Mother Nature...

...has been pretty brutal in Iowa this year. Last night was no exception. About 4:15 am I woke up to lightening like a strobe light and some extremely violent wind. M3 woke up, too, and the wind and the noise were scary enough that I woke up M1 and M4 to go to the basement. That is the first time we've done that all year. The power was out of course, so the lightening was really vivid! Thanks to M1's ongoing effort, the basement is reasonably clean (for a basement from 1888!). We set up a few folding chairs and hung out. I was grateful to be there and grateful the storm passed without anything major occurring. The kids went right back to sleep, no problem! It took me a little longer.

I checked on Grandma and Grandpa who are riding RAGBRAI and camping at night. Fortunately, they were staying at Aunt Marnie's, so they were sheltered. Apparently, the several thousand camping RAGBRAI riders were awakened at 2 am last night by fire trucks rolling through and telling them to get to shelter. What a night!