Well, today started with a bang.

Literally.

At about 5:30 am, I was awakened, first by a flash of light, then about a half second later, a massive peal of thunder! That I even saw the flash of light at all, through my mostly sheltered, small, west facing window, tells me more than anything just how bright it was, never mind being awakened by it.

Almost immediately after, we got hit with a sudden downpour, along with a light show and more thunder. It was gone as suddenly as it started, moving quickly across the region. Looking at the weather radar, the system was a wide, narrow band of severe weather sweeping to the southeast. Later in the day, I was hearing reports from various other towns and cities that experienced much the same thing. Mostly clear skies with just a few clouds, a quick deluge as the system hit, then clear and sunny again!

My plan had been to head to the city early in the day to do our second stock-up shop, so as to avoid the storms predicted for the afternoon. Instead, we got the storms early, and I headed out later!

While doing my morning rounds, I found there was very little damage. A couple of downed branches, and this…

This dead spruce was actually on the ditch side of the fence line. I remember looking at it, earlier this summer, and thinking we could probably take that down before it falls…

I’m not sure how we’re going to clean this up now. It’s not really accessible. The lilac hedge envelops the base, and I don’t want to create a gap in the hedge. It’ll just give the deer another place to jump through.

We’ll figure it out. Assuming the lilacs holding it up don’t just give out and it falls the rest of the way down on its own.

As for the rest of the day, it has been hot and muggy. According to the weather app on my computer, we’re at 28C/82F, but it feels like 30C/86F. We’re supposed to hit 30C/86F tomorrow, then again a couple of days after, before things start to cool down slightly, again. I check different apps, and some say we’ll get more thunderstorms, while other don’t even say rain.

I’d like at least a couple of days of no rain and lower humidity, though, so I can get some painting done outside. Or cooler days without rain, so I can take down more dead trees.

The heat, however looks like it will be hanging around for a while, though!

The Re-Farmer