Despite the ever present large quantities of pollen in the air, this is perhaps my favorite time of the year. The reason for this is that this is the time of year when the honeysuckle fragrantly blooms in large quantities. I absolutely love the smell of honeysuckle. Were they ever to truly capture its scent and essence in a perfume, I can say that I'd definitely be in trouble. There's a distinct possibility that I'd end up buying a car or jewelry for the first female that happened by wearing such a perfume. Unfortunately, something else blooms at the same time as the honeysuckle and it brings on my allergies. I think that grass pollen becomes prevalent about the same time the honeysuckle makes its presence known. So while I love the scent of a honeysuckle bloom, I often cannot smell it due to my allergies.
Which brings me to today. I had an allergy attack actually start yesterday in the morning, but it wasn't until late afternoon/early evening when it kicked into overdrive. For me an allergy attack is often accompanied by aches and, sometimes, cold chills. Such was the case late night, when it became clear that work was out of the question today. So today was spent at home, taking drugs (not the fun kind either), catching up on some reading, taking a forty-five minute nap (which I really needed), and finally getting to record Harold Lloyd's Safety Last onto a DVD.
Early in the afternoon I decided to get online to check my email. Even though I wasn't at work, my job tends to plod along like a car without a driver. There were a few minor issues to handle, but they were easily dealt with a few email messages. I had been online about half an hour when I noticed that our computer room was getting dark; given the time and the west/northwest exposure of the front window, that shouldn't have been. A quick peek out the window showed the sky turning gray with a few rumbles of thunder in the distance, so I went to a favorite website where I check the weather radar. There was rain moving in, but it didn't seem to be that bad.
The rumbles of thunder continued to get louder but I paid it no heed. If anything severe was coming certainly our weather radio would go off. Suddenly the room was lit by a bright flash accompanied simultaneously by a clap of thunder that sounded more like an explosion than anything else. From behind my computer desk the surge protector, in which all my hardware is plugged into, gave an audible pop. My first thought was that the house has just been hit by lightening. My computer was still functional, so I shut it down immediately and then reached under the desk to turn off the power switch.
I walked around the house to make sure everything was okay. Things like this always make the news in Atlanta, where a thunderstorm usually yields at least one house strike for the evening news. All seemed okay, until I got to the back door with the intent of visually checking the roof. It was then that I noticed the large white oak perhaps 25 feet from our back door. It had taken a direct hit and the base of the tree appeared to be cracked or blown open from the lightening strike. A small hole had been dug in the ground where the electricity followed on the larger roots. Once the storm had moved out and the rain let up I went outside to inspect the damage. There is a second, smaller oak growing out of the same base which was also split. I found pieces of the bigger tree about thirty-five to forty feet away from the base. As much as we like the tree and the shade it gives, it looks like it will have to come down. I'm guessing that given its size and that it cost me $150 several years ago to have a smaller tree taken down, this one will cost a pretty penny to remove. Guess we'll have plenty of firewood for next year. And thank goodness that all of our electronics are plugged into decent surge protectors!
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