Thursday, May 25, 2006

Storm


As I'm writing this, I hear the hum of a Shopvac and a hair dryer in the basement. We had a dreadful storm yesterday. It looks like a tornado probably came very close to touching down. For 1/3 of a mile, trees and telephone poles are snapped, and electrical wires are broken. This very old and large tree in our front yard broke off above the first branch. Clean-up will not be quick or easy.

We realized none of the electric fences were working last night, so we brought all the goats into the barn and hoped the coyotes would leave the sheep alone.

I borrowed a generator from a friend, but they didn't have gasoline for it, and we couldn't find a gas station open that had the right kind of gasoline for it. The sump pit was a couple inches from the top when we went to bed, hoping it wouldn't rise any more. Apparently, another storm came through during the night because we found another branch down in the front yard, and the basement had standing water in it this morning. Mike has been in the basement all morning cleaning up the mess. We buy food in bulk, such as beans, and I have about 20 pounds of lentils sitting on the table drying out now. At least, I hope they'll dry out. I have a huge pot cooking on the stove, so at least we'll be able to use those if the rest of them rot.

I am feeling exhausted, more mentally than physically. I keep reminding myself that we're all okay, and that's what's important, but I'm feeling beaten. There is so much work to be done.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Deborah , so sorry this happened to all of you,you have probably heard this already but things can be replaced in time the main thing is you are all safe. Living in Florida i know how frustrating it is after a storm, the things you manage without for a while and the cleaning. At least we know when a hurricane is coming, tornados give little if any warning, hang in there. Also so very sad to lose mature trees, it changes your landscape.

Deborah Niemann said...

Thanks June. Losing that tree does certainly change our landscape. It was at the foot of our driveway -- the sentinel at the gate, so to speak -- so losing it changes the look of our farm more than losing any other tree would have.

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