Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Mad as a March hare...

...the weather, that is. It's behaving as unpredictably as Lewis Carrol's proverbial crazy rabbit!


Spring can't make up it's mind about coming in like a lamb, going out like a lion or vice versa; we've had it both ways the past coupla weeks. After one quick snow storm we then luxuriated in 7 glorious days of unseasonable super-warm weather - I'm talkin' 65ยบ in the shade!

There was a slight rain storm supposedly rolling in last weekend, so Ben & I went out front to burn off the enormous windrows of pine needles he'd raked in the park. Most the rows were so high it looked like he had been haying and was ready for the baler!


So, the rain didn't come as expected, but a wild change did 2 days later.. wind, snow, & rain storm predicted with gusts expected up to 50-60 mph. Papa was out plowing up on Dead Horse summit while here at home we were still dry but getting hit with the wind. At one point after midnight Ben & I heard some loud crashing that let us know something major was happening in the yard...

...And it was.

Here's what we found this morning:


The stout little pig shed made it through..but just barely. See the elm that fell next to it?


The older shed, where we'd stashed the woodsplitter for the winter, wasn't so lucky:


Blew it right off and over, yet leaving the splitter unscathed :o (much to our delight), and deposited the debris in a neat pile a couple yards away. (yards; meaning units of length, not real estate ;) Oh ya.. and in the tree, too:


The power-mad wind ripped apart one of my composting bins:

(you'll have to click on pic to see it)
..and the Peach tree on the lawn:


That chair (in the foreground) had been way over near the blown-down shed where I'd been out sunning and reading, cuz it'd been so summer-y, just last Friday!

So here it is late Tuesday afternoon. Papa is back out at work after doing last night's wild, stormy, 12-hr shift (had a branch blow down and thump the top of his work truck). I've got a meat loaf in the oven. Ben's been hangin' around bummed because the rain has prevented him from jumping in on the aftermath clean-up. That's okay. He's been playing around with finishing touches on the cool bird house he made yesterday..


We're heading to Quincy early tomorrow morning for Papa's interview (for a permanent position) and hoping the snow doesn't slow us down too awful much. Predicted to be a half foot in the higher elevations.. like where we're traveling, over A-21 :/

With any luck I won't have a big adventure story to write about after this trip. Keep your fingers (and toes and eyes) crossed for us for a good interview and safe travels!


5 comments:

  1. WOW! looks like it went from 'Normal' March Hare Crazy:

    http://www.disneycostumeideas.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/tim-burton-march-hare-costume-alice-wonderland-700x666.jpg

    To 'Oh Dear! I hope we survive this' March Hare Crazy:

    http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d8/March_hare.jpg

    Glad you are all ok! And that the roof stayed on the house and the trees stayed off the roof :)

    Ben's Bird house is AWESOME!!

    Good Luck to Papa! Keep us posted on the results :)

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    1. ..we're out the door! Thanks for the well-wishes. Looks like no snow so far on the weather map :)

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    2. Okay..back from Quincy. So I just checked out your March Hare picture links... PERFECT portrayal, lol.

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  2. WHOA! just like a few years ago with the big one that went down at the end of the orchard. WEELLL i guess ben has something to keep him occupied then! Crazy about the pigshed.. and was the splitter just sitting untouched the whole time? -Eli

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    Replies
    1. 1. ya, that was an adventure! and I wish we still had the Alaskan mill so we could make some more beautiful lumber like we did with the other downed elm.

      2. when we got back today Ben had already been out there with the chainsaw :)

      3. yes..just sitting and waiting for us to bring it in from the cold :D -you'll notice that the stand looks like it's about to fold into its collapsible state. Fortunately it was only pushed forward a little bit so it stayed upright and suffered no damage!

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