I was so excited!  We were getting three of our skylights replaced yesterday after eight years of looking though a dirty opaque kind of haze in our loft.  Two men worked non stop for at least six hours as I nervously checked the skies.  At first we were only supposed to get rain.  Then it became a possibility of thunderstorms.  Literally as the last dome was dropped into place and drilled the first raindrops fell.  Just minutes later the heavens opened unlike any storm I can recall in Texas in December.  It had been warm all day and humid.  You can see the clouds passing over from the picture I took when our first skylight was removed hours before.  Warning sirens started wailing outside, alerts began blaring on television, and texts where buzzing on my iPhone like crazy.  Thunder boomed and lightning sparked.  A set of our locked French doors blew inward into our den from the storm knocking down our Christmas tree.  My little one started getting scared.  I remember being very afraid once in elementary school when they used to have those “duck and cover” drills and a tornado passed directly over us.  After about two hours things subsided and Maris asked if the “tomato alerts” were over.  As people began reporting losses of homes, cars, and even lives I began praying for all those two legged and four who were still in harm’s way.  Frankly I am astounded that people out there still do not believe in human induced climate change.  The Titanic always comes to mind with the arrogance of man’s supposed triumph over nature.  Whoopi Goldberg said, “That’s the thing about Mother Nature, she really doesn’t care what economic bracket you’re in.”  My father taught me to always look to the animals.  Our wolfies were calm, therefore so was I.  Daddy was such an incredibly wise man not far removed and sanitized from nature.  A few years ago people were perplexed when they looked around and noticed all the animals were gone about a day before that terrible tsunami struck in Indonesia.  Now they know why.  So look to the skies but also listen to the animals.  The fallacy is our patronizing belief that they need us.  The truth is we need them.  All of them have things to say, from the wild horses that run the plains to the smallest sea horse that clings to fragile plant life in the ocean.  All are worthy of our protection.  Achukma hoke.