Woke to a nasty storm.

I woke to a low, echoing rumble around 245Am. This surprised me because I wasn't expecting any weather. The weathermen have been telling us that the chances of rain were slim to none because of a Bermuda High sitting over us. I could tell by the tone of the rumble it was going to be a particularly nasty little storm. You just get that feeling sometimes. It revved up kind of slow and Michael ran out to shut the windows on the cars. I asked him if it was worth getting my camera and tripod out and he thought maybe it was so I dragged myself out of bed in the middle of the night. I fumbled around in the dark because I didn't want to wake Anna up. I did a poor job of getting the camera attached to the tripod. I was anxious to hopefully catch some lightning! I had it on there backwards with the adjusting handle to the front but I didn't care. I just wanted to set it up and see what I could get. It was not an easy time. I caught a lot of flashes so brilliant it turned the yard into nothing but a white light. Than the rain came down, it did more than come down, it was being thrown down sideways by the wind so hard the sound against the trailer was deafening. The rain was being driven in through the french doors in my bedroom. I was scared the camera would get soaked. I braved it a little longer keeping the tripod just inside the doorway. During the course of the next half hour I must have come close to having almost 3 heart attacks. The storm was right on top of us! Two times I jumped back and cussed to myself because it scared me. The third time though, that was the big one. When that lightning cracked, I could hear the static electricity in the air. I could hear the crackling and it forced me to run back behind the door and slam it. At that moment the electricity went out. No more fans running, no more cool air from the AC, just instant humid, stifling air filling the room. I stood in the bathroom doorway for a minute trying to regain composure. Michael was laughing his ass off and my legs and hands were shaking so bad I thought I wasn't going to be able to stand up much longer. I said "The hell with his", turned the camera off, and jumped back into bed. That was enough for me. I love lightning and I love the idea we can capture it in photos, but you could never pay me to do that for a living. I had pretty much conquered my fear of thunderstorms until last night, that was just a little too close for me. I did get one lightning bolt shot though. Just one out of all my attempts. I don't even really know the mechanics behind shooting lightning, I just opened up the shutter as long as it would go and prayed I got lucky. It's not a beautiful shot by any means. The camera was not straight, the horizon is tilted, there is a rain drop smudge on the camera, and my messy side yard can be viewed in the light cast across the yard from the lightning. That side of the yard isn't real pretty, we've got the power pole, trampoline, swingset, a burn pile...etc..you name it. That doorway though is the best place for me to set up to see lightning. My goal was to catch a bolt and I did, so all in all, I'm quite satisfied.