The Friday night began as any other summer Friday night does except Dad had taken Mom to the airport so she could catch a flight for a business trip.   I waited patiently for his return- at least I held hope he was returning.    He did.

We had dinner together and went out to the backyard to do some gardening projects. Dad’s labor, I’m management works well! The weather was like hot, really hot, extremely hot, breaking heat records for the date and the month of June.  I am learning that my human is part crazy because he loves the hot weather and stays out in it for the longest time.  I wanted to take off my fur and lay out in the backyard while he worked but he said it could get is in trouble.    The great thing though is he knows I like to be where he is, but I can’t quite take the hot sun beating down on my beautiful shiny black coat for very long.  So he lets me back in the house when it looks like I need a break or have had enough heat.  I cool off inside while he heads back out- told you he was nuts.

We finished our project soon after the sun went down.  My human was tired so he sat out on the deck awhile listening to birds chirping.   His favorite thing is to relax outside in the warm weather and soak it all in.  We stayed outside for awhile. 

When it was time for bed, we headed upstairs.  As he climbed into bed, I did too- I figured since Mom isn’t here, I can use her bed, she won’t care at all.   So I curled up next to Dad and went to sleep.

Then, it hit. Thunder. Lightning. Winds. Rain.  My human is still sound asleep so there mustn’t be much for me to worry about.   The wind blows the rain so hard against the house that I begin to wonder if it’s not going to come inside or through the roof.  My human wakes up at a big flash of lightning and the sounds of thunder.  Then, he drifts off back to sleep.  Not much he or I can do about it, so I do the same thing. WHOOOAAA!!!!! That last lightning strike near blew my fur off, my human jumps.  Again, we drift off to sleep.

It’s 3:30 a.m. and my human gets up.  After all the sound effects during the night, his and the storms, I am curious what we’ll find.   The electricity is out- so we can’t do much- heading back to bed is an opportunity well worth taking.

We get up later to find the power is still out- unusual according to Dad.  We look out the window to discover the backyard is a mess- deck furniture everywhere, the neighbor’s 4 doors down trampoline ended up in our next door neighbors yard, the tree across the street completely snapped in two, and trees or tree branches down everywhere.  WOW!! What a storm.  Dad takes me on a walk around the neighborhood- prefers to have me with him and not home alone after an event like this.  After our survey, he decides to place the emergency plan into action that he and Mom worked on but haven’t had to use.

Dad calls grandpa to see if he is alright and discovers he has electricity.  Dad packs up a few things (water and treats) and we head to grandpa’s with a stop at our church to make sure the grounds are alright.  We find everything fine there and head to grandpa’s.

While at Grandpa’s arrangements are made for us to stay there tonight if the power does not come back on.  This is good, it’s 100+ degrees outside!!  And Dad will not let me take my fur off!!!

We head back home and note a few essential items to take to grandpa’s tonight.  We find the house is still a bit cool so Dad decides to get some rest since he really didn’t sleep well last night.  I join him but soon awaken to the sounds of the electricity coming back on.

The beauty of this day and the lesson as well is to be prepared for an emergency and include your pet in your plans.  This storm was unexpected but my humans had plans in place for me since we can’t just take me anywhere.

Allen Pearson, Dog Photographer and Blogger

www.allenpearsonsphotos.com, blog.allenpearsonsphotos.com

Noah Pearson, Pawthor of dullesdog.blogspot.com