Cool temps, rain, Rudy, Rock Island Reds, thunder, lightning

The local fields are evident of the rain during the night.

And the local creeks are flowing… mostly red water.

We went over to see Don’s mom this afternoon.  She’s doing good and healing nicely since breaking her foot and cutting the other leg.  Some people will do anything to get out of gathering the eggs. What???

Don’s sister, Debra, has this cute little Chihuahua name Rudy.  Compare his size to Don’s foot.

Now you tell me that isn’t the classic Taco Bell look.

Don’s sister bought ten Rock Island Reds a week or so ago and now she has seven dozen eggs.  Sounds like the perfect home business to me.

It’s like they’re saying….

Did I mention that it’s been raining here?  All the creeks are flowing and there’s even a flash flood warning in parts of the state.  This is the creek on our park’s property… well, the park where we’re parked.

What I learned today… Because the thunder this morning shook the Q, I wondered, “what makes thunder?”  Tell me you already know the answer.

Here’s the most “technical” (tongue in cheek) explanation I could find (via Google): Lightning heats up the air really, really hot, which forces the air to expand and spread out, in between the lightning and it's like a really long line at a fun ride where the last person in line pushes the person in front of them, who then pushes the next person, and so on, and you're in the front of the line and eventually you get pushed. But with thunder, instead of feeling being pushed, you hear the air that's been pushed, and it sounds like thunder.

Or… Thunder is caused because lightning heats up the air, to about 30,000ºC, causing it to expand quickly. The rumbling occurs as the sound passes through atmospheric layers at different temperatures.

(And the air being pushed moves the Q!!)  I always heard that the number of seconds between the lightning and when you hear the thunder means that’s how many miles the lightning is away.  So if lightning happens and almost instantly you hear enormous thunder… go check to see if your TV is smoking and your refrigerator is still running.

Anyway, the entire rain, lightning, thunder process sure cleans the air.

Wait a minute…. what causes lightning???

Lightning is caused when a large electric charge builds up in a cloud as a result of ice and water particles rubbing together. The electric charge flashes to Earth, or to another cloud, as lightning.

Or…. Lightning is caused by electric charges releasing energy. When the denser (positive charges) go to the top of the cloud, the less dense (negative charges) go to the bottom. This creates an electric imbalance of charges. In the ground, the negative charges are pushed away because the positive charges are attracted to the negative charges at the bottom of the cloud. If an object is in the way the lightning does what it has to to get to the ground, so it will get there faster. When the lightning is discharged you only glimpse it for a second until it disappears. It can travel 75 m/sec, so even though it creates light it is a release of energy so it doesn't travel at the speed of light.

Or…. A rapid flow of charge through the air between the two oppositely charged clouds seen as an intense spark of electricity in the sky is called lighting. It is caused by friction between two oppositely charged clouds.

Isn’t technology an incredible thing?  Did anyone stay with me to the very end of this thing?  Or, am I alone here in this “classroom?” 

Intelligent design = God is the creator.