Wind

 

Last Thursday was hot and humid like the middle of June hot and humid minus the picking of strawberries hot and humid. The weather forecast said there would be storms that afternoon they hit southeastern South Dakota mid to late afternoon.  I could see the dark clouds approaching from the southwest. The 5:00 news was all weather warnings.  The sky kept getting darker by 5:15 it looked like night, darker than the total eclipse of the sun in 2017 which was covered with a thunderstorm in eastern South Dakota…..so dark. Was this what it looked like in the dust storms of the thirties? I never imagined it could be as dark as it was during daylight hours.  Rain started hitting the windows it looked more like a smear of mud. The wind was getting stronger,  trees were bending not just swaying.  At 5:30 the power went out, a few minutes later a 30+ foot tall spruce tree fell fortunately it missed the deck and the house.  More rain…..enough to clean the windows gradually the sky got lighter and that wall of wind and dirt moved on to do more damage across the county and state. The sky cleared as quickly as it came then turned orange as the sun was setting a bright pumpkin orange. The next morning was fairly calm with a clear blue sky as blue as a fresh squeezed tube of cerulean paint. The sky is always the most beautiful after a storm.  Thousands of trees were blown over and lots of buildings were damaged, thankfully no serious injuries where I live.

This came like a panther prowling and stalking then attacking with an arsenal of offensive maneuvers. None of Carl Sandburg’s little kitten feet and fog.

We were without power until about 9:30 Friday night. We heated water on the grill for coffee and used the pour over coffee dripper.  I think all power was restored Sunday night.

My youngest brother is on the farm where I grew up, he lost a lot of trees and some buildings were damaged but mostly just missing shingles. The cluster of ponderosa pine trees that my dad planted when the house was built in 1959 were broken and uprooted. I used to leap over those trees when I was little zig zagging from one end to the other and back.  My brother was cutting down a damaged hackberry tree on Friday the wind caught the branch just as it was falling and took out the swing set that my dad built in the 1960’s.  This was a swing set to rival any country school swing set. A wind storm blew the windmill over one summer so dad repurposed the angle iron into the legs and supports of the frame and used the water pipe for the top crossbar.  I spend many hours in the wooden swings with my brothers and playmates growing up.  I hope my brother can repair it.  

The only thing left is the stump.  Counting our blessings that no one was hurt.  --Ann--