A long night watch

There are things in life I enjoy as much as watching a thunder storm come rolling in from the west. The stronger the storm, the louder the thunder and the brighter the lightning, the happier I am.

My arthritis has been acting up signficantly over the past four days and both my joints and the forecast indicated a large storm should have hit the area last night.

Having a free evening last night, a couple of friends and I drove out to the parking lot of our mission parish. It has a view to the west blocked only by corn and would make an excellent spot from which to watch for the gathering clouds.

After nearly two hours of watching, we saw not even one flash of lightning. The experience was something like waiting for the Great Pumpkin, only the storms do not seem to have come at all during the course of the night, hitting to the west of us and to the east of us. There seems to be something about Effingham that forces storms around us. It is most irritating, especially since my arthritis, though someone alleviated, is still acting up.

All I want is one great big storm. Is that really too much to ask?