Recent Random things.

 proof that my wife will paint anything that sits still long enough. She was recently accepted to show at a Fair in Olathe in June.

 Chicks Pool Hall, Coffeyville Kansas

 Pecan Grove near Chanute Kansas

Spring wildflowers in early April. Labette county Kansas

Road Work 2

 The Turkey Vultures are back, a sure sign of spring.

 Old Cato School

Old Cato School Yard

 Old Stagecoach bridge being restored near the old town site of Cato.

 Red Bud is in bloom everywhere

 Snakes are out and about.

 Crawford County Kansas

Along Gravel Roads.

A few shots along gravel roads the other evening.

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Skywatch Friday

Sunrise yesterday morning after a stormy night in SE Kansas.

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Stormy Tuesday Night

 We had a storm blow though town the other night, around 11pm Tuesday night.It hit the south end of town the worst. Folks emerged from their basements mostly unharmed and milled around in the dark trying to see the damage. The morning brought the story; power lines,and poles down, street signs down, many trees sheared off, a few roofs taken completely off, including  the gymnasium roof of one of our elementary schools. We drove into town to see if friends needed help. Along the streets small groups of people gathered, sipping coffee and spoke of reports; "Micro-bursts? I'm not sure, What did you hear? Front line winds, not sure? tornado? not sure?" "Wow we are lucky, nothing like the folks in Joplin had to deal with".

 Winds around 80 to 100 mph, the sirens didn't go off really until the worst was past.

Our friend in town had trees all over the yard, as well as a  window that was blown in the garage sending glass everywhere and  leaving a very eerie piece of door stuck in the front garage door.
Out in the country where we live the roar of the wind and the hail woke us up. At the window we watched trees bending and lawn furniture rolling across the front of the house.  The power went out and stayed out  for two days. The power finally came back around 3pm today.  Living with storms is the norm here, but no one really takes them lightly. We have always been able to jump in the truck and head into town for shelter as we have no basement, but after  all these years of spring storms, we have decided to get a shelter. The tornado last May in Joplin had an effect on this area like no other storm ever had.

Power outage and Chickadees

Earlier tonight the power went out as a front of thunderstorms blew thru the area at around 55mph. I keep seeing signs that spring is coming early this year; today a dozen or so robins landed out front and wandered around like a bunch of eighth grade boys at a dance. Yesterday was beautiful, I cleaned out some of the gardens and tackled a huge area of multi flora rose that had taken over an old grape arbor, afterwards I sat and watched a pair of bluebirds checking out one of the nest boxes, chattering and taking in all the angles and nearby perches. I finished the Great Back Yard bird count, not as many species or numbers as last year; Canada Geese, Common Crows, White Crowned Sparrows, Goldfinches, Downy Woodpeckers, Tufted Titmice, Black Capped Chickadees, House Finches, A Red Tailed Hawk, Cardinals, and a few more LBBs too far to id..
When the power went out this evening I read a nice article By Julie Zikefoose in the new Bird Watchers Digest by candlelight, how in the heck did folks read like that on a regular basis? Apparently Chickadees are not as cute as they put on to be. Go figure.  

Random work