Skywatch Friday - September 18, 2026

 Skywatch Friday 

On Wednesday evening we had a storm. First was the wind, then thunder and lightening, and lastly, rain.  We'd gotten a video from the southern end of town, which got it first. They had hail, but it must have hailed out by the time it got to the north end about 10 minutes later.  I took some videos on my phone.   You might be able to hear Mickey barking from inside.  He isn't allowed out when there is thunder, he runs around barking at the sky.

This is the sky to the north.  Thunder and lightening are in this video. 

Looking south.

More to the north, a bit further to the east.  The wind was really picking up, in fact the last part where the view lowers is when I got hit in the head by a branch (small)!  

After the branch hit I went back in, and that's when the rain hit.  A lot of rain.  In fact, the area was under a flood advisory soon after.  

Things looked pretty good Thursday morning.  I discovered the rotted deck did have pier blocks, which I had doubted I'd find.  I also discovered what contributed to the rotting.  Over the pier blocks and all under the deck was plastic sheeting. So, for decades, every time it rained, or sprinkler water got on the deck, the water couldn't soak into the ground, the plastic acted as a shallow pond liner, keeping the wood damp.  There was black plastic under near every part of the yards, front and back.  I don't know how trees managed to survive, the plastic tucked up around their trunks under wood chips.   

Have a good weekend. It's going to be sunny here.  I hope to finish ripping out my rotted deck.