Friday, July 15, 2016

Storm and Stress

Most early summers, it seems, southern Alberta experiences at least one severe rain-storm. The worst, so far, of this year, which has been a relatively wet one, occurred Wednesday evening. It started with thunder and continued with rain. The precipitation came down hard and heavy for about twenty, perhaps thirty minutes, in my part of town. Elsewhere, even within the city, there was hardly any fall of moisture at all. There was even some hail, which I dislike; aside from destroying crops in the country, hail can block drains and cause flooding within minutes. Fortunately, it did not happen this time. (Though, afterward, I overheard a householder across the alley commenting that there was water coming into her basement. The basement in my old house never flooded, but I think of it every time we get heavy rain.)



The cats were unnerved by the weather. Cammie hides at the first sound of thunder. She is quite frightened by it, and seeks refuge under the bed or behind the library’s bookcases. Renn disappeared, too. I believe he slinked under the bed. For a big mancat, he still struggles with his bravery - which is much stronger than previously. Still, this storm was extraordinary.



Josie and Tucker did not hide, but they moved as far as they could from the external walls. The rain fell with force and made a tremendous noise. I wonder if they knew it was the rain, or merely associated the disturbance with the precipitation. Certainly, they could see the rain, if they ventured near the windows.

The evening, for the beasts, was not improved by the fact that the storm abated, then returned - trickery that they must have found disconcerting.


But at last the tempest receded for good. The cats-in-hiding emerged. Renn arched his back and wanted attention; he seemed embarrassed by his lapse of courage. Cammie was consoled with some time on my chest, where she purred and recovered. The four of them spent the rest of the night smelling the wondrous scent of freshly fallen rain. That at least was some compensation for both storm and stress.

10 comments:

  1. Awww, poor babies. At least they have the good sense to be nervous/scared by storms. The last one we had, when Dad and my uncle were visiting, Nicki stood at the patio door (open a bit) and kept meowing to go out. *rolling my eyes*

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  2. guys....we due knot like storms either; gram paw dude used ta lay in de middle oh de hallway in de "loaf" position when it got reel lee bad; all most like him hurd de weather dood say, go two a central part oh yur houz...

    but inn deed when it iz all said & done, de air doez smell kleen & we can watch fishin werms on de sidewalkz !!

    heerz two a yellowtail catfish kinda week oh end two all ~~~~ ♥♥♥♥

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  3. Cats and storms. There should be a weather person just to alert cats on coming storms. Poor Cammie, I don't blame her hiding. Holly does not like the storms - we had a big storm the other night and rain came through the open window and on to the bed much to her annoyance.

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  4. Glad the storm is over now. Sometimes if miss pops gets scared by the biggest of the storms she runs outside and hides under the deck, her safety spot. Of course this means she gets soaked and brings her closer to the weather. Silly girl.

    Hope you have a calm weekend.

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  5. Hah. After last nights storm John I think the worst storm of the year has changed hands. There was a funnel cloud not far from me, and golf ball sized hail pounding my poor truck on the way home from work last night.

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  6. Each of mine react differently to rain and thunder. Annabelle is least affected by the noise or rain. Boo hides at the first drop of rain. Both Jinx and Ping aren't bothered by the rain, but do not like the noise associated with loud thunder.

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  7. My gang doesn't seem to mind storms. They don't hide, and some of them seem fascinated by lightning and they'll look out the window and watch. Maybe they think Mother Nature is putting on a show just for them? :-)

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  8. Flynn doesn't mind rain even if it is heavy, but would probably decide against sitting outdoors during a tempest. He hates thunder though whereas Eric paid no notice whatsoever to it. I think he would have stayed out in a tempest. He had such a fascination with rain and water.

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  9. It is funny how some cats don't mind a storm and some do. Phoebe isn't afraid of thunder, but when she hears it pouring, she comes to me for protection.

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  10. fortunately the rain doesn't freak us out too much, but there was a storm a couple of weeks ago in the middle of the night - there was a HUGE crack of thunder and everyone jumped!!

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