Dry and comfy

The drought rages on, and we all need to do whatever we can to continue to conserve water. This is about as bad of a drought as has ever been recorded around here, and there is no relief in sight over the next week. Below are a few pictures of the stream bed behind my house. Notice something is missing....the stream!



If we aren't going to get the much-needed rainfall, we might as well have some great weather to enjoy. The weekend weather will be fantastic with afternoon highs in the 70s and morning lows well down into the 40s.

A weakening storm system will swing through here Tuesday and Wednesday, but the chances for substantial rain with that one look very small. There continue to be some indications that a major storm system will swing through here NEXT weekend (October 21 and 22), but details are sketchy at best in the time frame.

Fall colors are popping in the mountains, and the viewing weather will be excellent this weekend. With this current cold shot of weather in the mountains, the color should be really nice next week and next weekend. By the way, the summit of Grandfather Mountain has remained in the 30s all day today...second day in a row!

And finally, I am catching an early flight in the morning to head down to watch Mississippi State take on the Tennessee Volunteers in Starkville tomorrow afternoon. I will get a chance to see some good friends of mine and some family, and that will be fun. The down side is that I am traveling alone...the family will stay here. This is tough on Daddy.....I will miss them a bunch.

I doubt I will have an opportunity to post a blog post before next Wednesday. Until then, enjoy the weekend and the weather!

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Crisp Morning...

Many spots up in the mountains were down into the 30s this morning. In fact, the summit of Grandfather Mountain made it down to 29 degrees!

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Changes Coming...

I had a good weekend (Monday's and Tuesday's are my weekend) spending some time with my family. There is never a dull moment in the East household. Jayden is in pre-school and Grace is 2 1/2....both are always wanting to learn something. Julianna is 11 months old, she is walking, and she is very curious and always exploring. I love every minute of it and wouldn't trade any if it for the world.

I took a look at the radar yesterday afternoon and noticed the showers and storms seemed to be holding together very well in the mountains...I thought, "Maybe it can hold together enough for some rain in our viewing area." So, off we went yesterday evening to Jayden's soccer practice. As we get to the end of practice, the dark clouds continue to build off to the west. I get the kids all huddled around for our post-practice prayer, and I feel the breeze really picking up. When the prayer is finished, one of the parents says lightning had just flashed behind me. I had to pull out my pocket dictionary to remember what lightning was.

So, off everyone hurriedly goes to their various vehicles. And then, sure enough....rain began to fall. Actual rain. It was nice to see. Unfortunately, not nearly enough to help with the drought, but it just seems to refresh the soul a bit to even see rain considering the tremendous drought we are in. When we got home, the kids asked if they could go play in the rain. We thought about it, and said 'why not?' So, all of us went out in the rain and just enjoyed it for a little while. Poor kids....they were jumping in 'puddles' that were about the width of their feet. But, they had fun, and that is what matters.

We have one more really warm day today before big changes take place. A nice shot of Canadian air will surge in here beginning tonight and will be with us all weekend. Highs will be in the low to mid 70s with lows way down into the 40s beginning Friday morning. I would not be surprised if some communities didn't make it out of the 60s Friday afternoon. No complaints from me!!

Fall foliage continues to begin up in the mountains, and once the cooler temperatures settle in there, the colors should look fantastic by next week at this time.

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Sunday Evening Check In...

Well, good weekend of football....Mississippi State beat UAB to head to 4-2. Next up, a big match-up in Starkville with Tennessee.

The Panthers pulled one out in New Orleans in a hard-fought, rather sloppy game. But, a win is a win, so no complaints.

Although I normally have a strict policy about this, I will break it tonight. I will complain about the weather. It will be hot the next few days, and I am just sick of hot weather. Now, I am thankful for each day, but wow, the heat just wears on you after a while. Good news is Friday through next weekend will be wonderful with 70s for highs and 40s for low and lots of sun. Bad news is rain chances look very small for the next week or so.

Fall foliage is kicking into gear up in the mountains, but the onset of the color change is later this year due to all of the warm weather. Most trees are still green, but there is some good color to be seen around Grandfather Mountain. After the shot of cool weather at the end of this week, the fall foliage should really get cranking.

Everyone have a great week!

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