We are not exempt...
Do we think we are exempt from the whims of Mother Nature? Sometimes we do magically luck out, sometimes there are 'narrow misses'. The worst and most extreme bad weather events always happen 'somewhere else'. A third world country, some 'other' unfortunate place. At times it seems the poorest of the poor countries get hit the worst.
We caught some bad weather last night. TTT ad ETS were edgy; animals always seem to know when bad weather is on the way, so Tilly the Tall and Ebony the Short were not impressed. It suddenly began to rain. But good. Not at the level of a tragedy, no tornadoes or earthquakes, no lives were lost, let's make that clear, but the weather was 'difficult' if being 'dry' is your thing.
Heavy, sudden rain, a virtual deluge, and lightning-- a major strike close to our house sounded more like a major explosion than the usual, casual rolling thunder that accompanies sweet, gentle summer rain. After the smackdown boom we still had our chimney, roof, and trees surrounding us; upon inspection, everything seems to be intact with the exception of our digital TV converter which apparently did not appreciate the power surges.
Municipalities are reporting roads washed out all over. Highways closed. Flooding. We only measured 18mm of rain. Curiously, my flooded garden plot does not look any worse than yesterday. It doesn't look any better either. Still ponding on the surface. Still not planted. I may have to plant water lilies. Just kidding. I'm not complaining. It will dry sooner or later. If it doesn't rain some more. Maybe.There are people worse off.
Down in the city of Thunder Bay, for example. They had hail too. A mall is flooded. Big stores with water floors. Acres of water in parking lots. Basements are flooded.Water everywhere.
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| Northwood Mall in Thunder Bay, On May 28/ 2012 |
Who's boss now?
Apparently Mother Nature is BOSS and we should not be forgetting that fact.
We should consider ourselves lucky and blessed.
Is that incoming I hear?
She sure is!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely, Angela, Mother Nature is in control regardless of the arrogance of human beings. We really do need to wake up and pay more attention --and be more careful what we are doing to this planet. The flooding we are experiencing is all about deforestation--but of course that would never be admitted, would it....Thank you for visiting! ":) ~R
DeleteGlad all is well and life goes on! Stay safe. Hope you are having fun with the tiling. I assume you will be faced with another room soon :) Getting hit with thunder storms this morning. Won't stay on the computer long. Be well! Blessings.... VK
ReplyDeleteVk, thank you, life could not be finer, the sun is shining and we are safe. More tiling unfortunately will have to await for a bit, but will progress in the future, no doubt about it. If you have thunder storms coming, do take care too, and be well! Thank you for dropping in, have a wonderful day! ~R
DeleteGlad you and yours are safe..Mother Nature sure knows how to keep us humble LOL
ReplyDeleteHi Olivia, yes, we're safe, thank you! Mother Nature keeps us on our toes and it's probably not a bad idea to remain humble while we're at it. We got more rain last night, with more on the way...we're going to get even MORE humble from the look of it. ":)) Thanks for visiting! ~R
DeleteOh my! That must have been quite a storm, Raymond. We deal with stuff like that during our monsoon (coming from June through September). Wishing a speedy clean-up for all and praying for everyone's safety. Best to all!
ReplyDeletehi M.J, it didn't SEEM like much of a storm, but there sure got to be a lot of water collected all over the place. I guess we're getting some more tonight too! I don't envy your monsoon at all! Thank you for your best wishes and prayers, my friend. Have a wonderful evening,-and thanks for visiting! ~R
ReplyDeleteThis seems extremely hilarious. I really liked this post.
ReplyDeletewww.modernworld4.blogspot.com
Hi Gina, welcome to Incoming Bytes! Thank you for the kind comment about this post. It is hilarious how we, as human beings, think 'events' and misfortune cannot fall upon us, but clearly, as this event shows, Mother Nature does as she wishes, and misfortune can fall upon anyone. There are a lot of people with water in their basements, so we're hoping we don't get any more rain! Thanks for visiting, and do come again! ":) ~R
ReplyDeleteDamn! That's about all I can say.
ReplyDeletehi Lorre, that is about it, isn't it? We can only deal with the hand we are dealt by the Big Boss -Momma Nature. Unless you're taking over, of course..":) Thanks for commenting, and great to see you! ~R
DeleteHoly moly, I hope you're on high ground!
ReplyDeleteHi Glory, this was serious stuff, and we ARE on higher ground, and it's a good thing. I was down in the city yesterday, and the level of water in one of the waterways had dropped 3 meters, so there is hope. Now it's 'cleanup'. The problems the flood has caused will be ongoing for quite some time. Our gardens are finally starting to dry out so we can begin planting. Interestingly it froze night before last anyway-so delaying a few days was probably good anyway.
DeleteThank you for your concern and comments ":) ~R
Ugh. Rain and cold. I could not live that far north. We deal with this all the time back home. After 30 years in the Mississippi delta, I have seen more than my fair share of places you could only get to in a boat after the rains. It is always so devastating for the places where people do not know what to do and panic ensues.
ReplyDeleteI hope the waters continue to recede. I have some floating carrots at the moment compliments of the remnants of the little hurricane. I feel for you.
Red.
Hi Red, it is amazing how fast the water did go down after it stopped raining, down 3 meters overnight in one riverway-- but if you go to my FB page you can see a clip of Kakabeka Falls just roaring, the water level is the highest I've EVER seen--STILL far higher than normal. It is magnificent, do check it out.
DeleteI don't know how you can live in a hot climate like the Mississippi delta, I imagine you get used to it, but the heat and humidity would do me in pretty quickly I think. WE have dry heat in the summer and dry cold in the winter, so it's not nearly as extreme as it might be.
We finally got the garden all planted today--had to muck some of it in, but it's all planted! You have floating carrots and just a little hurricane,...yikes. Anything that sounds like 'hurricane' is worrisome down there isn't it.
Thanks you for your concern and for visiting! ":) ~R
Just glad all is well with you and yours Raymond,
ReplyDeleteYes Mother Nature is the BOSS! full stop!, and she is reminding us all of her might..
We must never under-estimate her Power...
Many places are now getting Flash flooding and Hail storms, she is warning us all..
Thank you Raymond also for you most recent visits, and most uplifting comments... They are very much appreciated.. Thank you Blessings ~Sue
Sue, thank YOU for dropping in! We are safe, thank you. You are absolutely right, Mother Nature is politely reminding us to take more care. We have absolutely no control over what happens on this earth other than to open our minds and learn .Flash floods, earthquakes, tremors, hail storms-they are all meant to have us pay more attention to what we are doing. We must learn...perhaps we have to learn the hard way. Blessings to you too, I too, appreciate your messages...~R
DeleteMy city just commemorated the anniversary of the June 1st 2011 tornado. People thought a weather event like this would never happen here (I'm in New England). Usually it's the people in the Midwest who get hit by tornadoes, the people in the West who get the earthquakes, and the people in the Southeast who get the brunt of the hurricanes. We had all three last year, plus a freak October snowstorm. The tornado caused massive damage in a mile-wide thirty mile range; the tropical storm hit Vermont and New Hampshire with epic floods and power outages, and the earthquake (who says the Eastern United States never gets hit by earthquakes?) Then there was the October snowstorm which knocked out trees, roofs and power in Massachusetts and Connecticut. I had no power for a week.
ReplyDeleteNo one is exempt from Mother Nature's wrath. Glad to hear that you're OK.
Hi Katley! For some strange reason, human beings always seem to think "those things" happen "elsewhere". Surprising, isn't it? WE usually are pretty peaceful, little happens "here'. Uh, huh...apparently NOT.
Delete"NO one is exempt from Mother Nature's wrath"--WELL SAID, Katley--because we are NOT exempt, ever. We must learn. I'm glad to hear YOU survived that tornado, the earthquake, floods, and freak snowstorms. What comes next? "Only Mother Earth knows" is the right answer! Thanks for commenting Katley! ~R
A washed-out road -- truly frightening. Here in Mpls we've had some pretty impressive winds but thus far have had no close calls with anything damaging.
ReplyDeleteListen to your dogs!
Pearl
Pearl, our Trans-Canada highway is closed in a couple of places, here, washed out entirely. We have to "go around"....and around. There will be millions in damage when it's all added up. You're lucky, Minneapolis missed the fun. That was a good thing!
DeleteYou are right about the dogs, they certainly know when weather is incoming...no doubt about it!
Btw..your blog is hilarious, I really enjoy it! Thanks for visiting! ":) ~R
Meanwhile back at the ranch (read Wyoming) we have a lower than average snow pack and anticipate a long, hot, dry summer. And here you are bragging about all this rain. It's just rude I tell you.
ReplyDeleteHi Storm, I did not know you were in Wyoming!
ReplyDeleteMy friend, I would SO gladly share some of this excess water if it was possible to do so. I guess we all get what we get, period, for some reason.
LAST year we had a long, hot dry summer, we had to pump water constantly to the gardens and thought we were in for another dry one this year too. Apparently not.
The garden was so wet it was floating last week, it barely dried out enough to plant. How can we know what will happen? We're not that smart...lol.... We sure could use some HEAT though ! That Mother Nature sure is a fickle girl sometimes, isn't she?
I do hope YOU get some rain too! Thank you for commenting and reminding us to be thankful for what we DO get.
":) ~R
LOL! It seems we are on opposites. Our dams were spilling over last year, and flash floods were a concern. Now it's hoping that what's left in the resevoirs from last year gets us through, and fighting forest fires, and that next winter won't be quite so mild as the last. Mother nature sure is fickle, but we humans seem to be able to tough it out.
DeleteStorm, it does seem our weather system is opposite. I do hope you get some rain for your crops though, without flash flooding! This last winter we had it a bit milder than usual, but NOT much snow. That was strange, because when it's milder we usually get a lot of snow. Very unusual--and now we get the rain. It's hot and sunny today, we're mulching the gardens heavily anyway to conserve moisture ..just in case. Thank you for commenting, it's always interesting to see what anomalies are happening in other areas of the continent! Let's hope you get SOME rain. ":)) ~R
DeleteNo doubt about it...she is calling all the shots.
ReplyDeleteLorre, she's calling all the shots and called some more last night with nasty winds that even snapped some trees off. No major damage, but it's another reminder! If you were Mother Nature, would you do things differently? ":)) Thanks for visiting, Lorre, it's good to see you! ~R
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