I'll be near a SLIGHT RISK this week!!!

Sorry about the blogging hiatus. I ran into some internet problems where apparently some lightning took out the digital internet service temporarily in my neck of the woods, sooo no blogs for me... no updated, no nothing. It's ok. I am back now, and it look like for my exciting upcoming trip, I will have free internet... and waffles. What more could I ask for? Well, I suppose those who know me would suggest severe weather... it just so happens that a slight risk is currently hugging the area I will be (east coast of Wisconsin) for Wednesday and Thursday. I guess just stay tuned. If nothing else, I should be able to get some great shots while I explore Lake Michigan. I am hopeful that I will be able to meet up with a few folks while up in their neck of the woods.

I had an exciting weekend... I went to a Disney-made rockstars's concert... Aly and AJ. I better knew "Aly" as the silly blonde on "Phil of the Future". It's a Disney thing... I wasn't familiar with too many of the songs, but most of the Tweens there seemed happy enough, including Mini-Dew. The concert took place at the nearby theme park, which now has a baby animals petting area, so I had my fun shooting that.Here's where it got "odd", though... [[Another Monday, another "Odd Shots Monday" shot. In order to participate in "Odd Shots", visit Katney's blog.]]... the little ducklings in all their cuteness were gated in this small enclosure with these fake sunflowers all around them. Those little ducklings were going to town chomping on those fake sunflower leaves. Too cute.Anyways, lots to do...

Sorry so short, I'm slightly grumpy... got my cable bill... they are IDIOTS...

Toodles,
~Dewdrop

Odd... and interesting weather stuff...

Another Monday, another "Odd Shots Monday" shot. In order to participate in "Odd Shots", visit Katney's blog. Today's picture was captured as I was passing through Athens, GA. They had a bunch of strange bus stops all along this strip... not sure why. I was in decently heavy traffic, so I couldn't do the shot justice, but it was definitely odd.
Moving on to other things... well, while I was enjoying life in my weatherless oblivion... attending splash day events, riding in the naked jeep to the movies, chilling at the pool, apparently, we had yet ANOTHER round of severe weather, including 61 tornado reports on Saturday... 61 tornado reports?! Great googaly moogaly. Unreal!

A friend (thanks, Sher-belle) shared a video link of the half-mile wide tornado south of Chicago on Saturday... 3 hour supercell dropped multiple vortices and a substantial wedge during its life through Illinois. It looks like their were actually 4 tornadoes that passed through Will County with that system on Saturday. Amazing. Here is a link to the storm report.Absolutely amazing! Sadly, that raises the tornado report total for this year up to 1,421 (the chart showing 1,330 was only updated through Thursday... This is amazing... Sadly, too, there is a slight risk for severe weather today. What a year!

I have been treated for the past 4 nights with sea breeze induced pop up thunderstorm which are heavily isolated with huge violent tops, which you can see for miles and miled, like the one I posted on Friday... I am in awe of those storms. Just can't seem peel my eyes from them... Had a proud Mommy moment yesterday when Mini-Dew asked if lightning was firing in the thunderhead I was glued to... (it was). Here, I am just shooting another shot of the awesome mammatus clouds I captured in my neck of the woods on Thursday... because I love them.

Toodles,
~Dewdrop

Just another manic Monday...

Another Monday, another "Odd Shots Monday" shot. In order to participate in "Odd Shots", visit Katney's blog. Today, I am posting a pic from a pool party that I attended this weekend. I was taking pics of the kids playing and diving at the pool, and I turned around to see this...Someone had left their goggles in the flowerpot. I found it odd. It was certainly my first time seeing it. Here are a couple of my favorite shots from the pool party (the child is just an arbitrary child who I found precious... that itty bitty actually dove in...)I also took several shots of the sky between Friday, when I was privileged to have the base of a flanking line approach and pass over... I watched the whole process, totally mesmerized by it, taking pic the whole time... very cool. Then, on Saturday, bf let me know that he was on the look out for sun dogs within the significant cirrus patch that was setting up around the sun... never did see a sun dog, but it was a terrific sky. Thanks, bf, for pointing that out to me... I was so engrossed in the pool party, I almost missed it. Then, on Sunday, offering the most magnificent sunset illuminating a flanking line off to the west northwest. Bf also sent me a note and some supporting pics on his phone of this one... It was picturesque, and lucky me... I had my camera ready, so I set myself up for some shots on the way home from Mini-Dew's friend's house.That was my favorite, but there were some others that I have decided to share, as well...Revisiting the Mothers' Day tornado outbreak... I got this note about one of the tornadoes that day. I watched this one on radar...

The most amazing tornado occurred in Darien, Georgia in McIntosh County. Darien is the city with the big outlet mall you see along I-95 when you’re driving to Florida. An EF-4 tornado with winds of 170-180mph was on the ground for 5.5 miles and injured nine people as it moved from west to east.

No weather here for a few days, but a slight risk appears in central Georgia through North Carolina tomorrow.

Happy Monday!
~Dewdrop

Nesting... and the races... and other severe stuff...

Another Monday, another "Odd Shots Monday" shot. This time, my shot would most likely fall under the rare part of odd... not really just odd. This bird's nest is located in bf's car port. We actually watched as the mommy and daddy birds worked feverishly to build the nest, and then, bf actually noted the eggs in there and wanted me to photograph that. Well, by the time we finally made it there for the shot, I saw feathers in the picture. I had to hold the camera over my head, so we climbed to get closer. About 4 baby birds filled that little nest. Bf made mommy bird sounds to get the birds to crane their necks... teasing those poor little babies. It was SO sweet though!!! In order to participate in "Odd Shots", visit Katney's blog. I will post about the very active and deadly weather weekend shortly. (Sadly, I was able to keep that sentence from last week's post... what a horrific year of destructive weather...)

First let me share a little of my weekend with you... as I mentioned, bf and I were headed to the drag races. Turns out it was a pretty big drag racing event, a televised NDRL drag race... for what it's worth. It was a first for both of us, but we were actually both quite surprised how much we actually enjoyed it. It was amazing how fast these vehicle were going! 191.02mph in 3.947 seconds! Amazing. We did witness one wreck, as the driver lost control while manually shifting since he had no 3rd gear. He fish tailed a ways and then slammed into the wall. The driver was ok. All the race fans around us were picking on me for taking more pictures of the sky than the races. lol. Who me? Here are some of my favorite shots from the races.We had a great time, and if anyone reading ever has the opportunity, I HIGHLY recommend it.

As for the weather... this weekend was a ferocious weather weekend. Ma Nature went on a rampage all through the plains on Saturday and all over Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky and Ohio on Sunday. For many, it turned out to be a nightmarish Mother's Day. I have heard that there were 22 deaths attributed to the tornadoes. In addition to that, the images of destruction being shown on TWC today presented an unimaginable glimpse into the horror that lies ahead for these folks. Buildings obliterated. Vehicles crushed. Homes and livelihoods destroyed. This year's tornadoes are historic. Saturday's storms included a horribly destructive and deadly EF-4 tornado in Missouri. Reports on the Missouri portion of the storm are located here. Unlike previous storms, I will not offer a list of all the storm reports... With 52 tornado reports on Saturday and 20 on Sunday, it would be much easier just to direct you over to the NWS main page. From there, you can select the area of the country that interests you the most and get the local survey results for those areas. The Springfield, MO NWS office did do a great synopsis of the storm on May 10, which is located here. For a summary of the storm reports, feel free to click on the two graphics below.
For Saturday:For Sunday:God be with those who have been impacted by this catastrophic outbreak.

Just to revisit the trend analysis graphic that just amazes me. This puts us almost at the total number of tornado reports from the ENTIRE year last year, and we are currently only 1/4 of the way through the peak tornado season! This year is definitely making history.

Bf and I did go out and "storm chased" a little thunderhead that blazed on through the area... didn't catch anything (at all) except a little dust storm from the ferocious winds we were experiencing all day. We really didn't expect to catch anything, but having just been issued the second tornado watch of the day, we figured why not... we were headed out anyhow. The next local weather event is projected to arrive... THURSDAY and Friday. Sheesh.Have a blessed Monday,
~Dewdrop

Ma Nature's Fury

Here you have it, my "Odd Shots Monday" shot. Bf actually took me on a detour to this spot that he knew about for the sake of an "odd shot" opportunity... so sweet. In order to participate in "Odd Shots", visit Katney's blog. I will post about the very active and deadly weather weekend shortly. Well, as I said, it was a very active and horribly deadly weather weekend. I was out of pocket, forced into a weather hiatus by the Relay for Life, which is finally over for the year. It was a busy weekend for me. I woke early Friday morning (of course, knowing about the potential outbreak in Arkansas) and I head out to the Relay for set-up and preparation around noon. I worked there until about 9AM, Saturday morning, only getting pockets of stolen sleep when I literally fell asleep typing in numbers (I was the accountant). I left and got an hour of sleep, then headed to Mini-Dew's state competition, falling asleep on the way back at about 9:30PM. Rough day. The cool part was that they chose me to go up in the ladder truck to capture "aerial photos" of the relay event. That was thrilling.

It wasn't until I got up Sunday morning, that I learned the extent of the weekend's weather destruction, and only today have the boosted the death toll resulting from Tropical Cyclone Nargis's landfall. Since I have mentioned that, let me go ahead and start with that. I horribly devastating tropical cyclone ravaged the shores of Yangon, the largest city in Mynamar in Southeast Asia, with its population of 6.5 million people. That tropical cyclone slammed into that city with 120 mph winds, which would make that storm the equivalent of a Category 3 hurricane on our Saffir-Simpson Scale. Unfortunately, the death toll now has been lifted to almost 4,000 lives lost, up from the estimated 250 I heard on Sunday. Here is a link (click here) to an article about that storm.

Back in the US, I mentioned in my previous blog that there was a potential for a tornadic severe weather event. Unfortunately, it turns out that was a deadly tornadic severe weather event, killing at least 7 people, damaging or destroying about 400 homes. (Check out an article about it by clicking here.)There were a total of 63 tornado reports, with 10 confirmed tornadoes in Arkansas during this outbreak. You know what that does to the trend chart showing an amazing season this year...My heart and heart-felt prayers go out to all those impacted by the storms this weekend.

Of course, Sunday did bring some hope to the wake of devastation. There was a tremendous amount of coverage of the recovery of Greensburg, KS. Greensburg was devastated when a catastrophic EF5 destroyed 95% of that city, one year ago Sunday. There were inspirational stories of survival and rebirth shared throughout the day. Here is an article about the anniversary of that horrific and historic event. (Thanks, Jason for that link.) I can't imagine how difficult it has been for residents of Greensburg, to live through such loss, and to hang in there through the process of revitalizing the town as a "Greeen Town". God bless all of you!

Ciao,
~Dewdrop

A wonderful weekend

I will go ahead and post my "Odd Shots Monday" shot, following with my routine... In order to participate in this, visit Katney's blog. This week, I am sharing a picture I took today while I was in Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park with bf. I definitely found the following sight quite interesting... and odd. Wouldn't you say?I would say that a two-headed turtle is an ODD sight. The turtle-keeper said that it's not all that rare in the wild... sort of like siamese twins... yeah, you see those all the time.... right... Just some more insight on the two-headed turtle, though... It had been there at the Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park since 1990. Apparently, as the guy said, two-headed turtles are not uncommon. Unfortunately, when they occur in the wild, they have very little hope for survival, but since this one was captured, he/they have lived a long healthy life. I could see why it might be difficult for such a turtle to survive in the wild... while the turtle(s) were being fed, the head on the right was quite dominant, and looking at the eyes of the one on the left, I suspect it might be blind, but the turtle-keeper hand fed the turtle(s) to make sure that both sides were well-fed. Interesting that dominance in that case would be their/its demise in the wild.

Now, let me start at the beginning of the weekend. As I mentioned, bf and I were headed to Tampa for a conference, Acquire the Fire (click here for more information), a Christian Youth Rally/Concert, getting teens excited about Jesus, where we had volunteered our time. We arrived in Tampa around 3:30 on Friday, and reported to training. We worked tirelessly from 5 until 9:30 Friday night, then arrived at 7:15 Saturday morning to do it again until 9:30PM. I worked the main merchandise store, where I was quickly promoted to table manager with a 20% increase in pay. Unfortunately 20% of nothing, is still nothing. At one point, they pulled me aside to count the offering... apparently, I have a large stamp on my forehead that reads, "PLEASE let me count money!" lol. Apparently, it's my calling. What a phenomenal event it was, such powerful worship, they reached SO many teenagers at once. Early ticket sales were about 6,800, their largest event this year. I encourage everyone with teens to check out the website and check for a venue near them. Even if you don't have a teenager, I would encourage that you volunteer your time. It was very rewarding.

Well, we finished that and slept in (slightly) on Sunday. We decided to do a little more Floridian west coast exploration, since we were in the area. We traveled up highway 19 to Homosassa Springs, where we went to the Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park. Starting on a boat, we were transported to the park, where there were many native birds and animals and the now Floridian resident (as proclaimed by the governor), Lu, the hippopotamus. How about that for a warning...? At least they offered the warning...

Well, onto my pics from the day... (I just completed my huge post when it all resorted back to an earlier save. I am quite frustrated with blogger right now.) I will start with the bald eagle shots, which were among my favorite shots yesterday (Sunday). I think it's important to note that it is unlawful to hold bald eagles in captivity unless they are injured. The two bald eagles at this park are each missing half of one of their wings. Of course, in typical Dew fashion, I took a boatload of photographs... here are my birds shots, of which, the owl shot is my favorite... purple. :O)This area of the Floridian west coast is most known for the native manatees that inhabit the area. They love the constant temperature of the Homosassa Springs and the spring fed Crystal River, which is beautiful, btw. We couldn't stop though, since we were on a narrow bridge over it. These manatees or "gentle giants", despite their enormous size (these were between 3000 and 3500 lbs. each), move with amazing gracefulness and speed in the water. They have no known predators and generally only die from injuries sustained by boats passing by or natural causes. They are very majestic creatures, though quite ugly, imo. Sorry, if you happen to find them attractive... We watched the feeding and got to learn all about them. The volunteer was feeding them carrots and sweet potatoes, but she said they also love romaine lettuce.I also captured some nature shots...

Leaving there, we traveled up highway 121 in FL, and came across this wonderfully artistic garden in the middle of no where. It appeared to be the remnants of an old factory wall or something placed in the middle of a field that was decorated with floral arrangements and water features. There were plenty of sitting areas. It was well kept and beautiful. We, of course, had to stop and enjoy it.All in all, it was a wonderfully rewarding and adventurous weekend. We had a blast!!

Regarding weather, there are a couple of areas of slight risk for severe weather, on the Carolinas and Virginia coast and the Kentucky/Tennessee area. Hopefully, Mikey and Tennessee Mike will get their big shots. They are calling for heavy rain in my neck of the woods. Jason shared with me an article about Wednesday's tornadoes in Texas. Friday saw 9 tornado reports, including one in Washington state, which I am a little suspicious of... we are still tracking well above the average and recent years for reported tornadoes, and the season is far from over.Have a terrific Monday!
~Dewdrop

P.S. I am home with a sick Mini-Dew today. She is doing much better than last night.

Minidew says hi. I've been making good grades in science.
(Typed by the infamous Mini-Dew, herself... )