I heard the devil's chariot in the middle of the night rolling across the sky. We had a humdinger of a thunderstorm. I was awakened at 4am by anxious dogs. At first when I got up I thought there was a cop car parked out front, lights flashing, but soon realized it was lightning and thunder.

It was spectacular.

It was about three miles south of us when I got up at 4, and it continued to roll right over us. All the animals decided our bedroom was the safest place to be; one dog under the bed, one on the rug beside S (who kept dozing off in between the thunder rolls), one cat in the closet, the other in the clothes hamper.

I had never felt so much electricity in the air. It shook the house, rattled the windows. I've been in storms here in the Pacific Northwest, seen some nasty weather, but haven't ever been afraid to go outside like last night. It was too close for comfort; we could hear the sky split, heavy screeching crackle of the lightning, and then the immediate BOOOM!rumblerumble boomrumbleboom rumblerumble rolling across the sky. It lasted for about an hour. The lightning lit up our whole house brighter than daylight.