Crazy storm leads to Slumber Party!!!

What began as a calm evening, ended up in a crazy all night bed hopping party....Okay, time to explain. The calm is the "calm before the storm".....Last night, the silence of nature was almost deafening, no crickets, no coyote, no birds spoke a word.....and then, as if on instant cue, all my dogs (of which there are 3) were anxiously, frantically clawing at the doors, the screens, the windows to get inside the house. I thought, perhaps, they were hearing distant gunshot, which always drives them crazy, so I listened, and heard nothing, but let them in for whatever reason disturbed their minds. Within 10 minutes, wild winds picked up, torrential rain pelted the rooftop, followed by an all night lightning, thunder and hail storm. Rosie and Max were already upstairs in my bedroom, but Bear, my 120lb Malamute/Shepherd/wolf cross, is terrified of climbing my floating staircase. Claw marks on the wood tread half way up show evidence of his last attempt, ending in falling off the edge. He wasn't hurt (as he is virtually indestructible), but he was shook to the core. Last night, however, he managed to overcome his fear of the staircase because fear of the rolling and crashing thunder was far greater.

The last time Bear ever jumped in bed was about 5 years ago when I was living in a tipi and temps dropped to 15 degrees. Bear, Kato and I huddled under a mountain of blankets, trying to stay warm. I think there was even a lizard that had joined that party.

But last night, Bear, very uncharacteristically, climbed onto my bed and buried his head under the blankets, wanting to shut out the sounds of thunder that shook him so. It was what they call a "three dog night", all dogs vying for a pillow and coverage for their heads, panting wildly with fear over the booming sounds outside. The party finally broke up when the lightning and thunder timing told me the storm was less than half a mile away. I jumped out of bed, raced over to my office and unplugged all my computers, printers and electronic equipment. My house has been hit by lightning before, and destroyed my computers, even though I had the "safety" of a surge protector. When all was safe, the storm had passed, I urged the dogs to a safe spot on the floor, and finally got about an hours sleep.

This morning, however, as the sun peeked through the crevice in the curtains, I had the task of getting my big Bear, terrified of the stairs, down to the 1st floor and out into the yard. Let's just say, as I half carried him backward down the stairs, there are a few more claw marks commemorating last nights slumber party......