We had a rather bad winter storm on February 1, 2019. The winds howled through the night, and we awoke to find a lot of damage–most of it small stuff, like all the windmills in the north garden being torn apart.
1. The little ornaments hanging from the eaves were mangled beyond repair.
2. A shepherd’s hook was bent over by the sheer force of the winds.
3. The boys’ outdoor cage was toppled. The cage weighs about 50lbs, but it’s on wheels and this is the second time the wind has done this, so we’re going to work out a way to keep it in place, probably by removing the casters.
4-5. Worst of all, one of our lovely streetlights toppled. At the time of writing this, we have yet to triage it, but our helpful crew–the same guys that have helped us over the years with cleanup projects and today are removing the last of the debris from the re-insulation and furnace-removal projects–will help me deal with the corpse once they are done. I’m hoping I will be able to find a metal worker to salvage it.
6. Other damage was incurred elsewhere, but the north end of the house took the brunt of the damage. Amusingly, the little plastic shed (which will eventually house the pool chemicals) was literally walked away from the side of the studio building by the wind and had its doors ripped off. We heard the commotion as it was being pushed around, and tipped it over on its side to stop any further forward movement.
Yet there is good news: except for a tree by the well tank, our arboreal friends did not take any serious damage. We chalk this up to making sure we have a tree service company come by every year to keep things as healthy as possible. It also makes us even more determined to plant more trees to give all our new avian friends adequate cover and nesting real estate.
7. The weather station’s take on last night.
Still, what would life at Purgatory be without crazy stuff happening when you least expect it?