Tropical moisture, as it is called is inundating the Florida landscape with enormous amounts of rain. We are a peninsula and one would think coastal areas receive the majority of these rains. Not always the case as the easterly sea breeze meets the westerlies, they DUMP their loads over central Florida and guess who resides in central Florida? As awesome and expansive as the Florida sky is, the developing afternoon thunderheads, drawing up all this tropical moisture, become so dark and ominous, one would think the creatures of the underworld have been released. Instead sheets of rain pound the ground so hard not even this soil know as the "Florida sponge" can soak it all in. At this point in time many retention ponds are at capacity yet should we miss one day of rain activity, the "sponge" would once again begin absorbing the excessive amounts of water.
All the small little creatures that populate our preserve are desperately searching for dry new digs to call home. Certain areas of our yard sit at a higher elevation than their flooded homes so, much like wandering nomads in search of place to rest weary bones, these little bastards enjoy using flower pots, lush Rosemary bushes, storage shelves, recycling bins and our garage as protection from all this tropical moisture crap. Although we haven't seen one in a couple of days, we aren't sure if the slowly receding waters are the reason or Mr. Bill's back swing with the broom that has halted the mass exodus from the preserve. Other possibilities are the neighbor's garage and trash bin. The old man next door is twenty five plus years Mr Bill's senior so, the odds are his back swing is nonexistent, I 'd call his place a safe haven!
Seems this season the rumblings of thunder are more frequent with enormous amounts of lightening. As I watch people in our community walk their dogs, my mind drifts to our beloved Fred the Dog. How he hated the sounds of thunder and the continual flashes of lightening, always seeking comfort from the equally irritated thunder storm hater, his faithful master Mr. (wimpy) Bill. Since these storms appear all too often for Mr. Bill to remain "under the bed", his distress is lessened by wearing his radio earphones if the thunder rolls around too long. Wonder if they make them for dogs....just one of those thoughts.....try to visualize that, Mr. Bill with Fred the Dog in his lap, both wearing huge radio earphones!
Many years ago during a rather violent thunderstorm in Connecticut, we were awakened by Fred the Dog long before the storm arrived. Like most animals, Fred could predict an impending storm. We had just gotten back to sleep, Mr. Bill hanging his arm over the side of the bed, comforting Fred, letting him know he was not alone, when one of them rogue sort of thunder bolts shook the ground. Fred was up, Mr. Bill was up and the horrendous sound of a mad dog charging up our stairs, clawing at the screen door, even trying to break the window of the storm door, broke the dead silence following that clap of thunder. This animal, so frightened, was seeking refuge in side our home. Of course we had no idea whose animal it was or where he came from. All we knew, he WAS NOT coming into our home! As the large German Shepard continued clawing his way through these doors, Mr. Bill grabbed one of the boys baseball bats and gave the poor terrified critter a knot on the top of his head. Seeing what he had done to the front door, no way was he coming into the house, he wasn't even a neighborhood dog. As he disappeared, howling into the stormy night, we surveyed the damage to the door, Fred the Dog, now petrified at the approaching storm and the screeching howling animal that had tried to invade his home.
Hours later, heart rythyms back to normal, we awaken from about two hours of sleep to begin our day at Fred's News Restaurant. Early morning conversations centered around the storm during the night. One of our patrons mentioned he had seen his neighbor out in the early morning hours looking for his dog. Seems the animal had broken his chain during the freak storm and had run away. "Was he a large German Shepard?" we questioned. "Hell yeah and he hates thunderstorms, seems they have trouble every time one of them babies fire up!" he mentions. "Have you seen him?" "Seen him, damn fool animal tried to eat through the front door, he was so friggan scared! Mr. Bill yells. "Shouldn't be too hard to find though" he offers, "he's the only German Shepard running around the area that looks like a UNICORN!!!
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