Stormy Afternoon

I'm happy that I don't live in the Aurora area of Denver - after a glorious morning and great early afternoon, four massive storm systems decided to merge over Denver and then scoot off to the northeast.  Tornado sirens blew, schools were locked down, and people were told to seek shelter immediately:

Luckily, while weather watchers saw several funnel clouds form, none of them touched the ground.  There was some wind damage, and, as the rain was falling at the rate of  3.3 inches per hour, there was a lot of unexpected flooding of lower streets and roads.  On a section of Interstate, the drains were clogged with debris, and water was 4 feet deep on the roadway.  Hail fell in many areas, wiping out gardens and flowers, and breaking windows in homes and older-model cars.  In a few areas, it looked as if it had snowed - the hail turned roofs, yards, and streets white - in some cases, snow plows came out and cleared the streets.  It was a wild afternoon.

  A few minutes after four, yesterday afternoon, both of my cats suddenly hunkered down, fuzzed up, and they both ran for their "bolt hole" in the walk-in closet.  They didn't come back out for about 45 minutes.  I'd had the window and patio (back) door open, so I stepped out, thinking there were unknown dogs or people in the back yard.  Nope.   The wind was gusting, and the clouds above us and to the northeast looked like they were boiling.  Other than a few gusts of wind, and later light rain showers, nothing happened here - for which I am very thankful!

   Tomorrow evening I'll be moving into the ABC house - Cooper and Lola are the dogs, Pounce and Tipsi are the cats, and Shirley (who is 95) and her cat Belle.  I'll be there for two weeks, and then move in with Rosie, when her family goes to a wedding in California.  I'll spend every afternoon with the kits, but I will certainly miss them.  And I'll only have internet access when I'm here, at  home, so I'm not sure how frequently I'll be blogging.  I might be loving the kits too much to get online.  I'll just have to see how things go, and how the kits react to the new schedule....

    I do need to visit the library - I'm currently re-reading old favorites from high school days.