Rain!

[Marsha Lynn]

It's raining! The weather siren in town (two miles away) is sounding. The wind has moved well beyond blustery. There's a tornado watch for this morning and a wind advisory for the entire day. I'm guessing the siren means a severe thunderstorm is in the area. (Duh!)

But it's raining! We have had something like three minor rainfalls in the past three months. When part of my Sunday School group went camping a couple of weeks ago, we were fortunate in being allowed to have a fire in a fire ring as long as it was supervised. The Boy Scouts camped closer to home that same weekend and could have no fire at all where they were. (Is it really camping if there's no campfire?) The fire departments have been busy and tense. There have been multiple reports of fires burning grass and corn crops. One farmer lost 35 acres of corn when a piece of equipment started a fire -- maybe 150 bushels per acre @ maybe $6/bushel. Everything is dry, dry, dry! Dry leaves falling on dry grass next to dry fields. Any fall crops have been on indefinite hold waiting for moisture. The unpaved road in front of our house guarantees that our cars are hopelessly dust-covered -- even if they're simply sitting in front of our house, which is well back from the road.

The library where I work invested heavily a couple of months ago in a waterproofing scheme that is guaranteed to end the decades-old problem of water in the basement. Thus far, it has been a complete success -- not a drop of water in the basement. The new carpet is supposed to be installed this week. Wouldn't it be nice to know if the basement will remain dry when it actually RAINS?

And now it's raining! \0/ (<-- Hallelujah!)

Marsha
(dancing in the rain --at least on the inside)

[John Kennedy]

Actually, we've had some wet weather here in SoCal. It may well have come at a time to do some good in regard to the Fall fire season. Normally at this time of year the Santa Ana winds are howling and lots of blazes are underway. Maybe we'll luck out.
Between being gone for a week on a trip to Mesa Verde and Santa Fe/Taos and the week of moisture (rain, heavy mists, etc.) my backyard lawn is about 5-6 inches. I'd rent a goat (there are actually companies down in San Diego that rent herds of goats to clear slopes) but the home owners association would fine me.

[Jon Bemis]

We finally got some rain here yesterday too. We have been in drought conditions (again) for the past few months but have had a fair amount now in the past 24 hours. Could have done without the nasty weather that came with it (tornado hit Chickamauga Dam in Chattanooga) - but praise the Lord for rain!

[Marsha Lynn]

It turned out the sirens last Tuesday were for a tornado warning, however nothing in the area got blown away. By afternoon the clouds were gone and the sun was back as though nothing had happened.

And that was the rain. We haven't seen another drop.

I decided many weeks ago that I would use my solar/wind-powered clothes dryer every Monday it was operational until it gets too cold. I haven't missed a Monday since. Today has been another sunny day in this long, long string of sunny days. The clothes dryer is fully operational yet again.

(Skivvies-free) file photo:

[Steven Burton]

It turned out the sirens last Tuesday were for a tornado warning, however nothing in the area got blown away. By afternoon the clouds were gone and the sun was back as though nothing had happened.

And that was the rain. We haven't seen another drop.

I decided many weeks ago that I would use my solar/wind-powered clothes dryer every Monday it was operational until it gets too cold. I haven't missed a Monday since. Today has been another sunny day in this long, long string of sunny days. The clothes dryer is fully operational yet again.

(Skivvies-free) file photo:

Just letting you know anytime those sirens go off they are for tornado warning, which means either one has been sighted or the formation of the clouds are very likely for a tornado, just a heads up. We get them all the time in Texas and in Oklahoma when I was living there. The funny thing is we go outside to try and see the tornado.

[Marsha Lynn]

Just letting you know anytime those sirens go off they are for tornado warning, which means either one has been sighted or the formation of the clouds are very likely for a tornado, just a heads up. We get them all the time in Texas and in Oklahoma when I was living there. The funny thing is we go outside to try and see the tornado.

Thanks, Steven, but the local siren system is fairly new and I guess the city fathers (AKA town board and employees) haven't read the rules. They use the same indicator for any type of severe weather warning. We get a lot more severe thunderstorms (with "damaging wind and possible golf ball-size hail") than actual tornado warnings.

[Steven Burton]

Thanks, Steven, but the local siren system is fairly new and I guess the city fathers (AKA town board and employees) haven't read the rules. They use the same indicator for any type of severe weather warning. We get a lot more severe thunderstorms (with "damaging wind and possible golf ball-size hail") than actual tornado warnings.

Ah, we just only get that from the news. But then again I do live in what is called tornado ally so our have to be more careful about using them.

Laughing at your solar/wind powered dryer!

[Marsha Lynn]

Still no more rain. The police report in the newspaper includes reports of neighbors reporting neighbors for having fires. That doesn't seem very neighborly to me. When I give in to the urge to incinerate some of the accumulated rubbish and light a closely-supervised fire in my burn barrel, I hope my neighbors will find an alternative to calling the police. How about this:

"Hidy-ho, neighbor, what in the world are you doing? Do you want the entire neighborhood to go up in smoke? Did you not hear about the burn ban in force in the county? Here, before the cops get wind of this little discretion, let me help you extinguish that illegal trash fire with this five gallon bucket of water I happen to be carrying." (Splash!)

[Marsha Lynn]

Today's headline:

Fire up; Burn ban no longer in effect

We finally got enough rain for the county fire departments to get some rest. It has been a long, long dry spell.

[Glenda Harvey]

We have our first snow of the season.

[John Kennedy]

We have our first snow of the season.

Kind of figured you would. When I was standing under an umbrella trying to unlock the gate to the church grounds this morning there were heavy clouds obscuring the mountains. Us flatlanders get rain - you mountaineers get the white stuff.

I"m still hopin' and prayin' for a sunny, warm Thanksgiving Day.

[Glenda Harvey]

Kind of figured you would. When I was standing under an umbrella trying to unlock the gate to the church grounds this morning there were heavy clouds obscuring the mountains. Us flatlanders get rain - you mountaineers get the white stuff.

I"m still hopin' and prayin' for a sunny, warm Thanksgiving Day.

It's just enough to be pretty but not enough to make shoveling or commuting difficult. Perfect!

[Marsha Lynn]

Skies are gray, rain is falling, the rivers are rising, the ground is saturated, the temp is supposed to drop below freezing tonight which will turn our puddles into hazardous ice deposits. We're back to Indiana weather. This is what it takes to live in a world of green most of the year. I think I'll curl up with a few seed catalogs this evening and dream of spring. 21 weeks until the average last frost date.

BTW in spite of extremely dry weather baking our clay soil in late summer, I harvested a few peanuts. It took only 2 1/2 hours for my daughter to turn the harvest of a 4X4 foot box into a 1/4 cup or so of peanut butter. I think it's the first made-from-scratch peanut butter I've ever had. It was difficult to choose a worthy vehicle for this great delicacy but celery was the final choice. Unfortunately, the celery was consumed by today's dressing before the peanut butter supply was exhausted. Looks like we're moving on to Ritz crackers.

I'm not a very good gardener but I sure enjoy indulging my farmer DNA. And it makes me a lot happier on a Thanksgiving Day with continuous cold pouring rain to think about what I can plant in the spring.

BTW (again) when the rains finally came, they revealed that the newly carpeted library basement is still not dry. Ugh! But that's a problem for another day.