Those Were Some Storms!

Friday afternoon had my head spinning. It wasn't just the potential pond disaster which I'll address tomorrow, it was also the weather.

Harry left for work at 2:30 while I frantically fought pond wars. Since it appeared that the death of all my koi was imminent, I was somewhat pretty much panic stricken. I dashed back and forth between the house and the backyard trying to keep an eye on the weather and save precious koi lives, I glanced at an email from Harry that came up on my computer and it said, "YOU'RE DOING EVERYTHING YOU CAN. GOOD LUCK. T-STORMS COMING BEFORE TOO LONG. JUST BE CAREFUL OUT THERE !! ". That was at 4:16 p.m. Since he works about 25 minutes west of here, he gets first look at most of the weather.

At 4:37 another email said, "HERE IT (STORM) COMES !!!! CHECK THE RADAR !". That was fast! I would have thought I'd have a little more time but I didn't so I tried to work faster.

Then at 4:50 another email from Harry. "GET IN THE HOUSE AND CLOSE THE DOORS!!!! THIS STORM HAS SOME VERY STRONG WIND WITH IT." So I did. I had just gotten the newly filled pond drained and now the fairly torrential rain could help re-fill it. So I hunkered down in the house and waited for the storm to pass.

The weather channel reported winds in our area of 67 mph! Wow! I was glad that it held off until the exact second that I finished my work and dashed in the house chased by some big old drops of rain.

Of course during the storm I thought of my feathered friends at Striebel Pond and hoped they wouldn't get blown away and that all the parents were able to protect all the babies. I was also thinking of Striebel Pond because I hadn't gotten my walk in yet and I wondered if I was going to be able to; but then it magically cleared and I headed over there.

The stoplights I encountered enroute were out and at least one pole was leaning precariously over the highway. There was evidence of at least one large tree being separated on Hitchcock Street to allow traffic to proceed and parts of the Striebel Pond walkway were littered with debris.

Water from the flood plain gushed into the pond.

And there were no ducks at their usual meeting place.

But other than that the pond was once again serene and beautiful.

And most importantly, the swan family still numbered eight.

As an eerie darkness descended, though, I realized that I was out there alone - almost. There was one other individual to keep me company. I was so relieved that I took his or her picture.

And that should have been the end of this post except there was another storm coming and this was the one that would do the real damage. Lots of people lost power and, sure, I felt sorry for them. But we lost CABLE, INTERNET, TELEPHONE - the whole bundle. And that was HARD!
We couldn't watch TV, check the weather, write a blog post, or do any of the other innumerable, vital things we do routinely.

And it was out for almost 24 hours. That means from late Friday night until early Sunday morning we were virtually incommunicado. And THAT was painful.