Nebraska isn't done with the foul weather yet. Thunderstorms and rain almost every day leaving things with a permanent moistness that hangs heavy on your skin and your spirit. Normally, I enjoy rainy days. One of my absolute favorite things to do is sit by the window listening to the rain patter gently on the ground and the roof, reading or drawing or crocheting while watching a British mystery on the television. The only acceptable viewing matter for rainy days.
We haven't been getting normal, every day rain here. We've been getting angry rain. Rain that beats the flowers into the ground and knocks the leaves out of the trees. Rain that has transformed the cornfields into fetid bogs unsuitable for planting. Rain that forces vehicles off the roads, or worse, floats them down stream. Rain that often times brings along it's violent cousin, the wind.
We've become accustomed to picking up branches and sticks in our yard on an almost daily basis and stacking it ready for the next yard waste pick up day. Just from yesterday alone we have a big enough stack for a reasonable sized bonfire. The branch that landed in our driveway was 10 foot all by itself. I think what amazes me most is that fact that the trees still have branches on them at all. I don't understand how we can have so much detritus in our yard and yet the trees really don't look any different.
Yesterday was a lot of fun. My appt. was later than usual and as we drove home in the afternoon, I looked at the blueness of the sky in front of me and the cute puffy clouds that looked as if they had been drawn by a second grader. I glanced to my right at the huge, grey, ominous, hulking beast of a cloud that was bearing down on my cute, little, puffy clouds. My drugged brain thought about this for a moment. It was a really big cloud and it didn't look friendly. I pointed out the window and my tongue tried to form something intelligent.
"Big cloud." I said.
Scott looked in the rear view mirror and responded, "Look behind you."
I did. It wasn't pretty. The big nasty cloud was part of a larger group of even bigger, nastier clouds.
We got home, I snuggled up in my bed and messed about with my wacom for a bit. Nothing like drug induced doodles to brighten up your day.
Scott came in shortly after and said, "We have to go downstairs. I'll bring your computer down if you like, but, you can't stay in here. I'm afraid the tree will fall on you."
He pointed out the window to the dead tree that is supposed to be removed next month.
I stared at him blearily for a moment.
What an odd thing to say... why would the tree suddenly hate me so much it would want to fall on me?
He explained again about needing to go downstairs, big thunderstorm, bad winds...down stairs...NOW.
Oh, okay. You should have said.
I wobbled downstairs and watched the t.v.
The weather man on the television was very excited. 80 mph winds with even faster gusts, he exclaimed. Very dangerous storm, he said, with a very serious face. Get. Inside. Now. He intoned.
I looked outside. Wind? Hail? Danger? Wasn't even raining out. That guy was on better drugs than I was.
Then, he showed the camera views of Omaha. Oh, my! It looked like a hurricane. But Omaha was only 5 minutes away. How could it be like that there but not ...
And then it hit. The wind and rain were so fierce it looked silver outside. We couldn't even see the house across the street. The wind screamed and then the gusts hit.
As we watched the outside cams for Omaha and surrounding areas bright flashes of light lit up the screen as transformers blew out all over the city. Injury reports started pouring in of people who had been outside when the storm hit. The weather man again said, "People. You need to get inside. Now." He sounded tired and slightly annoyed. As if he were trying to explain to an idiot for the thousandth time that hitting yourself with a hammer hurt.
The strong winds lasted only about 15 or 20 minutes but that was enough. Huge trees had impaled houses crushing them, splitting them, deforming them.
Peoples' cars lay under downed trees, or were blown down the street or into buildings. One man found a boat on his roof. Which is kinda cool I'm thinking. They probably didn't let him keep it though.
People had been sitting outside at one of the downtown parks waiting for a concert to start when the warnings came out. Many of the people decided to ignore it. Later, when asked why she didn't take cover when the warnings came out, one woman explained that it's Nebraska, you get used to the warnings. Then she showed the backs of her legs, bloodied and bruised from the hail. She had had only enough time to get under some trees when the storm hit, she hadn't been able to protect her legs. Trees had been falling all around her as she huddled with others under a plastic tarp. She said next time she would listen.
So, we've survived another night in the heartland. I'm going to go eat some cereal, take a shower and wander about on the 'net for awhile.
What are all of you doing this weekend?
Read more...
Nebraska isn't done with the foul weather yet. Thunderstorms and rain almost every day leaving things with a permanent moistness that hangs heavy on your skin and your spirit. Normally, I enjoy rainy days. One of my absolute favorite things to do is sit by the window listening to the rain patter gently on the ground and the roof, reading or drawing or crocheting while watching a British mystery on the television. The only acceptable viewing matter for rainy days.
Read more...We haven't been getting normal, every day rain here. We've been getting angry rain. Rain that beats the flowers into the ground and knocks the leaves out of the trees. Rain that has transformed the cornfields into fetid bogs unsuitable for planting. Rain that forces vehicles off the roads, or worse, floats them down stream. Rain that often times brings along it's violent cousin, the wind.
We've become accustomed to picking up branches and sticks in our yard on an almost daily basis and stacking it ready for the next yard waste pick up day. Just from yesterday alone we have a big enough stack for a reasonable sized bonfire. The branch that landed in our driveway was 10 foot all by itself. I think what amazes me most is that fact that the trees still have branches on them at all. I don't understand how we can have so much detritus in our yard and yet the trees really don't look any different.
Yesterday was a lot of fun. My appt. was later than usual and as we drove home in the afternoon, I looked at the blueness of the sky in front of me and the cute puffy clouds that looked as if they had been drawn by a second grader. I glanced to my right at the huge, grey, ominous, hulking beast of a cloud that was bearing down on my cute, little, puffy clouds. My drugged brain thought about this for a moment. It was a really big cloud and it didn't look friendly. I pointed out the window and my tongue tried to form something intelligent.
"Big cloud." I said.
Scott looked in the rear view mirror and responded, "Look behind you."
I did. It wasn't pretty. The big nasty cloud was part of a larger group of even bigger, nastier clouds.
We got home, I snuggled up in my bed and messed about with my wacom for a bit. Nothing like drug induced doodles to brighten up your day.
Scott came in shortly after and said, "We have to go downstairs. I'll bring your computer down if you like, but, you can't stay in here. I'm afraid the tree will fall on you."
He pointed out the window to the dead tree that is supposed to be removed next month.
I stared at him blearily for a moment.
What an odd thing to say... why would the tree suddenly hate me so much it would want to fall on me?
He explained again about needing to go downstairs, big thunderstorm, bad winds...down stairs...NOW.
Oh, okay. You should have said.
I wobbled downstairs and watched the t.v.
The weather man on the television was very excited. 80 mph winds with even faster gusts, he exclaimed. Very dangerous storm, he said, with a very serious face. Get. Inside. Now. He intoned.
I looked outside. Wind? Hail? Danger? Wasn't even raining out. That guy was on better drugs than I was.
Then, he showed the camera views of Omaha. Oh, my! It looked like a hurricane. But Omaha was only 5 minutes away. How could it be like that there but not ...
And then it hit. The wind and rain were so fierce it looked silver outside. We couldn't even see the house across the street. The wind screamed and then the gusts hit.
As we watched the outside cams for Omaha and surrounding areas bright flashes of light lit up the screen as transformers blew out all over the city. Injury reports started pouring in of people who had been outside when the storm hit. The weather man again said, "People. You need to get inside. Now." He sounded tired and slightly annoyed. As if he were trying to explain to an idiot for the thousandth time that hitting yourself with a hammer hurt.
The strong winds lasted only about 15 or 20 minutes but that was enough. Huge trees had impaled houses crushing them, splitting them, deforming them.
Peoples' cars lay under downed trees, or were blown down the street or into buildings. One man found a boat on his roof. Which is kinda cool I'm thinking. They probably didn't let him keep it though.
People had been sitting outside at one of the downtown parks waiting for a concert to start when the warnings came out. Many of the people decided to ignore it. Later, when asked why she didn't take cover when the warnings came out, one woman explained that it's Nebraska, you get used to the warnings. Then she showed the backs of her legs, bloodied and bruised from the hail. She had had only enough time to get under some trees when the storm hit, she hadn't been able to protect her legs. Trees had been falling all around her as she huddled with others under a plastic tarp. She said next time she would listen.
So, we've survived another night in the heartland. I'm going to go eat some cereal, take a shower and wander about on the 'net for awhile.
What are all of you doing this weekend?