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Not kidding about the wild things. This was on the wall right next to the employee entrance at work this morning:
This picture was taken by a coworker and posted here with her permission. I've never seen a praying mantis in person before, only in pictures and on TV. It was as big as my hand.
The excitement and adventure didn't start until mid-afternoon. A major thunderstorm rolled in just as I was leaving for the day. It was really dark and raining buckets horizontally. Then we heard a tornado siren go off (not our town though, probably the next town over), so instead of heading for my appointment with the chiropractor, I got to head to the storeroom on the ground floor. The boss kept us there for about 20 minutes. At one point, I heard a really loud crack that I thought was thunder but later turned out to be a branch snapping off a tree right outside. It blocked most of the driveway to the employee lot, but I was still able to get out. I figured I'd be maybe half an hour late, but the chiropractor wasn't busy this afternoon, so my appointment might still be doable. Ha.
There were branches down (ranging in size from twigs to trees) and streetlights out everywhere. Traffic was pretty much at a standstill. Nobody at the major intersections wanted to wait their turn to go through the dead lights, so cars were pretty much shooting through the intersections at random, sometimes from all 4 directions at once. You were really taking your life in your hands to try to get through.
I was in the car for so long that the second wave of the storm had time to catch up to me. I was also in the car for so long that I really had to go to the bathroom, but the only buildings along that stretch of road are keycard entry business complexes, private homes, and the forest preserve. I had to stop at the forest preserve. The main restrooms were out of service, but there was a port-a-john sitting in a large puddle by the parking lot. Guess where I was when the second wave of the storm hit? Yeah. I'm not generally afraid of bad weather (in fact, I quite enjoy it), but I can't tell you how much I don't want to die in a chemical toilet in the forest preserve. The winds were pretty strong and it was pouring again, so I got drenched on the way back to the car.
By the time I hit the far end of Elk Grove Village, it was flash flooding. The water was still drivable, but I was sending up plumes of water like the bottom of the log ride at Six Flags. There was one puddle that was only passable if you pulled up and drove on the center divider. I finally made it to the chiropractor (the 25 minute drive took me 2 1/2 hours), only to find out his office was closed because the power was out.
When I finally got home, it was to a flooded street. I mean really flooded. SUVs had stalled out trying to cross it and were having to be pushed out. Fortunately, the entrance to my parking lot was at the very edge of the high water, so I was able to pull in and park, but I got wet again heading into my building.
I am so ready for a nap. It's been quite the day.
This picture was taken by a coworker and posted here with her permission. I've never seen a praying mantis in person before, only in pictures and on TV. It was as big as my hand.
The excitement and adventure didn't start until mid-afternoon. A major thunderstorm rolled in just as I was leaving for the day. It was really dark and raining buckets horizontally. Then we heard a tornado siren go off (not our town though, probably the next town over), so instead of heading for my appointment with the chiropractor, I got to head to the storeroom on the ground floor. The boss kept us there for about 20 minutes. At one point, I heard a really loud crack that I thought was thunder but later turned out to be a branch snapping off a tree right outside. It blocked most of the driveway to the employee lot, but I was still able to get out. I figured I'd be maybe half an hour late, but the chiropractor wasn't busy this afternoon, so my appointment might still be doable. Ha.
There were branches down (ranging in size from twigs to trees) and streetlights out everywhere. Traffic was pretty much at a standstill. Nobody at the major intersections wanted to wait their turn to go through the dead lights, so cars were pretty much shooting through the intersections at random, sometimes from all 4 directions at once. You were really taking your life in your hands to try to get through.
I was in the car for so long that the second wave of the storm had time to catch up to me. I was also in the car for so long that I really had to go to the bathroom, but the only buildings along that stretch of road are keycard entry business complexes, private homes, and the forest preserve. I had to stop at the forest preserve. The main restrooms were out of service, but there was a port-a-john sitting in a large puddle by the parking lot. Guess where I was when the second wave of the storm hit? Yeah. I'm not generally afraid of bad weather (in fact, I quite enjoy it), but I can't tell you how much I don't want to die in a chemical toilet in the forest preserve. The winds were pretty strong and it was pouring again, so I got drenched on the way back to the car.
By the time I hit the far end of Elk Grove Village, it was flash flooding. The water was still drivable, but I was sending up plumes of water like the bottom of the log ride at Six Flags. There was one puddle that was only passable if you pulled up and drove on the center divider. I finally made it to the chiropractor (the 25 minute drive took me 2 1/2 hours), only to find out his office was closed because the power was out.
When I finally got home, it was to a flooded street. I mean really flooded. SUVs had stalled out trying to cross it and were having to be pushed out. Fortunately, the entrance to my parking lot was at the very edge of the high water, so I was able to pull in and park, but I got wet again heading into my building.
I am so ready for a nap. It's been quite the day.
