The lightning wasn’t in the auctioneer’s crazy vocalizations, but they were fun! A lady in our church was having a huge estate sale auction, and I spent a couple of days ahead of time helping her move stuff. On the day of the auction, there were tons of folks there, poking over all the things for sale. Two auction trucks would drive near a pile of furniture or tools or whatever, and with the help of someone holding an item up, or pointing to it with a long flagged pole, the auctioneer would start his chant. Very interesting to see!
Friday night the Lincoln Adventist Men’s Chorus gave a concert in the “Glass Chapel,” in Gretna, halfway to Omaha. We’ve sung there before… in fact, this has become a bit of a tradition. It’s a gorgeous venue: walls all glass with colorful framing, and beautiful views making use of all that glass.
Sunday was Dayna’s final volleyball game of the season; actually a tournament. We’ve missed the rest of the season, since we were overseas, but it was fun to watch these games. They have really matured as a team, and are playing much better than last year. They didn’t win the tournament, but played well! Kevin is an assistant coach this year – is that part of their improvement?
Third Tuesdays are special at the Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center. They have a guided tour starting at 8 am. It had been so windy, and very wet, that I was wondering if anyone else would be crazy enough to show up! When we got there, only one other person had arrived. But by 8, there were about a dozen insane birders! Actually, to avoid the wind, we stayed in more sheltered areas, and it was an absolutely gorgeous day! I think we saw 18 different species, none new to us, but great fun.
One evening when a heavy storm was forecast, we heard the sirens warning of possible tornadoes. So we did exactly what you’re not supposed to do – we went outside to see the incredible weather! The sky was yellow. The first picture below was taken when the yellow was really deep, but the iPhone seemed to know that was wrong and fixed it! Then the rainbows started showing up.
The lighting was so ethereal- and a strange calm replacing the wind and rain. Dramatic lighting was frequently cracking the sky open. While I was trying to take pictures of the rainbow from the front of the house, I noticed my good neighbor Phil doing the same.
Then the most amazing thing happened! In the exact second my phone was taking the picture, a tremendous flash of lightning occurred. It looks like the right side of the the picture was being recorded as the lightning started, and then when the whole sky exploded, the rest of the exposure was dramatically overexposed. So it seems to me the phone starts the exposure on the right, and moves to the left… almost like a SLR film camera has a moving curtain shutter that slides across the film. So here’s the shot that excited me so much. No editing at all, just straight out of the camera.
Isn’t that fun? The sky kept changing, always amazing and interesting. And we never got the tornadoes or hail they had said were possible.
Oh, one more unusual thing… we decided we’ve been too long without an RV. We picked up a cute little camping trailer. It’s the exact opposite of our motorhome: small, simple, light.
The rig spent one night in front of our house, and we had our kids and grandkids over for dinner in it! Fun!
Then it was time to put it where we’ll keep it – at good friend George’s place. We have to store it away now, because we are leaving immediately on a road trip. Without a camper… another Tesla Trip, but that’s a story for next week!
