Friday, July 30, 2010

Crazy Storm –The Boy With the Purple-Green Hair

This year we have had 3 hail storms plus yesterdays storm which had a little bit of hail, but a lots of wind! All through town large trees have been snapped or uprooted.  Right after the storm, Ted and I jumped into the car and drove downtown. Some streets were impassable due to fallen trees. Electricity was out in parts of the town.  Considering the damage around us, we were not badly damaged.  A few good size branches needed cleaning up.

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We drove downtown and checked on family and friends. Everyone was safe but large trees and branches were down everywhere.  When we returned home, we found friends checking on us! We have 2 huge old elm trees. We worry about them, but we keep them pruned and I know they have long, long roots that travel outward in the garden. Sometimes when I am digging at the back of the garden I will find their pinkish colored roots.  This morning’s Rapid City Journal had a picture of a baseball size hail stone. Rapid City is 60 miles to the north of us. It is our areas largest city.   The paper said today was to be 92 degrees. Ted spent the whole day cutting up logs with the chainsaw.  Thankfully all day there was family or friends helping him.  The hum of chain saws started early this morning. Later this afternoon I drove downtown and was amazed at the clean up. Our one traffic light was working again! Some trees are still down and many trees look craggy or topless.  Ok enough of that!
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The boy with the purple-green hair lost his marbles in the storm. But a little while ago, I went and gathered them up and put them back in his head. His purple hair is looking a bit ragged.
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Earlier this month Barb and Mike, family, brought me a bouquet of dahlias grown in Barb’s garden. His pet is this pebble mosaic frog planter. I bought this planter from a neighbor who was moving away.  Grandiflora coreopsis grows out of his back. It tends to dry out so I have the soil mulched down with a big clump of leaf mold.
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Here he is where he resides. For that matter, many mornings here is where I reside.
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It’s 7pm and I had to pause my blog to go out and get an insect picture. I could get pictures of grasshoppers, but given the choice I would rather squish them under my shoe that take their picture. I am so pleased I was able to get this picture.  There are lots of fallen twigs and sticks. I’d better go out and pick some up!

16 comments:

  1. Glad you and the garden are Ok after that storm. Take care and have a great weekend.

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  2. The dragonfly photo is amazing! And I think your little guy with the green hair and the frog planter are very cute.

    I am glad you did not have any serious damage from the storm. The sound of chain saws still brings back memories of our tornado in 1990!

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  3. Glad you are safe and the damage wasn't worse. We get some really strong winds here, too. Knock on wood, we haven't had a tree uprooter yet this year!

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  4. Glad you didn't have much damage.
    We were in your area, back in June. We stayed a couple nights in Hot Springs. Beautiful area.
    There were storms when we were there. Luckily, our sightseeing was just one step ahead of them. We hit some rain, but heard about a hail storm at Rushmore, right after we left.
    I posted a picture of the double rainbow we saw, on our way back to Hot Springs for the night.
    You do live in a lovely area. Hope the storms are finished for a while.

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  5. I'm glad to hear you and your garden survived the storm. Your boy with the purple hair is great! I'm glad you put his marbles back :)

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  6. So glad you didn't lose much. Poor little boy with the purple hair (bet you get some fun search engine traffic with that title), he needs a bit of tlc.

    I hate grasshoppers. I grab them whenever I can.~~Dee

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  7. I am always amazed at the power of nature when you view the aftermath of a storm. I am glad you escaped major damage and I hope your "boy's" hair grows back quickly ;-)

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  8. Garden of Threads, Thank you! I can see dead branches high up in the tree!

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  9. Hi Deb, we still are hearing the chain saws.

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  10. Hi Annie - Tree uprooter wind that's a good name. I guess they are calling it a microburst wind. I finally harvested my first 4 tomatoes this week. In spite of 4 hail storms I think I am going to get a good crop

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  11. Linda, If only we had know each other then. We could have met - my garden likes to meet other gardeners.

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  12. Melanie, yes the boy with the purple/green hair needed his marbles - I am still finding some that I missed.

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  13. Dee, I was carrying around my fish net and used it to catch an onery grasshopper. I haven't tried netting them in the front yard garden yet. Imagine what the neighbors will think.

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  14. Noelle, I read your posts on the monsoons you get in Arizona! Sometimes when we would travel to Mexico, we would rest under a bridge. My mother would always say if we were to hear the sound of a freeway to run up hill - That would be a flash flood down the arroyo.

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  15. Hail, wind, AND 92 degrees! I guess I can't whine about the biting flies today;) So sorry about the poor plant boys hair. Like I tell my kids after a bad cut:"it'll grow back." Hopefully, anyway....

    Christine in Alaska

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  16. Summer storms can be very frightening ... glad all is well. So enjoyed my first visit ... thank you for connecting.

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