Thunderstorm

One of the great things about living in the southwest is watching thunderstorms in the evening.  Last night we got to see a Japanese thunderstorm.  It was awesome.

We heard the constant rumble of thunder.  It sounded like a truck idling outside.  We pulled back the curtains and saw the frequent flashes.  We put on our shoes and walked across the street.  We sat on the curb, looking over a rice field toward the mountains, and watched the fireworks.

It was one of the more impressive storms I've ever seen.  It was so bright and powerful we could've taken photographs.  Strike after strike hit the hills.  The clouds lit up as lighting ran from horizon to horizon.  Thunder rumbled ceaselessly. 

One of our neighbors came out to watch too.  We watched for half an hour.  Over twenty strikes hit the ground and dozens more stayed in the clouds.  It was a beautiful storm.  There might not have been fireworks for the fourth of July, but this more than made up for it.

Hachimantai National Park, Part 1

Kelli and I went camping this weekend.  We did far too much and took far too many pictures with my (awesome) new camera to post everything in one go, so I'll post bits and pieces and lots of pictures.

After a bus ride up the narrowest, windiest road I've ever been on we started to climb Oneme-dake.  We had prepared for a full-blown backpacking trip.  Instead we had a brisk 2.5 kilometer climb.  Oh well, it is better to be over prepared than under prepared.

Most of the mountains near us were low rolling peaks.  Oneme-dake was the tallest we climbed at 1,637 meters.

From the summit of Oneme-dake we could see O-dake (center) and Me-dake (left).

Here you can see the steam coming out of Me-dake which is an active volcano.

Just below Me-dake is this strange crater.  The ridge in the background is actually part of a huge caldera.  Me-dake is a peak inside that caldera.  O-dake is a peak on the rim of the caldera.

 

This shrine was on top of O-dake.

You don't see things like this in Colorado.

We stayed the night in that hut.  We tried to sleep outside, but it was so humid that our sleeping bags were getting damp.  As soon as it started to cloud up, we went inside.  For those of you who have been following this blog, there is actually something worse than a squatty potty: a squatty potty latrine.  You get all the squatty potty awkwardness with that awful latrine smell too.  At least with the latrine you didn't have to worry about squatty potty splash.

All day the clouds kept rolling over the peaks.  We had to wait around for clear moments to take pictures, as most of the time we were enveloped in mist.  Late in the evening the clouds cleared up and I got this picture of Mount Iwate (2,041m), the tallest mountain in the region.  Hopefully we get to climb Iwate-san soon.

These are a few views of the mountains we saw.  It was a mixture of disappointing and surreal.  The mountains were so easy to access, so many people were there, and you could see so many cities from the peaks that it didn't seem wild.  Then the mist would blow in, you'd catch site of a volcanic crater and the foreignness of it all would catch your breath.  After getting over the minor disappointments the sheer wonder of exploring overwhelmed my thoughts.  Japan is a serenely beautiful place.  I'm so blessed to live here and see this.

Spiders

If you are an arachnophobe, let me tell you right now that Japan would be hell for you.  I've never seen so many spiders in my life.  When I say "so many spiders" I mean both number and variety.  Bleh, it gives me the heebie jeebies just thinking about it.

Our little porch has a rail around it.  On that rail there is a spider web every four feet.  There are spiderwebs in our plants outside.  Under our porch light, on the eaves over our entry way and on the posts holding up the floor above, spiders can be seen dangling.  The spiders on our railway are all tiny, almost cute little guys.  They appear to be the same species, maybe from the same brood.  Unfortunately spiders are about as friendly with each other as the Hatfields and McCoys.  Kelli moved a spider back onto what she thought was its web.  It didn't end end well for that little arachnid.

If only all spiders were so benign on the gross-out scale.  Some spiders are BIG.  When you see cobwebs spanning more than six horizontal feet, you know you don't want to see who calls it home.

Take this guy for example.  the red on the left edge is part of a political campaign poster.  The other end of the web was attached to the rail beside the sidewalk, over eight feet away.  That was a big nasty spider, but we saw one that was even bigger.  Fortunately for you, we always forget our camera, so we didn't get a picture of it.  I'm not a fan of spiders.  I don't want to see spiders that are two and a half inches long repelling off of sheds.  What are you supposed to do with spiders that big?  When they are that massive you can't mercilessly step on them.  You always pause first, wondering which is grosser,  the spider or spider guts all over your shoe.

So far we haven't found any in the house.  When I mentioned the spiders in passing to my neighbor she said, "Just wait until the fall!"  Oh boy!  I can't wait....

Flowers

The Japanese word for flower is hana. They are everywhere. Kelli and I took a stroll around our neighborhood taking pictures of the flowers. Enjoy the show.

Kelli took all the pictures.  She wanted to catch the details that you miss when you just glance.

That bee was at least two inches long.  It must've been built by Sikorsky Helecopters

This is an evergreen tree.

These were only about an inch across.

Japanese gardens are beautiful.  If you want to see landscaping done right, come here!