Winter's last Hurrah

Old Man Winter will be rearing his hoary head again tonight, but he won't be alone.

He'll be bringing his old friends: hail, straight-line winds and tornadoes.

For the past few years . . . drought-ridden years . . . the serious weather has ventured to the east of Oklahoma. But now, it looks as if we will get the rain along with the bad stuff.

I've written about tornadoes before, just search on tornado on my blog, so this is just a reminder to be prepared. Here's a quickie picture to give you an idea of what happens.



The key here is to stay safe. I've lived in Oklahoma for most of my life and there are signs when the weather is going to be bad.

1. The night time temps are very, very warm for the time of year--oh, look, last night it was 70 degrees outside. NOT a good sign.
2. A cold front is pushing through from the north east--currently, Denver is getting snow. Another bad sign.
3.  Warm, moist air is being drawn up from the Gulf of Mexico--see #1

Yeah, it's going to be a rough one.

 

If you have anything outside that you want to keep, put it in a place where the wind won't blow it away. I'm talking anything--wind chimes and yard art are some of the things I'll take down. One year, we had straight-line winds blow our heavy cast iron furniture into the pool. I'll also remove the potted plants that are on the porch railing, and I'll soak all my plants to keep them from being blown over.

 

Outside taken care of, now it's time to keep you safe inside.

 

Find the center of your house. The smallest room with no windows. It might be a closet or a bathroom. We have three locations that would work: small bathroom, hall closet, and laundry room. Prepare it with flashlight and radio--check to make sure your batteries are still working. We also take the couch cushions and place in there. Reading material. It can get pretty boring in there with the fuzzy critters.

 

And this is a biggie--always wear shoes. If the winds start blowing, glass will break.

 

We usually keep the television on to see the direction the storm cells will be going. Our four main TV stations have some excellent meteorologists who track the storms.

 

And keep your "eye on the sky". Look for weird clouds--anvils or thunderheads. And when it gets calm, eerie and greenish--take cover!

 

Later, Peeps!

 

And it's still raining . . .

I've lost track, but this is day three or four of the rain.

"Rain, rain, go away. Come again some other day."

Don't get me wrong, we desperately need the rain. The last two years have been drought-ridden with horrendously hot summers. We're talking desert 110 degrees hot.

Hm, this kind of looks like my face right now, all dry and yucky.

And this is exactly the type of rain we need: slow drizzle, over a few days, with low temperatures. Perfect to soak into the ground.

But it's wrecking havoc on my walking schedule . . . and my weight.

Normally, I don't mind walking in the rain, but I'm so tired of the cold that I can barely force myself to go outside.

I would never do well in the Pacific Northwest. Cold and gloom are not for me. I need the sunshine. Maybe that's the problem. I need to buy one of those special lights . . . come to think of it, I think I've complained about the gloom in a previous blog, probably this time of year a couple of years ago.

Sorry. But I tend to repeat myself sometimes. . . well, okay a lot.

Today is busy, non-writing stuff, of course. I'm taking my mom to the beauty shop. Her beautician was the same lady who gave me a head of God-awful curls when I was fourteen. Come to think of it, that was about the time I decided to go to Mr. Kenneth's Hair Salon. That woman can wield a can of hairspray like nobody else I know. All her customers have the same 'style'. . . and, come to think of it, she closely resembles the 'beautician' in my Goblin's Apprentice stories.

So, in case you wondered, yes, writers take people from real life and we tend to mold them into story characters.

Because who would believe those people existed if they weren't fiction, right?

It's supposed to stop raining today and warm up tomorrow. Maybe by the time the weekend rolls around, it will be dry enough for me to work in the garden beds. My babies need fertilizer, ironite and a heavy dose of mulch.

Later, Peeps!

We had RAIN!!

We had rain last night. In fact, two nights ago we had rain, too. Does this mean our drought's ended? Nope. Not by a long shot. Just yesterday volunteer firemen were trying to put out numerous wild fires that had started west of Tulsa. Four towns had to be evacuated--it was that bad.

But we had rain.

When we have rain, I have to check the pool skimmers because the neighbor's willow trees poop in my pool when the wind comes from the west, which is 90% of the time. And on a sad note, I found a dead toad.

I happen to like toads. I like them better than frogs. Toad have rough, pebbly skin on their backs with a soft white underbelly . . . and yes, they like to pee on you, but not this guy. He was dead.

I can only assume Mr. Toad was out in the rain dancing nekkid along with the rest of us when he was blinded by a flash of lightning and fell in the pool. Toads can't swim, so it was only a matter of time before the current dragged him into the skimmer where he spun around and around and around until he drowned. Poor Mr. Toad.

On a lighter note, a few years ago after a big rain and I was cleaning out the skimmers, I saw something dark on the Kreepy Krauly hose. Kreepy is constantly running in our pool vacuuming up the leaves and stuff that falls to the bottom of the pool.

Anyhoo, the hose vibrates as Kreepy crawls along the bottom and sides of the pool. And guess, who was a passenger?

Yep, this little guy.

Poor thing was stunned. No telling how long he'd been sitting on that thing. Imagine sitting in one of those massage chairs for hours and hours. So I captured him and released him into my garden bed near the pond.

I don't know about you, but I like rain.

And now that we've had a little bit of rain, I think I would like a little more, please.

Later, peeps!