Four Mississippi is Approx Two Miles*

Last January the high for the month was 35 degrees. We went through our (Arizona) winter clothes by January 4th. We found out why people have fireplaces in their homes and why wool blankets are all the rage. We also discovered why people wear socks. 

Two weeks ago it was 7 degrees and our hot water heater froze. Since then, the weather has been more or less wonderful--except for the rain. I'm over the whole rain-thing. I never knew the importance of having a weather app on my phone until I moved here and discovered that people, who are not Polly, actually pay attention to the weather, hour by hour, on purpose.

East Texas on a sunny
January morning

Monday, after days of rain, the sun came out around 3 p.m. and I opted to grab a bit of vitamin D. With my new earbuds and a podcast, I went for a walk around Wake Village. What I didn't do was check the weather radar to see what Mother Nature had in store an hour later. This will be a lesson I guarantee I won't forget any time soon. 

About a mile and a half from my home, I noticed the clouds rolled in. As I walked East, I saw lightening in front of me. This was a surprise for two reasons, first, I wasn't expecting any more storms for the day and second, storms here come from the West. Essentially, I managed to walk around long enough that a thunderstorm had circled around East Texas and now I wasn't close to home. And just in case I wasn't completely convinced that this might have not been in my best interest, the second time I saw the lightening, I only got to 6 Mississippi. 

Wake Village on a warm January day

After repeatedly calling the three Sunshines with no luck (why did the young adults pick that moment to put down their phones?) and sending SOS texts to all of them, explaining I'm out in the open and please come get me, I started looking for cover. Given this is more or less friendly territory, I figured I could just duck under someone's porch if necessary. Otherwise, I was already drenched so I'd just keep walking towards home.

I made it to my block about the time the lightening hit 4 Mississippi and then Marty called, wondering where I was. "I saw it was raining," he announced right as a clap of thunder went off, shaking the ground. 

Today on my walk, I took a couple of pictures of the clear sky. I wanted something to remember the good times by, as it is supposed to rain on and off for the next two weeks. But hey! At least this January it is supposed to be in the 60s.    

*According to Polly, our local weather expert.