"It looks apocalyptic"

Says my friend Shawn.

My mom and I were attempting to not get stuck in a swath of dark clouds this afternoon, during an errand run. We had already gotten some rain, but the black clouds that seemed to be coming for us at the plaza we were in, weren't looking too happy to be in The Sunshine State. So we cut our errand short and high tailed it home. 

The level of dark approaching only meant one thing: buckets of rain and rumbles of thunder are nigh. 

We get home in time for me to grab my Canon (the now several years old T7i), both the stock lens and the zoom lens (another old model), and outside I went to take photos of the forthcoming shower maker. 

As I was outside, my neighbor came out to say hi and ask a few questions. We stood in the road for at least 5 minutes and the wind started picking up. The temperature around us dropped, and it suddenly felt really nice to be standing in the middle of the street, even though the sky was rumbling, the darkness was looming and I kept saying to my neighbor "we better get inside. Wind pickup like this means rain drops the size of bullets are en route". We both went back to our garages and I snapped a few more pictures. 

This is also why there's a noticeable difference in the sky by the end of the photo stream. Whatever storm was coming our way, was pushing lighter clouds out in other directions. The flags and tree tops are shifting, but it's hard to tell. I zoomed in on the palm trees because it looks so weird that they're dying and yet they're still solidly attached to the base of the tree.

I only edited my name into the photos (via Photoshop), so WYSIWYG. I snapped a few on "flash mode" and the rest on "landscape mode". Every so often I like to mix it up, even though I know I need to hone in on my skills all around. 

When I had sent some photos to Shawn and he said what he said, I responded that "this is what summer looks like here. It will be this way for the next six months". 

It's true. There will be points in the day (usually around the same time, oddly enough), where the sky turns black, the thunder rolls (go away, Garth. This ain't your rodeo) and the streets turn into pools. It'll be over as quick as it starts (usually) and you can go about your business. There are odd storms where they stay longer, but sometimes lingering makes things worse.

Much like some people you acquire in your life. But that's neither here nor there. 

Once the storm leaves for the day, the odds are in your favor it'll be back tomorrow. If not, then the next day. However, there are storms, like today, where you get the threat of something big and it never happens. 

Seriously. All that huff and puff, and no one blew anything down. Except the flags got a little more fierce in their wave for a few minutes. 

No water was harmed in the making of the threat around here. It seems my mother and I ran home for nothing. Although, like I said, we were in an area where it was already starting to hit, so we knew we only had a matter of time before we wouldn't be able to outrun it. 

It's not bad per se, but she was driving and I haven't taken her car out for a test run yet (it's only 9 months old). I don't mind driving in the rain, but I do mind when other people are in the car. I can't hear conversations under normal circumstances, so when rain is pounding on the metal can we're in, I really can't hear words so great. Add trying to concentrate on the road and not get washed over by oncoming speeding pickup trucks, and I'm just an all around ace driver. 

Yea, the jacked up big wheeled trucks typically go speeding down the road and create a tsunami of a wave over my car when there is enough standing water around. Lessons learned too many times: there is no safe lane to drive in during storms. The outside lanes are the first to flood and the inside lanes get the brunt of the puddle speeders. It's a no win some days. 

Which is why low cars will always be worse off than higher cars and it's easier to stay indoors if you can. 

Unless playing in puddles like you're two is your jam. Then let's go for it. 

Except you have to watch for alligators. 

True story. 

When we first moved here, people told us to watch out for standing water. Be careful near ponds, lakes, puddles, pools. Gators are known to take a quiet swim and can blend easily into the area. In the dozen years we've been here already, there's been plenty of sightings in my community of little baby gators crossing the road to get into another body of water and they spend long enough inside these walls, they turn into adult gators. I even saw a few at one of my jobs, just swimming around in the man made watering hole. So they're here. It's a matter of spotting them.

"Florida is great" they said. 

"You'll love it" they said.

They failed to warn me about some of the lurking dangers. Can I please have a refund and live somewhere else?

Although, I need a job first. 

Guess I'll see what type of crazy comes to visit tomorrow. It's well past my bedtime. 

Cheers; 

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