In my dry, desert hometown of El Paso, Texas, rain is a rarity, floods are even rarer... so we never expected this. Big, fat raindrops have been falling like watery missiles and decorating evergreen needles like tiny diamonds. Yesterday our regular old residential street turned into a raging river avenue, with curbs and sidewalks disappearing under the churning rainwaters. I sit, watching the stormy skies through my bedroom window, and wonder when we will ever be dry again...

Where I live it's usually hot and dry, HOT and DRY. However we occasionally get this amazing thunderstorms that drop enough  rain to muddy your car up pretty good. However today's storm only rained sunshine.

This was me taking pictures mostly to play with the settings on my camera. These three were manual settings that I ended up liking the results with. Harder then it sounds!

My Greeting for WILMA
1st Hurricane Charley on Friday Aug the 13th 2004 Last year
NOW
Here comes Hurricane Wilma
I am as prepared as I can get
I am leaving tommorrow to go north of Tampa to safer ground

The path of Charley
Here is a pic showing the path of Charley  

Another Pic from Space showing excatly where I am

My Poor 1966 Corvair
( I have already cut much of the tree off of her
The windshield was broken - the hood - roof and front trunk lid ( the engine is in the rear ) were dented and the $2000.00 paint job was ruined by tree sap and scratches
My insurance company paid me ONLY $127.00 AND i HAD full coverage -- go figure
( FEMA DID NOTHING NOR DID THE Fla State Insurance Commission ) The adjuster said he did not see any REAL restoration efforts on the car !!!!!!!
More un-needed stress  

The Bomb Shelter / Storm Cellar
Thats Me in this Picture -- I am NOT  a giant (BUT  I am 6'6" ) - the door is ONLY 5ft and used to be 6 inch thick metal
 My house was built in 1962 right after the Cuban Missile Crisis and has a 'fall-out' shelter
I know not many of the visitors to this page will remeber Fallour Sahelters OR "DUCK AND COVER" -- ask your parents about that ----
but Many people were afraid of Russia Bombing us AND built these

It features three foot thick ceiling and 2 1/2 foot thick walls and a hand cranked flitered air pump to draw in filtered fresh air

It makes a great storm shelter BUT my significant other is afraid of it flooding and will not stay in it
I put My Blue and Gold Macaw ~~~ "Prince Gilligan of Florda" ~~ in the shelter for Charley where he hunkered down ( We had little warning that Charley was goinf to hit us -- as the webpage mentioned lower relates )---- I will not do the same for Wilma as the storm surge is expected to be nuch higher so He will stay with a neighbor for the few days we are gone Meet Gilligan HERE

   THE Troops ARRIVE
After a full week without power ( it was 98 one day - without air ) - I awoke on SAT Aug 21st 2004 to find these angels of mercy in my backyard

 Here is what the storm surge was like a day after the storm
My boat at low tide in the after picture _ 24 hours after the storm passed <BR.The water is STILL 4 to 5 feet over normal <BR>It rose to about 3 fet higher during the storm
But my camera had 'DEW' in it so no pics of that  

The roof of my Home Fared NO BETTER
This was taken almost a month after the storm hit
The blue tarp is off to let the repairs begin
the clay tile roof was peeled back like opening a sardine can  

My whole story and My feelings on how these storms affect people can be found linked on the "webiste" page on my Profile

My weekend didn't exactly go as planned. I had planned to do some shooting in Williamsburg, but the monsoon put a stop to that. 4" of rain in Wmsburg, 7" at my mother-in-laws house in Hampton. Bummer, not much to do but stay dry and do some shooting around the house.

View from the porch Rain 1 Rain 2

We did get a visit from some of the wildlife. Mother-in-law feeds them all the time so they are nearly tame. Turkey 1 Turkey 2 Turkey 3Turkey 3 stepped back as I fired and almost fell off the railing.  For the turkey shots BTW I was standing on the deck with them.Turkeys & Squirrel Turkeys & deer

Even got a visit from a Raven  Raven And found a wasp nest next to the garage Wasp nest

Caught an afternoon nap and woke up to find a break between storms that allowed me to take a walk to the swamp for a few shots. After the storm 0 After the storm 1 After the storm 2 After the storm 3 After the storm 4 After the storm 5 After the storm 6 After the storm 7 Cloud in Puddle

So, Even though I didn't get what I set out for, I did take advantage of what was presented to me. Hope you enjoyed.

It was a beautiful day, and I was out taking macro shots of flowers in the yard. My niece decided she wanted to go for a walk, so I picked up my camera and we headed down our quiet little neighborhood. The sun was just starting to set, and the shadows were making fun designs on the grass. As we reached the open field, we realized that this was the calm before a large storm, and that we should probably head back. Before we did, I took one more shot of the clouds and the eerily bright field.

I have been inspired by the contribution from Tucson below. Monsoon season is happening in New Mexico too.

From our backyard we can see the Sandia Mountains east of Albuquerque. Saturday night there was a a heckuva storm happening up on the mountains. Directly to the north of us we could see the water coming down in sheets only a quarter of a mile away. However, we only got a few drops -- while the TV is blaring a flash flood warning for our very neighborhood. Further evidence of the volume of rain hitting the rocky slopes to the east can be found in the arroyo that runs right behind hour house.

On an entirely different subject, we just returned from a road trip to the Bay Area, via Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe, while hitting Yosemite and Death Valley on the way home. Many photos of course, to be seen in the gallery I put up, found here. Please enjoy.