Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain Rain and More Rain

I Have Had It With This Rain!!
I don't even have to watch the weather forecast any longer....because the forecast is always rain.  At 11:30pm last evening, I awoke to one of the loudest explosive thunder sounds ever witnessed by this chick.  It was horrible!  Then the weather radio says a storm is on its way and coming to my area.  What!!  They should have said the storm is here!!

Then, at 2:30am the weather station said, get ready, because a huge storm is coming my way.  Forecasted 70+ mph winds, damaging hail, lots of rain.  About 3am, it came.  But ...... I don't think the winds were quite as bad as I expected and the winds only lasted a few minutes at my house.  YAY... with all these trees in our yard, we don't need another wind storm as we already have two trees with their roots pulled from the ground and leaning on other trees from the other storms earlier this year....and we haven't been able to drive the truck down to them to pull them the rest of the way down because of wet ground in the slough area.  During this early morning's storm, the lightening was immensely insane and the thunder was even worse than the 11:30 pm storm.  Dang, it's getting rough here in the Midwest.....and I have about had it with this stuff!  Can anyone teach me a dance which is opposite of the raindance????

All of this lightening and thunder got me thinking about how little I know about what causes thunder.  I remember as a kid, being told God was moving furniture....and I believed it too!  Anyhoos.....I went and checked out thunder and this is what I learned:

Thunder is the sound made by lightening.  Thunder can be a sharp, loud crack or a long,  low rumble which weather people call a brontide.  The lightening is so hot, this causes the air to expand rapidly and causes a sonic shock wave.  As a kid I remember hearing jets causing sonic shock waves, but I don't hear these jet shock waves these days.....all I hear are these dang thunder/lightening shock waves.  Thunder can be referred to as a clap, crack or peal....wonder why so many names????  The distance (away) of the lightening can be calculated based on the time interval from the sighting of lightening to the time of the crack of thunder.  The formula was too complicated for me.....but I did find out that if the lightening hits, and you hear the sound almost simultaneously, you better hope  it didn't get you because that means it's very near and almost upon you.  Last night that didn't happen, but only a few weeks ago it did and yep, one of my neighbors down the road got hit and lost a lot of electronic equipment.  During a storm, I always unplug my computer and my big flat screen television because those are expensive items.  Now you know a bit more about the lightening and thunder thingy. 

As a kid, I remember going to the Greenview centennial and a huge storm came up.  We all ran to the old building to the west of the park.  This building has since been replaced by the CIA building.  The building had huge windows in the front and kind of like a window seat.....we got right there by the windows (which was not a smart move to be right there) but we wanted to watch the storm.  All at once a huge lightening bolt which we could all see, came down and hit the tree by the pump house ..... below the tree was a pony ride and a young man who I think was from Middletown, was standing under the tree and got hit by the lightening bolt.  I will remember the sight of that lightening bolt for the rest of my life.  Then, when my kids were young, we lived on the main street in Greenview and had a big transformer on our pole in the front of our house.  I was sitting on our enclosed front porch and down comes a lightening bolt and struck the transformer.....a huge ball of fire shot off that dang transformer and landed in the street.  I almost wet my pants when that happened. 

Lightening and thunder is not fun.  And, when there is a storm, be sure to go indoors, and stay away from windows and do not talk on a landline phone.  I know that one of our readers just indicated he lost some equipment with a recent storm.  Sometimes it pays off to unplug your valuable electric equipment/appliances.  As this former insurance executive well knows, insurance plans always like to give you the severely depreciated value for a lightening struck used appliance/equipment.....and, of course, you have to consider you probably have to pay your deductible first.  So.....just sayin.....be cautious and be smart.

Events
The following are a few things I found which will be happening in the Geenview area or nearby.  Hope you find this list helpful.  As I find more things, I will list those too.

Mt. Pulaski.....175 year celebration, July 1 through July 4.

Capital City Celebration in Springfield, July 3 & 4.  2 days, 2 stages and it's free.  Fireworks at 9:30pm on July 4.   Both days have food, beer and craft vendors.  Street music for days starting ar 4 pm.    Location of stages:  Capital stage...5th and Capitol and Liberty Stage 2nd and Capitol.  Other things going on :  juggling, dance performances, beauty pagent, Springfield Municipal Band, Giant inflatables, Rock Climbing Wall, FAce Painting and Carnival Games.  Sponsored by Springfield Jaycees.

Jacksonville Community Park, July 4th clelbration.  All weekend.  Fireworks at dusk.  

Chatham, Fireworks at dark, July 3.  Chatham Community Park.

Springfield Knights Action Park, Huge Fireworks, July 4th, 9pm.

Decatur, Fireworks at dusk July 4th, Nelson Park.

New Salem July 4th Celebration, 10am to 2 pm.  Period music, games, speeches, hymns, parade.  Bring a blanket, free, but donation requested. 

Rock the Dock, Lake Springfield Marina, July 1, 12 pm to 1am  Large Fireworks launched from barges.  Music, food, refreshments.

Rochester, Sparks in the Park.  July 1 through July 3.  Fireworks on July 3,  at community park.

Old Capitol Farmers Market, Springfield.  June 29, July 2, July 6 8am to 12:30 pm  then Wed and Saturday through October 29.  Adams Street between 5th and 2nd streets.

IL Products Farmers Market, Springfield, Thursdays through October 20th except during the fair.  Illinois Fairgrounds, Commodity Pavilion (across from firehouse).

What's On The Menu For Tonight
Tonight we're having poor boys or sometimes called Italian Beef and made in the crockpot.  I sometimes make these with pork roasts but tonight's is made with a cheap chuck roast.  I buy a pre-packed mix made by "Louie's".....almost every grocery store has this mix and found sometimes above the meat counter.    It's pretty simple to make the Italian Beef.....mix the mix according to directions on the package, put the mix/water in the crockpot, add the meat and a clove of garlic and a bay leaf.  Put on the lid and cook on high for a while then turn to low and cook many hours until you can shred the meat.  After shredding the meat, chop up some pepperconi peppers from the jar, and add the chopped peppers and a bit of juice to the meat and let it simmer for about 5 minutes....remove the bay leaf.  Put on hoagie buns or hard rolls.  We're also having a pasta salad made with macaroni, chopped olives, pickle relish, frozen peas and miracle whip.  YUMMY!  Hope you have a good night's meal too!!

Thought For The Day

Life isn't about finding yourself.

Life is about creating yourself.

--George Bernard Shaw

Take care of yourself.  We never know what is around the corner for our future.  I always like to think of the following.  Yesterdays are gone.  Tomorrows are a mystery and Today is a gift.  That's why we call it the "Present".