Wow!

What a storm! The prediction was for heavy rain, thunder and lightning, hail, and high winds. Boy howdy! Around 2 am I went from sound asleep to standing in no seconds due to the loudest boom I ever heard. Thought I was back on ship and the big guns were firing, all of them and all at once. So I did what anybody else would do and went out to have a look.

In the pouring rain and blinding lightning flashes I couldn’t see any downed trees or anything obvious, so I had a cup of coffee and thought things over. That’s when I noticed we had no phone or internet, the TV however did work. So, I watched a re-run of NCIS New Orleans while I thought things over and thought things would look better when daylight came.

Wrong! Turns out the boom I heard was lightning hitting the old pine tree, again. Looks like the second time’s a charm as it will probably have to be cut down due to the damage. The lightning followed a path down the tree blowing bark, branches, and wood chunks about 50 feet in all directions. To say the tree is singed would not do it justice.

The reason this post is so late is I just got our internet back up. Turns out the second time’s a charm on rebooting the modem also. Makes me wish we could reboot the phone. But we came through the storm without losing power and the wife slept through the storm so there is that. Enjoy our Saturday as it’s here now anyway.

Celebrate

Yes, we know this is really late. We’ve been celebrating because todays date is 2-2-22, AND the people who guess the weather on TV nailed the forecast last night since we got .1 inch of snow. Just enough white fluffy love from above that one notices yet not enough to be a burden.

Been outside a couple of times already to sweep the dusting of snow and see what 2-2-22 looks like. It looked like any other winter day in Iowa and some of the critters were out celebrating the day. Well, they could have been out just for survival also.

Back to the people who guess the weather on TV and their perfect forecast. As mentioned, we got .1 of an inch of snow. Can’t tell me these people aren’t professional as the forecast we heard said we’d get between 0-3 inches! Almost eerie the accuracy of said forecast. We’re going to keep watching that local TV news program from now on.

We may even go out a little later and try to get some pictures. It would be nice if all the critters would listen to reason and all pose for one picture. But, we’ll be out a little later trying to get a few shots and if successful will share them with you tomorrow. If not, it may be the day after.

Enjoy our Wednesday, and 2-2-22. Now for some coffee.

Late weather update

Yesterday we got weather with an attitude. At one point we had a wind warning, severe thunderstorm warning, and tornado warning at the same time. At the airport, where the weather service is located, they recorded maximum wind gusts of 63 mph.

Trees were dancing, leaves not raked were running marathons down streets and alleys, garbage bins were seen spinning down the street, and some were without power. This storm had one known fatality, a trucker who was thrown from his rig when it blew over.

I was out in it as we have a few questionable trees in the neighborhood with one right over power lines. With the wife needing oxygen we wanted to switch to the tanks should we lose power. Thankfully we did not. We know other areas were harder hit than us yet the storm still kept me up all night.

The neighbor stopped by a few times and over a smoke we shared out opinions on how much damage we’d see. This was not another derecho as there were no constant shear winds, just plenty of big gusts. If we hear more about damage we’ll let you know.

Enjoy our Thursday since we have fair winds today and hope you do also. Now for some coffee.

That was different…

Was going to do this post earlier until I found out we had lost our internet. Not sure where the internet goes when it isn’t here but am tempted to build a cage aground the modem to see if that helps. And the whole weekend, starting today, we could see some white fluffy love from above.

The weather people aren’t much help as we’ve heard anywhere from .1 to 2.6 inches of snow before the front passes through. We find it amusing that one local TV station boasts the latest, most accurate and up to the minute forecasts while not knowing what’s going to happen either.

One thing local weather people agree on is the snow won’t stick to roadways or sidewalks as they are too warm. Don’t care if it sticks on the road, we would just like a close guess as to how much we’re going to get. Probably won’t know until after our government fixes the ‘climate’ emergency we’re supposedly having. We can hardly wait to see how thier war on climate change goes.

We’ll be cruising to the grocery store in about an hour so I get some bitching out of my system. The cost and availability of most items makes me wish I really was stuck in the 60s. Enjoy our Friday if you can. Now for some coffee.

All over

It’s all over now but the crying. Not us as we had no damage, but many have some hard work ahead. The TV weather people say we had wind gusts to 61 mph yet failed to mention those gusts lasted for several minutes and were not far apart. So we’ll share some pictures of the oak tree that was standing in the neighbors yard.

This one shows why the tree didn’t make it. The very bottom of the tree where there should be roots spreading out in all directions to hold the tree up and provide water to keep it alive. This one had been hanging in there by sheer will power alonge.

It was darker when this picture was taken and this shot is around 40 feet away from base. Looks like it just imploded when it hit the ground. That should make clean up easier though.

This is what’s left of the upper part of the tree. If you look close, just to the right of the center, you see a post with a white board at an angle. That is where the steps used to be. Other than the steps and the power and cable lines going to the house there wasn’t a lot of damage. It even missed a car parked in the street not far off camera.

After the storm the sky turned to mixture of gray and black with occasional sighting of blue. Not sure whet was going on yet there were some interesting patterns in the sky as the wind died down. The clouds were still moving fast though.

This one was taken even later in the day and again, I’d never seen the different clouds in the sky at the same time. It was an odd day for sure.

The last picture we’ll share is this one of a confused cat the wife calls fluffy. Hadn’t seen him in a while so we were happy he found refuge during the storm. We’ll have more pictures for a later post as time allows. Enjoy our Thursday. Now for some coffee and pizza. Comments are always welcome.

Still wet

The liquid love from above just keeps coming and rain is in the forecast for the foreseeable future. Reminds me of Hawaii in the winter. Rains in the morning and clears up later in the day. Makes getting pictures harder as I don’t like the camera getting wet. Did get a few pictures yesterday, and will try again today so we can share some tomorrow.

The rain has been steady with little hard rains, at least while I’m awake. Don’t care what happens once I’m asleep as long as it doesn’t wake me. And I’m sleeping more as I get older so instead of getting up at 4 am I stay sleeping until around 6 am. And still staying up until midnight. Like that 2 hours back that I’m now losing to sleep.

The rain has been almost peaceful and if you go out on the back porch you can hear the gentle patter on the metal roof we had put on a few years ago. Trying to find steel decking with non-skid on it for the floor and power naps could make a comeback. Just have to rig a few electric motors so the floor would move like the deck of a destroyer.

Another plus for the rain is plant life is popping up all over. The hostas and ferns are as plentiful as ever and we even saw some flowers blooming. What we haven’t seen is an overabundance of bees or birds. Both are relaxing to watch when they’re out and about. The down side to all the rain is that we think the wifes hanging basket has gone on to plant Heaven.

The plants are either taking a long nap or so wet they just drooped into a slow death. They might snap out of it but we aren’t holding our breath. That’s what happens when you think the basket was hung so it wouldn’t get rained on. We’ll wait and see if the plants make a comeback.

Enjoy our Tuesday. Now for some coffee and donut holes. Comments are always welcome.

It’s back

Looking like we could get some white fluffy love from above today and another round on Thursday. Was hoping this year spring would just dance in and stay awhile. The days with highs in the 60s were no more than a tease however and it looks to be a year of false springs intertwined with short bursts of winter between. Nothing wrong with that since the cold weather gear has not been put away yet.

And we have to admit that now that all the old snow melted a fresh coating would make the landscape look a little better. We’ve had snow on the early blooming flowers before. Since almost all the feral cats here survived the winter we take that as a good sign. We say almost all as one got hit by car, isn’t doing too well, and may not make it.

Every day when outside we look to see if someone put up a prank speed limit sign at the end of our alley. We say this as cars that use the alley seem to think there is no speed limit in alleys. Since our house sits close to said alley we’ve had our share of cars stuck in the bank that borders the alley. These people to overestimate their driving skill and end up crashing.

We’re thinking of doing a post of some of our favorite photographs soon and think you will like them also. Going to end it and get busy with the chores. Enjoy our Monday as we will. Now for more coffee to wake up a bit. Comments are always welcome.

Getting closer

This weekend we’re supposed to have temperatures back in the 30s. Claim is it will feel 40 to 50 degrees warmer than it has been. That doesn’t break my heart. After getting the critters fed and watered spent some time shoveling some white fluffy love from above off the back sidewalk. Intend to go back out and shovel some more shortly.

The weather has been goofy across the nation with cold turning up further south than usual and the tornado in the east. Seems like Florida is the only place that is having decent weather. And now, here on the east coast of Iowa, comes word we may experience rolling blackouts. That term drives me to distraction as it usually means blackouts that don’t roll uphill. Time will tell what hits us next but not much we can do about it.

The feral cats were out in force this morning waiting for me to get the ice out of the water bowl and put water in. It still amazes me how much water they drink when it’s cold out. Two were even going at each other over who went first once the water was in the bowl. Neither critter was harmed during the melee and after the fight were seen drinking together.

When the people quit wearing masks, the power comes backs on, and the weather warms up we’ll have quite a story to tell down the road. Of course later this year there may be a cicada invasion of epic proportions but after all we’ve been through that should be a cake walk. Hope everyone is warm or has a warm place to go if the power is out in your area.

Enjoy our Tuesday as it’s looking to be about the same as others and we know what that’s like. Now for some coffee and leftover pizza. Comments are always welcome.

Different ending

You may have noticed I was MIA a few days last week. Sorry about that, but my health comes first. Used to be cold weather didn’t bother my lungs, just hot humid air. How thing change when you’re pushing 7 decades of living. The picture above is from the winter on 1936.

As you can see farmers got together to shovel out the roads so the plows could get through and we’ve been told it was also brutally cold. 1936 remains one of the coldest, snowiest winter on record here in Iowa. Dad told of one snow storm when a farmer got sick and the neighboring farmers got together with scoop shovels and cleared the road so the doctor could make it out from town. Said farmer survived and had a long life.

What always interested me about that winter is the following year, 1937, was the hottest on record. Been told it was so hot entire farm families slept on the porch as it was cooler than in the house. Dad also mentioned they had to plow at night as the horses couldn’t take the heat of day and would keel over dead if worked during daylight. One can only imagine what that would be like.

Where am I going with all that? Well, it makes me wonder that when we get through the cold if this summer is going to be a real scorcher. And of course it will be due to ‘climate change’ and talking heads will act like it never happened before. Hope that isn’t the case but as Mom used to say ‘you can hope in one hand and crap in the other and guess which hand will be full’. Time will tell.

Enjoy our Monday as we woke up breathing another day. Now for some coffee. Comments are always welcome.

Cold snap

When I left this morning to gas up the wifes’ car the wind chill was at a balmy -10. Didn’t really notice it as I was already out anyway. The feral cats didn’t seem bothered either when I filled their bowls. If the people who take a stab at the weather forecast on local TV are right we could have two weeks of below zero temperatures.

Snow just started falling before I sat down at our desktop but it is supposed to be a dry snow and not over an another inch on the ground. That’s good because we’re running out room to put the extra white fluffy love from above in. There is a trench in front we call a sidewalk in the summer.

Big news locally is our Governor has declared that as of midnight tomorrow the mask requirement in public will be gone, social distancing will be recommended, and all businesses can open to full capacity for a month. She will then look at the numbers before declaring the next step. All I can say is about time.

Yesterday the wife didn’t want to get groceries as she said it was too cold. So I explained to her that it would be the warmest day, at -3, for a week to ten days. We went to the grocery store. Besides, we were out of cigarettes and didn’t know of anyone who delivers them. Due to the colder weather my picture taking may take a hit until such time I can aim the camera without shaking.

Enjoy the rest of our Saturday. Now for some coffee and a ham sandwich. Comments are always welcome.