This Ain't Kansas, Baby

Winter brings rain and wind storms to our part of the valley, and we expect it. However, I usually pay attention to the news and weather to know when we might be slammed. My dad, who's my handiest and most cost effective (free) farm labor, has been here the past week and we'd been busy getting the last of the fall clean up done, not paying attention to the news.

So, yesterday I awoke at 4 am to 40 mph winds. I thought of the goats, who would be hunkered down in their shed, and of what might be blowing around outside; but there's not much you can do at the wee hours so I cuddled back in to sleep. At dawn we still had power (yippee), but no water (the power to the barn and well pump was out). I took the dogs out for a blustery run and to check on damage... lots of tree limbs down (expected), a huge oak fallen on one of the pasture fences (a good excuse to play with the chainsaw) and some damage to the roof of the cold shed (also expected and repairable). Luckily I had my handy farm labor (aka, dad) available and the clean-up was complete by days end. Thanks dad!

This morning we picked up the last of the branches on the drive and spotted an odd sight at the edge of the woods - a huge (15 ft in diameter) root ball on its side... a 100 ft fir had been uprooted and crashed into some oaks. It was amazing to see a tree with a 2-3 ft trunk flipped on its side and to realize the root ball was only about a ft deep... how did it stay standing for so many years? And, how will I get it cleaned up... a bit more than my chainsaw and I can manage.