Howling wind, cracking dead wood, a crashing boom, small branches littering the yard and deck.....all in the early morning work of my favorite maternal figure, Mother Nature. The dead tree in our backyard has been halved - and not by a chain saw.
The sound of the wind, through the wee hours of this morning, took me back a few years to a night, in our former home, when a straight-line wind raged through our area. Of course, my SO was traveling, so it was just the kids, me and Max. Our home was in a forest preserve and we were surrounded by trees on every side of the property. The intense wind carried with it a sound that I will never forget. To this day, I become ill at ease whenever I hear a wind-sound that even remotely resembles that night-wind sound of years past. As with last night's tree-wresting, the wind of years-past took down two large trees. We were lucky then, as now. Our present, ripped-apart tree broke in two, so its upper half is well away from the condo. Back then, we lost one big tree which did partially fall on the roof but did no damage. The other downed-tree fell in a perfect horizontal line with the garage, missing the house and basketball hoop. It is the audible sound of the tree breaking and falling that is indelibly etched in my aural memory.
As I sit at my laptop with a view to the street-side of the condo, I can see the effects of the still-high wind and even higher gusts. Where is the wind farm when it could be useful? I can only imagine the power that is being generated through this storm via the extensive wind farm in the central part of our state. Looking out my window, I can see that even the younger trees are struggling as they are whipped about, losing their leaves with a dizzying rapidity. Debris is whizzing down the street, along with leaves and branches. An occasional newspaper flies by.....some people did not get out to fetch theirs before the wind took ownership.
Hold on to your hats today, folks.
A general tip: This is not a day for a bumbershoot!
Ancora imparo
