Days of Storms and Tires

I'm a tad behind, having missed posting, yesterday.

With two plus days of dry weather, it still wasn't enough for the soil to be really workable, but I had a feeling it was my last chance for a while.

So after we finished mowing the lawn on Thursday, I went out to dig the last bed, designated for squash and cucumbers. It was difficult, in that it was still wet. I had cleared off mucho weeds earlier in the day and hoped the sun and stiffening breeze would do its work...but I ended up turning over soil that was less than perfect.

I figured that even though it was another "undate" night, I could still finish in time, but I barely came in under the wire.

The heat and dewpoint were stifling, so I came in to sit down for a few minutes and casually asked Loren, "So, what time do you want to leave?" Upon discovering it was an hour earlier than usual, I ran back out, finished up the bed and planted.

Whew, that was close!

And when you're that soaked with sweat, it's really hard to tell if the shower is doing any good...I think there was still steam rising off me at the theater.

We managed to get our errands, eating and movie-watching done before the threatening clouds broke loose. All the way home from Mason City we were traveling under a wall cloud, sometimes deluged with rain, sometimes buffeted by wind, always trying to get ahead of the storm.

And by the time we arrived home we'd made it into dry territory.

There was that big rain, then another one this morning (Friday). I decided to risk the weekly shopping, but the clouds were building once again, making a dark contrast in back of the wind turbine farm.


Made it to Goodwill just before another terrific downpour :-) Even more startling, I did not purchase anything!

It was dry by the time I got home, and Loren had put up the tire swing.
He got an old truck tire for free, and I think it's safe to say...

...that the two youngest are enjoying it :-D

(you may have noticed another regular sized tire, as well as several climbing bars that Loren also installed. I think the kids are set, now)

Towards sundown, I looked to the south, southeast and saw this towering cloud bank.
Maybe they don't look all that impressive, but they were actually located below Cedar Rapids, a good two hours away.

And then there were these beauties


I first saw clouds like this when my mom took me out into the front yard after the Palm Sunday tornadoes (I was in kindergarten and we lived in Indiana). She pointed up in the sky and said something to the effect, "See that? It means there's been or will be bad weather."

The official name is "Mammatus," and yes, it's a pretty obvious name. They occur when there is great instability in the atmosphere and even can be a sign of tornadic activity.

There's your weather lesson for the day!

Word is that we have a break from the storms for tomorrow, but it all starts up again late Saturday night and continues on through Tuesday.

Just thankful to get a few things done between storms.
 

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