We're Not in Kansas...What the Hell?

If we thought the Monday Night storm was bad, we were kidding ourselves. The bonus was we were not out in it.

Again we could hear the thunder rolling in the distance, though we had blue skies. Lex and I sat on the grass outside after dinner. He blew bubbles while I listened to my book. When the thunder got louder and the lighting started to flash in the distance, at this point Lex thought it was best for us to go inside. "We go in now Momma." He was firm able his request and wouldn't go inside until I got up and made my way to the door.

Shortly after the sky got dark, the rain began to fall and the wind whipped. We started to watch form the three season porch. The lighting hitting across the lake. The rain came harder as did the wind. At the same time Mad Dog and I decided that it was best for us all to go into the house. I had seen a large piece of wood fall from the tree in front of me. Mad Dog has noticed something else. Lex was very nervous and not happy about the whole thing. The lights kept flickering but held strong. The kids were playing on the floor as Mad Dog and I listened to the storm. There was a large bang. Mad Dog looked out into the side yard. The canoe has fallen off the saw-horses it had been set on. We would have to take care of that in the morning.

Things started to calm down after 20 minutes or so. We went back out on the porch. The lights finally went, which meant no water (the well pump is run by electricity). Everyone had their flashlight. We sat and watched the last of the storm. When the rain stopped, Mad Dog and I went out to look for any damaged. We did found the canoe on the ground. It didn't look like there was much damage to it. We reset the saw-horses and together we lifted the canoe and put it back in place. The smoker was completely knocked off the fire pit. A small tree was uprooted. We moved branches and cleaned up the yard as the kids watched from the windows. Cars had backed up on route 4 outside the gates of the yard. Mad Dog noticed that there was an Ambulance and Police cars were up the road blocking the road. Something had happen, possibly the power lines were down just around the bend. The kids came out and looked around. There was a tree slit in two across the street. It was getting dark and we had enough excitement for one night.

We called my Mom and let Stuart know there was some damage to the canoe through we didn't know if was old or from the storm. We would bail the boat tomorrow morning after any additional rain fell. We moved the rest of the branches before turning in. Lex and I slept in the small bedroom; Gabrielle on the floor in her sleeping bag in the kitchen; Mad Dog and Loki on the three season porch on the futon. Lex fell asleep quickly and I dozed off listening to Salem's Lot.

The following day we packed up and cleaned up to leave as best we could. The power was still out, preventing us from cleaning the remaining dishes and vacuuming the floors. I bailed the boat with Loki as Mad Dog packed the car up. My Mom called we shortly before we left to inform me that the National Weather Service confirmed there were three confirmed tornadoes in Maine on Wednesday evening. One of those touched down in Alfred. The Alfred tornado was categorized as an EF1, putting winds at 90 mph. Looking at the damage as we drove out of Alfred, the images were those of a town cleaning up. The kids didn't know, and don't know about the confirmed tornado. It was the end of our Maine vacation, it was our adventure.