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' 65º 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!