Deluge

I kind of thought it would happen this way. Once we did get the much needed rain from the monsoon, we would be sorry. It reared its ugly face late yesterday afternoon and came through with a vengeance. I was tracking the doppler radar beginning at about 3 PM when it became very obvious that a massive storm was working its way west from the far east valley. Josie was working until 4 PM and I could see that the storm was going to hit her location head-on by about the time she would leave. I tried frantically to warn her and tell her to get out as soon as possible.

At 4 PM, I received a call from her that she was leaving work and I told her about the storm bearing down on her. She made it home at around 4:30, just in time to watch the dust storm blow through which precedes the rain storms. Then it hit:

Our agave plant blew over immediately and the winds started to blow at about 50-60 mph. we caught this shot of a woodpecker that was holding on for dear life against our palm tree on the opposite side from the wind:

The temperature took a huge drop during the storm - from 100 degrees to about 70:

If you enlarge the top photo you can see the thermometer as it began to fall.

We lost power at about 5 PM and didn't get it back until nearly 9PM. We weathered the storm pretty well - our flagpole was the only casualty as I forgot to take it down prior to the storm. We have leaves and debris everywhere outside which means a cleanup effort today. I hesitate to do too much in the way of cleanup as we most likely will have another visit form the monsoon storms later today.

The golf course workers were out early this morning picking up fallen branches from trees and trying to get the course in shape as quickly as possible. It looks terrific from our house.

I'll end this entry with a photo I took earlier in the day of the newest quail family in our yard. These two chicks must have been born recently as you can see how small they are:

Our fingers are crossed that we have a much more calm day today...