Wild Weather in Colorado

While I was sitting in the Boulder Justice Center, listening to testimony to the Grand Jury, all hell broke loose around us.  When we stepped outside, after the hearing, we looked up at the clouds above us, and said it smelled like rain.  Got in the car, got home, turned on the news, and gaped.  Several reported tornadoes in and around Berthoud and Simla, over two feet of hail in southwest Denver, and 5 to 8 inches of rain fell around the tornadoes.  A lot of the town of Hygiene is under water, and the Big Thompson River may flood (look out, Lyons).  The Cache le Poudre River is flooding again.  Boulder is under a Flash Flood Warning until 9 o'clock tonight.  Then, early this morning, the road caved in in Sheridan, a suburb of Denver, and swallowed a police officer driving his police department SUV - the hole is more than 15 feet deep, and contains active gas lines.  Yikes!

Hail in Denver this morning

Yesterday's hail next to a golf ball

Yesterday's hail in southwest Denver

The tornado at Simla

Tornado damage near Berthoud

Tornado damage near Berthoud

Tornado that struck Berthoud

Sheridan police SUV slowly sinks into 15 foot deep sinkhole

And today is National Doughnut Day!

Wild Weather

Well, Boulder County is under a Winter Weather Watch for the weekend, with  anywhere from 2 to 28 inches of snow predicted, depending on your altitude.  The higher you are, the more snow you'll get.    -  At least it isn't the tornado outbreak that caught Oklahoma yesterday...  My prayers are with those people.
   South of us, today, Colorado Springs had a hail storm that brought more than 4 inches of the ice, and completely closed down Interstate Highway 25 in the North-bound direction:

This ice has melted and roads are now closing due to localized flooding - but not I-25.

Monarch Pass had snowfall overnight, and is expecting more;

 

And, north of us, near Fort Collins and Greely, the Poudre River is over flowing it's banks, closing parks, walkways, and roads:

Stormy Afternoon

I'm happy that I don't live in the Aurora area of Denver - after a glorious morning and great early afternoon, four massive storm systems decided to merge over Denver and then scoot off to the northeast.  Tornado sirens blew, schools were locked down, and people were told to seek shelter immediately:

Luckily, while weather watchers saw several funnel clouds form, none of them touched the ground.  There was some wind damage, and, as the rain was falling at the rate of  3.3 inches per hour, there was a lot of unexpected flooding of lower streets and roads.  On a section of Interstate, the drains were clogged with debris, and water was 4 feet deep on the roadway.  Hail fell in many areas, wiping out gardens and flowers, and breaking windows in homes and older-model cars.  In a few areas, it looked as if it had snowed - the hail turned roofs, yards, and streets white - in some cases, snow plows came out and cleared the streets.  It was a wild afternoon.

  A few minutes after four, yesterday afternoon, both of my cats suddenly hunkered down, fuzzed up, and they both ran for their "bolt hole" in the walk-in closet.  They didn't come back out for about 45 minutes.  I'd had the window and patio (back) door open, so I stepped out, thinking there were unknown dogs or people in the back yard.  Nope.   The wind was gusting, and the clouds above us and to the northeast looked like they were boiling.  Other than a few gusts of wind, and later light rain showers, nothing happened here - for which I am very thankful!

   Tomorrow evening I'll be moving into the ABC house - Cooper and Lola are the dogs, Pounce and Tipsi are the cats, and Shirley (who is 95) and her cat Belle.  I'll be there for two weeks, and then move in with Rosie, when her family goes to a wedding in California.  I'll spend every afternoon with the kits, but I will certainly miss them.  And I'll only have internet access when I'm here, at  home, so I'm not sure how frequently I'll be blogging.  I might be loving the kits too much to get online.  I'll just have to see how things go, and how the kits react to the new schedule....

    I do need to visit the library - I'm currently re-reading old favorites from high school days. 

Flooding, Football, Coyote Attack & Snow on Pike's Peak

Pre-season NFL games have begun.  Thursday night I watched the first half of the Broncos and 49ers game, and wasn't impressed.  Last night, I watched the Patriots and the Eagles play and was happy to see Tim Tebow on the field; but I was not happy when the NFL Channel stopped showing the game at the beginning of the fourth quarter to show the Cowboys.  I also realize that it was a home game for the Eagles, but I was overwhelmed with information about the Eagles and very little info about the Patriots.  Likewise, I would have preferred to have seen the game playing on the field, rather than the announcers and the Eagles' General Manager.  But enough of my grousing...
  Our summer rains wreaked havoc in the Black Forest burn area yesterday - there was flash flooding along highway 24 in Manitou Springs (near Colorado Springs), which swept more than 20 cars away in a huge mud and ash wave (and causing at least one death).  Fountain Creek in Manitou Springs also flooded across roads and restaurant patios because of the rain.  We are expecting summer thunderstorms each afternoon for the next five days, so I'm hoping none of them stay long in the Black Forest burn area.
  One of the home owners in the neighborhood where I walk dogs is quite deaf.  If she doesn't have both of her hearing aids in place and turned on, she can't hear a word one speaks at a normal conversational level. She was awakened at 4:30 Friday morning by an animal "screaming" - she was sound asleep, no hearing aids in or on, and she ran from window to window in her house, trying to see what was causing the disturbance. She was never able to see anything making the sound, and it died down after about eight minutes.  However, when she was outside, working in her garden at 7:30, she observed a mother doe with twin fawns walking haltingly along the side of her yard.  She grabbed her binoculars, and saw that the chest area of the doe was ripped open and bleeding, and that the wounds went between the doe's front legs and on to the rib area. Since the fawns looked rather young, she called local Animal Control, because she was afraid the doe would die and leave orphans.  The people at the office told her to "let nature take it's course" and, if she saw the doe's body, to contact them again, and they'd see if they could find and rescue the fawns.  She described the wounds to Animal Control, and they told her they thought that coyotes and tried to attack the fawns, and that the doe fought them off, which accounted for the screaming which was heard.  So I sent out a BOLO to the neighborhood regarding the doe and her fawns.
  My brother-in-law is running in a half-marathon today up around Georgetown.  Next weekend, he'll be competing in the Pike's Peak Double - and the weather folks just announced they'd had snow on Pike's Peak this morning.  I'm certain glad I'm not running (or even walking) up that 14,110 foot mountain!

Summer Is Here! - Sixteen Wildfires Burning

When I arose at 5 this morning, it was already 63 degrees outside, and we're expecting a high in the low 90s, and the forecast calls for 90s through Wednesday.  Oh, boy.  Rosie is feeling the heat, and prefers to sprawl on the tile floor in the den; Lovey and Nedi are pretty somnolent and nap a lot; the bunnies lay flat on their sides and pant - I try to get them out of their hutch and into the open pen and shade as much as possible; and I try to be certain the goldfish is out of direct sun shine, and has good air currents...  But it's very warm, and the back of my throat feels itchy, thanks to all the particulates in the air.  I have the drapes drawn, the windows open, and all the fans running in the apartment... Hopefully it won't get too warm - and I do know that they (Lovey and Nedi) both are laying in the bath tub and in the bathroom sink to stay cool.  
  A quick aside:  Congratulations are in order for Her Royal Highness, Queen Elizabeth II.  After all her years as a thoroughbred owner and breeder, the Queen won her first Ascot Gold Cup yesterday.  Estimate, a 4-year-old bay filly by Monsun, won the 2 and 1/2 mile race on the turf under the training of Sir Michael Stoute, and the riding of jockey Ryan Moore.  Estimate won the race in a time of 4 minutes and 20.51 seconds, and by 1 3/4 lengths.
   Most of the state of Colorado, including Boulder, is under an Air Quality warning, thanks to the wildfires.  Three of the 16 fires burning have 100% containment, but will continue to burn until all available fuel is consumed.  The fires that are completely contained are the Black Forest, the Royal Gorge, and the Ward Gulch - Rifle Mountain Park wildfires.  The Big Elk Meadows fire in Rocky Mountain National Park is 95% contained, but will probably continue to burn through beetle-killed pines until the first snow fall; the Fern Lake fire is uncontained, and is also expected to burn until the snow flies.  The other fires:
The West Fork Complex fire is the worst, at the moment; the entire town of South Fork is under immediate evacuation orders, and  the road over Wolf Creek Pass is closed.  Over 18,000 acres are burning there in Mineral County, and Windy Pass is also burning and closed to traffic.
The East Peak fire has burned 10,000 acres and is uncontained.  The town of Walsenburg is under pre-evacuation orders.
The Wild Rose fire is estimated at 1,000 acres in Rio Blanco County and is uncontained.
The Lime Gulch fire in Jefferson County has burned 600 acres and is only 5% contained.
The Rifle Gap fire is burning near Horse Mountain and has no containment.
The Bull Gulch fire is still burning without containment in Fremont County.
The Papoose fire is burning near the Rio Grand Reservoir above the town of Creede.
The Disappointment fire is burning in Moffat County and has no containment.
The Wild-Hacking Complex fire  is at 400 acres, and is 15 % contained.  Fire fighters hope to achieve 75% containment by the end of the day; this fire is located 25 miles north of Dinosaur.
The Collins fire is uncontained and is located in the Shell-Piceance Basin.
The Derby Creek fire is uncontained and is located 17 miles north of Eagle.
    Most of these fires were caused by lightning; the Black Forest fire was not, and is being investigated.
** Gee, I can't imagine why the air smells of smoke....  **


 

Surprise Sunday

I arrived home from making three last pet-sitting stops, loved and fed Nedi and Lovey, then listened to my voice mails. I left Tessa, Dhisana and Lily unfed because their real people were due home at 5:30 yesterday evening. At 7 p.m., I'm listening to my voice mail, and hear their owner say, "Guess what? I have wonderful news! We were able to change our return tickets, so we won't be back until 9 p.m. on Tuesday." Luckily, Camilla (who rents the basement apartment) was willing to feed and care for the critters last night. I slept in my own bed, and spent today with T,D and L. My kits were wild to get out when I arrived home a few minutes ago - Camilla is caring for the critters again tonight; but I'll be back over there in the morning... The Gators and Gamecocks won yesterday, and the Broncos won today - the Saints are playing now, and the Packers play later.

  There was a wildfire near Carter Lake, a little to the north of us on Friday; and with the dry spell and the winds we've been having, the Fern Lake wildfire in Rocky Mountain National Park has flared up again. It's producing a good amount of smoke now, and has burned over 1.8 square miles of forest and brush. ... The National Western Stock Show had been making noises about leaving Denver and moving to new facilities in Aurora, but Denver and the Stock Show folks have agreed to another 10-year lease of the Stock Show grounds. ... Shackleford, the 4-year-old chestnut colt who won last year's Preakness, finished his racing career with a win in the Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs. He led from the gate to the wire, winning the 1 mile and 1/8 race by a length. He'll stand at Darby Dan Farm for $20,000 beginning in January. .... In a battle between Triple Crown winners, Gentildonna became the first 3-year-old filly to win the Japan Cup (Jpn-I) when she took on favored Orfevre in a furious stretch duel and edged the older colt by a nose Nov. 25 at Tokyo Racecourse. Gentildonna was coming off a successful Japanese filly triple crown series this year, while Orfevre won the Japanese Triple Crown in 2011 and is the reigning Horse of the Year in that country. The stretch run was not without controversy. Gentildonna had to squeeze through on the rail inside of Tosen Jordan and then angle outside of leader Beat Black. In maneuvering the filly around those two tiring horses, jockey Yasunari Iwata, using a left-handed whip, caused Gentildonna to make contact with Orfevre, who was racing to the filly's outside. The incident prompted an inquiry lasting about 15 minutes, and the stewards ultimately let the order of finish stand. However, they suspended Iwata two days for careless riding. The jockey will have to serve them Dec. 1-2, keeping him out of the Dec. 2 Japan Cup Dirt (Jpn-I).

  My sister and brother-in-law are expecting the excavation team to arrive tomorrow; they have to replace their septic system (it's been in use since 1955). So, since I'm five doors down the street, I've told them to feel free to visit me through Tuesday evening - and to bring Mona and Boo over to run in the back yard. That's where I'll take Rosie and Remy for the next two days (making sure I don't let Lily or Dhisana outside), and Tessa loves to have someone to play with. Both Mona and Boo behave with cats, while the Rs do not... Our high temperature today was 63, and our high tomorrow is forecast as 43, with snow flurries in the afternoon. Then we're supposed to be clear and dry for the rest of the week. Some of the ski resorts are only open on the weekend, and are using man-made snow; but a few high up on the western slope have a good base and are now open every day...