"Wind velocity nil...."......NOT!!

If only these lyrics (from the 60's Donovan song entitled 'Mellow Yellow') were true Sunday.....as I wrote yesterday morning, we woke up Sunday to warmer than usual temperatures, most likely caused by the wind out of the west which blew most of the night, but had abated just before sunrise, but were due to return with greater velocity later about mid morning......

......since we knew the winds would back as early at 1000 hours we left for our scheduled hike up to the 'snake' about 0845.......as we hiked it was difficult to believe that in just an hour, or so the wind would begin to howl again, and be followed by rain on and off the rest of the day.

Took this pano of the stone snake....you can see Tara off to the left, TLE in the center background and Steven just to the right of her....another perspective on how large the stone snake is.

I'm not sure how long this stone ground sculpture has been there, but from what I understand, at least a decade......on our way back down we came across an ocotillo tree that had turned green as a result of the rain a couple of weeks ago......

.....a second one just beginning to go green......

.....as we headed down the trail the forecast winds began to arrive, and by the time we arrived back at our coaches we were being pushed from behind by the wind out of the west quite forcefully........

......we retreated inside once again to get out of the wind, and spent the rest of the day watching mindless TV, and watching the approaching rain, which arrived around 1400.....

The clouds are retreating

We got a rainbow!

.....the rain was pretty much over by 1630, but the wind velocity accelerated, and continued buffeting our coach all night long.  About 0330 hours (3:30 am for uninitiate) TLE's phone began to ring.....okay, for me a phone ringing at that hour is rarely ever good news, but as soon as TLE announced it was our daughter Sharon calling we both knew her baby must be on the way, and that was exactly what she told us.  We had planned to be on hand for the birth of our 5th grandchild, which wasn't due until the 17th of February, but we are kind of stuck where we are until the winds abate.  The 20 mile section of S-22 we must drive back to HWY 86 are difficult (and quite narrow) to drive when there is no wind, let alone in 30+mph winds.

As I write the winds continue to blow, and we continue to get hit by gusts......thanks for stopping by!