2011 Dust storm of the year!

     O.k.  Last night, around 8pm, I was leaving class when I looked south of the building and saw the biggest, darkest cloud I've ever seen on the ground.  It was so big that I instantly thought of that scene in Independence Day when those ships were entering into Earths atmosphere in those ominous looking clouds.  It was a daunting sight.  The official size of the cloud was fifty miles wide and 10000 feet high.  Damn that's big.  I'm thinking to myself, I've got to get home before that thing reaches my house.

    I live about a quarter mile away from my classes so it wasn't that far to walk but I kept looking behind me trying to gauge if I was going to make it or not.  As it turned out, right as I hit my driveway, the storm hit me.  My kids were outside playing and my wife was yakking with neighbors completely oblivious to the oncoming storm.  That goes to show you how occupied she gets talking.  I tell you, I've seen her go thirty minutes straight, talking, without taking a breath.  I'm serious, I timed it.  Anyways, I brought everyone in and closed up my windows and watched this thing descend upon us.  There was wind and dust everywhere.  Tree branches were snapping all over the place.

     When it was over, approximately two hours later, I stepped outside to look around.  There was a layer of dirt on everything, sidewalks, cars, cats, dirt, air, it was on everything.  I've been in Arizona since '99 and I've never seen a storm this size.  These storms cause a malady called "Valley Fever" which is nearly identical to pneumonia, so you really don't want to be caught outside when these things hit.  Thank The Lord he provides me shelter and all of my other needs.  Going through storms in life is a natural thing but having God on your side is what gets you through them "intact"!