Fun For Storm Watchers

I'm not usually one to talk much about the weather, unless there's snow involved, but we've got exciting action stirring things up around here, so I thought I'd give you something of a "blow by blow." We're just starting to see some healthy wind gusts from the big storm that's been bearing down on the Pacific Northwest. Gusts to about 35 mph so far, but they're predicting sustained winds of 40 mph, with gusts to about 70, by the time this baby really gets rocking. They're promising power outages and property damage, just to keep things interesting. Fun times in Meowville.

I love a good storm, although, when it gets this windy there's always some concern about the very tall cedar trees in our backyard. We lost one of them a few years back when a forty foot section of the biggest specimen came crashing down in another windy weather event. After this very large portion of the tree came off, making the whole a lot less stable, we decided it would be best to sacrifice the conifer for the sake of safety. We were blessed, however, because the branch fell straight into the arms of another cedar tree across the yard, and the only damage it did was a three inch hole in the roof of our shed. That's awfully minor, considering what could have happened. Cutting the branch down was a bit of an ordeal, but that's a different tale altogether. Anyway, we've battened down the hatches, stowed the blowables in the garage, and are keeping an eye on the other trees out back. It's pretty fun, watching them bend and sway. We can't do it for extended periods, though; they're so tall it puts a major kink in our necks to look at them for too long.