A Wild and Dangerous Day

67°f this morning, 19°C, overcast.

A little vase of cherry blossoms on a dreary day

Such weather we have had today. It was humid and warm early on, but we had heard that bad storms were on the way. The first arrived about 11am. Alerts went off on our phones; Larry was down at the chicken house and couldn't hear me hollering about a tornado warning! Sarah and her friend were up at her cabin, and just when I told her to get down here to the house, the storm hit. What a storm it was! Apparently we had winds of about 90mph, rain so heavy it was a whiteout as the rain was blown sideways. Larry just made it to the house before the real impact struck, thank goodness, but he got soaked.

After the mad storm passed we went out to assess the damage. We got off easy--some tin blown loose on a shed, a window blown out of the cellartop but magically landed on concrete without breaking, downed branches, and a few big trees in the woods twisted and broken off. Sarah's cabin came through with flying colors, the first real test of its sturdiness. There were two trees down on the state road on the ridge, so Larry and Sarah went up and cleared up that mess. She drove the tractor and did well.

(For those of you that don't know, Sarah is the granddaughter we found out about when she was 18. Our late son and his wife gave her up for adoption before they married, unbeknownst to anyone in their families. I learned of her existence 3 days after my son died. One year later she contacted her birth mother, and I met her shortly after that. This was in 2011, and now Sarah is a big part of our life, even buying land from us (she wouldn't let us give it to her), and building her cabin. This past weekend her adoptive parents came to visit. Wonderful people who raised an amazing daughter.)

Some parts of West Virginia were hard hit by the storms, mostly to the south of us. The pictures here show a tiny part of the damage. 

The rest of today has been an unsettled time of waiting for more storms, which were predicted to be as bad or worse than that morning blow. It has been hard to really get focused on anything.  I finally did some ebay listings, and Sarah and our son Derek worked out a plumbing plan for her cabin and went out to buy the needed supplies. Larry cleaned up outside a bit and took a long nap. 

We had another storm around 4, and expect more tonight. Windows are open and the air is still heavy, the sky shifting from dark clouds to occasional uneasy sunshine. The ground is saturated, spongy underfoot. We sure do not need any more rain right now.

Now I am sipping tea and watching the dark gather in, hoping the storms miss us. I planted my seeds in the little greenhouse yesterday, but guess what? Snow and freezing weather is predicted for the end of the week, so I expect I will be bringing the trays inside. Ah, fickle Spring!

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.