Yesterday morning Bud said, "I'm going down to the pond and throw in a line or two." I told him I would take my book out on the deck and watch him from there. It was still comparatively cool and there was a nice breeze.
It really was a pretty morning. As I gazed around I noted how blue the sky was with just a few wispy clouds overhead. The voice in my head said mares' tails. Mares' tails - that's what my Mom called those high, thin clouds. Didn't they mean rain was coming? I posted one of my cloud pictures on Facebook with the note "I do hope these mares' tails presage a sorely needed rain!" A cousin on my Mom's side said she had "never heard them called that before", while one on my Dad's side asked "are they a forecast for rain?" I can remember both my Grandmothers and my Mom having sayings relating to all kinds of weather. Now we just watch the weather people on TV or check the radar on our computers, tablets, phones, etc. There is no need to understand what the clouds or wind direction or any other weather changes may be telling us.
A couple hours after I took the mares' tail pics, the clouds had thickened and darkened. It really did look like it could rain, but didn't. Then around 4:15 this morning I was awakened by a flash of lightening followed by thunder. And, a few minutes later, RAIN! Unfortunately the rain didn't last long enough, but any little bit helps. (There's an interesting page about Mares' Tails and Mackerel Skies here.)
This is what the sky looked like off to the southwest when I went out to check the rain gauge (middle post) early this morning. We got 20/100ths of an inch. And while it did still look very rainy, we didn't receive any more. But hey, now that it's rained some, maybe Mother Nature remembers how it's done.
I can still hear Grandma Bessie Lynam saying "Red skies at night, sailors' delight; red skies at morning, sailors take warning". What about your parents and grandparents? Do you remember any of their weather related sayings?
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