Feeling Blessed

            Not long ago, I'd been contacted by Riddle Fire Department.  We had been there a couple of months ago for an open house the RFD was putting on for fire safety and as a tribute for the family that perished in the fire the year before (see here and here).  One of the firefighters had asked if we had signed up for a smoke alarm.  I told them that we lived in Tri-City and didn't wish to take away from the residents of Riddle.  They said they were willing to come or pass the information onto TriCity.  While Jenna was in Portland, a firefighter from our neighborhood came to install two smoke alarms. 

            He told me that they had been donated by the Red Cross and asked if we slept with the doors open or closed and was relieved to learn we keep them closed.  An open door will feed the fire with the extra air.  A smashed window will feed it even more.  Jenna was excited to learn that she is allowed to knock the screen out and legally exit through her window in the event of a fire.

            The wind had blown our tarp off the roof and it no longer covered the car.  I had mentioned it to Roland, but it remained uncovered.  The sun's been blaring by the afternoon and we have turned on the air conditioner a few times, or else we'll leave the windows open and turn up the fan. 

           

            This morning I woke up to a clap of thunder sonic boom right over my head.  The lightening right on its tail.  There were no counting spaces between the thunder and lightning.  "NO,"  I thought.  It was pouring outside!  Please don't let the smoke alarms go off.  Please keep our house safe.  It was raining HARD.  The entire time we've been in Oregon, I don't remember a thunderstorm like that.  I thought for sure the waterfall would be back in our yare, but it is not.

            We have a man in our ward who works for an insurance company.  He has a device to keep tabs on exactly where the lightning is headed.  When he dropped Roland off this afternoon, he mentioned that the lightning had been directly over us.  I don't doubt it.  Feeling truly blessed that our neighborhood did not see a fire this morning. The storm lasted maybe an hour and a half.  We could hear it move away from us.  According to the news, the storm had headed north.  Weird.