1970’s

During my high school years I hung out with a number of good friends, most notably Mark Menscher and his younger brother Steve.  They lived down on Meadows Lane which was a short walk from my house.  We spent a good amount of time at each other’s homes after school, on weekends and during the summers.

During that time the Menschers had a number of pets including Grey, which was an Australian Sheepdog or a similar breed.  Grey was a fun dog and always loved to hang out with us.  She rarely left the confines of their yard, preferring to stay close to home.  That was with one exception.

Somewhere along in Grey’s early years she had somehow convinced herself that the only way to stay alive during a thunder storm was to run and keep running as long at the lightning continued to strike and the thunder continued to boom.  She would also spend the entire time on the run barking as if to scare the storm away. If she were locked in the house she would find a way out even if it meant breaking down a screen door or running through a pane of glass.  If you stood in her way she would bark and jump at you until you let her out.  Over time the Menschers learned it was easier to let her out than to fight her to stay in the house.

The close proximity to their house also meant our house was on her usual lightning route and we could count on a hasty visit through our neighborhood and the entire “West End” during every summer storm.  You could never catch her during her lightning evasion and as soon as the storm was over she would return to the safety of her yard as if nothing ever happened.

Grey was still on the run every summer up to the year I graduated high school in 1979 as I went off to college.  I am not sure how long she continued her lightning runs but by the grace of god it never struck her down.