The Rain(bow) Report

Whew -  barely made it back inside with Clove before another downpour started.  Poor dogs had to be satisfied with a pee dash instead of midday walkies today.  The rain has been generous and fairly well-behaved over the last 6 days.  Daily rainfall has ranged from 0.7 to 1.7 inches each day, with a chance for more than 1.7 inches yet today (1.2 so far, with more coming down now).

Last evening, Barnie and I spotted this lovely rainbow as the sun was setting.

A hint of a double arc.  The main arc spans from approximately Pine Ridge Creek to Great Monkey Cay.

Unusual (to me, anyway) to see a rainbow this low.  The brown water is from a plume of fresh water from Monkey River due to all the rainfall in the recent days.

The colors at the base intensified as the rest of the rainbow faded away.

We were greeted this morning by a rainbow in the western sky as the sun rose.  I have learned to grab my camera any time I notice the sun shining while the rain is falling - chances are good there is a rainbow in sight!

A single arc over the swamp and jungle.

Always a great way to begin the day.

I call this rain well-behaved not only because it gave us rainbows, but also because it was spread out over time and hasn't caused any flooding, it topped off our water vats, and still let enough sunlight through to charge our solar power system.  The rain that fills our water vats is our only source of fresh water for drinking, cleaning, etc.  Dennis keeps a close eye on the vats and their maintenance.  We have to make sure we have enough water on hand to make it through the dry season.  That includes watering the garden.

Dennis also keeps a close eye on our solar power system, making sure that we don't shorten the lifespan of those big, expensive, batteries by letting the charge drop too low.  If it gets too low, we will need to run the generator to recharge them.  We have become very spoiled with our solar system.  When we first built down here in 2005, we had a big diesel generator for power.  The power tools for construction ran straight off the generator.  We soon added a small battery bank for the generator to charge so there would power 24/7 instead of only while the gen was running.  Our goal always was to move to solar power, which we did in 2015.  We installed solar panels on the roof of the new cabana, which we had oriented to maximize solar gain, and installed the baddass batteries we have now (here is a post Dennis wrote with the gory details of solar system we installed).  We were able to decommission the big diesel generator and get a smaller gas-powered generator for backup power.   The sound of silence when we turned off the big generator for the last time was magical.  The bit of red roof in the next-to-last photo is the generator shed, which was actually the first building constructed here.  With that generator and its big barrel of diesel fuel gone, we can use the shed for storage of gasoline for the boat and new generator; it also houses the water pump.

As I am finishing up this post, the sun is out, the batteries are charging, and the water vats are full - life is good.

Atmospherics

Poor quality telecommunications is a frequent fact life here in Belize.  Early on when we complained to various providers of mobile phone and satellite internet services, the one answer we could count on getting was atmospherics; atmospherics is the cause of all the problems.  It got so that we used it as a catch word for all of life's travails.  Burned dinner?  It was atmospherics!  Stubbed your toe?  Atmospherics.  Generator on the fritz?  Obviously atmospherics!  Five years down the road and the answer is still atmospherics.   This blog is about good atmospherics and you can listen here to some of the best.  Seriously, follow the link right now, listen to the radio; you won't regret it.

Lately, the atmosphere has hosted some intriguing cloud formations.

If we had seen this in Minnesota, we would have headed to the basement in fear of a tornado!  No worries about tornadoes here.

Late yesterday afternoon, Dennis called to me to come see the flock of white birds out over the sea.  It was terns going wild for what must have been a large school of little fish.  They were soon joined by a flotilla of brown pelicans. While I was getting the camera, the most fantastic double rainbow appeared.

Double rainbow. The barely visible specks are pelicans floating on the water near the base of the less intense rainbow at the right.

The rainbow arced without interruption over Greater Monkey Cay toward Craig's Barebones Beach Bar to our north.

That is Greater Monkey Cay at the left.

 Meanwhile, swallows flew in to feast on the mosquito-laden atmosphere.

Swallows in the air and pelicans on the water.

 The atmosphere was thick with swallows.

Swallows somewhere over, under, and through the rainbow.

The north end of the rainbow at Craig's place.

Three Greater Yellowleg birds flew north, illuminated by the setting sun.  The yellowlegs have been hanging around our shore for a coupe of weeks now.  They come through each winter.  This year they seem to be lingering longer than they usually do.  They must like the atmospherics this year.

Yellowlegs headed to the other end of the rainbow.

From up on the balcony I could see that the pelicans were still out on the water, although the terns had mostly continued south.

Birds on the water.

 Also heading south to their evening roost on Little Monkey Cay were some white ibises.

White ibises up high and terns down low with rainbow.

Some good atmospherics for a change.  I could get used to this.  I think I'll listen to the radio and enjoy it.

December Rainbows

This evening, as the sun was nearing the western horizon, Dennis came in to tell me there was a magnificent rainbow out front.  I grabbed my camera and managed to get these shots before the sun disappeared behind some low clouds.

An intense double rainbow.

Seemingly coming straight up out of the sea.

I have never been able to detect this many bands of color in a rainbow.

I did not enhance these images at all, except to make full use of the histogram (i.e. go from black all the way to white). No adjustments were made to color balance or saturation.

As the light faded I turned to take photos of our beach in the last of the sun.

Soft golden light and long shadows fall on the sand and sea. 

 All too soon, the brief tropical twilight doused the rainbow and cloaked the beach; the magic light was gone, replaced by the dark of night.

Pouring Concrete and Pouring Rain

Back in November, Richard, Craig, Joe, and Lloydie had poured concrete in 2/3rd of the space below the cabana. It turned out great.  We left the last 1/3rd to do until later so we could move the water vats off the sand onto the concrete and then pour concrete where the vats had been.  This time Dennis was part of the crew and Seven took Joe's place.  In the photo below you can see Dennis shoveling the newly mixed concrete into the wheel barrow so it can be poured on top of the wire mesh between the forms just behind Dennis.  The concrete is all mixed by hand; it is actually faster than the little motorized concrete mixer we shipped down.  Live and learn.

Token photo of Dennis working.  :-)  Not true, he does his share.  Lucky for me , I am the photographer.

Seven and Craig are ready to go.   Note the tamper (4x4 with a 1x4 base) used to flatten the sand base.

It progressed very quickly; the guys were good. 

Craig floating the concrete.

 With everybody working hard, the work got done in just one day instead of one and a half.  

Richard dumping the next wheelbarrow load, Craig floating, Seven shoveling, and Lloydie at the ready. 

 The finished product looks great!  We'll have 5 vats across the front and 4 more along the side we just poured.

You can see the edge of one vat at the front.  Two more will go to the left of it and then 4  down the side at the left of the photo.

 It will be much easier to keep clean and dry now.

View from the front toward the back.

After finishing early, Dennis took the crew for some liquid refreshment at Craig's bar.  They got there just before the rain came.

There is a faint rainbow at the right of the photo.

The next few shots are all from the same perspective with different atmospheric conditions.

A boat is trying to beat the rain to Monkey River.

Great Monkey Cay (pronounced "key") is almost obscured by the wall of approaching rain. 

I got a little funky with the effects on this shot.  Great Monkey Cay is invisible.