And here's a view of intense rain on my bathroom window:
And here's the aftermath, sorta:
I say "sorta" coz Ma Nature is still making a lot of noise and there's LOTS of rain to the east of us. The rainbow happened during a lull in the action. I love this stuff.You might be reading/watching tomorrow's post today... yanno?
I notice in your comments from your bathroom window that you mention how much you enjoy such storms. I sort of fell the same way as long as I'm not caught out in the elements; Always loved the sound of rain on the windows, roof-top, etc., during summer storms. Must of gotten it from my Aunt Elsie who loved such things also. Sort of has to do with feeling "snug as a bug in a rug" all safely tucked away safe and sound in one's own cozy retreat. (Of course this presupposes no really severe weather like Katrina where one's home is threatened with destruction, etc,)
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a young boy in a small college town in Illinois I used to spend time in the summer uptown at my Grandfather's house which had a large wrap-around front porch (we don't call 'em veranda's in the middle-west.) I'd walk a few blocks to the Carnegie Pub Library just off the town square, check out a book and come back and sit in a rocking-chair on the porch and read. Used to love it when it rained fairly heavily and the wind would cause the cool spray mist to drift over me
and cool me off on a hot summers afternoon--was safely sheltered from the storm but part of it and cooled by it at the same time, with tree limbs/leaves whipping in the wind, skies darkening, the cool mist on one's skin, etc. A great feeling....memories....
Storms are amazing - don't lose that inner child. Just hearing you laugh on the video made me smile. I hope we get some of this storm - we do have a chance today for a bit of rain.
ReplyDeleteVirgil, I love your memories of reading a book on the porch (we call them porches here in OK too).
Virgil: Thanks for your boyhood memory! I love it when this sort of thing happens, and it happens to me with other people's posts from time to time... and when people leave comments such as yours. I have similar memories of watching summer storms with my great grandmother on her porch in Atlanta, which can be oppressively hot in summer, too. (You can see the large, screened in porch just above the garage in this picture. The porch is largely obscured by a tree limb, but it gives you an idea.) I also agree that it's one thing to watch storms from a position of safety and quite another to be caught in one, especially a life-threatening one.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of "life threatening," here's another link for ya... Occasional Reader Moogie P is chronicaling her Katrina recovery experience, and it's danged good reading. You may have more than a few things in common with her.
Lou: Thank ya, Ma'am! Making these vids was a lot of fun last evening, and I was serious about how very much I enjoy storms.
As for the porch/veranda thing (adding the "h" is an affectation I do for fun)... you know I use the term is a sort of self-deprecating joke, no? Sitting under the RV awning reminds me of some grand verandahs I sat out on in the way-back in certain spots in SE Asia. The key difference is those Asian verandahs were large, elegant, airy spaces, while sitting under my awning is most definitely NOT any of those. Well, it is airy, but the similarity ends there (although I do tend to add a certain amount of elegance to ANY situation). The colonial Brits used the term "verandah" a lot, its origins are Hindi. So there's your explanation and a (maybe) fun fact for the day.
I ADORE storms. They make me feel safe in a funny kind of way. And I love that feeling. I really thought we would get washed away here in London last Thursday but I loved it all the same.
ReplyDeleteThat was terrific. And, man oh man, you have a fantastic voice.
Thanks for the H/T, Buck! Yep, you don't want to listen when Katrina talks -- she yells and uses a bullhorn.
ReplyDeleteWe had a nice little thundershower this afternoon with enough rain to run the dogs inside from their shelter on the porch (not enough breadth to be a veranda). Nothin' like rain pounding in the windows and the heady aroma of wet dog wafting through the air.
Scotch works pretty well inside, too.
Sorry, you people are sick. Storms are not to be loved - they are to be respected to the point of fear.
ReplyDeleteYes. I'm 46 years old and still afraid of these kinds of big thunderstorms. I cower, hunker and hide.
It's quite pathetic really and it's who I am.
That said - I do love the smell of thunderstorms - that crackling of ozone smell along with the fresh rain.
You can get that in a candle.
Being an former weather dog, my reaction to incoming weather is to go outside and evaluate it. Is this a wall cloud I see before me?
ReplyDeleteBut I know enough about the power of a single thunderstorm to be somewhat wary, like Kris. There's 999 typical summer thunderstorms, but that one atypical one can turn on you in a hurry!
Would you believe that we didn't get any rain out of that storm on Monday? Go figure!
ReplyDeleteThought of you this evening. The Air Force buzzed our house this evening. I mean, REALLY low. Had I gotten out to the yard sooner I'd have seen the pilot's eye color. They have been having fun at the Floyd Bombing Range today (and I say FLOYD because nearly the entire range is in FLOYD's fire district, NOT MELROSE!!). But the buzzing was really cool, waited for them to come back by so I could snap a picture but guess they were going home. Those 105s were pretty loud today, though.
Amazing stuff! Wild and crazy weather year all over!
ReplyDeleteAlison: I've been caught out in a few London storms mysownself, and the ambiance can be spectacular... especially for an Anglophile who is enamored with all things British. All those brollies, LOL!
ReplyDeleteAnd thank you yet again for the compliments. You MOST definitely do an ol' man GOOD. :D
Moogie: Ah the smell of wet dog! I miss that, believe it or don't. And ya, you're right: scotch works just as well indoors! :D
Kris: Don't misunderstand me: I have a VERY healthy respect for storms and will get the Hell out of Dodge... which is to say run for shelter less-flimsy than El Casa Móvil De Pennington... at the very first sign of severe weather. But like Gordon sez, garden variety summer storms are just way-cool. Your mileage obviously varies, but that's cool, too.
Gordon: I'm not an ol' weather dog, but after living in Oklahoma for two-plus years I have a VERY healthy respect for t-storms. I don't care for tornadoes. At ALL.
Jenny: I was watching the radar Monday evening and noticed y'all didn't get much if any precip. We, OTOH, got frickin' inundated. It was awesome.
I'll bet the kids love those low passes, eh? I'm including kids of ALL ages in that statement, btw. :D
Cynthia: Yes! This has been a weird summer, to say the VERY least. We've alternated between cool and wet and the usual hot and dry, with more of the former than the latter... or so it seems.
We are having no weather other than raging hot. It's fricking miserable in Austin. My trees are dying, the roses all gave up the ghost two weeks ago and my electric bill hit $400 bucks despite keeping the a/c at 79/80. I can't afford to water properly and we're under extreme restrictions.
ReplyDeleteI want fierce storms, wild rain and a break from the monotonous heat. Over fifty days past 100 degrees.
It's making me grouchy.
Daphne: I'm aware that Austin... and the Hill Country, in general... is in SERIOUS drought (which: fallout from my weather-junkie self). And I can see where it WOULD make ya grouchy; I'd be the same way. Our summer has been radically different than other years since I've been here, and I don't mind that at ALL.
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