Thursday, August 01, 2013

Coffee River

I was pushing a cripple shopping cart through Walmart yesterday. Push, push, bump bump through the garden department where I picked up birdseed and suet.
On the way out, I saw a table with reduced-priced items. I stopped to browse for a second, and down on the bottom shelf, I saw a dust-covered rain gauge.
The gauge didn't cost much new, but the package had been opened, and someone had secured it with scotch tape that was losing it's grip. I picked it up for $0.97.
Once home, I peeled the cardboard and cellophane away, walked out to the deck, and shoved the sharp end into a flower pot on the edge of the deck.
We checked the weather forecast before bed last night and it showed a chance of thundershowers. This morning around 3 a.m. I woke to the sound of thunder.
The house was dark but lightning flickered on the walls of the bedroom like a strobe. Caillou was freaked and I realized he was standing beside the bed shivering. He is not a fan of thunderstorms.
This morning when the storms passed, I stepped out to the deck to check the new rain gauge, and
poured out over 4 inches.
All that water has to go somewhere. When I drove to Jasper today to lunch with a colleague, I noticed the river was up.
On the way home this evening, I pulled into the boat ramp just down from the house to get a closer look at the river.
The clouds had moved off to the east, and the sun was summertime warm. I pulled down close to the water and cut the engine.
I set the emergency brake and stepped down to the water's edge. The river is deep there, and it was the color of rich coffee.  It was full of leaves, limbs and dead trees, sweeping by toward the south.
I sat down on the bank and watched in amazement at how efficient Mother Nature is at housekeeping.
"Well, this old tree has been here far too long. I think I'll move it down to Mobile Bay."
Sometimes it's hard to do the math, but four inches of rain in my gauge, means that folks down river should probably be thinking about moving to higher ground.



10 comments:

  1. That is a LOT of rain to get in one night. Wow! I would expect flooding somewhere from that- xo Diana

    ReplyDelete
  2. It is wet, indeed. You are so right. That water has to go somewhere.
    P.S. I detest those bumpity bumpity shopping carts. I can't tell you how many times I've turned around and taken a cart back and gotten another because of that very thing.
    :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Once Mother Nature decides to clean up - there's no stopping her!

    Take care
    x

    ReplyDelete
  4. Well you did good and became an efficient man trusting your own
    instruments rather than the news lol

    I like a little bit of rain. Not too much and not for long.
    A good thunder storm wit lightning is nice.
    We don't get any here.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Mother Nature is amazing indeed. Loved reading this with the visuals. Your writings always bring thing to life.

    ReplyDelete
  6. "I sat down on the bank and watched in amazement at how efficient Mother Nature is at housekeeping." I loved this passage my friend. And yes she is isn't she?

    ReplyDelete
  7. What a bargain that gauge was.....we go through them like buggery in Scotland!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Rain and floods make for an amazing view.

    ReplyDelete
  9. What a beautiful picture, Rick. Nice job.
    I think your predictions are reasonable.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Beautiful shot of the river :-) We had heavy rains in June which produced some flooding, but also re-energized a lot of the wetlands that dried out during droughts in the past few years.

    ReplyDelete

Please consider sharing

Email Signup Form

Subscribe to our mailing list

* indicates required