Thursday, August 26, 2010

Thunderstorms and Funnels

It is raining this morning - absolutely pouring! A good cloudburst, complete with lightning and thunder. It is slightly a case of too little, too late as far as this year goes, but it is welcome regardless.The area where the Bag Lady lives has been declared an agricultural disaster area again because of the drought. There has been no rain to speak of all summer - in fact, if there hadn't been that snowstorm in May, the area would have been in very bad shape indeed.The rain that we are receiving now will help a little with the pastures, but is too late for the hay crops, which have already been cut and baled.... the little bit that there was.

There was also a thunderstorm last evening, and the Bag Lady took a couple of pictures just as the sun was setting.


The pictures don't really do it justice - it was impossible to get the whole sky into the frame.


The Rancher was doing some work in the hayfield the other day and the Bag Lady went out for a few minutes to help him. While she was there, she noticed this:

These webs are everywhere in the field, and she remembered the Rancher's brother mentioning them. (If only she could remember what he said about them. Sigh. Something to do with daddy longlegs and ..... she can't remember.)

They are rather interesting-looking though, don't you think? (the Bag Lady has a phobia about spiders and their webs, so she was glad nothing came bolting out of these webs in the 5 seconds she was taking pictures!)

16 comments:

Leah J. Utas said...

Gorgeous pics, even the web is a good one.
I'm glad you're getting some rain. It'll help things next year.

Reb said...

Those are all great photos. Love the webs.

Reb said...

The spiders are probably one of these:
http://bugguide.net/node/view/1974

Amy said...

One thing (maybe the only thing) I miss about growing up in the midwest is thunderstorms. Portland has a lot of benefits (exceptionally long growing season, mild temperatures, very few May snowstorms), but we don't really get thunderstorms (I've seen maybe 2 or 3 since I moved here 4 years ago).

Ann (bunnygirl) said...

The storm pics may not do it justice, but they're gorgeous, nonetheless.

the Bag Lady said...

dfLeah - those webs were everywhere, and so cool! And the rain is definitely welcome.

Reb - thanks. I will check out that link.

Amy - thunderstorms have been pretty scarce around here this summer, so I quite enjoyed these. Sadly, they terrify the poor dog.

BG - thanks - the sky was beautiful for a few minutes last night!

messymimi said...

Pictures are beautiful reminders when we can't get out there to see the real thing.

I happen to be an arachnophile, and daddy-long-legs are one of my favorites.

Levi said...

The sunsets are gorgeous! I doubt I'd be able to stop looking at them. Amazing.
Good you don't live around here. I got a bit nasty spider photo today.

solarity said...

The sunset with thunderstorm pictures are just unbelievably beautiful.

Mary Anne in Kentucky

Gail said...

Fantastic sky shots. Glad you got rain, we are still dry.

Charlotte said...

Wow, if those pics don't do it justice then that must have been an amazing sight! Because your pics are gorgeous!! And the web is pretty too but it still gave me the heebie jeebies. We have funnel spiders here too and jsut typing that made me shudder. Bllleccch.

Anonymous said...

What a gorgeous sunset!
We had late frosts here, which hurt many vineyards. Then after a summer of almost no rain, we received nearly 3 inches in a 24-hour period. I'm not sure about the farmers this year, but 2 years ago they were in an emergency situation like that.
It's a hard-knock life.

the Bag Lady said...

messymimi - daddy long legs are the only spiders that I can stand, and even then, I don't want them crawling on me!

Janell - the sunsets around here are beautiful. We don't have a lot of big spiders, thank heavens.

Mary Anne in Kentucky - thanks! The whole sky was pink - it was gorgeous.

Gail - I hope you get some rain soon. We are supposed to get more this weekend. Finally.

Charlotte - it was an incredibly beautiful sunset. Only lasted for a few minutes, but it was fabulous.
You would have laughed at me taking those pictures - left the door of my truck open and parked as close as I could to the funnels, Just.In.Case!! :)

kcinnova - it sounds like your weather was similar to ours this summer. Except we haven't had the 3 inches of rain..... yet. Of course, the farmers don't want any rain now because they are trying to get their crops off the fields. Sigh. It's a great life if you don't weaken.

Hilary said...

I'm with you about spiders.. ugh. Beautiful strawberry pudding sky.

the Bag Lady said...

Hil - it DOES resemble pudding, doesn't it?

Cheryl Kohan said...

That is one spectacular sky! I love pink skies and I know just what you mean about not capturing the true glory of it all. You certainly did an amazing job of trying, though. Gorgeous.

The spider web is cool, too. And I'm really, really sorry you've had such a dry summer.