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Tag: monsoon

14 September 2022

Busy going nowhere fast as travel plans fall into place

view S stormy sky Skull Valley AZLast week I wrote about the power going off.  Turned out that a freak storm with high winds, that I watched but didn’t really experience, knocked down 16 electric poles just north of Wickenburg in my county of Yavapai.  Power was restored by Sunday morning after about 36 hours.  Sure glad to have the truckcamper so I didn’t loose any food and solar kept my phone and laptop charged.

Sierra on deskThen the storms cleared like monsoon was over and the temperatures went back up into the mid-90s.  Even with AC on I lacked ambition.

(stolen from FB)

sunset clouds over Brush Mt Skull Valley AZThe trail cam has picked up a roadrunner, several javelina, and some racoons.  I haven’t yet downloaded any of those pics from the cam’s SD card.  Been feeling lazy.

reverse sunset clouds moon Skull Valley AZThe only moon shot I got this month and it’s not yet full

But that lazy will change real soon with the plans I’m making for a week in Illinois to attend my 50th class reunion (link to the 40th).  Those activities include gatherings Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings.  Plus I’ll be visiting with some other folks I haven’t seen in about that long.  Cousin Judy from Michigan and I are going to meet at the Indian Dunes National Park.  That’s about a 1 1/2 hour drive for each of us.  I haven’t been to the dunes since Girl Scouts, before it was a national park.

Brush Mt storm clouds Skull Valley AZClouds but no rain

Then I hear from Elspeth, whose mother was our Girl Scout leader in Downers Grove.  She’ll be at the reunion and we’ll meet again at the nearby Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie where she used to work.

rainbow Bradshaw Mts Skull Valley AZFeeling all nostalgic, I spent an evening watching The African Queen.  And although I long to return, that’s not the journey I have in mind.

view W Brushy Mt clouds Skull Valley AZSaturday, Joann stopped by for some final directions from Sierra.  The only reason I’m able to make this trip to Illinois is because Joann volunteered to stay at my house, and Sierra approved the arrangement.

reverse sunset clouds Skull Valley AZI am excited!  And by the time you read this post I should be flying out of Arizona.  Hopefully the next posts will be about more than life on the ranch, watching out the windows, and staying inside because of the bugs.

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Arizona, life, making plans, Places I've been, Skull Valley, United States monsoon 12 Comments
31 August 2022

Busy cloud watching and nepholography

view W sunset mammary clouds Skull Valey AZSeems I spend a lot of time cloud watching which has expanded my nepholography* beyond still shots to time-lapse and video.  Monsoon doesn’t last all year so need to take advantage of it, just like the Aridzona plants.

pond Skull Valley AZRain over night has been common lately so one morning I decided to walk to the nearby driveway wash.  I could see water had run and the pond was back but the crossing was drivable.  The humidity and mosquitoes quickly chased me back home.  Where I spent the day watching clouds while taking time-lapse, using the phone, as I’m entranced with the dance-like motion.

trees rock Bradshaw Mts clouds Skull Valley AZ

trees rock Bradshaw Mts clouds Skull Valley AZI’m working on a video where I’ll share the time-lapses and talk about the science behind monsoon and safety.  Haven’t been using the Nikon for time-lapse because there’s something on the lens that shows as a backwards C when the lens is set wide between 18 and 35 mm.  I can usually remove it with Lightroom in stills.  I’m bummed about that, but the cloud watching makes me happy.

trees rainbow dark sky Skull Valley AZ

trees part rainbow Skull Valley AZAnd if it wasn’t so buggy, I’d dance outside when a rainbow shows.

sunset clouds Skull Valley AZInstead, I published a SHORT teaser video about RVs.

Sierra & GaelynThen spent the next two days putting together a video about choosing your first RV, making suggestions for things to look for before you buy.

Roadrunner bird Skull Valley AZRoadrunner bird Skull Valley AZRoadrunner bird Skull Valley AZ

Joann stopped by for a visit and the local Roadrunner came by.

cumulus clouds E Skull Valley AZCloud watching continued throughout the day over the mountains to my east and west along with some rumbles but very little rain.

view W sunset mammary clouds Skull Valey AZUntil evening when a storm came from the north along with sunset.

trees N storm clouds Skull Valley AZThe next couple of afternoons, huge storms descended from the north.  Hard and loud directly overhead, I could feel the thunder from the tires up.

view E storm clouds Skull Valley AZFor a couple hours I was in ambedo** while cloud watching and taking video mostly to record the marvelous sound.

view W shadows Brushy Mt clouds Skull Valley AZ

view E trees rock Bradshaw Mts bird on wire Skull Valley AZThen back to monsoon missing me pattern with lots of good cloud watching to the east and west over the mountains.

NPS stuff

view W Brushy Mt clouds crepuscular rays Skull Valley AZAnd celebrating the National Park Service 106th birthday, that makes me miss my job.  Probably not enough to return to 40 hours a week.  No time for that.  (Here’s a post about the NPS history.)

coyote tall weeds Skull Valley AZI’m too busy paying attention when the Gray squirrel sends out a loud chirping alert.  That paid off when I saw the “danger” as a coyote went past.

view N stormy sky Skull Valley AZ

tree rainbow Skull Valley AZA new video editing app kept me busy with a rather easy learning curve and I published another SHORT teaser video.

Sierra cat watching sunset Skull Valley AZ

trees Bradshaw Mts reverse sunset clouds Skull Valley AZI’m also busy cloud watching and the storms are changing.  Coming from north is opposite the summer patterns, so I wonder if monsoon is almost over and Autumn is on it’s way.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Nephos = Greek for clouds.  Nephelococcygia (ne-fee’-lu-koe’-ku-jee’-u) as the scientific terminology for “cloud watching”.  A person who photographs clouds is a *nepholographer.

**Ambedo – a kind of melancholic trance in which you become completely absorbed in vivid sensory details – raindrops skittering down a window, tall trees leaning in the wind, clouds of cream swirling in your coffee – briefly soaking in the experience of being alive, an act that is done purely for its own sake.

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Arizona, monsoon, nepholography, Places I've been, United States clouds, monsoon, monsoon rain, photography, video 16 Comments
24 August 2022

Intermittent Arizona monsoon rain around my valley

view E sunset cloud Skull Valley AZMy heart just isn’t into writing a blog post.  I can’t even imagine why you’re here, reading this.  Week after week of Arizona monsoon rain.  Hope you enjoy the photos as much as I enjoy making them.  I suspect a high percentage of readers only come for the photos anyway.  That’s OK by me.  Thanks.

view E storm clouds rainbow Skull Valley AZI’ve come to the conclusion, that by hook or crook, I will NOT be on the ranch next year during July and August monsoon rain.  Wasn’t the original plan for this year, but shit happens.

rainbow view E SKull Valley AZI have almost seen a full year in Skull Valley.  So, I’m telling myself I was meant to be here for the heat, followed by monsoon, humidity, and storm energy.

view W Cumulus clouds Skull Valley AZI’ve had endless time to shoot video, time-lapse, and series photos of rapidly changing cloud patterns.

view E stormy sky Skull Valley AZInstead of thinking lazy, it’s about learning at a slower pace.  Some days just move slower than others.  The storms are exciting.

camera in window cow butt view E Skull Valley AZ

cow thru window Skull Valley AZI’ve tried to capture lightning with the camera set on tripod and timer but instead I caught cows.

timed storm view E Skull Valley AZ

timed storm view E Skull Valley AZ

timed storm view E Skull Valley AZAnd ended up with 70 images of the same view under a changing sky…

timed storm view E Skull Valley AZ

timed storm view E Skull Valley AZ

timed storm view E Skull Valley AZ…then selected six at five minutes apart for a fun series almost like a time-lapse.  But no lightning.

stormy sky view E Skull Valley AZ

reverse sunset mushroom mammatus clouds Skull Valley AZ PanoMost of my recent photos are taken from inside because the bugs eat me up and I swell and itch something terrible.  They even get me in the house.  After a long day inside putting out a video about Watson Lake I ventured out for some panoramic shots that didn’t include the power pole or lines.  But not for long, as our tall damp grasses and weeds offer perfect breeding ground for those aggressive skeeters.

view E sunset cloud Skull Valley AZ

view E sunset cloud Skull Valley AZ

view E sunset cloud Skull Valley AZThe sunset was magnificent and I took another series of shots this time on the phone over 35 minutes of dramatic change.

view E sunset cloud Skull Valley AZ

view E sunset cloud Skull Valley AZ

view E sunset cloud Skull Valley AZShould have taken time-lapse.

Now that I’ve figured it out, I’m hooked on time-lapse.  Once the camera is set up I can mostly ignore it and work on the computer.  So instead of gazing endlessly at the cumulus clouds billow and blow in a hypnotic dance, I watch later in accelerated time.  I’ll use those in a video about Arizona monsoon rain.

lightning strikes 8-17-22storm splits around my door step

Downloaded a lightning tracker app that mimics the radar storm patterns that most frequently miss my valley and move over the mountains.

reverse sunset clouds Skull Valley AZMonsoon rain makes for colorful sunsets.

Gray squirrel Skull Valley AZI moved the trail cam thinking I’d catch the playful squirrel family on the wood pile jungle gym.  The woodpile is too busy of a pattern for background, and the squirrels are small, though entertaining to watch through a window.

view W sunset clouds Skull Valley AZWest Brushy Mt

view E sunset clouds Skull Valley AZEast Bradshaw Mts

Not all the rain misses me.  Sometimes I see lightning less than a mile or two away and I’ve felt the thunder right overhead.  I love that energy and am glad to be well grounded on rubber tires.

Brushy Mt sun shaft clouds Iron Springs Rd Skull Valley AZRecognize Brushy Mt?

raining view S clouds Iron Springs Rd Skull Valley AZI seem to experience the heaviest of monsoon rain on town days in Prescott.  The drive home showed some ominous skies.

water flow Skull Valley washI’d never seen Skull Valley wash flow let alone churn it’s muddy waves.  Made me wonder if my driveway wash would be passable.

cows in driveway Skull Valley AZRan into a cow jam in the driveway as they helped themselves to my neighbors load of expensive hay for her horses.  Thankful to drive across my merely damp wash made it easier to unload the days spoils.

reverse sunset Bradshaw Mts Skull Valley AZ

view NE rainbow Skull Valley AZThose heavy clouds dropped only gentle rain and a streak of sunshine lit a brief gift to end the day.

view W Brushy Mt storm clouds Skull Valley AZInteresting shift in the typical summer monsoon rain pattern from the south/southwest.

storm clouds view W Skull Valley AZRecent storms coming from the north hit hard in my valley.  I lost count of the lightning and thunder.  The noise and energy was palpable.

storm clouds view W Skull Valley AZSo I set the phone to video, pointed at a rather bleak gray view, and recorded the sound.  Wish I could capture the smell and energy vibrations of this monsoon rain.

view W presunset clouds Skull Valley AZDoes this shift mean Autumn is on its way?

OK, I feel better now.  I hear rumbles coming and there’s currently no mosquitoes in the house.

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Hi, I’m Gaelyn, the Geogypsy

I retired after 29 summer seasons as a Park Ranger, traveling solo for 40+ years. My passions include travel, connecting to nature, photography, and sharing stories.

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