Luckily I didn’t have any work to do last night since I had finished up the work on a client’s site as much as I could until I hear back from her. This was good since I wouldn’t have been able to get anything done because of the weather. I had gotten Breanna to sleep but Hayley was still tossing and turning when the wind abruptly picked up to very fast gusts, rattling windows and doors. Then the lightning started up. The wind woke Breanna up and I was just soothing her back to sleep when a few loud cracks of thunder sent Hayley running into the bedroom.

Since Hayley was scared and Breanna had been startled back to being awake by Hayley’s screeching, I brought them both out to the living room and pulled the hide-a-bed out. I figured the best cure for Hayley’s fears was exposure, so I turned out all but one lamp in the living room and opened the blinds, and we watched the storm together. In fact, I have a few awesome video clips of the flashing and occasional forked lightning (I’m not completely insane – I shot the video through the window, not standing out on the balcony). Eventually I hope to get them up on YouTube but I was hoping someone could suggest a very simple video editing program. I don’t want to do anything fancy, I just want to be able to cut it so that I only have the first five seconds of a 29-second clip. And when I say simple, I really mean “DUDE this is so easy a newborn could do it.” Anyone?

When the thunder finally stopped (though the lightning flashed like a strobe light for a good hour afterward), I got Hayley back in bed and she fell asleep within five minutes. Breanna was harder. She was wired so she crawled around the living room for another 45 minutets before she was finally ready for bed.

It was fun though. I love a good storm and last night nature put on one hell of a show. At one point the flashing was so spectacular and blue that it reminded me of seeing the Northern Lights. I’m glad I was able to get Hayley past her fears so I could get her to enjoy it asd much as I do.