Sunday, July 20, 2008

An Iowa Summer Thunderstorm...

This is dedicated to all those garden bloggers out there who are needing rain right now. As I reported in an earlier post, we got a good amount of rain Thursday night, and tonight, shortly after 9:00 p.m. we had our very own light and sound show going on outside of us. And, since I'd been itching to try out the video on the S700, though knowing little what to do other than get it recording, lol. I didn't realize at first just how much time I had to record, because at 640 x 480, I have about 37 minutes available! I took almost 8 minutes of footage, then decided to see what I had ... then I had to figure out how to edit it down to a manageable size, which took me a while, but I think I did manage to assemble about a 2.5 min clip that gives a sense of what the storm was like. This one lasted well over an hour and really flooded the intersection and street, but fortunately, it hasn't come close enough to flood the basement again. And last I checked a while ago, it was still dry down there, so another bullet dodged this time around.

Mind you, it's far from pro quality and it is a thunderstorm after dark, but with some nice flashes, thunder and rain ambient sound .... Honestly, I was just wanting some ambient footage, though the intersection was flooding (as it always seems to do with these type storms) and hapless idiots were stalling out trying to drive through the water... again ... At about 1:37 or so, you can see one fool who did manage to make it through driving by, but they were coming from uphill on our street, rather than trying to make it coming downhill to the intersection on Woodland, the truly fatal error. Fernymoss also took about 6.5 minutes of video as well, but he thought my first effort was best, because it pulled in a lot more of the ambient sound and lightning. So anyway, here it is, An Iowa July Thunderstorm. Enjoy, rain deprived gardeners ... I wish I could send this your way in a more concrete form, but this is as good as I've got tonight!

12 comments:

Gail said...

IVG,

Fabulous and I am so jealous of the rain...I wish you could bottle it up and send it overnight to us! We need some light displays and rumbling thunder to go along with a good steady rain! In the meantime I will be outside with the hose...dragging it hither and yon.

Isn't adding a video a lot of fun!

Gail

boran2 said...

Cool video. I wasn't aware that blogger had a video feature. We're headed for some rocky weather later today and naturally I have an appointment then.

Shady Gardener said...

I'm glad you're getting onto the video addition, however I wasn't able to see it today. My best uploads are only about 20 seconds or so... otherwise it takes a long time.

Gail said...

Have you found a lost comment? I posted on your wonderful wolf story news and it said...'done' and it was, done for that is! If you see it send it back a post! gail

Iowa Victory Gardener said...

Hi Gail,
Yeah, I wish I could bottle it up for you ... I bet I could make a fortune on "T-storm in a Bottle" kits, lol. Looks like we're in for more again tonight, then drying out again after tomorrow. There are still stranded cars along the street, and one (I didn't see last night) is an expensive looking red convertible with the top down. Fernymoss said that they actually had the top down in the midst of that storm when they tried to gun it going west on Woodland! Whatta maroon! It's still sitting out there with the top down, as I type this. And one of the ones stranded in Thurs night's storm is still parked up the street abandoned. Go figure ...

No, haven't found your lost comment at least yet ... sorry about that, but wow, Blogger does seem really capricious lately. Glad you liked the Wolf news! I was really excited to hear about that positive court ruling!

Iowa Victory Gardener said...

Hi Shady,
Yeah, it took ages (even at high speed) to upload that video last night ... sorry you couldn't watch, maybe it will work better for you later? I've learned my lesson, now I'm going to shoot much shorter clips to upload, but that was my first venture into video, and at least I was able to edit it down from 8 min to 2.5!! Those files are huge to upload to computer from the cam. Now I know! BUT, if we do get hummingbird video, I'll shoot as long as it sticks around then edit later!!

Larry Kollar said...

I've found the best way to post video is to upload it to archive.org or some other place to stash it (Youtube I suppose), then use the links they provide to add it to your blog post.

But t-storms are always fun to watch, as long as the lightning isn't hitting *too* close and you have some shelter overhead…

Shady Gardener said...

I was able to get the video! We received about an inch of rain last night... I didn't hear a thing. I was very tired, obviously. :-)
I don't see buds on my hibiscus yet, but I'll give it a good dose of "vitamins" tomorrow, and see if it helps!

Iowa Victory Gardener said...

Hey B2, sorry I missed you earlier! Hope your weather isn't too wild and woolly! We're supposed to get another 1-3" late tonight, so we'll see what happens! Just insufferably hot and humid still at this hour. Grilling out tonight was a bit of a hot ordeal, but the burgers were good!

Iowa Victory Gardener said...

Hey there FAR,
You know I thought about having it hosted after I got done last night, but was so intent on getting it up and working I just went with what seemed the easy way. From now on, though, I think I'll just upload them to my Flickr account and link from there, like I do with my photos. Thanks for the tip!

That video was taken from the front steps under the overhang, so I barely got damp, and there weren't any really close strikes.

Iowa Victory Gardener said...

Hi again Shady!
Glad you were able to view it finally! I think we got about 3" with 1-3" more on the way tonight. Don't know how you would have slept through our storm, so it must have weakened quite a bit by the time it made it down your way ... but hey, you didn't have to water today! We fed all the hibiscus (tropical and perennial) about 3 wks ago (we use fish emulsion solution ... stinky but organic!). We'll probably give them some more soon and get those castors fed as well, hehe. The green ones are already up over a foot!

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