Tuesday, August 25, 2009

A visit from Hurricane Bill...

Hurricane Bill traveled up the East coast this past weekend causing astronomically high tides, 12 to 20 foot waves and mega amounts of rain. It stayed far enough from the mainland so the winds were minor 30 miles inland where we are. Downeast they were a little stronger. The skies began to get gray on sunday afternoon with thunder and lightening preceding the rain.

When the skies opened up, torrential rains dumped water on us that accumulated in a hurry. The puddle in the photo is the result of 5 minutes worth of rain. Of course, this was at chore time and I can't remember ever being as wet as I was when I was finished. Thankfully it wasn't cold!
Not sure my muck shoes are ever going to dry out though.

Tragically, some people just can't pay attention to warnings posted by officials who know what they are talking about. On Mt. Desert Island many people visit Thunder Hole on their vacation. It is a rock formation on a cliff side where the surf pounds and the waves are fascinating on a sunny day. On sunday they were amazing and dangerous. A family of three were too close and were swept out to sea. The little girl did not survive. Several people were washed out to sea that day and fortunately no one else perished. Several broken bones and bruised bodies. See more on that story here: Acadia
The ducks thought they were on holiday....they couldn't decide which puddle they wanted to take their bath in :) We have a Mama duck setting on 12 eggs in a nest she made in the middle of my bee balm. I've gotten over being cranky about the damage to the bee balm and enjoy watching her from my kitchen window. The Indian runner ducks are very entertaining and are great slug eaters.

This is how Jinx and Jade occupy themselves during a thunderstorm :) Smart Kitties.

The last two days have been sunny again and 85 - 90 degrees. I'm struggling to can and pickle in this weather without AC. They are promising cooler temps by Wednesday evening....I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I have several heads of cabbage to process and the cucumbers are growing like crazy. We are getting red tomatoes even though blight has shown it's ugly face here and is starting to affect my plants. Many, many people lost all their potatoes and tomatoes. It's been a tough year in the Northeast for gardens and forage crops. Soon we will be pulling up all our plants in the front garden and preparing the soil to plant our garlic crop. Yum!

Thanks for stopping in for a visit. Hope it's sunny where you are!

8 comments:

threecollie said...

Glad to hear you are getting tomatoes. Even a few are nice. I picked some really green to beat the blight and a handful are ripening...we are so grateful. Sorry about the rain. Looks like you really got hammered.

lisa said...

Boy, talk about busy! I went out to pick my tomatoes, the vines are pretty well toast, so I did some picking and the husband said to go ahead and just pull the whole plant up and pick the tomatoes off that way and burn the fines! We have tomatoe on order through a vegetable market! I still have lots of beans and zucchini and beets to put up along with pulling more potatoes, have alot of those thank goodness they weren't anywhere near our tomatoes. Take care! Keep dry!

Joanna@BooneDocksWilcox said...

You have such cold and snowy winters and yet you have 85-90 degrees in the summers? doesn't get that warm here in the NC mountains. Glad the ducks are making the best of all that water.

Deb said...

threecollie,
Your right - even a few tomatoes are nice :) It's amazing how fast the soil absorbs the rain - we've had so much yet it continues to drain off somewhere.

lisa,
Hubby had the right idea. Burning the vines is a good idea. I'm going to do the same thing.
I'm envious of your potatoes - ours rotted in the ground. Oh well - I'm grateful for what we did harvest :)

joanna,
I swear this is the only part of the country where there can be a 60 degree temperature difference in one day. Thirties in the early morning and 90 by late afternoon!
That doesn't happen often but it does happen. I'm glad you don't get that kind of heat - we have high humidity as well lately - can't wait for it to go away and stay away!!

Sue said...

It sure looks like you got a LOT of rain...........
I bet those ducks were in sheer heaven. How funny that must have been to watch.

BB said...

Swap you some sunshine for some of the wet stuff... we can probably do without hurricanes but would not knock back a downpour (or ten!!).
:-)
BB

Gayle said...

I wish I had such a long growing season, but if it means living with rain like that maybe I am fine where I am. That is insane...I can't even imagine. The ducks are awesome...Runners were my favorites to have although I am out of the duck business (for now:) You should give gardening tips. I have so much to learn. I'm digging potatoes and there are hardly any there. The ones that are are very small. :(

DayPhoto said...

Those ducks sure look like they are having fun. I enjoy watching the kid's ducks. And my chickens!

Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com