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Borrego Springs, CA

Friday, June 21, 2013

One dilly of a storm last night

It rained all morning yesterday, stayed cloudy in the afternoon, and then all hell broke loose in the evening.  The wind blew, the rain came down in buckets, and the thunder and lightening were bone shatteringly loud.  Emma was a wreck.  I gave up trying to hear the TV, and it soon stopped receiving a DISH signal.  Some surrounding areas got golf ball and larger sized hail, but luckily we did not.

I woke up about 5:30 this morning to no electricity in the rig.  I’m not exactly sure when that went out as it was still working just before midnight.  With a storm like last night and no electricity this morning, I always wonder if my hook up post got hit by lightening and fried the surge protector, or if everyone else has no electric also.  6:00 a.m. is a little early to go knocking on Steve’s door or Rachel’s door up in the bunkhouse.

So I sat outside with Emma for a while, and fixed the side of my screen house that got blown in during the storm.  After a while, I decided to unhook the electric and start up the generator.  It was time to exercise it anyway.  It got a good workout for six hours as the temps increased.  The rig sits out in the sun and it doesn’t take long for the inside to heat up each sunny day.  I later found out that there were power outages in quite a few places, and the isolated refuge wasn’t exactly near the top of the list of places to get fixed.

No electric also meant no pump for the water well on the refuge.  I was fine in the rig, but the staff had to drive three miles to the Chippewa picnic area if they needed to use the pit toilets.  There are some advantages to being self contained.  Shortly after noon, the staff was sent home for the day since they couldn’t work on their computers or even get the big garage doors open to get large equipment out. 

I had planned to make a trip to Fargo, SD, today to see what interesting sights I could find there, but I didn’t really want to leave the rig with the generator running.  It got up into the 80’s today, and Emma would have cooked inside the rig if I shut the generator off.  Ah well, guess I’ll do that next week.

It was after 1:00 before power was restored, so I opted to just run in to Detroit Lakes to take care of some errands and grocery shopping.  I was back by 3:00, but had to struggle with the heavy iron front gate since everyone had gone home for the weekend.  It normally isn’t closed until after 4:00. 

As I drove the 20 miles or so home, my mind wandered to comparing living in the north as opposed to living in the south.  There is that well known ‘Southern Hospitality’ that can be found south of the Mason-Dixon Line, and I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing a good serving of that for the last almost two years.  Now I’m once again experiencing that famous Minnesota ‘Nice’.  There aren’t the automatic Yes, Mam’s and No, Mam’s of the deep south, but folks are just so cheerful and NICE here.  Maybe it’s because they’re frozen into their homes for more than half the year.  I don’t know.

In the south, the ya-all’s and slow drawls catch in my ears.  Up here, there’s the rising lilt to the end of sentences, doncha know!  Uf-duh, it’s hard to decide which place I like best.  Guess I’ll just migrate north for the summer, and south for the winter so I don’t show favoritism.  Winking smile

The skies have once again clouded over this evening, and it’s as still as death outside.  Not a leaf is moving.  It gives me the eerie feeling that we may be in for another round of angels bowling in heaven and nasty lightening strikes again.  I sure hope not.

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy

22 comments:

  1. You've described our world when the power goes off. Generator on and the only water flowing is what we have in our onboard fresh tank. I always felt that living in MN was almost like being in an entirely different country. The winters are so different and so are many of the phrases . . . like "go with." Not "go with me" but just "go with." Yah, it's Minnie-so-tah!

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  2. Glad you fared well during the storm last night and I hope you don't get another one tonight.

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  3. You have clearly highlighted some of the many advantages of living and traveling in an RV:))

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  4. You just described my kind of storm.... a real crash-banger! I love 'em! Glad you got through it okay.... I, too, love the differences between the south and the north... as well as the east and west... yeah, they all have their own thing... kinda makes me curious about my own twangy accent. Isn't it interesting how our heritage has influenced not only our habits and phrases we use but our voice as well....

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  5. Here in New Mexico it is sooooooo dry, I long for a storm like you had last night! We have a wildfire near us, The Silver Fire, 57 square miles and only 15% contained! A good storm like you just had would mean a good rest for the 500+ firefighters who have been battling this storm for a week! I can't even remember the last time I heard thunder! I am envious!

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  6. I love to hear the differences in speech in just about all sections of the country. I think I've lost most of my "Cincinnati sound" by now. There is something so sweet in the Savannah people and their speech, but No'th Carolina is my all time fave.

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  7. I guess that'll make you a snow bird?

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  8. I love the regional accents. There's a decency to the midwest that's very appealing.

    And I love electrical storms. They're very rare where I live, but we had a few afternoons on our recent trip to Kenya where it was really nice to be indoors while it was crashbanging outside.

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  9. Wow, that sounds like some storm - glad you're safe. As for Emma, have you tried Bach's Rescue Remedy with her? I was skeptical, but it seems to work for Cali when she's stressed.

    http://tinyurl.com/lszvx8m

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  10. When I used to dispatch trucks, we had an office in Mn and the drivers were all very nice.
    used to get a kick out of their accent and the fact that they were from Menasoooota.

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  11. Have you checked out the Thunder Shirt for dogs? I have heard good things about it. It can also be used for other stressful situations for dogs, not just storms. Here's a link if you'd like to check it out...http://www.thundershirt.com/?utm_expid=16997785-6

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  12. Like the "angels bowling in heaven"--have never heard that one before.

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  13. Being southern ... I also have southern ears ... some accents are harder than others to hear. ha

    It's mainly the sayins that 'get' non southerners ... do tell ... all y'all ... I'm fixin to do that ... and so forth. Texas is a whole 'nother language... worked with a woman straight from the UK ... we had to have an interpreter to communicate.

    I love the colloquialisms of any region and 'R's' always seem to be fun to hear ... I liked Minnesota very much. very pretty. 10,000 lakes?

    I like thunderstorms to sleep but not the LOUD booming ones... jarring ~ too old to be jarred around at night.

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  14. We sure could use some of those hard down pours. 2 fires burning since yesterday and it is bone dry here. And of course they are human caused.

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  15. We had a bad storm pass through our area last night. Lots of clean-up of the mess going on today. Have really enjoyed your blog.

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  16. Thanks for the comment over on my blog! Tamarac is one of our favorite places to explore! We live about 15 miles from the eastern edge of the refuge. The Yellow Lady Slippers should be in full bloom now, and the Showy Lady Slippers should be starting to bloom any day now. I will be in that area in the next few days to photograph them..red car..with Border Collie hanging out the window!
    Sounds like you are having a blast there ..hope you have a great summer..yes that storm Thursday night was something else.
    I will be back to visit your blog again:)

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  17. I guess if you have to choose which area you like best, you have to decide which pest you like best, ticks or gators...

    When we reach a campground for an extended stay I always top off my water tank. Twice now at campgrounds there have been water problems that would have left us high and dry if not for our on board water.

    PS: Your genny is happy now! :c)

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  18. Glad you fared pretty well in the storm. I'm getting rather tired of the rain here on the east coast. But I agree that each area of the country is unique, almost each state is unique and I hope we never blend together and all sound and act the same in spite of all the fast food/walmart alleys. Me too for summer in the south and winter in the north. Just not the same place every time. There are a lot of things to experience.

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  19. So gald y'al are safe! I hope poor Emma has recovered-Killer is like that also, he never relaxes during a storm. I'm going to check out that Bach's Remedy-I tried the Thunder Shirt but it didn't do any good for Killer, just made him hotter. It's so sad to watch them shake-he almost looks like he's having a convulsion. Hope this remedy works! Also hope there wasn't a second storm-one is good and clears the air but a second one can easily be overload. I think it's wonderful to live as u do and would love to if I could convince my husband. It's great to see so many different places and meet so many good people. I've never met anyone I didn't like while motorhoming. Hope u have a great weekend Judy....and a relaxing one.

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  20. Colorado would give ANYTHING for some rain. Too bad we can't figure out a way to even things out a little. Glad you made it through the storm intact.

    Mark

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  21. Hint: Unplug your rig from the power pole during a thunder and lightning storm. It doesn't take a direct hit to destroy your whole electrical system. The current can travel along the ground to the power pole, and into your rig.

    A friend got hit during a New Mexico thunderstorm. See:

    http://www.andybaird.com/travels/skylarking/2010/zapped.htm

    for details.

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  22. If you make it into Fargo check out the Fargo Theater. I just found out yesterday it's a great Art Deco find and I'm jealous you're so close!

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