Donner und Blitzen
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Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons
I realise this may be so commonplace for many of you that it’s hardly worth mentioning, but we had a tremendous thunderstorm on Thursday after I arrived home from hospital, of which, more later. . . maybe.
I sat for a while with the patio door wide open, relishing the fresher air that was coming into the house and thinking about my altered reaction to storms. When I was a child, thunder and lightning sent me into a panic and I hid behind chairs, or, if in bed, under the covers.
My mother didn’t like storms, either, though she didn’t hide from them. She told me that her mother, whom I never met, was very frightened by them and would cover the mirrors and draw the curtains to stop lightning being ‘attracted’ to the house.
One teacher I knew took great care to explain the physics of electrical storms to her class of seven-year-olds. Satisfied that she had delivered the lesson simply and clearly, she was extremely annoyed the next day when a little girl told her, ‘My daddy says the thunder is God moving the furniture in heaven.’
Young children and many adults require frequent repetition and a level of maturity before they can accept and absorb an unfamiliar concept!
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Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons
I was surprised to discover that there is a Donner und Blitzen River in Oregon. The river, in eastern Oregon’s high desert, was named Donner und Blitzen – Thunder and Lightning - in 1864, by an Army officer of German origin who was reluctantly crossing the river during a thunderstorm.
The area is known for episodes of dry thunderstorms, in which most of the rain evaporates before reaching the ground. The lightning that accompanies them is a major cause of wildfires, striking dead trees and other tinder dry material. At some times of the year such thunderstorms are a nearly daily occurrence.
The river runs for sixty miles through marsh and canyons, encompassing unique ecosystems and unparalleled wild trout fisheries. The Great Basin Redband Trout is a native species, protected by the Steens Mountain Protection Act of 2000 which created the Donner und Blitzen River Redband Trout Reserve to monitor the water and improve the habitat.
Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons
