Dolly hits landfall - no butterflies but have hummies :o)

Dolly has hit landfall. I'm 60 miles west of where it hit and out here we are getting lots of rain and really strong winds. Most folks out here were prepared but there is still flooded streets, downed power lines and lots of debris from trees, street signs, store signs, roofs, vehicle windows broken by flying debris and a few overturned cars too.

Our department was turned loose from work at noon so I've been quite bored at home. However, I have amused myself by watching the hummingbirds in the backyard. They try to perch on a some wire trellises I have in the yard and I can see them being buffeted by the wind. I heard them chirping when I got home so I cleaned out the feeders and added fresh nectar. A couple of them have been fighting all afternoon eventhough I put a feeder at each end of my porch.

One seems to have learned that if it flies under my back porch it is more protected from the strong winds. I added some wire stakes and a couple of pvs pipes to my potted plants so it will have a place to perch.

Here's a few photos. This one is of a hummie perched on a trellis that I have somewhat under a tree. You can see the sheets of rain coming down at about a 45 degree angle.

~ Cat

Another from a hummie perched on a small trellis I moved closer to the house where it is somewhat protected by my back porch. You can see the rain going every which way because of the strong winds.

By the way, this hummie is guarding a feeder that is hanging from the eave about three feet away from the trellis. Momma didn't raise no fool!

~ Cat

This message was edited Jul 23, 2008 5:34 PM

And another just because it looks so tiny but tenacious as it holds onto the trellis all the while being buffeted by the strong winds. The white eyes are from using the camera flash.

~ Cat

This message was edited Jul 23, 2008 5:35 PM

A photo of where the trellises are located (circled in red) and where one of the feeders hangs from the back porch eave. You can see one of the hummies in the middle of the circle - it is perched on the trellis to the bottom left of the feeder :o)

~ Cat

Cat, I was thinking about you today and wondering how things were down there with all the Dolly effects! Glad everything is okay. Poor hummies! Hopefully the butterflies headed north...or anywhere away from bad weather.

Love your hummer photos, Cat!!! I hope you and they and the butterflies will all be safe.

What great photos! Thanks for sharing them.

Hope you all stay safe until the whole system passes through.

Stay safe my Texas friend.

Thanks, Cat~ for sharing news from Tx. Stay safe and sound, I too will be looking for more good news from you soon.

happy to hear you are doing well Cat. I was thinking about you and a few other friends today in Tx with the Hurricane making landfall there.

Still here and doing well. Thanks everyone for your prayers. News said the winds in Brownsville have now dropped to 45 mph - a big difference from 100 when it hit. The Isabella Causeway is supposed to open back up again in a few more minutes too. They shut down the causeway when winds get over 45 mph so folks who live on the island are stuck there if they didn't evacute when instructed to do so. The newscasters that were broadcasting from there lost power - but are back up and reporting again.

Stil lots of standing water - and we're still getting lots of rain and strong winds as the storm continues to move inland over us. It's quite dark out although it's ony a little after 8pm. The power has blinked off about three times but comes back on quickly. I occasionally hear sirens and emergency vehicles in the distance.

On a good note I can still see a couple of hummies when I turn on the porch lights. They continue to take refuge on my back porch and periodically sip from the feeders.

They are still being territorial throughout the torrential downpower and chirping loudly...must be complaining about the rain and winds? :o)

After watching the news and looking outside I can gladly say I'm happy I switched departments and no longer have to work ouside on the bridge!!! I feel sorry for my brethren in blue who are no doubt standing at their posts and soaked to the skin.

Guess I'll call it an early night. Tomorrow is another day and I'll just have to wait for that morning telephone call to see if I need to go in to work. Am sure many of the roads to the bridge are flooded. That always happens when we get lots of rain. Got an SUV that can handle the road but I know there'll be nothing to do at work but sit around and look at each other :o)

~ Cat

Great photos...even under the siege of the storm. Glad you are doing ok and the mph dropped. I know those hummers will be glad when morning comes.

One of the few good things about a hurricane is watching the news reporters being blown around. They never learn, lol!

Amazing photos, Cat! I would have never thought those little hummingbirds would have stayed out in the storm. I never get to see if anything hangs around my garden during hurricanes because we are always evacuated.

I'm so glad you're doing okay and are staying safe.

terrie

Well I slept through it all :o) Boss called at 630am and said not to go into work - woohoo!!!

The news said the winds that went through here were 75 mph. It is dead calm now. Got up and looked around - our neighborhood has lots of downed limbs and debris but I didn't see any overturned vehicles or downed power lines. I'll need to get the hedger and pruner out to cut back lots of the bushes in my yard that are now leaning over. Will wait until the weekend to see if they straighten back up by themselves. The ground is completely saturated. The rain gauge was full so am assuming it rained over six inches. I walked through my yard to check on things and the ground was real squishy! Had to empty out all the waterlogged pots - unfortunately the mosquitoes are still around - they were flying all over the place...UGH!!!

My brother called from Harlingen - their power went out yesterday afternoon and the area around his house is flooded. He's thinking of driving to the ranch to pick up the generator as he has two freezers full of meat he doesn't want to perish. Saw the news - lots and lots of flooded roads!!! News also showed hotels on Padre Island had sidings and walls torn off. Also saw photos of a trailer home that was turned over and in pieces. Lots and lots of debris - street signs and tree branches, trampolines from people's back yards and such. Thank God it wasn't as devasting as Katrina!

The hummies are out in the back yard again :o) So glad to know they made it through the storm. I still can't believe they were zipping around last night after each other and getting pushed around by the wind. You could see them making a bee line for a tree and the wind would shove them away but they managed to catch their balance and get into the shelter of the tree each time.

Dolly has passed us but we're still in for more rain from the southern bands that follow. It really looks clear and calm...so I hope no more rain falls here. We can still use rain at the ranch though :o)

For those of you near Corpus Christi, Rockport, Taft and up in San Antonio - the news said winds are still strong and rain is still falling. Do hope everyone is safe!!!!

~ Cat

This hummie looks a bit cold and drenched but it is doing fine. Watched it preen itself and zip back and forth to the feeder.

This message was edited Jul 24, 2008 8:58 AM

Cat - glad you made it through ok!

Whoa...the news said 250,000 people are without electricity!!! YIKES!!! I am one of the lucky ones :o) Brother and sister-in-law are without electricity and the land around their home is flooded. He built his house 30 inches higher than the land around them - which has turned out to be a blessing every time it floods.

I'd given him my old Panasonic Lumix FZ30 camera last week and he took photos of his place this morning. You can't see the driveway under all that water. They came by to pick me up - he had to drive to the ranch to pick up the generator.

On the drive to the ranch we saw many trees uprooted. I mean huge trees with about trunks at the very least 18" + wide!!! Several had toppled onto houses. Lots of flooding along the roadways. Some parts on the outskirts of Edinburg are low lying areas and there were numerous cars with water up to the windows. Houses sitting in water too. So sad.... and to think this wasn't a full blown hurricane. We are lucky there have been no deaths reported. Electricity and city crews are working 24/7 to restore services.

While at the ranch we drove the tractor to the back field to see if the pond had filled up. Saw this owl hopping along the fence line. It was too wet to fly...looked quite pissed off too :o)

~ Cat


This message was edited Jul 24, 2008 6:23 PM

As I got closer it was able to fly up to the top of the fence post. Now it really looks drenched and mad :o)

There were lots of Snouts and Pipevine Swallowtail butterflies flying around too. The rain had stopped, the sun was peaking out and the wind was calm.

~ Cat

Cat - So glad you're OK, & no apparent bad damage. Those pics of the owl are priceless - I'd enter them in a contest or something! You could be famous (or, at least the owl could!) You know, like the photo of the "mad" bluebird - I see it on mugs, cards, etc, etc,! Then, we could all say, "We knew her when...!" LOL Samantha

I agree with Samantha. I LOVE those owl pictures almost as much as I loved the hummer ones. Thanks so much for taking the pictures and sharing what the conditions are around there. Having gone through hurricanes myself, I always like to hear how other areas fare. And we sure wouldn't have seen these pictures on the weather channel. lol

Terrie

Some photos from Reuters of the flooding from Brownsville/Matamoros and Harlingen. I know this cannot compare to the devastation of Katrina and all those affected from that hurricane and the others that year but a large majority of the people who live in the southern part of Brownsville/Matamoros live in conditions akin to a third world country to begin with.

http://www.reuters.com/news/pictures/articleslideshow?articleId=USN2227871720080725&channelName=newsOne#a=1

Another short article about the tarantulas, snakes and fire ants lurking about in Edinburg (where I live) after hurricane Dolly. I haven't seen any yet - but I reside in the middle of the city - perhaps tomorrow as I drive to the ranch I'll see some crawling on the roads.

~ Cat

http://www.examiner.com/a-1505703~Tarantulas__fire_ants_lurk_in_Texas_floodwaters.html

This message was edited Jul 25, 2008 8:17 PM

Cat, so glad you are ok.
Great hummer pictures, and that owl picture should win a contest somewhere (Birds and Blooms Magazine?)
Elaine

Didn't that wet owl's face just say "I'm ticked off". What a face with an attitude!

The ultimate indignity! First it goes through God only knows what horrid experience, then some human comes along and sticks a camera in its face and makes it even worse by recording the poor bird's utter humiliation for the world to see! Yeah, I can see how it would be really ticked off. But it will get over it...probably already has.

I just had to show your pictures to my boss and his wife. They loved them, too. And said you really need to send them into a magazine.

That owl picture is a hoot! (sorry for the pun)

8*D

Brother and SIL drove to the ranch today. He brought his pin drive with photos he took of his house after hurricane Dolly.

Most photos are from this morning but those taken from his rooftop were taken yesterday while he was covering up areas were the shingles were blown off.

For now there's nothing they can do but wait until the water recedes. Even if he purchased a pump and tried to pump it out...as you can see by the other photos there is no place for the water to go as all the neighbors are equally flooded.

I say sell the tractor and invest in a boat!!!!

~ Cat

Front of house - facing east - as you can see the front yard is a lake!


This message was edited Jul 26, 2008 9:40 PM

This is the road in front of their house - photo was taken from his front driveway.

~ Cat

Front of their house facing south. That's the driveway that leads to the garage on the south side. Guess this is one of the few times they don't have to blow the grass clipping from the driveway!!!

~ Cat

ps. My brother has a white Desert Rose tree in the island between his front driveway and garage driveway. The strong winds and rain knocked it over but he went out as soon as the weather let up he re-planted it and added stakes in the ground to hold it back in place.

This message was edited Jul 26, 2008 9:50 PM

Neighbor to the north. That green patch that looks like it isn't flooded is actually tall grass - it's flooded but you just can't see it. The neighbor lets the grass grown tall for baling.

~ Cat

This message was edited Jul 26, 2008 9:32 PM

Back corner - from the top of my brother's roof.

~ Cat

View from the road in front of the house with the barn in the background. Yep, a boat would come in really handy!!!

~ Cat

,....oops - forgot to add the photo...see the following post.

This message was edited Jul 26, 2008 9:52 PM

My goodness! This gives a whole new meaning to waterfront property. Hope it hurries up and dries up.

Too funny Linda. I gotta tell him that one!!! Water front property!!! ROLF!!!

Oops...forgot to add that view from the front road with barn in the background photo...DOH!!!

~ Cat

This message was edited Jul 26, 2008 9:53 PM

He might not see the humor right now.... LOL
Fishing ???
Elaine

Good news - several neighbors decided to purchase their own pumps and the county also came in with an industrial size pump and they have all started to pump water out of the area. It's a very slow process but every little bit helps.

I mentioned the "water front property" and they said "that ain't right" but still laughed and said for me to come visit and bring my lounge chair and skeeter spray!

~ Cat

LOL, in a situation like this, humor is good. ♫♪You get a line & I'll get a pole, honey. You get a line & I'll get a pole, babe.♫♪

Oh my gosh, I totally went back to my elementary school music class with that one!

We'll go fishin' in the crawdad hole. Honey, baby, mine. I don't know how to do those music notes...?

Hold down alt key and press 14, then alt key and press 13 (#'s on your numeric key pad)

♫♪....♥ it!