Nature's mystic schedule maker didn't do me any favors. I could have used a bit of warning. If I'd known I'd be bounced out of bed so early this morning, I wouldn't have stayed up so late last night.

The show was spectacular, but a bit over the top. This has already been the lightningest, most thunderful summer I can remember here in the North Bay. We've had some big boomers, but this one was the biggest, or at least the loudest and brightest. And it started at five o'clock in the morning, which is swell for morning people. They probably got a little more out of it than I did.

When all the lights are turned off in the middle of the night, how do I know when the electricity flickers? It's when I hear the fax machine reset itself. It lumbers into action after the power comes back, looking for the time and date and realigning its ink cartridges. From my bed a doorway away, it sounds like someone's grandpa trying to clear his throat.

So the electricity came back on at six o'clock, having been off just long enough to set some of the clocks back to flashing zero. I immediately and obsessively reset them all — the one by the TV, the one on the microwave, and the one on answering machine. Oh, and the most important one, on the clock radio by my bed. That one I should have left alone so I could sleep late, if the storm would ever stop.

The storm brought a brief downpour that was nearly as loud as the thunder. It was heavy enough to knock over the birdbath (although that might well have been the work of the local gopher). But at least the rain wasn't enough to drown anything in the garden. It must have sounded like a lot more than it was. I didn't think I had to do any watering tonight, though.

The thunder kept booming until mid morning, but the lightning wasn't nearly as dramatic after dawn had broken through. It was easier to sleep after the strobe effects stopped. I stayed in bed until the phone rang the first time (wrong number). Then I got up and sat in my chair for an hour with my eyes half open. I did get some work done today, but I can't seem to remember any of it. I'll have to check my to-do list and see if anything can be crossed off.

I'm always tired and I never get enough sleep, but today I had that sick feeling you get when sleep deprivation hits a certain critical level. I'd say I felt light-headed, but the truth is my head felt approximately the size and weight of a bowling ball. A small bowling ball, the kind the kids use on the bumper lanes. But still. Plus, my stomach was queasy and my legs were wobbly. I'm better now, depending on what nature has on the agenda tonight.