The Wild, Wild West

Last night there was a thunderstorm that beats any other I have experienced. It was loud and bright, with torrential rain to boot. Rain was pouring into the open windows sending me scrambling to shut them, which was not easy as the wood frames had swollen with the heat impeding movement along the track. Taylor, scared y-cat that he is hid under the futon, leaving Buckley and I to fend for ourselves. Adding to the chaos were the sounds of sirens and whistles, it was cacophony. This ruckus went on for several hours, but then there was blessed silence, however, just as I was drifting off to sleep the storm returned bigger and louder than before. Turns out in addition to the storm there were signs of tornadoes and all the whistles had been a warning system. (Too bad I didn't know it at the time, I was hunkered down watching TiVo in my third floor apartment when I probably should have grabbed the cats and huddled in the laundry room.) Today, the sun is shining brightly and the puddles have dried up, the only evidence of the storm were some traffic lights that weren't working and one tree that had been snapped in half blocking the road. Once again I am reminded of how courteous people in Chicago are, at the intersection of Lawrence Ave and Ashland, the traffic light was out. These are major roads running North-South and East-West and there are multiple lanes on each street. With the traffic light not functioning, cars were piled up for blocks extending in all directions. No one honked and everyone acted as if we were at a 4-way stop sign, allowing traffic to move freely, it was amazing, I am in awe of the mid-west courtesy.