Sky, Storms and a Tiny Airplane

Ok...this is my story and I'm sticking to it!  It all began in late afternoon, oh, around 5:30 or 6:oo p.m.

I was walking from my backyard studio to the house trying to think what I was going to do for supper.  You know, that old navy man has to eat.  As I tend to do, I looked up into the sky and saw the whitest clouds I think I've ever seen, (see those clouds in the back of this photo?) so I ran into the house, got my trusty little camera and headed out the front door to the porch.  Since these clouds were moving from east to west, I figured I'd get a better view of them from there as our house faces East.  So, I snapped a bunch of photos.

Those clouds were just huge, blooming like a flower, just growing before my very eyes and were gorgeous!  In front of the very white ones, were some that looked kind of dark...a grey bordering on some weird color of green.  I immediately thought of hail.  And, they were moving fast.  (Now remember, we haven't had rain in a very long time!)

So, I was getting excited...I love thunderstorms and thought for sure this would be a good one.  About midway up that power pole on the right, you should be able to see a tiny little dot of an airplane.  I couldn't believe it was flying at that point in time.  Do you see it?

Maybe this photo will help.  Do you see it now?  We live not far from the airport (Ok, it's a small airport!) and I've tried many times to photograph a plane around here, but I'm slow to focus on them, so this time I just aimed the camera and held my breath.  See that little plane up there to the left of the power pole?  Cute, isn't it?  And, I actually photographed a plane!!!  Look how nasty those clouds are looking.  

 

Near the horizon, you can see the storm clouds and I was listening for the tornado sirens.  Didn't hear a thing, but felt the wind getting stronger.  I guess I should say that this power pole is right in my front yard by the curb and you can look straight down a line of them...going East.  Most people would not like a power pole in their front yard like that, but, when your husband works for the power company for 40+ years....those poles represent your income, so we've never minded.  And, me, being the type of girl who thinks she may 'spontaneously combust' at any moment....they represent the A/C and I'm thankful to have it!

 

So, now the clouds are really moving and there is lots of thunder.  I call my son, who lives in San Francisco, hoping to let him hear the thunder over the phone.  He loves thunderstorms also and says they never have them there.  He doesn't answer, so he missed some of the 'sounds of nature' as the old navy man calls them.

There were birds out flying too.  I managed to catch a photo of one of them...another thing I try to do and more often than not, fail.  

No rain yet, but lots of wind and thunder.  I just loved seeing the layers of clouds, way back in this photo, you can see blue sky...just look between those trees.

This photo was taken from the back yard.  I ran out there as the clouds were moving over our house, hoping that it would actually begin to rain.

 You could actually smell the rain.  But, where was it?

Then, it began to fall.  The sound of rain is a wonderful sound and I stood out there on the porch of my little backyard studio.

So, want to guess how much rain we got?  I'm not exaggerating when I say that it rained for a grand total of about a minute and fifteen seconds.  Fastest rain I've ever seen!  Big huge drops, sounded great...quickly came and just as quickly left.

About ten minutes later, I went back out into the back yard and snapped this photo looking East again.  PINK clouds....as I live and breathe!  A very fun and exciting few minutes...but you should know...the old navy man says I will blow away one of these days just to take a few photos! Well, I'd come in before it got too bad and look what I got to see...a beautiful array of clouds, some flying birds and a little tiny plane.  Not much rain, but the smell of it was pretty great!  Now, you take care out there! pat