Mother's Day.. Mother Nature's Day! The alarms, accompanied by the flashes of lightning, woke me early. According to the warnings, we had about 20 minutes until they were overhead. The storms looked fierce on radar, and we were in her path. I quickly turned on the coffee pot...a cup of courage.. and hurried the cats and dogs into the basement. I filled my coffee cup and called the rest of the family to take cover. Reluctantly, they followed thinking it was another false alarm. We settled in just as the power went off. The crackling old radio named our road as ground zero, and we sat in the darkness while the rain pounded outside. It passed quickly, but it was still so dark. It seemed like hours until morning's light arrived. I started out for the barn and dodged debris all the way. The driveway was blocked by two uprooted trees, but I determined that there were no wires down. As I passed the Gathering Room, I saw chairs and tables scattered around the deck. As I approached the barn, Muffin welcomed me with a neigh. The cabin, barn, and hay barn were all standing. Large limbs blocked the roadway, but I soon saw that all of the horses were frightened, but okay. Callie, the cabin cat ran to meet me, and even the new baby geese seemed to be fine. After feeding all of them, I then began to walk the trails. Limbs, pine cones, and leaves littered the way, however, no large trees were down. The labyrinth cove appeared to be untouched until I walked the path by the lake. There was a row of huge oak and maple trees all bowed and broken, and one huge oak completely uprooted. They all lay like dominoes along the bank, but the large old beech tree was untouched. Across the trail, the path of the wind picked up again, and there were more old friends down.
Mid morning, the lights and power were restored. I then realized the extent of the damage in our area as the news showed picture after picture of destruction. Homes and property were changed forever, and life seemed a little more precious to everyone that was interviewed. I'll start tomorrow with the clean up feeling blessed that we were spared the worst of the weather. A powerful wake up call this morning! Yes, it was Mother's Day.. Mother Nature's Day.