Southern MN Storms

I hit the basement with Kel and Julia (and the cats and the dogs) three times while I was there! Mother Nature must have had gas. During the last storm Lenny and I watched this cloud dangle and go back up

And finally form this funnel

And then a few minutes later we spotted this dangling particable in another area of the sky. The Nicollet firemen say there were no tornadoes spotted. Perhaps this isn't a full blown tornado but they certainly look like funnel clouds to me.
Here they are the clouds in the sky above our campsite. We had wind, tons and tons of rain and some hail. Big enough hail to put a few dents in both of our vehicles. Haven't noticed any dents yet in the camper but we haven't checked the roof either. The ground was so saturated that we didn't even attempt to get our camper out to bring it home.
The storms did make for some interesting looking skies.
Finally a rainbow. I think this was Saturday night. The weather cleared just in time for the Friendship Days parade on Sunday.
My Uncle Ed and Aunt Sandy live on the parade route and invited us to watch it from their porch. Of course we went a bit early to play a few games of shoot.
It was a gorgeous day but the clouds just did not want to go away.
I have not been to Friendly Days for years but this yea we had two very good reasons for going. The first being -
Julia and her friend Macie 'walked' in the parade along with their 'school's' float.


Here she is throwing candy to her daddy. Julia just was not quite sure what to make of the crowds.


And the second reason-
And right behind my grand baby was my Uncle Dood and two of his 'brood' Lisa and Kathy. Dood was the Grand Marshall this year. I asked someone what the qualifications were for this honor and was told that you really do have to be an old fart and to have lived in Nicollet your entire life. Yup Dood fits the bill :) He is a good choice for many other reasons as well but I like those two the best.



Julia and Macie were going to try some rides. Here they are waiting to get on one.
Checking things out
Around they go
Enjoying it so far. I wonder though who is having more fun, the little girls or Macie's mom Sara?

Right after this picture was taken Julia decided it just was not so fun and began to cry and get out. Pretty heartbreaking when she is crying, extending her arms and saying 'Daddy' 'Momma' and 'Gamma'....begging someone to please rescue her! The poor girl so wanted to go on a ride but once they started to move she just couldn't do it. Ah well maybe next year, or maybe not.

We headed back home soon after and it really was good to be home back in my garden. That will be the next post.