The sandstorm is coming!

The churning sky was amazing to watch.  The shades of brown, orange and in the center, a very black core.  

We had invited supper guests and, as they arrived, so did an uninvited guest: a huge wall of dust and sand.  I made sure every window was closed as tightly as possible (not very tight!) and the foam strips were pushed under the huge gaps in the doors.  I quickly turned all the plates upside down on the table, covered the food, grabbed my camera and went outside with the rest to watch this phenomena.  

The wall of clouds came from the north, which according to some, meant no rain would come with it, since the rain comes from the south.  That ended up being true, sad to say.  The clouds  were huge-miles high- and stretched as far as we could see from north to south.  It was a real "doozie".  It moved soooo quickly and people were running to get home in time.  "Grandma" was out trying to corral the family goats, trying to get them home before the blackness arrived.  

Add caption

The sky turned yellow, then eerily orange and then, as the full force of the wind and sand hit, the sky went pitch black like midnight.  Crazy.  The electricity went out at the same moment.  I realized it was more than just dust, it was sand!  I had plenty of grit in my mouth and felt the pelting on my face as I ran for cover.  

The electricity was off for hours and the wind blew hard.  Even with our windows and doors closed we could make dust pictures on the floor after a couple of hours.  We waited for the sound of raindrops on the roof, but they never came.  

This morning we awakened to complete stillness but a white hazy dust hanging in the air.  Too much dust in the air to warrant washing the floors today!  I swept but will wait until the dust disappears to wash. 

 I took a picture of our street yesterday morning when all was clear.  

This is what it has looked like all day today: no breeze, just heavy dust.  

P.S.  Lindsay blogged about her experience, just two days ago, as she and a friend walked the mile home from school in a storm like this one.  I can't imagine what that was like.  Five seconds of being stung with that sand was enough facial exfoliation for me!  You can read her blog and see some crazy pictures here:  http://lindsaydorsch.blogspot.com.