Hold for... the Apocalypse

You've probably heard about the incredible storm that went through the valley on Thursday night. I was just beginning to understand the enormity of it when I called Kevin around 10 p.m. to tell him it was hailing by my house, but he was already four zones in to freakytown, because his response was not, "Hello"... it was, "CAN'T TALK LONG - GOTTA SAVE BATTERY - IT'S THE APOCALYPSE!!!"

To which I just muttered, "hail," before we hung up. I guess you gotta save the phone battery in case the 4 Horsemen call.

At about that point, the sky lit up in about 90 different directions, like the gods were having a 70s style party with a bunch of strobe lights, and oversized speakers with the bass turned up. "Oh, You need the Base!" Hail drummed at the windows, sounding like someone wanted to come in, NOW.

The sky went from white to yellow to black, and back. I was thinking, "Who needs cable?" when the power went out. Rats! I need cable!

But it was not to be. The power did not come back on. All I could hear was thunder, and then sirens.

The rain stopped after a couple of hours, and the temperature dropped to the mid-70s, unheard of in August. Turned out it was a record low for August for all time. I opened up all the doors and slept til morning.

It was cool until about 10 (well, moderately cool - around 85) so I painted and did some other things that didn't require electricity. Then I walked the dog, and all the neighbors we passed reported their stories. Donnie saw the manhole covers on the street tilting back and forth from the force of the water passing below. Telephone poles were swaying 3 feet. Trees were split in half.

But the scary part was that one called APS and they said the power would be out for 2 days. I went home and packed up, and headed to Tempe where some friends were already holed up in a cheap hotel room, hoping to beat out the masses who would soon realize their holiday weekend was gonna be about slumming.

Next chapter tomorrow.