I prefer electricity coming through power lines instead of straight down from the sky.

Late yesterday afternoon a massive thunderstorm hit the Four Wheeler Midwest Bureau in northern Illinois.  We knew we were in for a big one because before the storm lumbered in from southern Wisconsin it got ultra humid and incredibly still.  Oh, and the sky turned green.  Never a good sign.  For the next hour we got hammered with incredibly bad weather punctuated by the most incredible lightning show.  I shot this image and the one above from my back and front yard respectively. 

Our electricity went out shortly into the storm.  Funny how you take it for granted until its gone.  This meant no television.  No Cubs game on WGN, no ESPN Brett Favre drama update, no Anthony Bourdain.  All of my computer gear was worthless too.  Suddenly I wished I would've gotten that cable so I could back feed power to my house from my perfectly good generator.  Slacker.  But hey, I got to use some cool stuff I've had lying around and never used...

So as it got dark we broke out our kerosene lamps.  I also dug out this cool battery-powered Pack-Away lantern from Coleman.  As you can see, this little thing puts out an amazing amount of light.   

We monitored local radio via this Coleman Stormbeam Dynamo Deluxe.  This hand-cranked device has a FM radio built-in along with LED flashlight and cell phone charger.  I never thought I'd use it but it sure came in handy.  One minute of cranking gives about 30 minutes of use.  Gotta love it. 

So I wandered around the house, clearly out of my comfort zone without the electricity I obviously take for granted.  Then I walked out onto the front porch and saw this incredible rainbow.  I wouldn't have seen it if the power was on because I would've been watching a machine.  I sat on the front porch swing for over an hour watching the storm and listening to my son Dan play his acoustic guitar.  In a way I'm glad the power went out.