Wake up the kids, Storm is coming!

I'm sound asleep, and she comes barreling in from her morning work-out session.

HER: HEY! I was just watching the weather channel at the club, and there's a
huge lightning storm coming.

ME: Huh? Wha?

HER: Wake-up! Lightning Storms! Go wake-up the kids!

ME: What time is it?

HER: Six-thirty. Go wake-up the kids!

So I did what any rational person would do under such circumstances: I rolled back over and went to sleep. Well, tried to, anyway.

Hours later, I'm replaying that conversation in my mind, and trying to figure out what she really wanted me to do.

We get the kids to school at 8:05AM each morning. Their alarm clocks are set for 7:00AM. That gives us an hour to wake-up, make our beds, get dressed, have breakfast, brush our teeth and get out the door in plenty of time for school. Because they're boys, an hour is PLENTY of time to get all that done -- and even leaves some time for putting together a few lego assemblies, too.

Soooo ... the reason for waking them up at 6:30am -- thirty minutes before their normal schedule -- was what exactly? So they could shiver and quake at the booming thunder overhead? I'd rather let them sleep through it. NOTE: It did boom rather loudly 2-3 times, it was a pretty intense storm, but they all slept through it (despite barking dogs -- who had apparently been woken up by Mom returning home form the gym!).

Maybe she was worried that lightning might strike them while they were sleeping?

All I know is that I'm extra crabby today, because I never really did get back that 30-minutes of sleep. Boooooooom! Splat, splat! Grrr! Bark, bark, bark!

The Boy, The Lighthouse and the Pigeon

 

Damn it, missed again

 

This picture is not the one I wanted, but I'd sat in that spot for nearly 30-minutes, snappy my camera trying to get the shot.

This is Portland Lighthouse, of course, on the banks of the walking path that circle the property. If you're looking at the lighthouse, there is this tiny fraction of a second during which the lighthouse beam is shinning full on you. It's so bright, I'm sure it would create some interesting light effects on the image.

I was trying to capture that instant -- but it's nearly impossible with the delayed shutter action of my digital camera. This is the best shot of dozens of other shots in which I completely missed the rotating light altogether, or too soon before or after the beam had swept past my position on the rocks.

Apollonius of Perga is surely not pleased with my efforts, and probably could have done much better.