Saturday morning around 6 it started raining. There was lightning, thunder, strong wind, and heavy rain. I’m not sure how long it lasted, but by the time it ended we had about two-thirds of an inch of rain. When I checked our front yard, I did not admire what I saw. Where I had just finished seeding and trying to repair the erosion from earlier rain, I found more damage. It wasn’t terrible, but it was enough to convince me that I’m not going to make the yard perfect. This year, at least, there will be some washed out ruts with no grass. Plenty of time next spring and summer to try to fix that.
Along about sunset on Saturday we got another tenth of an inch or so. The strongest part of the storm missed us and continued south towards Atlanta. Leah looked out the window and pointed out the storm clouds.
These were towering thunderstorms. The entire storm stretched from Cartersville, around 25 miles away, nearly to the I-285 perimeter road around Atlanta, about 40 miles as the crow flies. It had to be a strong storm to push the tops of the clouds up into the sunlight when it was nearly dark here at home.
Yesterday we got no rain, but others not too far away did. Late in the afternoon it was raining over town, but not here. This is all we got.
The secondary bow is barely visible above the main rainbow.
Monday afternoon as we munched on “Mexican” food 10 miles or so from home, it poured for around 20 minutes, plenty of time to wash lots of topsoil and grass seed away, if it had been raining at home. But it only drizzled, at least by the time I sat down to write this post. There are still showers around, moving slowly to the south-southeast. We may get more.
Tuesday the forecast is for a 40-percent chance of rain. Again, we may get some. If not, I’ll have to sprinkle the grass seed and hope it survives. I will also need to water a bunch of juniper bushes neighbor John pulled up from his yard and gave to us. They were severely root bound, so they face more problems than just water. John also gave us three plants of unknown species, but maybe what’s called butterfly bushes. They were fairly mature, probably 12 feet tall, but they left most of their roots in the ground when they were pulled out. They were very wilted by evening Monday. I assess their chances as very poor, but I’ll put them out, water them, and hope for the best. Their blooms were attracting butterflies even as they lay in the back of the truck. It would be nice to have them somewhere in the yard.
I’m glad you got the rain but sorry that it left ruts in your yard. The skies there are so beautiful. We haven’t seen anything like that in months. Hope your butterfly bush survives. They are such pretty trees and really do attract butterflies. I’ve been thinking we should plant one somewhere in our yard. Thank you for the reminder!
Robin — We haven’t had any rain in a while, and I’m afraid the butterfly bushes are not going to make it. I’m watering, but they look bad. It’s possible they will survive, but we’ll probably have to wait till next spring to see. If they don’t survive, I think we’ll get some more from a nursery next spring.