Plassover

plassoverOne of the problems with steadfastly refusing to own any other camera than your iPhone 5S (which has a pretty damn good camera but anyway) is that you can’t get a decent photograph of anything far away. The Marquis was down there today and he has some scary big cameras (and an iPhone whatever). Maybe he got a better photo than I did of this plassover and will post it. Or maybe not. It’s his blahg and he can do what he wants to… You would cry too… Okay I am officially off on some weird Lesley Gore tangent.

Anyway, we watched a plassover this afternoon. What the heck is a plassover? It is none other than a rainstorm that moves across Whitefish Bay and doesn’t hit the Moominbeach. It will always be north of the moominbeach, moving across Lake Tracy Superior into Canada. Sometimes there is lightning. Once when I was a teenybopper, we were all out at the raft and a plassover was happening and there was enough electricity in the air that our hair was kind of standing on end. The hair that wasn’t wet, that is. Somebody commandeered my uncle Don’s motorbote to retrieve us from the raft that time.

Today’s plassover was way north and I do not think there was lightning at all. Just a bit of rainstorm crossing Gitchee Gumee into Canananada.

We had a strong southwest wind this afternoon. It was strong enough that we bailed from the beach up onto the bank, which somehow shields us from the wind. I was the first to bail because I have spent enough days on the beach during a southwest wind in my life that when I felt the first bit of sand-blasting, I was done. Get me outta here. I know what this is about. Some of the others stuck it out for a while longer but eventually they joined me.

Two things: 1) It is northwest winds that send waves up to decimate the beach, pulling kayaks and motor botes and beach chairs, etc. out to “sea”. 2) Southwest winds provide decent waves (some even have whitecaps) but those waves come catty-corner to our beach. They do not wash up the beach and take things out into Gitchee Gumee.

Plassover? What is a plassover? It is a rainstorm (with or without lightning) that passes across your field of vision while you are sitting on your beach or maybe you are out in Nebraska and you are driving your tractor or whatever. It is a poof of a little rainstorm and you watch it go by. Sometimes you are happy that you are watching it from afar. Other times, you are praying for rain.

Plassover? Well. There used to be Beer Lunch on the Beach. Do not get me wrong. Our moms didn’t get skunk drunk but occasionally they had a second beer and I believe that the term “plassover” came after a two-beer lunch on the beach (or possibly it was a late afternoon pick-me-up). I remember that folks laughed uproariously about the “plass-over”. I just plain miss those days. That is all.

2 Responses to “Plassover”

  1. Margaret Says:

    No wonder I wasn’t familiar with the term! (we have them a lot in WA, especially around the mountains) Luna is very stubborn,but at least isn’t blocking anymore.

  2. Sam Says:

    I actually watched plass-overs when I worked in…NEBRASKA. Like you, I have seen them elsewhere. But, you’re right, you need the wide horizon of a big body of water or treeless landscape for enhanced impact….