The Native Iowan

Saturday here in QLD. Proper summer weather out… 30c/90f. Windy day. Sun is hot and the humidity is 46%. Summer has come to QLD.

Call is for more rain this afternoon, but I dont really see it. Good chance for a squall to blow through. It’s hot enough for a decent storm cell to bring hail down. But I dont think the humidity is high enough, and the wind disturbs the air sufficiently to keep it from getting unruly.

The wind chime is twinkling. The trees around us are being very vocal.

You ever listen to trees/ really listen?

The Palms are like a snare drum with brushes. subtle, very noticeable but subtle.

The tall and royal Gums are noisy buggers. Classic Aussies. They compete for attention. The tall 100plus footer can catch more of the breeze and has the loudest voice. The three or four smaller, 75foot Gums are a chorus. It’s hard to identify one from the other, but together, you can hear tham over The Big Gum.

The weedy camphor laurels and broad leafs, and flowering berry bushes live down low, in comparison to the Gums. Some up to 50foot high, but dwarfs in comparison to the height and noise of the Gums.

The resident Plovers are quiet. No bird life appears to be active. Maybe there is a blow-a-coming. If on the water, I’d be able to see the horizon. Here in a small valley in a larger valley, I can hear and smell the wind but cannot see the horizon.

Knowing if a storm is going to fall on you is very important. As a SeaFarer, I learned much about the weather, and sometimes saw and understood the signs and signals and omens, and got it right. Made the right judgement about travel on the ocean. Some times I got it way, way wrong.

When I say “Seafarer”, I by no means imply “Sailor”. I am a put-put SeaFarer. I prefer a good sized “stinkpot” to a decent “sailer” any day. The only thing better than a well serviced and dependable engine on your boat is… TWO well serviced and dependable engines on your boat.

I hear the rumble of thunder. The wind just died down and the temps and humidity is going up. The front of the storm cell is gathering strength. The sky is still blue but the cloud cover is thickening. The storm is being blown in over the ridges to the west. Dry, hot air from the inland region is spilling over the range and falling onto the cooler, more humid air along the coast… Temps falling now. The bird life just came back and is making a bit of a ruckus as the weather blows down upon us.

The first big rumbles from the clouds overhead. A quickening of wind, the trees are all very noisy and the wind chimes act as an alarm. It’s going to blow.

One of the neat things about being in a little valley within a larger valley is that weather often blows right over us. Heaps of rain and wind and hail and brimstone, but not here. A few years back as one of the cyclones raged, the boys and I sat in the heated pool and enjoyed the power of the weather.

If I owned a boat right now I’d be a bit nervous. But my bikes and cars are under cover. A bit of rain will be good.

First drops falling. Gotta move…

The smell of a weather event is always special. The smell of rain. The smell of ionised air.

I’m in the shed. Stayed out as long as I could. The sky is crackling and the rains begins in earnest. The shed makes loud vibratory sounds. Many pieces of flashing and moulding moved by the wind to create a momentary melody. Like the rain on the tin roof… I always think of rain as “dancing” on my roof.

We’re on the fringes of this storm cell. Wind just changed directions. Big rain drops. Could become hail… But I hear it moving away. We just caught the fringes of the Storm.

Do I smell a storm brewing in the USofA? Do I smell a storm brewing in the USofA?

I definitely perceive a deep sense of angst and discontentment in the USofA. I sense confusion and fear. And I see a high level of manipulation. Agendas are transparent as facts are ignored and rhetorical emotion wins debates. Crushes any dissenting voice.

I could wax poetically about the history of political science. Noting that all political ideals are science experiments. Democracy in its many shapes and sizes is indeed a Political Science lab experiment. As is Socialism, and Hereditary Empires.

A bit of hail just fell…

That was cool. Gone that fast. Which is good. I do though think somewhere near by took a hammering.

Always good when there is a big storm cell in the vicinity and it misses your location.

Good luck next week in the USofA…

Smilez