Iced In

A bit of a winter storm last night here in North Carolina. I went out to Borders Cafe to write with my critique parter, J, and around 8:45 got a text from my hubby saying "You might want to come home. Getting slick out there." We shrugged it off, then decided we'd leave in about 15 minutes or so. After all, from the inside of the cafe, it just looked a little bit rainy out. No big deal, right?

The second I stepped out onto the pavement, I knew I had been seriously wrong. It wasn't rain. It was ICE. I carefully crunched and slipped my way out to my car and for a moment, I was afraid the door wouldn't open. There was literally a fine shell of ice all over my entire car! I finally yanked the door open and started her up. Then, I searched my car for a crap CD, which I found (some home brew labeled "Trip to GA, upbeat"). I got outside with no gloves and attempted to scrape the ice off my windshield. No, I don't have one of those scraper things in my car. Dumb, right? But I live in NC, I shouldn't need it!

Anyway, the CD didn't scrape off anything. I had to crawl back into my car, shivering, and wait for the defrost to warm up enough to melt the ice. Luckily, J emerged from the Borders minutes later and let me borrow a proper scraper thingy. We waited together for both of our cars to be ready, then took off. I only had a 2 mile drive home, but J had to get on the highway. I think she tweeted me about 30 minutes later saying it was the scariest drive of her life!! Maybe going out to write last night during a winter storm warning was not the smartest idea!!

Today, my husband has been off work due to weather, so we've been lounging around mostly. He might even be delayed for work tomorrow due to the ice still on the sidewalks and all. It's nice to snuggle and sleep in, but don't ask me to drive anywhere. From now on, I'm staying home. :P

Heat Advisory - Again

Ugh. The August heat is killing me. I keep hoping to wake up to a day of cool rain or nice 80 degree weather. Instead, my weather channel desktop gave me the ominous storm sound this morning when I turned my computer on - heat advisory today that the heat index will reach 105-107 degrees. Seriously? Again? It's sweltering out there. I don't know about you, but I'm ready for Fall.

I'm also super happy I don't live in Georgia right now.

Scary Weather

Last night, when G and I went to bed around 12:30, there was still about four and a half hours left on a tornado watch. G went right to sleep, but I stayed up reading for a bit, listening worriedly at the cracks of thunder and lightning and the pouring rain outside our window. Around 1:30, I finally fell asleep. The weather didn't seem too bad. Just the occasional windy sound that rattled the neighbors' wind chimes or the little bit of lightning that sometimes lit up the sky.

Throughout the next few hours, I slept very light. With every rumble of the thunder, I would wake up for a few minutes, look out the window just to make sure I didn't see anything crazy, like Dorothy's house floating by. Then, just when I had finally gotten into a nice sleep, my eyes flew open at the sound of the loudest sound all night. Honestly, G and I both woke up and grabbed each other's hands. It was as though there was an explosion of some kind. It literally shook the entire house. I don't particularly remember any flash of lightning, but there was definitely a loud booming sound, followed by a more distant thunder.

We both got up from the bed and looked through the windows, half expecting to see something on fire or at least some kind of damage outside. We didn't see anything. Outside, it was just rainy and dark. I still am not entirely sure what it was we felt last night. Lightning? Just really loud thunder? Thank God it wasn't a tornado coming through. This morning, the news reported 8 tornadoes in surrounding areas. Yikes! This morning, we are both tired from getting pitiful sleep, but at least we can be happy with the fact that we still have our home and we are both alive and healthy. That was some seriously scary weather.