with her chin on my shoulder and her whole body was shaking. When it calmed down some, she went back into my bedroom and hid in the corner. This was the first thunderstorm I think she has ever experienced. To tell you the truth, it scared me some too. Linda Pippin lives on the hill above me and she said the thunder set off her car alarm. We were beginning to think we were living in the mid-west. The Taco Bell 2 miles from me got hit by lightning. That must have been the flash of lightning that only took 1.5 seconds for the thunder to follow. Just remembered that today is Friday the 13th. Figures (LOL). It was a good day for baking. I made a loaf of banana bread. Sure made the house smell good. Never did get above 45° here all day.

Here is Hiker hiding in the closet during the thunderstorm

She finally came out of the closet and hid in my room