26 May 2016

Wild times

There won't be any need to water plants today. We had a wild storm overnight and recorded half an inch (12.5 mm) of rain in the gauge in just under an hour. There was thunder and there was lightning. When it first started, and at another point or two during the storm, I thought the noise sounded like hailstones hitting the roof tiles and the skylights upstairs. I didn't get up to look, though. Maybe it was just big fat raindrops. I see no evidence of any damage to plants this morning.

Random photos: last night's sunset

Callie is acting up. I wonder if she sensed somehow that the storm was brewing. The dog does not enjoy thunder and lightning. About 8 p.m., Callie seemed to want to climb the stairs up to the loft space, which are narrow and steep. She just couldn't do it. She stood at the bottom of the staircase and whimpered, putting first one front paw and then another onto the bottom step and then pulling her paws away again. It was as if she couldn't find her rhythm and get all her legs coordinated for the climb. I hope the problem is psychological and not physical.

Callie the collie keeping watch in the back yard

I think she just didn't want to go upstairs, but Walt and I were up there, as is our normal routine. She finally made it up the steps but she seemed nervous about it. The rain and lightning didn't start until about 1 a.m. When Walt got up during the storm to go have a look around the house and out the windows, Callie followed him downstairs. She didn't come back up. When I got up this morning, the poor dog gave me all the signs that said she needed to go outdoors, so I opened the back door for her. She sat out back under a tree for about an hour, and then she came back in. I don't know if she had business to do, or what.

Collard greens...

Oh, by the way, last night before bed I saw a headline that said the employees at all 19 of the nuclear power plants in France had voted to go out on strike. This morning that has been revised to say that "only" 16 of the power plants will be affected by strikes. Meanwhile, one-third of the gas stations in France have run dry because oil storage facilities and refineries are paralyzed by strikers. The country has dipped into its emergency fuel reserves to keep things moving. And the trains are mostly still running on reduced schedules because railway workers are continuing their strikes. Those unions have announced a strike of unlimited duration starting on June 2. I'm supposed to go to Paris on June 5. We'll see.

...and Swiss chard starting to grow in the garden

Life goes on otherwise. The tennis tournament in Paris is in high gear, but forecasts are for lousy weather from now until at least Monday. Rain and showers will slow things down in two ways: there will be rain delays, and the clay courts will be damp and slow. The Roland Garros tennis complex doesn't have a roof over any of its courts and it doesn't have lights for night play either, so the weather is a huge factor in the tournament.  It's kind of like the vineyards in France, in which irrigation is forbidden. It's all about the weather.

P.S. at least a dozen hot-air balloons just floated right over our house, really low. Some event we hadn't heard about, I guess. I took photos.

17 comments:

  1. It looks like we didn't have any storm in Paris during the night.

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  2. Quite a day. Maybe Callie needed to regain her calm under that tree.

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    1. We think she has injured one of her back legs. I don't know how. A sprain? A sting? She is 9 years old after all.

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  3. Hi Ken,
    Sorry to bother you but can you tell us about the fuel situation around Saint Aignan. We are booked to come down for the next 10 days, but will need a full tank of petrol to get back to the UK. The news reports make it sound quite serious and only getting worse!
    Thanks,
    Lucy

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    1. Yesterday when I went to SuperU I didn't see any problems at the fuel pumps. They were open and there were some cars but no long lines. I'll go out again tomorrow and report back.

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    2. Lucy, there are no guarantees but have you seen Jim Budd's post about driving from London to the Cher Valley a day or two ago?

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  4. I love that sunset photo!
    I have been looking for a safe route (not on the main departmental) to get to town by bike. 15 kms. I wanted to do it for exercise but I might have to do it if we don't have gas!

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    1. Fifteen kilometers is a good long ride. We have bikes too but we haven't taken them out of the garage in years. Maybe a gas shortage will motivate us.

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  5. Toujours de belles photo , j'aime particulièrement celle avec le cabanon , à ce sujet qu'elle est l'espèce d'arbre devant celui-ci .Bonne journée .

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    1. Je crois que c'est une sorte de peuplier, Thierry, mais je suis loin d'être un expert. J'ai regardé les feuilles ce matin. Je prendrai une photo et je chercherai sur internet.

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  6. Apologies for the bad behaviour of Australia's newest nasty tennis brat, Kyrgios. We just seem to keep breeding them. It is strange how some dogs react so badly to storms and others don't seem to notice them. We have had both, and many in my childhood who did or did not react.

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  7. That's a beautiful photo of Callie- I hope her leg is better soon. I had collards with a veggie plate yesterday- they were delicious. I've been making smoothies with kale every morning for a while now. I may switch up to chard this week.

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  8. Oh, no, I hope that our dear, dear Callie heals quickly!

    Beautiful photo of the sky, Ken!

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  9. Callie is 9 years old, and it's only normal for her to have some aches and pains, I guess. I worry about her because the dog before, Collette, had a couple of strokes, at age 12 and then at 14 -- that was the fatal one. It's hard to tell whether a dog's mobility problems are caused by injury, arthritis, or worse.

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    1. Our male collie was fit and healthy till he was 17, slower at 15 but still active. He was on medication for arthritis from 15. Thinking of you guys and Callie!

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  10. Yes, the sky photo is tranquille et calme and like the other 3 photos, do not give any indication of the concerns you've identified in today's post. My kisses go out to Callie. What a sweetheart who just wanted to be with her compagnions during the loud storm. Hoping she can rest her leg and she will feel up to your regular outings, soon. Those strikes could be the perfect excuse for some bicycling (!). I love to bike but haven't yet gotten my ready for spring and here it is almost summer!

    Mary in Oregon

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