Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Bursts crackling o'er the sun-parched roof; Against the windows the storm comes dashing, Through tattered foliage the hail tears crashing, ~ James Russell Lowell

Look! look! that livid flash! 

And instantly follows the rattling thunder,
As if some cloud-crag, split asunder,
Fell, splintering with a ruinous crash,
On the Earth, which crouches in silence under;
And now a solid gray of rain
Shuts off the landscape, mile by mile; 

Summer Storm by James Russell Lowell

I remember in my last post wishing for some windy days to dry things out and clear the mosquitoes away for a while.  Be careful what you wish for.  Woke up  to 68-mph wind gusts, vivid flashes outside the window and a constant rumbling.  The electrical power was fading out and coming back which is somehow more alarming than total blackout.

No real damage done here but a lot of tall plants are leaning at ugly angles.  The bird feeder post is down and the peanut feeder seems to have blown away.  I was happy to see none of the bird houses fell since many are occupied with babies still in the nests.  There are sticks and little limbs all over the yard which won't be much fun to pick up.  Even the roof is littered with twigs and torn leaves.  I'm very grateful that we didn't receive more damage.

I am using of some of the downed sticks as makeshift plant supports for my leaning blooms.  
Happy to report the tomato plants received little wind damage even though some were in pots.  



What would life be like without homegrown tomatoes
         Only two things that money can't buy         
That's true love and home grown tomatoes.
   ~  John Denver, Home Grown Tomatoes

The only food crop I grow.  Even the tomatoes bought at the farmer's market are never as good as home grown.  A few more weeks...


MacDuff sees himself as the CEO around here.  He is forever barking out orders and warnings to the other dogs and cats.  

In the photos below you can see the air is so humid the camera lens fogged up.  Had to go inside to find a lens cloth before any more photos could be taken.  





The hot, sunny colors of summer.






























Hoping everyone has a wonderful week with no storms and only warm, gentle rains.

8 comments:

BeadedTail said...

That sounds like a horrible storm! We don't have storms like that here but I grew up in Kansas and remember them well. Glad everyone is okay including the baby birdies!

Rose said...

The strong storms passed us by, thank goodness, but I saw on the weather newscasts that it really hit your area. So glad you didn't get any more damage. Your garden is full of so many vibrant colors! I'm hoping for a stretch of dry weather, too; anything to get rid of all these mosquitoes!

tina said...

Definitely hot blooms in your garden. 68 mile an hour gusts is pretty scary! Glad all made it through.

Lowcarb team member said...

We had quite violent storms last night loud thunder and vivid flashes of lightening ... some areas now a pond where previously there was just grass!

The ground was in need of the water.

Your flowers, once you sorted out the camera lens, look lovely with many beautiful colours.

Have a happy and safe weekend

All the best Jan

Garden Fancy said...

I'm so glad to hear that you didn't suffer any lasting damage from those fierce winds! Our storms are to be taken seriously here in the Midwest. I love all those bright orange flowers -- I think it's my new favorite flower color, and you have so many beautiful ones, especially that zinnia. Good luck in cleaning up the sticks and twigs, and thanks for sharing your lovely flowers with us! -Beth

Rambling Woods said...

Beautiful photos. I am glad your birdhouses didn't come down I don't know how any of these nests here have withstood the rain storms that we have every couple of days... I bought a bug net jacket to wear... I need it...

Lowcarb team member said...

Hi ... just stopping by to say hope your weather has now improved, and have a great weekend.

All the best Jan

oldcrow61 said...

Beautiful flowers. MacDuff looks like a sweetie.