My World - WET!

April 19 Rain on cherry blossoms

April 20 Morning fog

April 20 Drops and strips

April 28 Running water

My World Tuesday - Wet

We had another storm come slowly up the coast this weekend, dropping a couple of inches of water on the ground saturated by the melting snow. Saturday night 45 roads were reported closed due to high water and a video clip (first seen on NBC4) made NBC Nightly News Saturday. The creek behind us floods regularly and years ago closed the road that can be seen. The state built a new bridge and raised the road and it has not been closed since.

Carroll Creek in the City of Frederick is the top of its banks, but the flood control project takes the excess water through underground culverts through downtown. The entrance to the culverts is to the right in this view.

Above is Carroll Creek flooding farmland down stream from the city, near where it empties into the Monocacy River. The poles in the water are the fences that line the private road to the farm on the far hill. Below is the Monocacy. The river is normally not visible here as its course is beyond the line of trees.

My World Tuesday - At the lake

View of the lake

Monday we took our second trip with the grandsons to Greenbrier State Park for a picnic lunch, swimming and generally enjoying the outdoors. Greenbrier is about 30 minutes from home and was a favorite spot for Marianne and the boys' Dad when he was their age. The park also has a kayaks, paddle boats, bath facilities, and miles of trails, including a portion of the Appalachian Trail. (Second and third image taken on July 27, the others taken July 22.) For some more shots around the lake, see Marianne's post and my post last October.

Marianne and the boys

In the water

View through the trees

And a card game to pass the time

Sky Watch Friday - Carolina gray skies

Carolina blue was not the color of the sky for our visit last weekend. Though there was some rain during our trip and intermintent sunshine, these shots show the type of skies we saw. Above is a shot from one of the boat ramps around Lake Jordan. The two below were taken in Bro John's yard.

Sky Watch Friday - More storms

Tuesday afternoon skies to the east

Stormy skies to the west

Then came the hail

Then came the rain

And misty skies on Thursday at dusk

My World Tuesday - Waterfalls

While I was in Colorado I had a little extra time before lunch with my son and the other family, so I took a drive toward Cheyenne Mountain. I found this canyon park and took a quick tour. Seven Falls Park, located in South Cheyenne Canyon, is privately owned. There is an elevator (as well as steps) to get to an overlook 140 feet above the base of the falls. There is also a stairway (visable is images below) up the side of the canyon to the top of the falls and a trail to a higher point which overlooks Colorado Springs. I did not have time to explore the the trails.

View at the bottom of the falls

View from the overlook

Upper falls

Middle falls

Bridges Between - Sixes Road Bridge

Bridge from upstream

The Sixes Road Bridge is the only two-span historic remaining on the Monocacy River owned by Frederick County. Its 240 feet length makes it is the longest historic bridge in the county. It is located in the northeastern part of Frederick County down stream from Bullfrog Road Bridge. In this section of Frederick County the Monocacy River forms the border with Carroll County, Maryland. The bridge was built in 1915 by the York Bridge Company. The design is Pratt truss. The bridge was rehabilitated in 1995.

Info from Frederick County Dept of Highways and Transportation.

Looking south across bridge to Carroll County

Looking upstream

Side rail detail

Bridges Between - Bullfrog Road Bridge

This thru truss, single lane, historic bridge is located in the northeastern part of Frederick County near the Pennsylvania border. The bridge spans the Monocacy River, which forms the border with Carroll County, Maryland at this point. The bridge was built in 1908 by the York Bridge Company. The design is camelback truss. With a span of 183 feet, it is the longest single span historic bridge in the County. The top chord is 30 feet above the deck. The bridge was rehabilitated in 1996. It is on the US National Register of Historic Places.

Info from Frederick County Dept of Highways and Transportation.

My World Tuesday - Water and more water

Last Thursday we had several inches of rain as the storm that covered the eastern US went over us. Above is the view friday morning from our yard of the Israel Creek. Normally it is on the far side of the flood plain and cannot be seen from our house. Below is the Monocacy River not far from us. This is the place where I found the hawks on December 3 (posted for SWF).

And here is Carroll Creek near where it empties into the Monocacy. The white on the far side on the water is where the creek normally flows.

And finally, the view Saturday morning from our house of the receding water. From what I heard, no significant damage was caused by this flood in Frederick.

Sky Watch Friday - Lake and sunset

Last Saturday we went for a drive looking for fall foliage. We didn't find a lot of color, but did find some beautiful skies and reflections. The lake is in Cunningham Falls State Park and the sunset was taken near our house. More pictures of the lake are on Marianne's blog and my original blog.

More flooding scenes

We had over 4 inches of rain this weekend and a number of creeks throughout Frederick County were out of their banks. Earlier today there were reports of 14 closed roads due to flooding. This one is near us. Israel Creek normally runs down the east side of the flood place near the county truck blocking the road. With heavy rain, water also flows down the west side, flooding the fields and road. The farm below is to the right on the other side of the creek. (See earlier photos on Marianne's blog and my other blog.) From photos of this farm from a different vantage point, see here and there. I also posted flooding pictures on my Project 365 blog.

In another field down stream from the photos above this fence post just barely sticks out of the water.

This is the Monocacy River along MD 26. In the foreground is a catch basin which is overflowing across a parking lot to the river which is also flooding. The soccer fields to the right were still above water.

It appears that there was little damage from flooding in the Frederick area. There was flooding of homes and businesses in areas closer to Washington.

Light and water

While we were photographing Roddy Bridge, I experimented with metering options of my D40X. The group above is two almost identical views of Owens Creek. The top is looking down at the water and the bottom is with the sun reflecting off the water. The left pictures were taken with matrix metering (normal) and the pictures are what the eye also sees. The right pictures were taken with spot metering and we get a whole different effect.