These storms weren't listed as 'severe' by the NWS so I wasn't skerred...just very awe struck by the light show.
Weather: Dog Days of Summer Part 2
Do any of you remember this? Probably not true....
As soon as you see the lightning--start counting. Stop when the thunder clap comes.
This will tell you how many miles the storm is away from you.
I remember doing it ... G.
Yeah I've always heard that 'rule' too. I guess that means the storm was directly over our house.
Oh yeah Gita, I remember that too, too bad I didn't think of it last night. Then again, the lightning just never seemed to quit, so it would have been hard. FlickerFlashFlickerFlashFlickerFlash... darn-near NO breaks in between.
Turned out to be super-sweet today - cool, breezy, with a nice hour-long moderate rain late morning. I'll take it! =)
I was finishing up some gardening outside when the storm started until a really loud clap of thunder made me drop everything and dash inside. The lightening was nothing, but it was the loudest thunder I've ever heard.
We didn't get any measurable rain this time.
I'm so sick of getting mosquito bites while watering that I've resorted to wearing a raincoat (with the hood on) and thick winter jeans. Plus gloves and boots, of course. I look ridiculous, but it works!
A day of cool relief, Thanks, Lord. We could really use 7/10s of an inch of rain. We're dragging hoses every day. I just completed a basic conversion on the A/C in my truck, it appears to have been a success. I nearly froze on the way home. LOL Hopefully it will work well for our trip, I sure don't want to drive to N.C. in July without.
People probably just think you're an eccentric gardener.LOL
This message was edited Jul 24, 2014 8:42 PM
I'd pass out of heat exhaustion if I dressed like that! Fortunately, I don't get bitten very often. I feel sorry for SSG, CatMint and others who are mosquito magnets. Sometimes it pays to have bad blood LOL.
mosquitoes pretty bad here too these days. Have to remember to try that trap idea.
Delightful cool night! The windows are open and the katydids are going strong!
Hope you get some rain soon, Ric!! Sounds like you are pretty much ready for that trip to NC! :-)
Muddy, sounds like I could use some of that 'bad blood' too! LOL!
I enjoy hearing the katydids, too, Sally! Also the crickets. Now if only we had some frogs and owls to make the night chorus complete! :-)
Burr, it was too chilly out last night! I'm glad I closed the living room window most of the way or it would have been freezing in the kitchen. I didn't think it'd get that cold or I would have closed the other one in the spare bedroom too. At least it will be nice at the ball game tonight. We're going to a Lancaster Barnstormers game.
So beautiful out today! Wish I didn't have to work. Supposed to be nice tomorrow too, I will be going to a beer festival and fire truck show, got lucky and won tickets. Lots of micro-breweries.
sounds fun, Catbird!
I took the day off. My ankle's well enough to get out there and do a little work. Nice to enjoy some cooler weather.
Have fun Catbird, I work tomorrow, but was off today, boy oh boy it was perfect. We took the dog to Patapsco.
Man oh man it was fabulous out today!!!! I hear we can expect lovely stuff like this for the next week or so - sounds Okey Dokey to me!!
OK, I see that I'll be needing to divide some of my lemongrass to share at the swap in Sept. ... GREAT for keeping mosquitoes at bay! Please keep in mind, this is NOT hardy in our area, so if you want to keep it going, it will have to be brought inside. I have NO idea how to care for it indoors, but I will research that and add little 'info tags' on each plant. :)
This article mentions lemongrass in addition to other plants. It's got some interesting ideas for plant-based deterrents, I think: http://www.salon.com/2014/07/01/why_mosquitoes_bite_some_people_and_not_others_partner/
I've been spending a lot of evenings on the porch this week. Earlier the heat actually felt good after being in AC at the office all day, and I was out there when the thunderstorms came through on Wednesday. Last evening was really nice with the cooler temps and low humidity.
The evening of the thunderstorms, I was so tired that I was sound asleep on the chaise when the storms hit. What actually woke me up was the chaise. It was shaking, and I thought that the ferocious storm was SO ferocious that it was shaking the ground. Then I realized it was a scared Riley dog that had taken cover in the little space under the chaise. It was his trembling that was shaking it, poor little guy. I brought him up on the chair, held him close, and we watched the storm - I am always so fascinated by the fury of them.
Regarding mosquitos - I rarely get bit by them. Maybe we don't have many here, but I also noticed that when other people are getting bit when we are sitting down on the dock, they still don't seem to go after me. Someone once told me it had something to do with blood type. I'm A negative. SSG, Catmint, and Muddy - it would be interesting to see what your blood types are to do our own mini test of the theory. Too bad it isn't the same about gnats - those little suckers are what plague me LOL.
Poor Riley baby! :-(
That's interesting about the mosquitoes, Aspen. I'm O-positive. DD (Katie) is B-positive. The mosquitoes find both of us delicious. ;-)
I'd be really curious to know what it is in the blood that attracts or repels mosquitoes - my blood type is B-Positive and I actually plunge my arms, elbow-deep, into plants covered in mosquitoes and don't even get ONE bite. < =/ Maybe it's something in the diet that gets into the blood? My blood is full of chocolate. :)
I don't know speedie but I am SURE going to give the chocolate diet a try!!!!!!!!!!!! Lovely breeze now, feels nice after working in the library with no AC today.
Haha--the chocolate diet sounds delicious! :-D
Found this interesting article on why some people attract mosquitoes more than others:
http://www.webmd.com/allergies/features/are-you-mosquito-magnet
Aspen, your "shaking chaise" story is funny - poor dog!
http://scienceline.org/2007/09/ask-knight-mosquitoes/
According to this, mosquitoes prefer Type O blood: "Not only were Type O’s more likely to be landed on, but the study found that for any blood type, people who secreted a chemical marker about their blood type through their skin (both blood type and secretor status are determined by genes) were bitten much more than non-secretors; 24 percent in the case of the Type O’s."
I have Type O blood but must not be a "secretor". I get bitten, but no where nearly as often as the mosquito magnets I know.
This message was edited Jul 26, 2014 10:53 PM
aw Riley, you feel so bad when dogs are scared.
Gosh, the lovely pre dinner breeze died, and somebody threw a warm wet blanket over our house. Had to turn on the AC to sleep. Those of us who DO sleep around here, that is...grrr.
Never made it to the festival yesterday, woke up with the headache from He**. Don't know if it was weather related but it didn't let up until around 3 pm. Figured maybe beer would not be a good option at that point.
Walked around the yard last evening, things are blooming away and my cukes are growing, plenty of tomatoes on the way, and even a couple watermelons. Now for some rain today.
Great article, Muddy--thanks so much!
"Some of the top candidates: the amount of carbon dioxide in the breath, pregnancy, body temperature, alcohol and odorant markers based on blood type."
I probably have a lot of genes working against me unfortunately! :-(
Catbird, sorry to hear about the headache. Hope a nice quiet evening enjoying your garden helped! :-)
This message was edited Jul 27, 2014 7:55 AM
When I had chemo in my system 4 years ago, I didn't get a single mosquito bite! I'm getting bitten more frequently this summer (compared to other folks, not just that there are more skeeeters), and I think it's because, how to say this delicately, I'm having to use deoderant again (was pretty much optional after chemo, guess my skin is finally back to normal).
Never thought I'd say Yay for skeeter bites, Jill, but I think that one deserves a yay! :-)
We got a crazy bunch of storms last night. Our whole area got hammered. At our house, we got 3.36" of rain in about 2.5 hours. Pretty awesome.
We were supposed to get a nasty storm last night, but ended up getting 0 inches. I'm so jealous of your 3 inches!
I really should have watered yesterday morning but was busy all day. I need to get out there asap before the petunias die of thirst.
We got a serious downpour--sometime after I had gone to bed.
I heard the pouring rain and the wind. NO T-showers--just a heavy rain storm.
G.
holy cow seq .
. i heard some but nothing like that.
Yeah some parts west of me got over 4". It just kept coming and coming. Some lightning started a few fires in our area as well. I was happy it rained because I had just threw down about 10lbs of Hollytone around our pyracantha hedge but I didn't feel like watering it in. Mother Nature had me covered.
wow, 3" in just a few hours--that's impressive! Glad you got the rain. Nothing here except for thirsty looking plants... ;-)
driving north to work this morning, we saw the H U G E wild puffy clouds up your way, Seq.
Nice, I like puffy clouds :) I don't think it's supposed to rain any more today though. Just a beautiful day in late July. We still only show for three 90 degree days in my area although we have had plenty in the upper 80s. It's been quite the perfect summer so far.
I have spent most of the morning and afternoon outside doing all
kinds of gardening things... The whole time--enjoying the most wonderful
breezes from the East!
I could close my eyes and think i was at the Ocean.......THAT kind of breezes--
sometimes pretty strong...had to hunker down some of my bigger pots.
Came in to have a bite to eat--not sure how much more i will go back outside....
WELLLLLL...I DO need to mow my lawn! Maybe i will have enough get-up-
and-go left to do that?? It is ONLY 4PM.....Hmmmmm....
G.
We just got a smidgeon of rain last night. A bucket sitting under my large Japanese Maple was bone dry this morning.
I gave some new shrubs and trees a good soaking tonight, and will do the rest tomorrow. I hope that if I water like mad, it'll bring on the rain!
I need to do some watering today, too. The container plants in particular dry out quickly in the sun.
We got more rain last night, 0.23". It was a nice steady rain. Are you all pretty dry down there?
I'm feeling the dryness here! :-( We need a good, long, steady rain--not another shortlived torrential downpour with lots of runoff.