Saturday, June 13, 2009

Stormy weather


(watch out, little cow. i think i hear a siren.)


One of my favorite blogs is The Retirement Chronicles, a witty blog with absolutely beautiful photographs of northern Michigan. The pictures of spring flowers and birds are just amazing.

Not to be outdone, I have been taking pictures this week here in Dallas.

Before I share my pictures, I need to explain that we don't really have spring here. We go right from "It's-Kind-Of Chilly" to "Oh-My-God-It's-Hot." And forget the gentle spring showers. It's either bone-dry or knee-deep-in-water. Nothing in between.

Hey, this is Texas. We don't mess around.

Here is what the sky usually looks like:



But the other day, it started to look like this:


And then it got these dark, swirly clouds that looked like this:



I noticed that the swirls were moving counter-clockwise. That was right about the time that the sirens started going off. There are no basements to hide in, and I didn't really want to sit in my closet and miss all the excitement, so I took some pictures of the hail stirring up the water in our swimming pool:


(see the little plops? that is hail. at the time, it was quite dramatic.
i really think i need a better camera.)


Texas may not be the most scenic state. But we have Weather with a capital "W."
In just a matter of minutes, we can go from this:
(before)

To this:

(after)

Sorry, little cows. Next time, find a closet to hide in.

~~~


5 comments:

Ziggy Stardust said...

Beautiful pictures, I love a stormy night as long as all cows were safe of course. Thanks for noting the blog, I live in Michigan so I am going to check out the other Michigan blog, cool.

Anne

Brilliant Sulk said...

CREEPY.

Well, you have hail, horrible thunderstorms, tornadoes.

I have earthquakes, fog in July, and hippies.

I think we're even. Nice photos...

Rae said...

Nice photos. You must be weather tough to handle Texas -glad I'm in Illinois.

The Retired One said...

Thanks so much for the shout on my blog..what a nice surprise! You made my day! Chicamom already stopped by and left a nice comment and joined on as a Follower! How nice too! I owe you one.
Wow, that weather sounded scary...changing so fast. I lived in Topeka Kansas for a year and it was tornado alley. It was like that too. When a storm came, it came fast and hard and we always had tornado warnings. I got to see one at a distance too.
Thanks again for the recommendation of my blog, that was so sweet of you!

Lesley said...

Chicamom: I think the cows are fine! LOL You will love Retirement Chronicles. I highly recommend it!

A: I'll put up with a lot to avoid fog in July. Or hippies, for that matter.

Rae: I'm probably just ignorant enough not to realize when I'm in danger! Texas weather is crazy, that's for sure.

Retired One: Seriously, you are my blogging hero! You're always coming up with something new. Love it.

Christmas contest

We're having an office decorating contest at work! With prizes! So in my usual quirky way, I'm being as competitive as possible. ...