Derecho* is a Four Letter Word

This past weekend, I traveled with my family to our house in Deltaville for an idyllic and relaxing weekend.  The Saturday before the 4th of July is always the day Deltaville celebrates what they call "Heritage Day" with 5K's, crab races, vendors, a parade, a ball game and some fireworks.  I try not to miss it.

This year, the kids and I got down there Friday evening around 8:30pm.  It was still 101* outside.  The house was struggling to cool down with the AC cranked.  After soaking our feet in the creek and letting the dog swim, we went back inside to 88* temps and relaxed waiting for my parents.  I checked the weather and saw we had a line of storms coming and a Thunderstorm Watch.  About that same time, my friend over at the Snowtography blog sent me a message about the storms (It was much appreciated as we have no TV since the tornado took the antennae).

The kids went to bed, and I stayed up and waited for my parents who were making their way from Tappahannock at breakneck speed to try to beat the storm.  They had furniture on the back of the truck.  No less than a minute after unloading, the storm was upon us.  We watched from the deck as the wind blew at 80 MPH, bending trees and sending the water from the creek blowing in a sheet. The lightning was intense.  The fire siren began wailing and the whole scene grew surreal.  Just as I began to panic about potential tornadoes, the storm blew past.  But not before shutting off our power.

 (Turn the volume down unless you want to hear my dad belching and me saying "Oh My Gawd" like a moron- trust me, you don't)

The morning dawned hot and humid and still without power.  Without power means no AC during one of the hottest days of the year (temps and heat index in the 100's) as well as no water.  This is why there was no power:

Please note the wire hanging down.

Tree laying on the wires. Each day it seemed to dip lower and lower.

The power was not restored until around 7:00 pm on  Sunday- well after I returned home to Maryland. While living in the heat was not the most fun I've had, I did have a pretty entertaining weekend... more on that later.

Thanks to those Blisters who offered an electrified AC cooled haven in the heat: CBW and Noe Noe Girl

*a Derecho (Go here for pronunciation) is a widespread, long-lived, straight-line windstorm that is associated with a fast-moving band of severe thunderstorms. Or in other words a kick ass band of storms that knocks your power out for days