Once more into the breech!

Again it rained. And thundered. And blew.

Actually, Tuesday started out pretty darn nice. There was a light breeze and the sun was shining and things were definitely looking summery. So much so, that I even went and pulled out some screens, cleaned them and the windows they went into and put them up in anticipation of airing the house. I even went so far as to go around and turn all the thermostats to the "OFF" position when the outside temperature surpassed the inside temperature (68 degrees vs 65 degrees) around 11 AM.

After lunch I grabbed the shovel and went and dug up all the strawberry plants (and weeds) in an 8' x 8' raised bed prepping it for some lettuce, carrots and zucchini. This bed hadn't been dug over since I built it and put the strawberries in in the summer of '07. The number of earthworms I uncovered was amazing! I guess the decaying leaves from the strawberries provided some good food for them.

While I was working, I heard a turkey gobble across the road and my head went on a swivel as I wondered if he would come my way. I didn't hear another sound from the tom until five minutes later when he snuck past me on the downhill side just 20 yards away. His movements created just enough noise to get my attention as I was still bending over picking out strawberry plants. It was big old tom with a long beard, reddish snood and a blue head. He was all decked out for breeding season. I watched as he continued to circle my position and head out to the small open field on the back end of the property. He never uttered another sound after the one gobble.

The temperatures rose to 80 degrees just after 1 PM, but then the sun quickly disappeared between 2 and 3 o'clock in the afternoon and the winds started to shift about as the clouds rolled in from the southwest. Off in the distance there was an ominous rumble of thunder. Here we go again! I thought.

Sure enough, the weather service had issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the area and it (the storm) was literally just around the corner. I sat on the deck beneath the covered porch, watching it approach. Actually, a goodly portion of the storm slid past us to the west along Route 15. I could watch the dark clouds and the lightening strikes along that area as it moved through Mansfield. Counting seconds between light and sound, I figured most of the action to be some 3 miles or so away as the crow flies. Terry and I watched and counted seconds as lightening lit up the sky but we continued to have no rain at the Aerie.

That soon changed as a bank of thick black clouds boiled up above the ridge to our southwest There was a flash and a boom--with virtually no time between them--that indicated that particular lightening bolt had struck just beyond the edge of our property. We watched as a curtain of water moved across the landscape in our direction from the west.

The rain arrived with a vengeance. It fell so swiftly and heavily that the earth couldn't absorb it. Even the recently dug raised beds soon became pools of brown water and streams gushed out of the downspouts and ran along the edge of the yard. Then it briefly hailed. Pea sized little balls of ice landed on the deck for just five minutes or so. Which was long enough for me! (The weather service had warned of the possibility of one inch diameter hail stones so these little ones were a relief.)

THIS round of storms didn't last too long and things were calm again by 4:30 or so. But it wasn't the final round of the day. More arrived at 6 PM and again at 8 PM. These too were accompanied by warnings of strong winds, hail and even tornado. (Those warning's on the local TV can be pretty darn annoying, but useful for those who need them, I suppose. But every 15 minutes?) Luckily, we must have been on the eastern fringe of all the serious activity. Before it got too dark, we could see some oily, greasy looking clouds with slate blue coloring to our northwest but they were already beyond us heading for New York state. What we got was another light show and rain. Lots of rain.

This morning the report is we had over 2 inches of rain last night. The Tioga River is over its banks and flooding sections of old Route 15 in Covington (just south of Mansfield).

Our second driveway has been severely eroded and there's been a slump of soil and rock just behind the house. I spent a little time this morning trying to divert some of the water on the upper driveway to mitigate the erosion/gullying that has occurred. I'd get the tractor out to move some earth, but there's little point. Today's forecast is a carbon copy of the last two days. There will be rain again this afternoon and evening. Probably in the form of thunderstorms.

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On a positive note: We had our first sitting of the year of the beautiful Rose-breasted Grosbeaks between thunderstorms yesterday. Two males showed up at the feeders as we were eating our evening meal. They are still here today enjoying a repast of sunflower seeds shared with about 50 or so Goldfinches.