Greg's General Store

I am sure I could find lots of things to complain about today. But there are enough people complaining so I will do just the opposite and say Thanks. It is Thankful Thursday and I again have a lot to be thankful for. This past week we have been hit with violent storms every day. Our power has gone out numerous times and we had had to “rough it” and go without air conditioning for hours and hours in 90 Degree weather with 100% humidity. So the first thing I am thankful for is air conditioning. I am thankful that I live in a country where I have electricity (most of the time) and have the ability to turn on an air conditioner and cool off whenever I want to. Many years ago we visited the Dominica Republic. Down there, to save electricity, they simply turned off power to residential areas during peak hours. So every day from about 1:00 to 4:00, the power went off. I wonder what people here would do if that were the case? I can hear the screaming now. Number two on my list are the storms....

I awoke last night, for some unknown reason. I have to tell you that I have no trouble falling asleep when I first go to bed. I am usually out within a minute of my head hitting the pillow. However when I wake in the middle of the night it is a different story. I usually flip and flop for hours trying to get back to sleep. Because this keeps my wife awake, I opted to go to the couch and try to get some sleep. That way, even if I couldn’t sleep, maybe she could. I quickly discovered what woke me. It was a storm approaching. My wife was already awake but I decided to stay on the couch for a while to let her get back to sleep. As I began trying to relax, I saw a flash of lightening and then another. I knew this was going to make it hard to fall asleep but I closed my eyes and tried anyway. Very shortly there was another flash and I was amazed to see it even though my eyes were shut. That lightning was still miles away and the flash had to travel that distance. It also traveled through rai...