My Love of Thunderstorms

     I really love a good old thunder storm. I like the thunder lightning, wind and rain. I like Eddie Rabbit's "I Love a Rainy Night."


    Today my love of thunderstorms cooled off a bit. I had some damage as the result of a severe thunderstorm this afternoon.


     We had wind  and thunderstorm storm warnings today. You could see a build up starting around noon. About 2:30 PM the storm broke . There was lots of thunder, lightning, rain and wind. Rain , thunder and lightning weren't spectacular. However, the wind was spectacular. I don't know the wind speed but the trees really rocked.


     All at once I heard a good bang outside and I knew that something had been hit. I ran to my front window to see a large part of my birch tree had blown down on the car and the back window was smashed out. So a few fast scrambles to get the car under the car port and then the rest of the afternoon talking to insurance. By 5:00PM most of the business with insurance had been done and tomorrow action will take place.

A 6 or 7 m (20ft) chunk of birch tree.

Cleaned the back window out pretty neatly.

My birch that is in the process of its last days.

     Things like this are stressful but I have to stop and say, "Nobody was hurt. All people are safe." This storm was not nearly as severe as the one that took place in the mid west and eastern states. Our power didn't go off. 


    My daughter lives near Chicago and she had a large chunk of her maple tree come down. It missed everything...house, power line, fence, neighbor's house. It didn't even knock the bird bath over. Was she lucky!


     Now just for this afternoon my enjoyment of thunderstorms was cooled . Tomorrow I will look for thunderstorms again.

Brenda Schultz: More Campaigning

        A couple of posts ago I told you about my friend and neighbor who had  serious spinal injury. Brenda is working to find more financial support for her physio therapy program.


       In Alberta as long as you are hospitalized you get physio therapy. As soon as you're out of the hospital you are on your own for physio therapy. Private plans usually cover $400.00 and that doesn't go very far. Brenda was in the hospital from Sept. 2011 to Dec 22 2011. The hospital therapy was good but of limited value in getting back the use of limbs. Brenda went to California for February for a special therapy. When she came back she had made very good progress. She could lift her legs and this made a big difference in her mobility in a wheel chair. Since February she has continued with therapy. As you saw in the picture she can now ride a tricycle.


      Brenda's family and friends have been supporting her in this therapy. They've gone a long way but are about exhausted in funds. I'm including a link for a fund raiser that Brenda is working with. If you feel comfortable posting this link on your blog please do. The more publicity Brenda gets the more success she may have.


     Thank you.

Woodland Flowers

      I went for a walk in the woods yesterday to find some flowers. Well, it actually wasn't a walk. I have a piece of recreational property and very little of it has been developed so there are quite a few wild flowers that show up over the summer. The property has old growth poplar trees. A poplar forest has a heavy undergrowth which by itself is an interesting level of the forest. I have cleared a minimal amount so there are areas where it is open. So yesterday my walk was really mowing grass. However, over the years I have noticed the various plants. This is my first time photographing some and I find that I don't know many names. 

This is the Twin Flower. It likes moist mossy woods. It grows very thickly and is a bout 3-4 in high.

The bell like flowers have a vivid pink center.

Ordinarily the twin flowers hang down

A faded rose with a visitor. It is now the end of season for roses so they look a little the worse for wear.

Lily of the Valley (Maianthemum canadense)

Twinning Honeysuckle (Lonicera dioica)   This is quite common in open woodlands

       So my grass cutting was done in between much flower watching. I was watching for the Round Leafed Orchid. I found two of them but before I could stop my mower I ran over them. I looked for others but couldn't find any.

       I've always been interested in native plants . This has made me put some effort into identifying and  learning about them.

3000 meters(10000 ft) of Clouds Above me Tonight

       About 4:30 PM today it got dark enough  in the house to turn the lights on. Clouds built up steadily all day and it began to rain about 4:30 PM.

       We didn't have cumulus clouds today but layer after layer of clouds.


       Our forecast predicted rain for this afternoon , evening , night and tomorrow. So you know that a major system is moving into the area. The radar map show a large cloud system slowly moving north from Montana and curving in toward the Rocky Mountains. This is when we get a major rainfall. As I said in a post before, the air mass has to rise when it hits the Rockies and when it rises it cools and  dumps the rain on us. This system has come over the mountains of the north western states. Somehow much of the moisture remained in the system and it is released over us.


      When we get west winds we don't get rain. The air moves over the Rockies and all the moisture falls on the west slopes of the Rockies. 


      So you see at 4:30 PM this afternoon we had a huge build up of cloud which was full of moisture and some of it fell on us. With a very thick cloud layer much sunlight is blocked so we have to sit in the dark or turn the lights on.


      Since I like rain I'm fine. I like going out for a long walk in the rain. I think I'll have a good chance to walk in the rain tomorrow.

National Aboriginal Day

        June 21 was National Aboriginal Day in Canada. I wanted to post on June 21 but a number of other posts got in the way. June 21 st was summer solstice. I had written a post  about Brenda's blog and wanted that to be out. So here it is , better late than never, National Aboriginal Day.


       National Aboriginal Day is meant to celebrate Aboriginal culture. For a culture to survive it has to be practiced, appreciated and grow. That can be done when people get together and show off aspects of culture.


       I hope that sometime this year you will take some time to look at some aboriginal art. There's much to choose from. I particularly like bead work. Bead work was done long before the white man came and cheated aboriginals out of their furs for a few beads. They used cut up porcupine quills. Many aboriginals are fantastic artists using modern media. One of my favorite painters is Allen Sapp. Take a good look at some of his work.


      I hope you will take time to look at some aboriginal Dance. With colorful costumes and movement it becomes a ballet.


       I hope you will take some time and listen to aboriginal music. They had many songs that told stories. Each person had songs for various occasions. Drums were used to emphasize parts of the song. None of the original songs were written down . They were passed on orally. Today , many of those songs have been written down and will become permanent. Songs are still being made today and fortunately by young people. Many aboriginals have been able to do well in modern music. I particularly like Kashtin


      I hope you will listen to the aboriginal language. We still have areas where Cree is mainly spoken. Now young people are trying to learn Cree and keep the language active and living.


     We all must celebrate National Aboriginal Day. We learn something. Aboriginals  gain some self confidence so that they can  proud of their culture.

Introducing: A New Blog and Blogger

      Ordinarily new bloggers don't have an introduction by another blogger. But this time it's special so I'm proud to push a new blog.


      In Sept of 2011 my neighbor , Brenda, fell from a second story deck and suffered a spinal injury. She has been fighting back ever since. 

A special tricycle which gives more therapy and pleasure.

     Brenda has recently started a blog to publicize her condition and ask for support. I'm sure you will be impressed if you visit Brenda's blog. So go to her blog and she will describe what has happened and how she is succeeding. 


      I first met Brenda when she was a preschooler. She walked by my house everyday to elementary school. I taught her in middle school. Then I lost contact with her for a few years. About ten years ago she moved back into my neighborhood about three houses from me. I've enjoyed having Brenda as a neighbor and watching her two sons grow up. They are really neat kids. 


      So what I'd really like you to do is hop over to Brenda's blog and take a look. Any support would be most appreciated. After I visit Brenda I come away feeling much better as Brenda's great determination to get back to normal has really influenced me. 

Yahoo! It's the First Day of Summer

     The little kid in me says yipee it's the first day of summer. The older person in me thinks once again what the first day of summer really means. For a little kid summer means long , warm , sunny days when you can play outside. For adults we may also look at pleasant summer activities but also the changes in many things that go along with this time.


      For someone who lives on the land the solstice has very real meaning. I'm not sure how important the solstice is for urban dwellers or if they even are aware of the event.


      I was raise on a farm so the long days were very important. As a little guy I wanted to play more and work less. Success on a farm was closely controlled by the weather. Each activity was dictated by weather. Starting field work before dawn and watching the sunrise as a treat. On the other end I watched many colorful sunsets.


    I also spent five years in the Arctic and that was a much more significant solstice. There was much more celebration of the solstice as we would find a high point and watch the sun. Of course, the sun didn't set. It just went lower in the sky and then climbed back .


    Ancient peoples who were nomadic or those earlier people who were agricultural societies had there own solstice celebrations. It's interesting to know how the different cultures celebrated. 


     In Red Deer , Alberta today the sun rose at 5:14 AM and sets at 10:01 PM. I will try to stay up past my bed time to get a shot of 10:00 PM daylight.

North side of house 9:29 PM

Looking south 9:45 PM

Just before sunset 9:50 PM

Just before sunset

Directly west at 9:55PM

In my yard at 10:00 PM

    So here's to all of you! Have a great summer!