Last night the weather kids very clearly stated that we were very likely to have dangerous weather between three and five in the afternoon today.
This morning Steve and I did some work in the garden, mounding up potatoes, and weeding and mulching and then replanting the bare spots in the okra row. I told Steve not to set the sprinklers because we'd be having some rain later in the day, and oh, did we ever!
Big crazy mean tornado, grinding through Canadian County, EF5 tornado doing its level best to flatten El Reno and environs, rolling SLOWLY across I-40... long story short, leaving a long, wide path of destruction but missing us to the north...then a firing line of similar weather setting up again, missing us to the south. The whole time we're watching live continuous coverage with color Doppler radar on our local TV station AND the interactive weather map on the internet. For hours we watched intense weather patterns heading straight for us, only to dissipate slightly as they neared us as if opening a portal, sending the brunt of storms around to the north or to the south of us.
We did get about forty five minutes of pretty intense, no-kidding-I-really-mean-it rain right here on our little homestead, probably about two inches worth here. (I expect to see okra sprouts shortly!) Then the weather cleared out, moving on to the east, revealing clear skies and sunshine to the west, thank you very much. We had been so wrought up with watching all the color radars and being prepared to go blankets and pillows into our Safe Place that I had not made a move toward supper preparations, so when it was all done for us here, Steve said, "Wanna go up and get a Chick-fil-A or something?"
He went out to the front porch to wait while I locked up the house, and observed a small piece of torn leaf falling straight down from the sky, a little green piece of storm debris. Landed right on our porch.
Now we're back home for the night, and glad to be. Garden got a good quality watering. There's water in the pond across the road again, and even though it isn't quite full (yet?) it's another beginning. I saw an egret circling the pond again and the sounds of little froggies already fill the air. Doesn't take those frogs long at all!
Wonder what it's going to do tomorrow?
...Looking Forward,
Vicki
Showing posts with label tornadoes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tornadoes. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Thank God We Finally Got Some Rain!
Oklahoma has been in a drought.
The last week or so some weather has wound through the state, usually setting up east of us, and moving east. That evil rash of tornadoes over the last week? Fired up right here in Oklahoma - about thirty miles east of us, heading east. I do not relish heavy weather, not one bit, but we got nary a drop of rain out of all that commotion.
We've been keeping the garden alive with the garden hose. You can certainly keep your garden alive with a garden hose, but rain is the magic potion, and by golly, we finally got some, awaking early Easter morning to sounds of rain.
Not scary - no particular wind to speak of - a little easy lightening, a little light thunder - and rain, from light mist to gentle showers, most of the day. Enough to bring a little standing water in the low places, but not so much as to make the muddy places unbearable.
The birds are all thrilled. You should have heard them out there, singing their happy songs. It was a pleasure to hear!
Speaking of birds...
Birds have a sort of language. The specifics are different for different breeds, and, within breeds, may differ regionally - avian dialects, so to speak - but one consistent thing I've noticed is that they all use warning calls when they detect a threat of some sort. Around here the warning call we hear most often is one we refer to as "calling cat," a brief squawk that actually sounds like the birds are calling, "Cat! Cat! Cat!" I cannot reliably differentiate between a bird calling "Cat!" "Person!" or "Hawk!" but I definitely know a warning call when I hear it.
I was out by the well house a week or so ago, heard a bird calling "Cat! Cat!" and looked up to see what kind of bird it was. I stood still, looking toward the sound, trying to triangulate in on it and caught a flash of movement. I focused on the area of movement and saw a woodpecker working its way around the tree. I love woodpeckers and the way they work a tree - it's like they're standing on this vertical surface, moving side to side around the tree, which is what this woodpecker did.
I stood very still, watching, as the woodpecker made its way left and right. I noticed a perfectly round hole in the tree under an old stump of broken off branch, and thought, gee, wouldn't it be funny if a bird lived in that hole? As I stood there watching the woodpecker work its way around the tree, back and forth, it came to the hole and peeked in. Looked around (as if to see who was watching). Poked its head in the hole. Pulled its head out and looked around. Head and shoulders back in the hole, one last glance out, and then disappeared into the hole!
Awestruck, I stayed put, still watching, and saw a second woodpecker just a few branches away. I'm thinkin' we have a little woodpecker family making a home right out in the Sweetgum tree behind the house!
Pleased as punch to have gotten some rain, I stepped out to the garden to get a few photos. Too many to post in this blog entry, but I will give you a teaser and a link. Here is the teaser:
...And you can see the rest of the photos from today, if you wish, at http://gallery.me.com/vlnewby#100079.
The last week or so some weather has wound through the state, usually setting up east of us, and moving east. That evil rash of tornadoes over the last week? Fired up right here in Oklahoma - about thirty miles east of us, heading east. I do not relish heavy weather, not one bit, but we got nary a drop of rain out of all that commotion.
We've been keeping the garden alive with the garden hose. You can certainly keep your garden alive with a garden hose, but rain is the magic potion, and by golly, we finally got some, awaking early Easter morning to sounds of rain.
Not scary - no particular wind to speak of - a little easy lightening, a little light thunder - and rain, from light mist to gentle showers, most of the day. Enough to bring a little standing water in the low places, but not so much as to make the muddy places unbearable.
The birds are all thrilled. You should have heard them out there, singing their happy songs. It was a pleasure to hear!
Speaking of birds...
Birds have a sort of language. The specifics are different for different breeds, and, within breeds, may differ regionally - avian dialects, so to speak - but one consistent thing I've noticed is that they all use warning calls when they detect a threat of some sort. Around here the warning call we hear most often is one we refer to as "calling cat," a brief squawk that actually sounds like the birds are calling, "Cat! Cat! Cat!" I cannot reliably differentiate between a bird calling "Cat!" "Person!" or "Hawk!" but I definitely know a warning call when I hear it.
I was out by the well house a week or so ago, heard a bird calling "Cat! Cat!" and looked up to see what kind of bird it was. I stood still, looking toward the sound, trying to triangulate in on it and caught a flash of movement. I focused on the area of movement and saw a woodpecker working its way around the tree. I love woodpeckers and the way they work a tree - it's like they're standing on this vertical surface, moving side to side around the tree, which is what this woodpecker did.
I stood very still, watching, as the woodpecker made its way left and right. I noticed a perfectly round hole in the tree under an old stump of broken off branch, and thought, gee, wouldn't it be funny if a bird lived in that hole? As I stood there watching the woodpecker work its way around the tree, back and forth, it came to the hole and peeked in. Looked around (as if to see who was watching). Poked its head in the hole. Pulled its head out and looked around. Head and shoulders back in the hole, one last glance out, and then disappeared into the hole!
Awestruck, I stayed put, still watching, and saw a second woodpecker just a few branches away. I'm thinkin' we have a little woodpecker family making a home right out in the Sweetgum tree behind the house!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
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| Three Sisters - Beans, Corn, Pumpkin |
As always, thanks for reading :)
Vicki~
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Gateway to Oz
I had posted my introductory entry to the Yahoo group on Organic Gardening and another member of that group, Jeff FaithWalker, replied saying, "So God is delivering you out of the Hands of us Yankees and sending you to the gateway to Oz is He.......... .hmmmm verrrrrrrrrrry interesting!"
Gateway to Oz - what a great turn of phrase! The idea made me remember the carrots we planted the day of the May 3 Tornadoes:
Some of the best carrots I ever ate were planted on May 3, 1999, a day of a seemingly neverending series of tornadoes.
We had worked a little ash from the woodstove into the row and planted as the darkening sky boiled up from the west. You can keep a garden alive with the water hose, but to really grow, rain is best, so I knew that these carrots having their first watering by rain, I knew that would be good, as long as they didn't wash out. I kept my eye on the sky as the thunder began to rumble and as soon as we got the seeds in the ground I left my dear husband outside to finish putting up the tools and get things closed up and I went inside to look at the weather radar on the TV, see just what was coming, and how soon. Yikes, what a wild ride we had for the rest of the afternoon and most of the night! A whole 'nother story about all that, for sure. But the carrots did great, yes they did. Best carrots I ever ate.
Gateway to Oz - what a great turn of phrase! The idea made me remember the carrots we planted the day of the May 3 Tornadoes:
Some of the best carrots I ever ate were planted on May 3, 1999, a day of a seemingly neverending series of tornadoes.
We had worked a little ash from the woodstove into the row and planted as the darkening sky boiled up from the west. You can keep a garden alive with the water hose, but to really grow, rain is best, so I knew that these carrots having their first watering by rain, I knew that would be good, as long as they didn't wash out. I kept my eye on the sky as the thunder began to rumble and as soon as we got the seeds in the ground I left my dear husband outside to finish putting up the tools and get things closed up and I went inside to look at the weather radar on the TV, see just what was coming, and how soon. Yikes, what a wild ride we had for the rest of the afternoon and most of the night! A whole 'nother story about all that, for sure. But the carrots did great, yes they did. Best carrots I ever ate.
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