Monday, July 1, 2013

MORNING SURPRISE


Living beside a river, you soon learn to not be overly surprised should you wake at 6:00 a.m., totter into the great room and glance out at the stream flowing past the cottage, and discover the water level had risen a half-dozen feet during the night—in spite of the fact you hadn't witnessed a single raindrop during the previous 36 hours.

Water, of course, flows downhill. A simple matter of gravity. Therefore, the state of the river's water level in your bailiwick at any given time is a direct but delayed result of weather conditions upstream. How much rain fell and how far are only two of the factors which determines when such run-off water arrives at your place. Additionally, how quickly the rain came down, and how widespread the rainfall was upon the watershed area above you, plus things such as local topography, percolation rate, cover vegetation, and existing groundwater saturation also influence run-off and flow rate. 

Too many and too variable to master well enough that you can hone your expectations down to anything precise enough to be called a schedule. An educated guess with plenty of wiggle room is about the best you can do.   

However, when you fail to pay even cursory attention to evening weather reports because you were off tromping around under mostly sunny skies at a nearby prairie, photographing things like sweet-scented milkweed, bumblebees on lavender bergamot, and a male redwing blackbird who got all territorial and insisted on screeching at you from atop a swaying stem…well, the unanticipated dawn sight of high, muddy water just beyond the edge of the deck can prove a bit startling. Especially if you hadn't had your coffee.    

8 comments:

Gail said...

HI GRIZZ- every thing is startling before coffee! :-) Great picture and great share on water rising and its origin. Wow huh?
And I love the darker bolder font. Perfect for me to read. Phew.
Did u get a chance to stop by my blog? Leave me a blurb if you do so I know u were there, k?

We went out for clams on the half shell yesterday at a place right on the water yesterday. The clams were SO good and the view was glorious. The waters were choppy and fierce and the overcast and mist was illusive and threatening. I loved it and the view added to the taste of the clams and the bloody mary to wash them down! Good way to honor the nine year anniversary of my MS diagnosis, wouldn't you say?
Love to you
Gail
peace,...

The Weaver of Grass said...

Get that coffee made double quick Grizz - fantastic blackbird - not so good about the river though.

Arija said...

Yoiks! That was a bit of a surprise. Hope you got your coffee before your ankles got wet. I have just been watching American news and hope you will not be affected by the inches of rain expected in the eastern states.

PS it is 4 am and the pesky moon would not let me sleep.

Carolyn H said...

I love the photo of the red-winged blackbird in action. I had storms all weekend here on Roundtop. They popped up all over the place. If you were under one, you might get 2 inches of rain in a few minutes. Or, you might live a quarter mile away and not get anything until the next round.

Grizz………… said...

Gail…

Oh, man, I love clams! And the setting—sea, a bit of weather. Sounds perfect. And yup, great way to thumb your nose at MS!

Glad, too, to hear the font and design is working out for you. I'd wondered. And just so you know, I read your post this morning, on my iPod, but didn't comment because it's such a pain to say more than a couple of words on that little device—and you know me, I hardly ever manage to limit myself to a couple of words.

Grizz………… said...

Weaver…

Oh, trust me, the coffee got made and quaffed—several cups worth. And no worries, the river really isn't a problem. It goes up and down quite regularly. This wasn't a scary situation; just unexpected to see it up at all and muddied as it was at normal pool and clear when I went to bed.

Grizz………… said...

Arija…

Nahhh. The river's fine, I'm fine, the coffee was great. It's nice and sunny out at the moment, though rain is in the forecast for tonight and tomorrow. But barring a real downpour, the river should be okay. Don't think the worst of the weather you're hearing about will reach me here.

FYI, I know all about those pesky moons…

Grizz………… said...

Carolyn H…

Yup, same deal here. The sky darkened up in various quadrants, but we stayed dry and mostly sunny. Just the luck of the draw. And scattered showers—some of them hard—are in the forecast at least through Wednesday.

Lots of your favorite farmer's lilies in bloom; they love this weather!