It seems Nature wanted to let me know that there are many meanings to the old folklore saying of “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight.” This was our western sky the eve before Hurricane Irene’s arrival. All I could think was…. so much for the red sky at night theory!

While I would not have wanted to be out on the water yesterday with the severity of riptides and ocean swell, the storm we experienced from Irene’s far-reaching bands was relatively mild. At least in my patch of the low country!

This is my poster boy, Dudley. His cuteness saved his life during puppyhood. Now he’s my very good, very spoiled boy, and I’m a well trained human!

In preparation for Irene’s arrival, I took all  the porch furniture cushions into the house, leaving just one dog bed for… his highness. He was okay with that as it frequently occurs for thunder storm prep.

Around 3 pm, Dudley became quite agitated. I saw him bouncing around out on the porch. He started twirling… a true sign he’s upset. Then, he came into my studio and actually pawed at me, wanting to climb up and sit on my lap. I was perched high up on my drafting chair, in front of the computer, trying to get work done for Spring Island.

As you can see, Dudley is not a fluffy, ragdoll type of lap dog. He weighs 21 lbs., and has a bony little bottom!  When he sits on your lap, he has no concept of lying across your legs or curling up in a ball….. On no, he sits in the pictured position with his front paw nails digging into your legs.  The poor boy was shaking like a leaf and then…. Irene arrived. It’s so amazing what animals know!

Prior to becoming blind, his sister, Grizz, always let us know it was going to rain. She’d find me and pace, eat/chew anything she wasn’t supposed to, just to get my attention that it was time to go out for a walk NOW!  Her radar was about a half to an hour out from the time of rainfall. As I became a better trained human, she didn’t get the opportunity to eat/chew so many off limit things 🙂

Back to Irene..
The rain was quite heavy at times, but I’ve experienced more winds during some of our severe thunderstorms. It would pour, then nothing. During one of the nothings I took the dogs out for a quick trip but…. we had to race back to the house very shortly after leaving it!  That outburst lasted about an hour and we haven’t seen rain since.

Oh, but the sky around sunset…

Look at these cloud bands….. This is the view to the east, and below, the western sky.

click to enlarge all images

So, my lesson from Nature is to learn to read her signs and trust she knows what she’s talking about 🙂  Overall, our day was a sailors delight given what it could have been.

My heart and prayers are with all of you who are caught in this huge storm. Stay safe, be wise and know you will make it out to the other side.