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        "Amma, it's starting to rain," Beth said, thoroughly distracted from her reading lesson with me.

       "Yup," I answered quickly, trying to keep her on task. "You can't walk home in the rain, so we might as well keep reading," I added. The summer afternoons are not the best time for tutoring I find but today we had no choice.

      The wind picked up and the rain came down in torrents. It was hard to see across the street to Bethy's house. The dogs whined and paced and I did my best to ignore them too. The lights flickered and went off.

     "Amma, what's happening?" Bethy said nervously. Just then the lights came back on for a moment then failed again. The wind changed directions and the rain beat against the side windows. The little tree near the porch danced around the window. Still ignoring the dogs and the storm,  Beth and I switched to math facts until it became calm.

      "Is it over Amma? Can I go home now before it starts again?" Bethy asked.

      "Sure darling. See you later," I answered as I waved her out the door. Then I proceeded to view the aftermath of the storm. The yard was thoroughly littered with pieces of bark and broken branches. Up the hill, towards the back of the yard, one third of a pine tree lay in the garden. It had missed the dog run and the house (thank God) and only flattened a few tomato plants. I was stunned. I had not heard it crack and come down.  Just thirty minutes before three dogs had been in that run. In fact, I had almost let them stay in the run. It has two dog houses where they can get out of the rain. Providentally though, I had asked Kyle to bring the dogs in before he left to see friends.

        "It's a miracle" I thought to myself. That tree is huge. It missed the house. It missed the fence. And I never even heard it come down. So does that answer the age old question -- If a tree falls in the woods and there is no one there to hear it, does it make any noise? Apparently not!

         Boy, does my husband have his work cut out for him!