#0744 "Rain Clouds"

This is looking westward from the back hill of Watershed Farm on the 12th Concession of King Township at the very crest of the Oak Ridges Moraine. Watershed Farm was technically in the northern suburbs of Hammertown. One day it will all be called Toronto. I loved those 25 acres which we turned into a natural paradise. We had honey bees to augment the creatures that called the Oak Ridges "Home". Opossums had also expanded their range and were residents as of 2005 or so. This opossum was about the same size as our cat.

When temperatures get colder than -8 Celsius, its hairless tail freezes as it had on this fellow visiting Watershed Farm. The tail typically becomes infected and the possum dies. The fact that possums have expanded their range to include Schomberg, should do much more than all of the well-established science and the reality of climate change. Some people may distrust all of the other facts and figures but understand that the Virginia opossum’s range is expanding north. They are very adaptable to various urban and agricultural landscapes are are spreading northward with the rise in global temperatures.

The cloud deck had become overcast and embedded convection was making dark areas in the extensive cloud base. The cumulus towers were leaning northward with a gusty southerly wind. The horizon was occasionally lost with rain showers and by the time I finished the sketch, I was getting a few large drops of convective rain. Technically this should be called "Shower Clouds" but it looked like the showers were going to get more or less continuous in nature in just a short while. Those who were going to get wet would just call it rain.

The sky was only briefly this dark but it was when I locked in the colours.

For this and much more art, click on Pixels. Thank you.