Thursday, April 05, 2007

Stormy Night




April 4th, about 8pm, a large intense storm hit the farm. About a half hour previous to this lightening could be seen and thunder was heard. I turned on the weather channel and heard them announce that a series of severe storm cells were moving rapidly across the state, from the weather tracking radar the cells appeared to be north of us. Shortly the wind began to increase at a rapid rate, suddenly the wind was hitting a high pitch and a crash was heard as the door to the second floor flew open with a bang. A rush of cold air came down the stairs and another crash as one of the living room windows broke, then the lights went out! Wahoo this was getting interesting! So there we are in a howling storm, windows broken, cats running to hide, dogs looking worried and I was searching for a light.

Upstairs there were three windows out in the upstairs bedrooms, two could be replaced as they were just pushed out of their tracks the other was in pieces. Some cardboard and wooden shelf boards nailed up to the windows solved that problem. Next was the window in the living room, more cardboard was nailed up against that window. By then the lamps were lit and things had calmed down a bit. The rain was fierce for a while, when it let up the animals were checked and all was well. The new Purple Martin bird house was bent over at a ninety degree angle, one of the big barn doors was bent in at an odd angle and the furniture was blown off the porch. By ten thirty everyone was snuggled in bed listening to the rain on the metal roof. The lights came back on at 4am (humph not out long enough :) ) I guess the adventure was over.

The next day the windows were replaced quickly as I had spare ones on hand. The barn door was pried back into place and just needs a bit of reinforcement. All and all the placed fared rather well, some folks not to far away lost their roof and others lost part of their house. An old barn was demolished and several badly damaged ours seemed no worse than before the storm. We didn't lose any trees, others lost big trees and were busy cutting them up the next day.

Just a little adventure on a dark, stormy night in the mid-west :) The weather mavens are still trying to decide whether or not we had a tornado, I think not as I didn't here the chug, chug, chug of the demon go by.

Now it is cold again and like the cats I hang about the wood stove soaking up warmth.

6 comments:

Peggy said...

you won a award. Check my blog to copy and paste.

Julia said...

Thank you Peggy that was nice of you to give my site an award. Now all I have to do is figure out how to get it to show up on my site :) I am not as knowledgeable as I should be about these things.

Sometimes I am busy sometimes I am lazy still having fun this is like playing in a big sand box as a big kid :) Life is good God is Great.

Hugs

Michael Dickson said...

Nothing like a little excitement in life, eh? Now, I would put that bend in the martin pole at about 78 degrees, not 90. But I could be wrong. Glad you survived relatively unscathed.

nancyr said...

I just discovered your blog, today, and read all of your past posts.
I really admire your spirit in undertaking such a big venture after "retirement".
We are about the same age, and I feel lazy in comparison. Been there done that, but on a smaller scale. Raised horses, goats, sheep, cats and dogs. No chickens.
I saw the name on your mailbox, in a photo, and my youngest daughter, and three grandkids have the same last name.
You have turned your farm into a very pretty place. Makes me want to start painting fences!

Rachel said...

I know your county was hit pretty hard and we were here in our county too, but fortunately no damage to us personally. There are so many trees down and houses with damage. That wind was mighty rough and came through with a vengeance that night!!

Love your new babies. So adorable. I hope they are doing well.

Tossing Pebbles in the Stream said...

You seems to have risen to the occasion and coped with Mother Nature's fit.

My dog is under the bed during bad storms. Last year we had a widespread weather system pass across Southern Ontario. There are a lot of trees down in the forest. We are trying to salvage some of them on our property, for firewood.

I am glad you are safe and have a wood fire to keep you warm.