SUMMER STORM

During the afternoon big puffy clouds formed in the sky.

The air got really muggy and hot.  Thomas melted.

The clouds got blacker and uglier.

The wind began to blow.

Lightning!  And the clap of thunder that followed sent Thomas flying for cover.

Then big fat raindrops fell.  Everything was washed and cooled.  Whew!

DID YOU FEEL THE EARTH MOVE?

We finished dinner early yesterday.  DH was in his favorite chair in the living room reading the paper, and I FINALLY had some time carved out for watercolor fun. I was sitting quietly at my desk with all my stuff at the ready when…everything shook.  It felt like something large had run into our house.

My bowl of watercolor water rippled,

 (reenactment of the water waves)

and the strings on the blinds were swaying.  It only lasted a few seconds.

I walked in and asked DH if he felt the house rattle.  “Yeah, I just thought it was someone in the attic.”  No one was in the attic.  Who would be in the attic?  I even went up and checked.


The local television news reported a magnitude 4.8 earthquake about 170 miles away in eastern Wyoming.  The Star Valley Independent stated--The earthquake was located 3.1 miles beneath the surface with an epicenter 20 miles east-northeast of Jackson and 40 miles west of Dubois. 
The Billings Gazette said--There were no reports of damage or injuries… At Flat Creek Ranch, people saw rocks roll off the top of Sleeping Indian, also known as Sheep Mountain, ranch owner Joe Albright said. Guests had been entertained at lunch by a member of Geologists of Jackson Hole, who talked about earthquakes, Albright said.
"A few hours later, here this damn thing comes," he added.


In 1983 a magnitude 7.3 quake hit near Borah Peak, about 170 miles west of here.  Our house rocked, things fell off shelves and the dining room light fixture danced on its chain.  Two deaths and major damage to buildings were reported near the epicenter. 
Around here earthquakes are mostly chalked up as one more tick of the clock that measures when the Yellowstone Caldera blows us all into oblivion.

STUFF I'VE LEARNED part 8

This is the eighth installment of my list of valuable information usually learned the hard way. Follow the links if you are interested in reading one, two, three, four, five, six and seven.

1.  Chocolate can lower blood pressure as much as prescription drugs, a new German study notes.  People who ate about three and a half ounces of cocoa products daily for two weeks lowered their risk of heart attack and stroke by ten to twenty percent. --Melissa Gotthardt

2.  A bald guy looks silly with a pony tail.

3.  Put the list of important things to do where you can find it.

4.  I can walk to work faster when I don't have to plod through snow drifts or balance on sheets of ice.

5.  Getting older is mandatory.  Acting old is not.

6.  Motel shampoo makes good bubble bath and laundry soap.

7.  An automatic can opener is a waste of electricity and is difficult to clean.

8.  A rainy night far from town is a bad time to discover your car needs new wiper blades.

9.  Don't worry about the hair in your soup.  It's the worry that will kill you not the hair.

10.  Battle scars are displayed with pride.  Pimples are not.

11.  It is difficult to open old posts and read comments left by loved ones now passed.