Anticipation is usually greater than fulfillment. You know, the calm before the storm, the deep breath before the plunge, all way more pregnant with possibility. There's a storm coming, they say, and the doppler radars are doing their level best to prognosticate a big wad of nasty.

But for all predictions and the meteorology, you just can't wrangle a storm. The fact that they're beyond us is what makes them cool. That this coming storm could mutate into something for real serious is exciting, even if the aftermath were tragic. (Doubtful, given that the truly devastating storms tend to blow themselves out before they ever reach lake country, but still...) I don't WANT the skies to rain destruction or a tornado to materialize and start busting barns and tossing cars, but the fact that we're all powerless to stop it if it does is somehow reassuring in a weird way.

Of course, weathermen are inordinately cheerful when good weather is on the way, and outrageous prophets of doom when rain is coming, so when they tell us to buckle down and hang on tight for the wrath of God, it's almost always a letdown. Even so, I was promised a boomer tonight and I'm pacing the grounds and watching the night sky between bouts of comic craft. There are no stars, and high altitude lightning and distant thunder promises some sort of show of force. A sky-wide flash revealed a bank of thunderheads that look menacing enough. I guess we'll see.

If the heavens do open wide, my beloved and brave doggy (sarcasm) will no doubt beat her way out of the back hall and into the basement. Some dogs are gun shy, some bark incessantly at strangers; i'm convinced my wee little labrador has some half-formed canine ideology that insists there are vengeful gods of thunder who will destroy her for all her doggy sins, like pooping in the house ages ago or the time she ate half a tray of cookies before yodeling them back up hours later. Or she's just a total puss who's afraid of the sound of heated air expanding. But try and explain that to her. Dogs are great and all, but their grasp of science is...wanting. Perhaps if I demonstrated the fundamentals of weather systems using sausage links or pig ears...

Anyway...there's work to be done, and a capital night for saving my work files often.


ja, mata