weird phenomena

There’s a katydid loose in the house tonight. A LARGE lovely green one. Katydid green is devine. My sweet Emily is terrified of any small thing with wings. Her phobia includes butterflies, moths (especially moths), grasshoppers, even lady bugs and lightning bugs (for heaven’s sakes)…and katydids. We seem to have a lot of them this fall….not sure why.  Should be interesting in the morning if the katydid survives a dog and two cats. 


Another weird phenomenon happened today. I was coming home from work tonight and sat across from this church at the red light. Take a look – a fairy ring (of toadstools). I didn’t see them in the morning, but they popped out that big at least overnight (if not just in the afternoon). We have a bunch of small ones growing in our back yard.



Another unfortunate thing happened tonight.  About 20 miles north of here, a bad lightning storm hit.  Three structures were struck and started fires.  A fireman was also struck.  The report sounds like it was a prime area for a tornado.  We saw the sky lighting up from here, and heard the very low, distant rumble of thunder.

When I think about somebody getting struck by lightning, my nerves cringe all over. I was shocked when I was 17. Working as “kitchen help” in a small Italian pizza place, the kitchen help did everything – well, everything except make deliveries, carry heavy stuff, clean the freezers, or mop floors. It was late on a very busy night, we were short-handed with only four of us working the kitchen. I was in the front making pizzas, but I smelled something burning in the back oven. I hurried to the back and grabbed a potholder off the counter because the oven doors were always hot. The pot holder was very wet and when I took hold of the oven door with it, I felt a hard jolt – like it knocked all the air out of me. I don’t know what happened really, but the ladies said I took hold of the door and froze for like 5 seconds. I let go, took two or three steps back, and fell back. I remember being on the floor, everything inside feeling like jello, and then I started to cry uncontrollably. I just sat there and cried and people were standing around me looking at me – it was so humiliating! Anyway, the owner/manager took me to the back room and gave me some vodka…yeah, really. That settled my jagged nerves for sure. I sat there and watched TV for the rest of the night until my shift was up. He gave me the next day off too.

Before I left the restaurant that night, the electrician came in and talked to me. He said he wanted to see what kind of shoes I had on. They were running shows with whatever kind of composite soles they put on those shoes back then. He told me they were lucky shoes.