Category Archives: Weather

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2013/01/30 · 11:59

NOAA for HSH area of the Blue Ridge Mountains

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAPABLE OF PRODUCING HURRICANE FORCE WINDS IN EXCESS OF 70 MPH. THESE STORMS WERE LOCATED ALONG A LINE EXTENDING FROM HOT SPRINGS TO LEICESTER TO CLAYTON… MOVING EAST AT 45 MPH.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN PRODUCE TORNADOES WITH LITTLE OR NO WARNING. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER IF A TORNADO IS SPOTTED.

THESE SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE ALSO PRODUCING EXTREMELY HEAVY RAINFALL. FLOODING OF DRAINAGE DITCHES AND LOW LYING AREAS MAY OCCUR. DO NOT DRIVE THROUGH AREAS WHERE WATER IS FLOWING OVER THE ROAD.

Tornado: Tornado just spotted just North of us. Yikes! Saint Michael the Archangel…!

Lightning strike: Cathy L. put a link to this prayer in the comments box:

Jesus Christ a King of Glory has come in Peace. † God became man, † and the Word was made flesh. † Christ was born of a Virgin. † Christ suffered. † Christ was crucified. † Christ died. † Christ rose from the dead. † Christ ascended into Heaven. † Christ conquers. † Christ reigns. † Christ orders. † May Christ protect us from all storms and lightning † Christ went through their midst in Peace, † and the word was made flesh. † Christ is with us with Mary. † Flee you enemy spirits because the Lion of the Generation of Judah, the Root David, has won. † Holy God! † Holy Powerful God! † Holy Immortal God! † Have mercy on us. Amen!

Just as I was praying that prayer, just at the bit about lightning, lighting struck, and I got a bit of shock through the keyboard, but the computer seems to be O.K. I wonder if the UPS I have got fried.

What a shocking experience, so to speak.

Trenches: In the worst part of the storm, so far anyway, I went out in the old irrigation boots with mattock in hand, intent on digging a bit more on the trenches in the path on Holy Souls Mountain. They were each like raging torrents. Yikes! Extreme Sport Storming!

Flooding: It’s not very frequent that my little creek get’s named for flooding, but, there we are. I’ll maybe venture out tomorrow and take some pics.

Snow: I doubt it. But later this evening the temps will drop about 1 degree every two minutes for about an hour, until it could, in fact, snow. But I think the precipitation moves along with the higher temps. No, we’ll just have frozen everything with so many inches of rain.

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2013/01/26 · 10:32

Angels and Laudie’s donkey ears and… “C’è nessuno?” and falling five times on the way to Confession: Aarrgghh!

An icy, icy, icy morning on Holy Souls Mountain. 26 January 2013

To this day, I can very much sense the presence of the angels in the hermitage and on Holy Souls Mountain, especially when departing or arriving. I think we can all recognize the presence of the angels, which is very much like the presence of Christ. That presence of Jesus is to be noticed as that bond of charity in all friendship which is stable amidst the ever-changing myriad of circumstances, so that we recognize that it is in Him that we live and move and have our being, although we are, at the same time, taking in by way of our senses all that which is presented to us in this world provided to us with such tender solicitation for our welfare.

Unchanging stability on the one hand, ferociously changing, must be taken care of circumstances on the other. Add to this our weakness before His strength, and we have the extreme sport of life, no? Rather mirthful, in the Chestertonian sense. The joy of the Holy Spirit. We are just so inept, but He holds us close to His Heart. I love that. The angels, of course, want nothing more than to encourage us to be in all out reverence before Jesus, what I call humble thanksgiving. Angels, mind you, are rather ferocious, and are patient with us only inasmuch as they see the work of our Lord within our lives.

With them around, we are reminded that we really, really, really want to be about doing the will of our Lord in our lives, staying away from sin, and being an ever simple child of God. Are we wretched as infernal hell without grace? Sure. And it is in knowing that that the joy of the Holy Spirit is all that much more enhanced. We know more just how good and just how kind Jesus is.

Meanwhile, Laudie is having a good time of it, watching me take a picture of her below the wood stove on a particularly icy-cold day. I suppose that she put on her donkey ears in order to enjoy listening to the fire crackle and pop just above her. A rather comforting noise, that. I’m wrong, of course. She’s ever attentive to noises outside, and jumps to attention wanting to go out at the first sign of possible trouble, like little branches burdened with ice breaking off and falling to the ground. And out she goes in full protection mode. Dogs, along with everything else, are a sign of God’s love for us.

* * *

Meanwhile again, with the whole heavenly court all about on Holy Souls Mountain, and right in the hermitage (just as they are everywhere, interceding for us all, especially those like me who are sinners), I am reminded of sitting in the back of a chapel, in the corner, in the dark shadows, not to be seen, in an ever so ancient monastery in Italy very many years ago. The chapel was in two parts, separated by a massive iron grille, behind which was the choir for the cloistered nuns. One of the nuns had a habit (sorry for the pun), when she was looking for another nun, of racing through the choir, from one side to the next, calling out, “C’è nessuno?” which means, “Is there nobody here?” hardly waiting for an answer, but racing on her way. I wanted Jesus in the tabernacle to startle her one day by saying to her, “Yes, I AM here.” Yikes! A good lesson that would be for all of us, no?

* * *

Today is the day after the ice-storm. No power lines down, but there is still ice everywhere, at least in these parts of the mountains. I went out to let the chickens out, and to throw them a bit of scratch feed to get them going for the day. As I looked in wonder at the icy beauty around me… CRASH!!! There I was, in a heap, sliding down Holy Souls Mountain just a bit, scratch feed everywhere. Hah! A good lesson, that.

We are all in danger of falling into sin one way or another at any time. We start not paying so much attention to Jesus, how He is drawing us to Himself, and because of that, with less agility of soul, we start not to recognize how we are paying too much attention to anything and everything apart from Jesus. CRASH!!! A fall. And we wondered how that happened. And then it is time for confession.

Today’s Saturday, a good day for confession in a church not far from you. Spend a little time with Jesus. He is there. He is Someone. He does love us. The angels are encouraging us. If your priest has made time to hear confessions, encourage him by going to confession. You might just save his soul in doing so.

Meanwhile, yet again, I am reminded of a horrific ice storm in Lourdes, when I was a chaplain some years ago. I was headed down to hear confessions when… CRASH!!! Down I went. And I was paying attention! We can be just that inept, that weak. And then, crash and crash and crash again. Fully five times. No broken bones, but I was a total wreck by the time I got to the confessions chapel. I was wishing I had had some ice-cleats. But, in the spiritual life, there’s nothing that can help us like Jesus Himself grabbing us and lifting us up. The sun came out in Lourdes, and all was well again. Jesus also shines on our souls, and then we rejoice exceedingly.

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Filed under ad orientem, angels, Catholic, Confession, Just me, Weather

Tagged as ad orientem, angels, Catholic, confession, HSH, Just me, weather

2013/01/25 · 10:53

ICE ICE ICE

All roads closed. Ice everywhere. Powerlines may break soon. The picture above shows the frozen rain and sleet in my roof-water buckets outside.

Maybe my thermometer is broken, but it said 11 degrees Farhenheit, and that was at 8:00 AM. At least the inside of the hermitage is warmer than outside, sporting indoor temps in the 30s Fahrenheit. Extreme sport hermiting!

Just to say, I did put up a bit of insulation on part of one wall. I wouldn’t want to think what it would be like without that bit of help. And I did move my chair, which was five feet away and facing away from the wood-stove. Now I’m about three feet away, alongside the stove.

I count my blessings, however, and praise the Lord. The marginalized sleep in their millions out in the cold, you know, “street-people”, victims of down-sizing of psych hospitals, and so very many refugees, so many who are homeless after natural disasters (like those still out in the cold from hurricane Sandy, because FEMA, with zillions of dollars won’t do much: here), so many who are on the run because of lack of religious freedom, such as in China, where the persecutions especially against Catholics are always worsening, and all with the blessings and now the beginnings of imitation of America.

I think of all the march for life crowd in Washington, D.C., who welcome the opportunity of such iciness to be all the more in solidarity with the unborn, who can face such icey bleakness as they grow up, hopefully, in their mothers’ wombs. Yikes!

I think in particular of one lady who is till in need of much healing, here.

We look forward to heaven!

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Tagged as pro-life, weather

2012/12/25 · 15:31

ICE

If HSH all of a sudden is NOT updated for days on end, it may well be that an ice storm has taken down the power lines. Yikes! This could happen any time in the next week. Yikes! again.

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Tagged as ice

2012/12/12 · 16:40

Updates: Samoa now being smashed by near category four typhoon (hurricane)

Tropical cyclone Evan 110 knots (126 mph and 203 kph)

That’s only 3 knots off being a category four as it lingers over the islands for the next day or so before heading off to my beloved Fiji.

Gusts of 135 knots (155 mph and 250 kmh) [just a couple knots off a category five]

Many friends in Samoa. These reports are from their part of the islands. Prayers, please, for everyone there.

Update: A hopeful sign: The telecommunications authority in Pago Pago visited this post at 15:50:16 PM today.

Three deaths reported so far.

8:40 AM Dec 14 2012: The Church’s roof is blown off and is full of water now. Many European houses are totally demolished and there is death. Many missing. A village close by to them was burried straight away. Roads blocked. Not much communication yet.

9:25 AM Dec 15 2012: My brother in law got news from his brother in Samoa. There are only 7 houses in their village that are standing. The rest have all gone. My brother charged his mobile in the hotel in their village, so thank goodness. Bridges and trees are destroyed everywhere. The hurricane is heading to Fiji, but Samoa is praying it will not return.

The cyclone is gearing up to go from category four possibly to category five by the time it reaches Fiji. The main island has mountains on the East and won’t be much affected by any storm surge. However, flooding is always a danger. The outlying islands would, I think, simply be washed over altogether.

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Tagged as samoa

2012/11/23 · 20:34

60-70 degree temp variance in 12 hours at HSH (counting windchill!)

From the lower edge of Holy Souls Mountain in early spring 2012. Some of those icicles are eight to ten feet long. Yikes!

If the NOAA wind-chill calculator is correct, tonight will be just above zero Fahrenheit. Very happy to have the walls up, even if there is no insulation on the inside or “wrap” or other materials on the outside. We’ll get to that soon, pushed by the cooler weather. Very happy to have the wood stove in operation. Very happy to have more than just unrolled rolls of polyurethane sheeting to hide under this winter.

I think of the poor priests and bishops who are homeless or, for instance, in China, even on the run, exposed to the elements day and night, constantly fleeing for their lives from the Communist government, even while trying their best to bring the sacraments to the Lord’s flock. By their holiness amidst sufferings, they hold up the Church in the whole world.

Whatever the circumstances, there is a constant blaze of the Lord’s charity shared by those who know His friendship, His goodness, His kindness, His enthusiasm for souls, those who know, in a word, humble thanksgiving.

Update: It didn’t get that cold, nor was it that windy. Weather predictions! Always right, right? We carry on!

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2012/11/20 · 09:56

Ad orientem sky on fire. The angels of Holy Souls Hermitage. Yikes!

Suddenly, there was a bright orange glow filling the hermitage. It was not the ad interim sanctuary candle (while some construction goes on), but rather the sunrise breaking through the clouds. On my trek down the mountain to do some chicken chores for the neighbor, who’s pretty sick right now (Hail Mary…) I got a couple more pictures of the ferocity of the blazing skies…

Magnificent. And…

Taking the recommendation of Saint Teresa of Avila, I like to make some analogies with the spiritual life with what I see in nature. The fire in the skies reminds me of the ferocious — truly — cherubim of Genesis 3,24. They are not cute kids with wings and some sort of look of heavenly boredom on their faces, as with the putti of Raphael’s Sistine Madonna (which we had hanging in my home when I was a kid who did not have a bored look on his face).

Rather, the cultural imagery reflected some of the reality of the cherubs’ – dare I say it again — ferocity:

They are guardians. They morphed into this following depiction. The sword would be on fire, and that fire would be the Lord’s grace, the enmity with Satan promised by the Son of the Mother of the Redeemer back in Genesis 3,15.

That sword, in the Hebrew description, turns everything to its contrary, so that if Adam reaches out to the Tree of Life, he’ll be cut down until he receives from that Tree instead of taking it from it. If he grabs, he doesn’t know what he is grabbing. But if he receives, it is according to the providence of the Giver, our Lord Himself, from the Tree of Life which is the Cross. I am reminded of the O.C.D. coat of arms, which depicts Elijah holding the flaming sword. Yikes! Note the cherub at the bottom.

Anyway, the firey ad orientem skies shining on the ad orientem altar at Holy Souls Hermitage reminds me that I had better be in humble thanksgiving before the Lord, and not think that I am somehow grotesquely entitled to receive, as if I could just grab the Most Blessed Sacrament. Ugghhh! No. I am nothing, less than nothing. I’ve put our Lord to death by my sins. Only humble thanksgiving as a gift from the Lord would somehow make it appropriate for me to receive the Lord’s gift of Himself from the altar, from His Holy Sacrifice.

Filed under ad orientem, Catholic, Mass, Spiritual Life, Weather

Tagged as ad orientem, Catholic, Cherubim, Mass, spirituality

2012/11/18 · 18:27

Breezy Point Madonna — The rest of the story — Bringing it home

Where FEMA and DHS fear to tread, guess who sticks around…

The Breezy Point Madonna, still standing after 100 homes burned to the ground, has become a place of faith.
By SAMUEL G. FREEDMAN Published: November 16, 2012

Where the McNulty home once stood on the corner of Oceanside and Gotham, a few blocks from the Atlantic Ocean on the spit of land in Queens called Breezy Point, there now remains a charred, twisted ruin. Flooding and fire have left behind nothing but Continue reading →

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Tagged as Catholic, DHS, FEMA, weather

2012/11/14 · 10:09

ICE ON FIRE (and… and…)

Firey ad orientem sunrise on the ice at Holy Souls Hermitage

It’s pretty cold at Holy Souls Hermitage this morning. Coldest it’s been. But the fire of God’s love blazes through the cold.

Right now I feel pretty enthusiastic about many things.

That’s not always the case, of course.

It’s silly to be beholden to feelings as if they dictated who we were. No matter what, we can always have a sense that our Lord is drawing us to Himself.

Before original sin, feelings and emotions would follow the lead of reason.

Now, the perpetual temptation is turn that the other way around, so that reason follows feelings and emotions. What an enslavement! I’m sure we all know about that to some degree. It’s something like the old mantra of “If it feels good, do it!”

The thing is, is that iceyness, feeling far from God, being tempted to escape into whatever, seemingly being enslaved to whatever the consequences of weakness of original sin and our own personal histories bring to us, is not a curse, for such things, our cross, is used by our Lord to bring us to the fire of His love and goodness and kindness.

Ice, on it’s own, at night, is as dark as dark can be.

But the littlest ray of fire will set the entire icepack afire, seemingly from the inside out.

Same with us. The smallest ray of our Lord’s love sets us ablaze. We might still have much of iceness about us, but we don’t look to that. We look to Him. And the ice melts, with a bit of violence, mind you, at first spitting and popping and fizzing, but then turning into steam that rises and again reflects that fire more ardently, creating a shining rainbow not of the tyranny of any relativism of the day, but of the multitudinous mercies of the Lord. The heavens proclaim the glories of God. Our angels rejoice to see us reflecting the life of God from the inside out. And our Lord even uses our iceyness to bring us to Himself, transforming us in the ardent furnace of His love.

For those among the readers who have been traumatized by abuse when younger, and those among the readers who have not, I heartily recommend scheduling an hour (just under an hour) to watch Dawn Eden’s “Journey Home” interview on EWTN. Dawn writes:

Thanks so much for your support of my apostolate. In case you’d like to let your readers know that my “Journey Home” appearance is now online, here is a link where they can watch it and comment via my Feast of Eden blog: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/feastofeden/2012/11/watch-now-my-interview-on-ewtns-the-journey-home/ . The direct link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=GDep1lqPDs0 . In the Two Hearts – Dawn

Once having seen this, you’ll want to share it with those who have known abuse in their lives. Really.

I’d like to get that on DVD and have that sent to the library of the New Hampshire State Prison for Men outside of Concord. Father Gordon MacRae is the librarian. I’m thinking he could get some of the counsellors to show this to interested parties. How to do this?

Anyway, just watch that for the sake of ICE ON FIRE!

Filed under abuse, Weather

Tagged as abuse, Dawn Eden, ice

2012/10/29 · 10:01

Sunshine Sandy Splendiforously Shines: making sense of it all

Today the sun is shining, while last night the full moon lit up the blue ridges of the forest here on Holy Souls Mountain. We’re right on the edge of the storm, and only got a taste of it yesterday, about a tenth of an inch or so of rain. The artic cold front is smashing into the hurricane, and winning right here anyway. It’s cold! There are some gusts of wind that would measure out as having strong gale force, but no trees have fallen on the hermitage, so far. So, no problems at all.

We pray for the many dozens who have lost their lives, and who are now in anguish with evacuations, loss of work and much worry. May they know that the Lord, though permitting such things, does not abandon us at all, ever.
We call to mind what humanity would have been like in such conditions before the fall, with clarity of mind and tremendous cooperation of all with all, such that there would never be fear of such storms, only a marvelling at the power of our dear Lord’s creation.
We rejoice in what we have become after having become friends with our Lord though still suffering the travails of this present life in our fallen condition, where we find ourselves unprepared for such events, but recognizing that this is not our home, which is instead to be found in heaven, but which we already belong to here by way of grace. Our Lord knows what it is to suffer, to take on the worst we can give out, death, but remaining innocent, and then having the right in justice to have mercy on us, bringing us into His friendship. Our Lord knows what it is to rejoice to bring us into that friendship. We rejoice with Him, even in and especially within the circumstances of the present moment.

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Tagged as spirituality

2012/10/27 · 19:23

Burnt orange sunset at Holy Souls Hermitage, colored by Sandy, the super-mega-extra-tropical storm.

There’s a rather orangey glow to the inside of the hermitage, thought I. Looking ad orientem, I saw the above, but thought there must be more to the color change than some brilliant leaves. Looking West through the horizontal branches of the towering white pines marching down the other side of the ridge, this is what I saw:

The sky is ablaze with a water vaper sunset, with hurricane Sandy — closer than I thought — being responsible for this.

58 people were called to their judgment due to her, so far. We hope that they were prepared to go. Natural disasters, accidents, sudden incapacitation from medical conditions need not mean that death was not prepared for. But we desire to have have the consolation of the last sacraments if at all possible. Ask Saint Joseph for his intercession that you might be granted a good and holy death. To have a good and holy death is the greatest thing we can hope for in this life.

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2012/04/26 · 09:08

Uh oh…. Super severe thunderstorms hitting HSH. Yikes! and Yikes again!

See you later! Maybe! I’m unplugging everything! Yikes!

UPDATE: 1:20 PM — I survived, so far. Just some lightning, thunder, rain and…and… falling branches. But, all is well. More storms fronts are pushing through soon. We’ll see…

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Tagged as HSH, storms

2012/02/14 · 07:47

Ice and snow, bless the Lord!

Ice, sleet, snow, slush, more ice… Very cool! It’s just starting. I suppose there’s going to be plenty of ice-weighted branches crashing down. Hey! That makes for easy collection of firewood. I like that… as long as no chunks of ice fall on my head!

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Tagged as HSH, weather

2012/02/11 · 16:15

-13 Fahrenheit / -25 Celcius at Holy Souls Hermitage

That’s tonight’s NOAA government forecast… with windchill factor included. I’ll have to collect some wood! And re-tack up some of the plastic sheeting that’s ripped in the winds… And there are gale force winds coming tonight as well. Already have had some of those. Things are falling down outside and banging around… Yikes!

UPDATE: O.K., so that’s eight small super-dead but still somehow standing white pines (bark off) that I’ve cut, hauled, cut again, tossed, re-tossed, and finally stacked inside the hermitage, or just outside the plastic sheeting door. The plastic in other places has been re-tacked. And… and… I moved the water of the chickens further under the hermitage, in their “coop”, where they’re cooped up, so that the hot water I’ve given them will last a couple extra hours before freezing solid. This sets them to purring…

SUNSET just occured in this part of the mountains… Instant drop in temperature. So, wood on the fire and now dressing in multiple layers. And, for tonight, happy to have the down! I hope the chimney doesn’t fall in the winds… That would be difficult. But I’m preparing for that eventuality…

9:00 PM Air temp next to the chair where I sleep: just at the “freezing point”. So, not so bad! The chair is next to the roaring fire in the woodstove, which is losing the battle to heat the hermitage. Very cool, so to speak! By the way, I’m not complaining. This kind of thing is always a challenge met with enthusiasm.

7:55 AM Sunday morning: I am reminded at this chilly hour of the day of a retired priest I knew, in his eighties if I remember rightly, who lived alone in a tiny trailer house out in the middle of nowhere. The bishop visited him one day in winter and criticized him, saying that he had to turn on the heat. It seems the bishop figured out that it was a bit too cold inside when the toilet broke because the water has frozen solid and expanded. It wasn’t that the old priest was batty. Instead, if I remember correctly, the old fellow was saving money which he would then give to the missions and to seminarians, saint that he was. He has long since gone to meet our Lord Jesus, but there are plenty of priests still around who are living saints. The mass media only speaks of the few fallen priests, but it is not this passing world which is important. It is the next life which is important: it is eternal. I’m happy to have the good examples of the many saintly priests there are out there. I know many. I need their good example. Knowing that I need their good example is a fruit, I am sure, of their prayers and sacrifices. So, I guess this little note is a note of thanksgiving for all the good priests out there. My plastic water bottle:

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Tagged as HSH, weather

2012/01/23 · 03:26

Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain!

Thanks to C.W. for sending this in! Sometimes it’s pouring and there is nothing on the radar for some hundreds of miles. This must be a micro-climate where only donkeys and hobbits live… Looks like this donkey is wearing a Roman Collar!

That picture doesn’t tell the whole story of the hermitage. Here’s a picture I took the other evening, walking up the mountain and arriving to the hermitage after it was already dark. This is from about fifty feet away, still down the hill a bit.

Greetings from Jesus, from His Heart. The sanctuary candle is burning brightly now that I have it insulated properly.

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Tagged as donkey, HSH, rain

2012/01/16 · 05:48

UPDATE: Today is “collect more wood before the snow piles up” day…

Hopefully no injuries with the chain saw… or the log splitter… or with the fixed up hernia… or…

UPDATE: Some results (with no injury):

It’s supposed to snow later on today, but, so far, this is all that is evident on the Southernmost side of Holy Souls Mountain:

The ice is everywhere there is an outcrop of rock, or a cliff…

Further up, on the Parkway (now closed for the Winter), such ice can get many feet thick, and cover expanses of hundreds of feet. When it breaks off and falls, it can be rather dangerous.

More peacefully, the donkey of Holy Souls Mountain, also on the Southernmost side, a bit further East, is munching away while he can:

While some people in past ages came up with a spoof Feast of the Donkey, I don’t think it should be a spoof at all. But, more on that later.

Filed under frost and snow, Weather

Tagged as donkey, HSH, ice, wood

2012/01/13 · 05:31

O.K. That would be minus 7 degrees Fahrenheit at Holy Souls Hermitage! Very cool!

NOAA.gov has a java-script wind-chill calculator HERE.

Thanks to benefactors enabling me to get the stove, stovepipe, chainsaw and woodsplitter. Thanks to those supplying the army blankets and the down, not to mention warm socks! This is when I realize that the polyurethane rolls that I spread out and tacked to the frame of the hermitage are not insulated. But I’m not frozen. No complaints here at all. It’s a challenge supplying enthusiasm.

The windchill calculator above would be worthless in Minnesota, where I’m from. It was once minus 74 Fahrenheit, with a windchill of minus 104. Yikes! Another time there was crisis on Lake Superior outside of Duluth. The largest and heaviest ocean-liners in the world (the Minnesota Iron-Ore boats) all got stuck in the ice, all with a gargantuan ice-breaker ships between them. The lake was freezing at a rate of five inches a minute. Brrrrrr! Not that cold here.

After all, Jesus is here in the tabernacle… The flames of His Heart warm all who come to Him, even this most insignificant of hermits. He’s very good and kind.

Filed under Benefactors, Weather

Tagged as Benefactors, HSH, weather, windchill

2012/01/11 · 16:56

A little tornado at HSH? Dunno, but…

It was so quick. Calm. Then… BAM! The wind was like a freight train slamming through the forest at the top of the ridge. I froze in place getting showered with the literal waterfall that dumped out of the heavens, showered even though I was standing in the middle of the hermitage. The water was moving horizontally, with visibility about 15 feet from what I could see out the windows, and coming in the itsy bitsy holes under the rafters. Yikes! None of the plastic was ripped off, and the chimney stayed up. “Thank you!” is what I immediately said to my guardian angel. He, or, perhaps, they, are very good and kind. Yikes! Just like that, about one minute, it was totally over. Calm, blue sky. I survived, again! Did I mention the hail we also had? Double Yikes!

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Tagged as HSH, weather

2011/12/22 · 18:43

Such a storm on Holy Souls Mountain! Yikes! and Yikes again!

It’s Winter. Yet, plenty of lightning, thunder, and pounding, pounding, pounding rain and strong winds. The roof is certainly being rain tested. So far, so good… Yikes! Things I had leaning against the hermitage are being knocked down. So far, the plastic sheeting walls are holding, but… Yikes!

/// Just before this round of storms began a couple days back, I was able to bring up about 20 boxes of books and things. Still about that much to go, but this was good, to get them out of the 100% dripping humidity of the neighbor’s barn. With the woodstove going, it’s about 30 points lower up in the hermitage. The path up is almost impassable with mud underneath the pine needles and leaves. Makes me wonder why there are not more landslides around here.

/// The other night was a bit dramatic as well. I had to sit out in the jeep for a good while. The stovepipe got a bit of creosote around the cap. The next day I cleaned that up and cleaned out the stove and put 2000 degree proof caulking around the imperfections of the stove and some to hold a gasket on the door… But a good fire going on now… if the chimney doesn’t fall down. The wind is pretty horrific right now… Yikes! Thunder… Lightning…

/// The roof has sprung a leak… I think. Actually a bit of water was flowing in underneath one of the rafters from the outside. I think I know how to fix that, but not now! A bucket appropriately placed does nicely in the meantime.

/// So, it’s about two hours before sunrise… I’m still alive! And the hermitage is still standing. According to weather.gov and weather.com, it looks like it will be a beautiful day. Thanks to those who prayed for no disasters to happen! Very kind and thoughtful of you. Very much appreciated.

Filed under Weather

Tagged as HSH, weather

2011/12/08 · 18:04

Today on Holy Souls Mountain: Altar, hoar frost, and a rant or two…

After Mass early this morning:

That’s Our Lady of Lourdes on the gradine. How humble of the Queen Mother of God to speak of herself a conception. That conception, that person, transformed in grace from the first instant, was doing the will of God perfectly, just as she was doing the will of God later. Which one is more worth while? Wrong question! She’s right: “I am the Immaculate Conception.”

That statue is from Father K.L., of Columbus, Ohio. Thanks, Father!

Then there was a vestment I didn’t use today, but which was just off to the side. That was made by some ladies just North of Toulouse, when I was a chaplain in Lourdes:

I wonder if this bit belonged to one of the untold numbers of vestments that were discarded at Lourdes after the “changes”.

Anyway, from the Missale Romanum I used today:

This one is from the Marian Missal:

This one is from the Magnificat Chapel edition:

A RANT: This is in the style of the father of the “Reformation” (Rebellion), Augustinian Father Desiderius Erasmus, mentor of Augustinian Father Martin Luther. The style is the “Devotio Moderna” (Modern Devotion) already back in the day: Ugly, insulting. Doesn’t it look like they’re all too tired of the fake pose?

Anyway, outside after Mass, there was some refreshing ice art:

And then, just over to the side, at a muddy part of the mountain, hoar frost:

Caused by rain followed by icy temps:

Filed under Immaculate Conception, Mass, Weather

Tagged as Catholic, hoar frost, HSH, ice, Immaculate Conception, Mass, Missale Romanum, Religion

2011/11/29 · 17:04

The first good snow on Holy Souls Mountain, and thanks!

It’s a bit of a slushy snow, but great to see!

I finally figured out an easy way to plug up the spaces betweent he rafters on the outside walls. Since I grew up in Minnesota, I know that the tiniest open space no matter how small, will invite a snow drift right inside.

To warm things up a bit, Anon., at the instigation of Anon., sent in these cooking items that will fit the stove wonderfully. Very, very thoughtful. Thank you so very much.

There’s even a jug of olive oil. I did have a bit of that, about ten months old and now frozen solid. It was just a bit further away from the stove than the chair I sleep on at night. I love olive oil and it’s healthy.

Couldn’t resist adding another shot of the waterfall. One couldn’t really see any rocks some hours before (when I didn’t have my camera). The road crews were out today looking for washouts. Amazingly, there weren’t any.

Filed under Benefactors, Weather

Tagged as Benefactors, HSH, weather

2011/11/21 · 09:45

The incredible power of ice

Although the unfinished hermitage is open to the elements, I’ve been sleeping in it for the past week or so, since the feast of Saint Albert the Great, O.P., a priest and one of best scientists of his day. Today, the neighbor, in whose loft of his barn I was sleeping, showed me an indication of the incredible power of ice…

In this picture, you’re looking at a bit of the metal construction that was holding up the bridge stretching from the nearby cliff to the loft of the barn. The bottom pipe had filled with rainwater, perhaps not much more than a gallon. When it froze, it pushed the upper pipe upward, streching and bending the half inch pin and the quarter inch heavy wall pipe. One would need some pretty awesome machinery to do such a thing. Here’s where inventors could learn to harness the incredible power of nature.

When I was doing my thesis on Genesis 2,4–3,24, I depended on the scientist, Saint Albert the Great, to get me through. I was making the examination as absolutely scientific as I could, knowing, with the student of Saint Albert, namely, Saint Thomas Aquinas, that reason and faith never contradict each other. This is what got me through. No one could argue with anything in the thesis, but they were dumbfounded as to how Catholic such an ancient passage was, in every way.