How Bad Was It?

Well, it was as bad as I've seen, and we made it through okay.  (I'm tempted to add "so far," but that sounds so pessimistic.)  Down in the barn yesterday, there was a cacophony of sound:  the wind was trying to tear panels off the roof, banging them up and down continuously, and the rain competed with fire hose force, fading a bit and then redoubling efforts.  Even the rainy day routine we've developed went to pot, the girls absolutely panicked by the deafening noise.  With no hope of letup, I did something I don't ever do and chained open the door to the big room, Tessie and Esther's room.  It took the girls a while to realize they could go in, but did dash around in the downpour from the play yard to the much larger and more protected space.

Stove decided to cooperate and with a good bed of coals easily fired up in the morning and kept his appetite to a minimum all day, keeping the house (at least the living room) toasty without seriously depleting the woodpile.  Hearing a scrape and thump, I realized the wind had blown the bench where I sit on good days to the rail and was trying to lift it up and over.  Going out to rescue it, I was nearly blown off my feet and was soaked in the few minutes it took   Jacket, hat and bibbies festooned the back of chairs and shoes sat on the hearth to dry all day.  Trees danced and sheets of rain blew horizontally with only a few breaks in the wind.

Conditions had not much changed by nightfall.  I'd been concerned about getting the girls to cooperate, but they seemed eager to get to the security of their own rooms and it all went rather well.  The chickens just said, "Shut the door!"  One thing about a rainy day, I don't have to spend any time filling the water trough before dark.

A bowl of hot soup from my stock in the freezer was real comfort food last night.  Stove was on duty and for the first time in days I didn't need a jacket in the house.  The trees were all upright.  The power stayed on and the rain at its worst had blocked the satellite dish only momentarily.  The barn roof stayed intact.  All in all, I can't say it was a good day, but we made it!