Windy afternoon (My first post of 2016)

Today's storm was called Henry. We seem to have adopted yet another American idea. We are already at H and only began naming the storms in November 2015. First there was Storm Abigail, followed by Barney, Clodagh, Desmond, Eva, Frank and Gertrude. I felt the full force of Henry today when I took Ruby on the beach at Cleveleys. The tide was almost in but you can still go on a part of the pebbly beach there because it doesn't come all the way in. Apparently there is a serious reason for naming the storms. It is as a warning similar to how the USA name their Hurricanes. It gives people chance to be as well prepared as possible for the storms to cause the least amount of damage.
A funny little story for you. Ruby very rarely jumps into the boot of our car when we take her out. More often than not I have to lift her in and she's no light weight. Even treats don't work most of the time. True to form I had to lift her in today because she had her usual stubborn Beagle head on. After Cleveleys beach I took her on to the cliffs at North Shore where she could have a run and I could take some photos. After about 5 minutes the weather really turned nasty. Because the tide was fully in by then the wind became very strong and it began to hailstone. I could see Ruby was distressed and the hailstones must have really hurt her, so we made our way back to the car. I lifted the boot lid slowly because I thought the wind was going to take it off, wondering how I was going to hold the lid and lift Ruby in at the same time, when low and behold she jumped in and lay straight down on her mattress before the boot was even half open. The next time she tries to pull a fast one on me she can think again! I laughed all the way home. She's a funny little thing and I love her so much. She brightens every single day for me. When we arrived home she almost yanked my arm out of its socket trying to get in the house as fast as she could. I took a few photos but they're not brilliant because of camera shake from the wind. It was exhilarating and scary but blew the cobwebs away. I love living by the sea :)

http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/news/eight-storms-in-12-weeks-and-there-are-more-on-the-way-1-7709711#ixzz3z0n3UImC

A post script to this post. I didn't realise at the time but yesterday we had nacreous clouds. You can just about make them out in my 4th photo. Here's a little information about them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_stratospheric_cloud