July 19, 2014

The ever-vigilant captain of the LeConte Lodge Volunteer Fire Department.

Hello to everyone.  It's been a soggy, but good, beginning to our weekend up on LeConte.  The weather is much like yesterday, periods of mist alternating with rain showers.  We've not had any heavy rain.  This morning the wind has increased and the blanket of gray covering the mountain is a little lighter in color than it was yesterday and this morning.  I hope our neighbors below received rain, too, so tomatoes and okra can be rejuvenated.

On Friday, our temperature range was extraordinarily narrow with a high of 53 and low of 49.  We tallied 1.23 inches of rain Friday, the wettest day at LeConte Lodge since May 30.  There's still a chance of rain in the forecast for the rest of Saturday and Sunday, but the outlook is a little more sunny.

Speaking of rain, one of my best friends from down below sent me up an interesting read, a book called Pioneer Superstitions by Ferne Shelton.  In the section about "Weather Signs," Shelton lists the following signs of rain (in addition to many others): "if clouds hide the sun at sunset, if dry blades of corn in the field appear to twist, if tall grass is dry in early morning, if cream in coffee collects at the top edges of a cup and if a pig straightens the 'curl' in his tail."

During lunch the LeConte crew came up with a few sure-fire signs predicting imminent rain on our mountain.  You know it's going to rain on LeConte if...
1. You're carrying a huge stack of clean sheets to take up to the cabins to make beds.
2. You have the afternoon off and decide to enjoy a good book at Myrtle Point.
3. You forgot your raincoat in your cabin.
4. It's time to restock the shirts in the office or the food in the pantry.
5. It's your best available day to do laundry and need to dry it on the clothesline.
6. You run into a bear wearing a poncho and rainboots.
7. You see a squirrel with a snorkel.

Come up and see us (and prepare for rain).  Happy trails.

The wet weather has brought the rare, endangered doughnut plant to seed. Doughnut seeds are found in decreasing numbers in the Tennessee highlands above 6,000 feet. Their numbers have been drastically decimated by breakfast.