40 Days of Thunder

And Lightening and Rain...

Paul's snapped this picture August 16,2012
From our front porch.

Last night, I awoke to my little Windy ( our Aussie dog) panting with fear along side my bed. “Thunder again,Windy?” It was yet another storm passing overhead. One of 40 since July. I felt her cold nose push against me as my feet slid off the bed and onto the carpet. “Come on girl. “ We made our way together to the “safe room” down the hall. I grabbed her pillows as we went. My fingers held her collar.

 

 

 

 

 

The “safe room “ is a bathroom with no windows. Though using the plumbing is not so safe during a lightening storm, it is safe to Windy as she cannot see the flashes so easily there. I help Windy relax by being calm myself. I sit there awhile with her and she usually calms after a few minutes and then lies down." There, there" I say softly to her.

 

 

           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The Cloud's Journey

Early in the day, on most days, the skies are calm here. This is the time for walking and doing chores and outings from groceries to hikes in the mountain meadows. There are mountains all around the whole valley in all four directions here. During the day the white cloud heads sneak up over the ridge and peek up over the high summits. Once in position, they swell and push upwards into tall towers with their flats bottoms pressed against the warm air. They float like islands throughout the afternoon and meet somewhere in the center.



If a cumulus cloud gets big enough and rises high enough it can form it's own cap very much like caps on top a mountain.
this is called Pileus. Picture taken from Little Utah Farm.

By feeding time they squeeze out a few drops of rain. Those rain drops are so far apart I can walk through them without getting wet. I can hear them on the car port tapping and splatting down but I can not see them.

Lightening Before Thunder

Even though lightening comes first, it is the thunder that alerts me. I feed the llamas under their shelter. The hens do not mind the thunder. During one great down pour I saw one of my hens drenched to the skin while the others gathered dry in the coop. Her name is Daisy May. She is a book full of stories but for now back to the lightening.

Lightening.. Good for The Earth?

Well wouldn't you know, lightening is very good for the earth. Nitrogen (N0 2) can not be used by nature until it is fixed into NO 3. Lightening actually fixes the nitrogen in the soil as do legumes like alfalfa and beans. Everything has it's place in the scheme of things. I spend time appreciating such good orderly direction as this. This also explains the surprising growth of veggies and greenery in my garden. Everything which seemed to grow at normal rate, grew to enormous proportions overnight. Yep, there is magic in that rain and lightening.

Land of Rainbows

After the early evening rain the rainbows appear arching way across the open country and sometimes doubled on top of one another. I call this the land of rainbows you can see them through the irrigation sprinklers and make one with a hose and see them often in the summer rains.

Simultaneous Rainbow and Lightening Strike !Right outside my kitchen door !  Little Utah Farm 8-2012

 

 

 The Show Goes On
 

The rain comes to a halt but lightening continues on for hours and on through the night.
The electricity of the storm flickers above the mountains at sunrise like hot coals after a blazing fire. All is still again. My little Windy wakes up cheery as ever. She does pretty well. She has accepted a "safe room" and appreciates my company in the night until she falls asleep. Makes me feel good to help her out a bit.

 

 

 

Thank you, for visiting Little Utah Farm.

 

Well, that is all for now.  

Been brewing up a story about antique tractors and an actual caravan we took last week across wide open country.  Take care, and believe in those dreams of yours!

 

Until next time,

Deborah MOON

Related articles :

http://www.wxdude.com/page5.html Very good page on thunderstorms, lightening and all. You may be amazed at all these kinds of lightening and how they form.

http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/resources/LightningFactsSheet.pdf Not to scare you but it is good to know about the powerful effects of lightening. A good time to adapt a safety plan for you and yours.