STORMY SKIES, RAINBOWS, & RAIN

IMPENDING STORM OVER LAKE HURON SENDS A SAILBOAT SCURRYING FOR BAYFIELD’S SAFE HARBOR

Aside from taking myself for a short toot on me motorcycle this afternoon there just wasn't much happening today.  Mowed the new lawn, whacked some weeds, washed some windows, half a utility load of yard waste to the recycling area & that was about it.  Well until I had a look at our computer’s weather map for our area that is & was surprised to see another storm cell heading across the lake in our direction.  Could tell it was not as severe as Sunday’s storms but grabbed my cameras & with Pheebs right behind me we jumped into the Jeep & headed for Bayfield’s Pioneer Park overlooking Lake Huron.

Skies up the lake in the direction of Goderich were looking pretty dark as were skies looking down the lake towards Grand Bend.  Offshore Bayfield seemed to be in a temporary sunny spot.  A few sailboats scurried for the safety of the harbor mouth just in case while I saw a smaller power boat looking like it was overloaded with people heading out into the lake.  Didn’t think that was very wise but lucky for them the storm came ashore & veered inland north of Bayfield.  Skies lightened out over the lake to the north.

PEOPLE GATHERING AT PIONEER PARK TO WATCH THE STORM COME IN

DIDN’T THINK THIS TOO WISE HEADING OUT UNDER THREATENING SKIES IN WHAT APPEARS  MAYBE TO BE AN OVERLOADED BOAT

Knowing the storm was now heading cross country Pheebs & I  headed back through Bayfield & out past our 5 Seasons Park to the East.  Ominous dark angry clouds to the North-east.  We stopped about a mile & a half East of our Park on a country road.  Huge dark clouds were rolling right over top of us & it felt like if we could jump high enough we could have jumped into the clouds & went for a ride.

Standing there on the road taking a few photos I was reminded of the years we lived in the country at the old Weenie Roast ranch over near Fullarton Ontario.  We had open skies all around us there & we used to sometimes sit on the porch watching storms roll across the horizon to the South.  It’s been nearly 13 years since we have been living in the Pine forest where we are now & the only glimpses we have of the sky are straight up through a few open patches in the pine trees.  At the Weenie Roast ranch we saw the sunrises & the sunsets & best of all for me was the open night sky with stars from horizon to horizon.  Those were the days when my interest in Astronomy were peaking but now that we are in the forest I have forgotten much of what I learned about the night sky in those days.  We have clear skies, sunrises, sunsets, & stars from horizon to horizon at our digs in Congress Arizona during the winter but not so here during the summer months I’m afraid.  I was so bowled over by today’s usual beautiful skies I said to Kelly when I came home, “let’s dust of the ‘For Sale’ sign & go find us a nice place nearby in the countryside again where we can once more revel in clear open skies, watch the sunrises & sunsets again & sit on a porch watching big thunder storms rolling by.  Ya, let’s do that………………………….

INCLUDED THE JEEP IN SOME OF THESE PICS TO GIVE THE PHOTOS SOME PERSPECTIVE

THERE’S A DOGGIE IN THIS PHOTO:))

It was still raining around 4 o’clock while I was sitting at my computer editing photos from earlier afternoons stormy skies when all of a sudden a shaft of sunlight pierced our pine tree canopy into our front yard.  Then another & another although it was still raining.  I knew instantly what that meant so grabbed my cameras & headed for the Jeep.  Knew I only had a few minutes to see what I knew would be in the sky east of the Park.   Sure enough as I cleared the forest we live in I saw a beautiful Rainbow arcing low over farmer’s fields just right where I had expected it to be.  Still raining a bit but I was in sunlight as I quickly pulled over & grabbed a few rainbow photos.  Also caught part of a second fainter rainbow above the main one.  Oh yes I thought to myself, we have got to get ourselves out of the confining forest & live once again surrounded by all of Mother Nature’s wondrous panoramic country views.…………………………..     

Uploaded about 50 additional barn photos plus an old outhouse to my ‘OLD BARNS, SOME NEW ONES, AND A FEW SHEDS ALONG THE WAY album today.  Latest barn photos are at the beginning.  And a big thanks to our good friend & neighbor Catherine Horton for giving me this great book about the history of early barns.  Excellent drawings & paintings of old barns along with detailed descriptions & sketches of tools used to construct barns many years ago.  Some sketches depict how the walls & beams were raised.  Thank you Catherine:))

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Tech support people like me spend our days on the phone with customers. Many like to chat while waiting for their computers to reboot. One man told me he'd been a long-haul truck driver.  I'd love to drive a big rig," I said, "but I'd worry about falling asleep at the wheel."  "Here's a tip to stay awake," he offered. "Put a $100 bill in your left hand and hold it out the window."

AFTER SUNDAY NIGHT’S STORM WE HAD A SUNNY MONDAY & A FEW FRUSTRATIONS WITH WINDOWS 10

AFTER SUNDAY’S 2 BAD STORMS WE HAD US A NICE QUIET DAY MONDAY WITH SUNNY SKIES & PUFFY CLOUDS

Soon as my blog published Sunday night Pheebs & I were out the door into the Jeep & headed for Bayfield's Pioneer Park in hopes of getting some photos of the approaching storm.  Huge black & gray clouds were moving fast & I managed a few shots through the windshield.  Heading for the cliffs overlooking Lake Huron there was a steady stream of cars going the other way.  Rains began & by the time I reached Pioneer Park the skies opened up dumping barrels & barrels of water substantially reducing visibility.  I was about 5 minutes too late for photos as huge winds sweeping up the hillside from the lake appeared to be trying their best to rip every living plant right out of the ground.  Sitting in the Jeep with wipers on high speed I still couldn't keep the windshield clear.  Out my passenger window I saw people scurrying by.  These sunset hopeful folks had walked to Pioneer Park from downtown Bayfield just a few blocks away but the storm came ashore so fast they were caught in the deluge.  Rain eased up a bit so we headed down to the beach & harbor area but there was no getting out of the Jeep despite the rains letting up a bit.  Large waves were pounding & sweeping over Bayfield’s outer piers.  No photo opportunities so might as well head for home.  Found out later there had been waterspouts in the storm out over the lake so was very disappointed I had missed that.

ONLY MANAGED 2 PHOTOS ON MY WAY TO PIONEER PARK

WORST PART OF THE STORM HAD PASSED OVER THE BEACH AREA BY THIS TIME & VISIBILITY WAS IMPROVING

It was dark with no traffic on the roads.  I was slowing down to make a right hand turn into our Park when I saw a small dead tree across the road in front of me.  Not a big tree but enough o do a little front end Jeep damage had I run into it.  Threw my 4-way flashers on & figured I had just better wait there with my lights & flashers on in case someone else came along that section of road.  Half a minute later a van pulled out of our Park on the other side of the tree & threw it's 4-way flashers on as well.  Turns out it was a fellow who lived in our Park.  I stayed put while he slipped back into the Park to notify Ken the Park's owner about the downed tree.  We knew Ken always had his chain saw handy.  About 5 minutes later Ken showed up with his big tractor & using the forks on the front end lifted up the dead tree moving it off to the side of the road.  It was still raining so he & the other fella got pretty wet.  Couple minutes later Pheebs & I were home.  Nice to have a little excitement for a change:))

STANDING BY WITH 4 WAY FLASHERS GOING

KEN CLEARS THE ROAD

OOOPS, BACK WHEEL OFF THE GROUND

Thunder, lightning, & rain continued all night right through till morning's first light before finally backing off leaving us with overcast skies which began clearing about 8 a.m.  Sunday's storm blew away our hot oppressive air & most of our miserable humidity leaving us with a beautiful breezy weather day & blue skies with big white fluffy clouds slowly floating overhead.   Morning news talked of storm damage around the area & a suspected tornado touching down about 65 miles north-east of Bayfield.  Fellow photogs from the 'GODERICH SUNSET’ & ‘LAKE HURON SKIES’ Facebook groups have some amazing storm photos well worth stopping by for a look see.

TWO SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT COMPOSITIONS OF THE SAME BARN

I've been having a few tussles with Windows 10.  Nothing majorly serious but just little buggy things that are enough to drive impatient people like me right round the bend.  Trying to re-arrange my photo files the way I had them in Win 7 tested my tolerance to the point where I had to just shove myself away from the computer this morning.  I was just simply way to frustrated.   Loaded up the little Pheeber Buns & we headed off for a wee summer morn's drive.  When confronted with stressful frustration it is always best to remove myself from the situation for awhile & go do something else.  I look at these Win 10 bugs as 20% Win 10's problem & 80% my fault for my impatience at learning new ways of doing new things differently.  Later this afternoon I was able to get a few more cobwebs swept out of my head & finally make a bit of progress.

THESE FEW PINE BRANCHES WERE ABOUT ALL THAT CAME DOWN ON OUR PROPERTY DURING SUNDAY NIGHT’S STORM…..CLIMBED UP ON THE RIG’S ROOF TO CHECK THE SOLAR PANELS & THEY WERE FINE…..AND  MONICA YOUR PLACE LOOKS JUST FINE OVER THERE AS WELL:))

I see where there seems to be some growing concern over Windows 10 privacy issues & readers have commented & sent emails regarding that concern.  We have read things over & don’t feel it’s a big deal.  Of course I may very well stand corrected on that issue at some point.  Some people are paranoid over their privacy while others couldn’t care less.  We’re probably somewhere between those 2 extremes & anyone reading my posts day after day for the last bunch of years can easily deduce I’m not a big privacy person.  If I was I certainly wouldn’t be writing a daily blog saying a lot of the things I have a habit of saying from time to time.  And we will just leave it at that………………………… 

FARMER’S WERE BACK ON THE ROADS & FIELDS TODAY

Coffee & a carrot muffin at Clinton's Tim Hortons & we were off for a slow Jeep stroll through the countryside.  More barn photos of course & we did take us for a walk on the Maitland Trail north of Holmesville Ontario.  Mentioning Tim Hortons here's something I have noticed about the Clinton Tim Hortons ever since it was built a number of years ago.  Seems to me like just almost every vehicle leaving Clinton on highway 8 detours through Tim Hortons.  I notice it over & over & over.  If I'm heading east out of Clinton & there are 5 vehicles in front of me it is a pretty safe bet 3 if not all of those vehicles will put on their right hand turn signal & pull into the Tim Hortons coffee shop parking lot.  Not a scientific study of course but I'm betting about 70% of all vehicles leaving Clinton Ontario do so through the Tim Hortons coffee shop drive-thru.  What a Gold Mine that place is......................

MANAGED TO SCORE ME A FEW MORE BARNS TODAY AS WELL & I WILL BE UPDATING MY BARN ALBUM SHORTLY

THESE ARE ONLY 3 OF 18 BARNS PHEEBS & FOUND ON OUR SHORT DRIVE THIS MORNING

WELL NOT EXACTLY A BARN BUT I JUST LIKED THE LOOKS OF WHAT MAY HAVE BEEN AN OLD COUNTRY SCHOOL HOUSE AT ONE TIME

A few more signs of Autumn approaching when we came across some apple trees on the Maitland trail alongside a corn field & how nice to hear those corn stock leaves rustling in this morning's breeze.  Current bushes also bearing fruit & the best sign of an early Autumn occurred when I heard a single Cricket chirping:))

WONDERING IF THESE MIGHT BE ELDERBERRIES

 

LOOKS LIKE IT MIGHT BE A BUMPER CROP FOR APPLES THIS YEAR

THERE’S A LITTLE PHEEBER FACE IN THIS PHOTO:))

Nice not to have the A/C or fans running today.  Bonus:))  Almost made me want to step outside & run around the house 25 times just to work up that usual uncomfortable sweaty feeling of summer's humidly hot days.......................  

GROANER’S CORNER:(( At his 103rd birthday party, my grandfather was asked if he planned to be around for his 104th.  "I certainly do," he replied. "Statistics show that very few people die between the ages of 103 and 104."

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State-of-the-art - Any computer you can't afford.

Obsolete - Any computer you own.

Microsecond - The time it takes for your state-of-the-art computer to become obsolete.