It rained this evening. Heavily. The kind of storm often called "driving rain." Visible as sheets of moisture heading down the street from west to east, I'm very aware that some of my readers might regard a rainstorm as an "Oh, no! Not again!" event, but in my little corner of Colorado it's been very, very dry. I honestly don't remember the last time my neighborhood had rain like this evening. The storm was accompanied by lightening and thunder - at least one lightening strike was very close to the house.

The thunder has moved off - probably to the north and east, and the rain has subsided to a gentle shower.

Life in a semi-arid climate has taught me to long for evenings like this. I also lost my satellite signal, so watching the Rockies-Dodgers game was out of the question. I haven't checked the local news to hear if we have any threats of flash flooding - the fires which denuded huge stretches of forest have left large areas vulnerable to floods. A mudslide closed a major road between the mountains and Fort Collins yesterday. I won't be surprised if more are reported on this evening's news.

Here in my neighborhood, the streams are limited to the remnants of the area's agricultural days, when an interconnected series of ditches provided water for small farms. There could be flash floods which would cause those ditches to overflow, but the major danger is in areas affected by fire.

Lady, the little cat, hates storms, and spent the evening scampering from one hiding place to another, her belly almost scraping the carpet as she cowered in fear. Each time the thunder crashed again, she would run to another spot under a bed or a chair. She could not be convinced that she was safe inside, and could remain in one spot while Grinch and I kept watch.

Grinch, the big guy, on the other hand, looked around in surprise at especially loud claps of thunder, but for the most part greeted the noise with his usual "whatever" approach to life.

It's a wonderful evening at my house!