The Stuff Of Dreams

I was having a perfectly lovely dream the other night when a strange lady (in my dream) came up to me, never said a word, raked my arm with her fingernails for no good reason and walked away.  It seemed so real, if inexplicable.  I could feel the pain and almost surfaced out of sleep, but the woman was gone and I just went on with whatever I was dreaming.  In the morning, when I saw blood on my arm and on the sheets, it took me a minute to realize it was not from the woman who had so rudely interrupted my dream.  Bessie Anne had evidently turned over in the night and caught me with her toenails, caught me good.  It's so funny how the real world can enter the dream world.

Yesterday was a nightmare of another sort.  An electrical storm blew in, seemingly out of nowhere.  The sun was shining and the sky was blue overhead.  Suddenly there was a clap of thunder that shook the windows.  The turkeys outside went crazy, yelling and running around.  The herd of horses next door went racing back and forth, all neighing loudly.  Bessie Anne darned near climbed into my lap and the cats ran under the bed.  There were dark clouds over Placerville and I could see lightning strikes and the thunder continued to roll.  Of course, the power went off about then and stayed off for a couple of hours, more or less.

An outage in winter is an inconvenience.  I can stay warm with the wood stove and the cooktop is propane.  I can collect rain or snow for water if it's out for long.  In summer, it's just plain awful.  The ceiling fans which make heat almost bearable stop and the air is still.  There is no relief, inside or out.  I had been sitting for a cool-down after chores, planning to take a much needed shower and put in a load of laundry.  So much for plans.  I had to laugh; Tree Guy lives close by but down in a cut, and he drives up here to see what he can see, be it smoke or weather, from my hilltop.  He showed up yesterday.  We watched the storm move up the corridor to the mountains.  The horses' hooves made their own thunder, matching that from above.  Bess would not leave my side, almost tripping me as we walked out to the point for a better view.

TG left, and I considered what I could do next.  Everything that needed doing needed electricity.  I had dusted (yes, believe it or not) the day before, so I couldn't even do that to fill time.  I couldn't do dishes, I couldn't do laundry, and I sure wasn't going to go work outside in the heat.

When the power came back (yay!), I double-timed everything and took off for grocery shopping in town.  The fellas are coming up today and I needed to get started prepping food.

And such is the stuff dreams are made of (with apologies to Shakespeare).