A STORM! A real, live storm, ohboy!

2:30 this morning, I wake up, groggily, trying to figure out what's that sound? Something banging? Then the flashes of light help me realize it's thunder. Pretty soon rain patters, then pours. And it's, like, for real -- loud thunder, big lightning, right next to each other, downpour. V coolcozyexciting. I drift back asleep to be awakened again by the same thing. Do a little window closing, happy to jump back in bed as the gatos carefully watch the storm whilst perched along the edges of the bed. Yay, summer storms!

Hope your Memorial Day was good, hope you were able to do a little memorializing of those many folks who so deserve it. I did a little unique memorializing of a fallen soldier I don't know through his favorite workout, now named in his honor: Murph. It went something like this: 1-mile run, 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 squats, 1-mile run. Yes, I did it. Yes, I still hurt. I should point out we were able to break up the middle exercises into any sequence we wanted, which I'm pretty sure was key to completing it. And, there are these giant rubber-band things that make a pull-up possible (well, for me ... one of these days, man, one of these days). Not to mention those modified drop-to-your-knees push-ups that I had to incorporate in. Given who the workout was for, I wasn't about to do any complaining....

###

This afternoon -- grey, warm, humid, exciting! -- storm watch continues. Thunder's already reverberated loudly, twice. I'm never gonna live somewhere that doesn't have summer storms, hear me?

Oh! Guess what?? Check this out (!) (the all-caps, it's the all-caps! and the red danger!danger! heading! I get exclaimy -- I know, like I'm not already? -- in orange):

Severe Thunderstorm Warning for Middlesex County, MA

until 3:30 pm EDT, Tue., Jun. 1, 2010

Issued by The National Weather Service
Boston, MA
2:48 pm EDT, Tue., Jun. 1, 2010

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAUNTON HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR... SOUTHEASTERN WORCESTER COUNTY IN CENTRAL MASSACHUSETTS... THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES OF... WORCESTER... MILFORD... SOUTH CENTRAL MIDDLESEX COUNTY IN EASTERN MASSACHUSETTS... WEST CENTRAL NORFOLK COUNTY IN EASTERN MASSACHUSETTS...

* UNTIL 330 PM EDT

* AT 246 PM EDT... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM. THIS STORM WAS LOCATED NEAR LEICESTER... OR NEAR WORCESTER... Love how they're not quite sure which. AND WAS MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 40 MPH. Dang! That's fast!

* SOME LOCATIONS IN THE WARNING INCLUDE... AUBURN... SUTTON... MILLBURY... GRAFTON... WESTBOROUGH... NORTHBRIDGE... WHITINSVILLE... UPTON... HOPKINTON... UXBRIDGE... HOPEDALE... MENDON... MILLVILLE... HOLLISTON AND BELLINGHAM.

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL... AS WELL AS DEADLY LIGHTNING AND TORRENTIAL RAIN. GET TO SAFE SHELTER NOW... Tell me this isn't exciting! INSIDE A STURDY BUILDING OR IN A VEHICLE. DO NOT SEEK SHELTER UNDER TREES. IF YOU CAN HEAR THUNDER... YOU ARE CLOSE ENOUGH TO BE STRUCK BY LIGHTNING. OK, that IS scary! DRIVERS SHOULD BE ALERT FOR PONDING (this is a cool new verb, use it today) OF WATER AND AVOID FLOODED ROADS (yeah, don't go driving through flooded roads!).

###

Signing off, with two bundles of black-and-white plus orangey-beige-and-white fur next to me, butt to butt, asleep on the couch....