Posts Tagged With: hail

GETTING A GRIP ON THE WEATHER.

In April, we had two mega storms. There is a joke going around the neighborhood. “What’s the weather report today? Answer: Partly cloudy and 50 degrees, but call back in ten minutes and it will be different.”  Yeah!

This hailstorm came on so strong and so fast and unexpected it was like an attack. Moth ball sized hailstones sounded like explosions on the roof and deck.

You can see them bouncing in the air. They bounced up onto the bench. From eight feet under a covered part of the deck, they hit my screen door. The roadway a fairy tale, pure white in less than 10 minutes.

The aftermath, a blanket of green leaves pounded off the trees.

My front sidewalk, even with  the partial shelter of the house, covered. My driveway and the street the same.

When it dried out enough, I swept just in front of my doorway and to the steps. I couldn’t believe the pile of leaves I had to compost. The previous week, we had a torrential downpour of rain that lasted two days and half of another.

Now I’m dealing with oversized grass. I’ve plowed through it to get to my empty chicken coop. I hoped to find the hose buried in the grass so I can put water out for the wild birds. Their receptacles are empty.

I had to stomp a new path to the coop.

Several grass plants are taller than me and my fence. I’ve lived here for 38 years and I’ve never seen anything like it. The high country has seen 91 inches of rain this year,  a new record. And there are people who don’t believe the climate is changing from the misadventure of humans and our polluting devices? We all have to adjust. It is folly to ignore it.

We can all do our little part by supporting harmless power initiatives and reducing our own use of carbon fuels whenever possible. It takes global action, all world populations to cooperate to blunt this robbery of the norm.

More on that subject later. I’ve gotta go pull some giant weeds.

 

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CHICOT PARK ARBORETUM

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We read a forbidding weather report and the day dawned dark and cloudy. This squirrel outside our window didn’t seem to mind a bit.

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We blogged, showered and breakfasted and got to the arboretum just as it opened. It is part of the park. The first raindrops had already started.

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Inside, good displays, pictures of plants identified. Braille leaves like these and bird and animal sounds. Great stuff for kids and big kids. We took the trail maps and chose the shortest one.

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I finely learned that this flower is a carolina jasmine. A woody, twisty vine.

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The woods are gray and drab during the winter, but you get to see the “bones” of the forest.

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Bright, shiny leaves against the forest gray, draw the eye. A swamp magnolia.

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White patches of christmas lichen. Named so because you can also find it in pink, turquoise, green and yellow. Sometimes on the same tree.

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More of it  on this dead branch.

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A toothache tree. So called because of the swelling bumps that develop on the bark. Double click to enlarge.

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The swamp has  more mature cypress than Sam Houston Jones State Park, and less light on this moody day. The rain is stronger.DSC03401 (Copy)

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The rain chased us home.

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Shortly after we settled in, the skies dumped and obliterated the air, the ground, everything. It poured, hailed, and quickly flooded the area around us. We gave up on the idea of hauling our clothes to the laundry. We stayed in all day and read, edited pictures,  uploaded albums and took care of on-line chores. Not without jumping once in a while at a gunshot loud thunder-clap. It rained so hard,  several times I felt the ceiling inside the closets because I feared they must be leaking. Thankfully not.

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Chicot State Park, Louisiana – Day 2

The motorhome is parked at Chicot State Park near Ville Platte, Louisiana. We are scheduled to depart here on Friday.

Built in 1939, at 6,400 acres with 198 campsites, it’s Louisiana’s largest state park. You can read about Chicot State Park, Louisiana by clicking this Wikipedia link…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicot_State_Park

The reason we are here is that it’s located along the Zydeco Cajun Prairie Byway which you can read about by clicking this link…
http://zydecocajunbyway.com/links.html

Yesterday, with a weather forecast of severe thunderstorms with hail and a possible tornado, we decided to stay close to the motorhome. We drove the Bronco the about three miles to the arboretum, within the boundaries of the state park. You can read about the arboretum by clicking this link…
http://www.crt.state.la.us/parks/iarbor.aspx

The dictionary defines an arboretum as a place where trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants are cultivated for scientific and educational purposes. Here are some of the photos that I took…

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

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As promised, we had several HEAVY THUNDERSTORMS WITH DIME-SIZED HAIL. Fortunately, no tornadoes. Here’s a shot of the Bronco looking through the passenger windshield…

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In this next photo, about 150 feet away, as seen through the driver’s windshield, on the left a blue tarp covers a tent and on the right, their truck is barely visible…

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The storm as seen through the dinette window…

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Enjoying arboretums and thunderstorms is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!

The red dot on the below map shows our approximate location in the State of Louisiana. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

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Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

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If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…
http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2013
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

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TALK ABOUT THE WEATHER

Murphys had another bout of that thick rain, yesterday. Stockton, two days ago, experienced two mini tornadoes. Copperopolis had a thunderstorm with heavy winds during the night while Valley Springs had a heavy hail storm.  What is happening?

My oldest daughter, who grew up here, wondered why it has snowed so many times in Murphys?  I didn’t count. Her comment made me realize we’ve had more snow days this season than any  previous  time in my memory, which probably means nothing at 34 years. But, my old pal, Buster Riedell, an old rancher who died in his nineties, could tell you exactly what the weather would be like throughout the year. He warned about planting your tomatoes too early, never before the second week in May. Weather then seemed to follow a predictable pattern.

Though hardly measurable, the stuff hung around until 2:00 on the hillsides and patches in the woods. We don’t like to complain when the reservoirs are below normal, and we are thankful for any moisture we get. But, it is unsettling that  the weather pattern is off. It makes me wonder what climate change has in store for all of us. If this is a predictor,  it doesn’t bode well.

Guess we should just enjoy the flowers.  Those who believe in man caused climate change, raise your hand.  Mine is up!

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