Gossamer Tapestry

Reflections on conservation, butterflies, and ecology in the nation's heartland

Friday, August 24, 2007

About Last NIght....

I've been getting email inquiries about my well-being after last nights amazing thunderstorms. I fared well, though others did not. Storm damage on the Museum grounds has been minimal. Cleanup efforts are underway right now. We only lost two trees from the grounds, both trees that predate the construction of the building. Like many of the older trees that date from a period of neglect of this corner of the park, the two that we lost were in bad shape anyway, and can now be replaced with more interesting species that can be properly tended. The rest of Lincoln Park was not so lucky, and there are numerous huge trees down all over the park, and indeed, all over northern Illinois.

Across the street, my car narrowly escaped being crushed by a tree. I went out after the storm to find the very top part of the crown brushing over my hood. I feel very lucky. My commute home was bad last night, but I've encountered worse in snowstorms. The fact that I waited until nearly 8 PM to leave work helped. Traffic was particularly hindered by the fact that one of the major expressways north of the city was closed because of flooding. I didn't have to alter my route, but had to deal with the traffic that would normally go that way merging back onto the Kennedy Expressway.

There was little damage on my property at home, even though Elgin reported wind gusts of 75 mph. Additionally, my neighborhood did not lose power (nor did the Museum, for that matter). Tomorrow I'll get out and see how Bluff Spring Fen fared. An additional round of thunderstorms is expected this evning. Even if they aren't severe, we do not need any more rain right now.

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9 Comments:

At 14:40, Blogger Ur-spo said...

yikes! i an glad it was not too terrible: could have been worse.
still, it must have been exciting to witness?

 
At 17:53, Blogger R.Powers said...

Glad you are okay. Weird that we are sunny and mosquito free and Illinois is under water and skeeter swarmed.

 
At 06:28, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Glad to hear you and Leon are ok. Be careful

 
At 10:27, Blogger robin andrea said...

I must not be paying attention to the news, because I had no idea that Chicago had been slammed by such a wild storm. Glad to hear you fared well.

 
At 20:33, Blogger roger said...

good for you. safety and all that.

i love the low tech paper cup breeding pens for the butterflys. should that be butterflies?

 
At 09:53, Blogger Doug Taron said...

Spo- unfortunately, I was in a meeting in a windowless office during the most interesting part of the storm.

FC- The two phenomena may be related. The Weather Channel is saying that the persistent high pressure area over the southeast is diverting the storms north of where they typically go. That includes over us.

RCW - Thanks. The crisis seems to be over for now.

Robin- Slammed is definitely the word.

Roger - I wish that I could take credit for the breeding cages. They were developed by a colleague of mine who is now on the faculty at the University of Florida.

 
At 19:38, Anonymous Anonymous said...

glad to hear that you are okay!

 
At 10:32, Blogger Tony said...

Hey Doug!

Yah, my friend 'J' in Chicago told me that those thunderstorms and winds were ABSURD. Lots of mess in his Edgewater neighborhood.

Saw your comment on my post today...you're right. Hard to believe it was the later part of June that we had lunch and here we are going into Labor Day Weekend. I never thought I'd say I wish I could go back and restart everything. So many good memories and new friendships developed. I'll probably be heading back to Chicago for a third time in late'ish September or in October.

 
At 21:11, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I just felt what the difference is between real live old-friendships versus the blogger friendships that are being made. I would have been ON the phone Friday with you had I known these rains were in Chicago like they were in Wisconsin. We took off for Seattle and pleasantly IGNORED all the news we could....DOUG, I am so relieved all your work survived, and your home life not affected. I am so dis-heartened watching this planet change because humans have made it so.

 

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