Thursday, December 1, 2011

Blowing in the wind

In case you missed it, it's pretty windy in central and southern California today.  So windy that the 75 foot tall tree in oldest daughter's front yard blew down.  Fortunately it aimed right for the street and didn't hit anything.  The back of her house didn't fare as well.  A branch from the olive tree broke her bedroom window at 3:30 this morning.  Good thing she and her husband don't have their bed under the window.  Most Californians know that you don't place your bed under the window or below a picture, just in case there's an earthquake, or in this case the wind breaking tree limbs and throwing them through your window. 

We fared much better here at my house.  One of the sheds shed a portion of its roof.  I thought I had spare metal roofing but I forgot it was used up when building the addition to the chicken coop.  I can't buy any right now. It's too windy to get it home.

I haven't heard yet how the bug out place fared.  While I'm hoping they were spared from the high winds (in some places 100 mph) a part of me was hoping the whole house would be picked up off the foundation and tossed about.  I'm sure all's fine.

I brought the trailer over to oldest daughter's so they could buck up the tree and stack the limbs in the trailer.  Just last week they were helping a neighbor of theirs cut down some of the neighbors trees so they already had two of my three chainsaws.  That's good because their tree was blocking the road so they were able to get that part cleared before the neighborhood tried to get kids off to school.  Looking at the size of the tree I'm going to get several cords of wood out of the deal.  They have a fire place but they don't use it more than once or twice a year. 

Several people have stopped by their house and asked if they can have wood.  I suggested to son-in-law that instead of just giving it out to whomever drives by and asks, that he should suggest that they come out and help and then they can take whatever they help with.  It's not that I want it all for myself, but unless it's for someone who isn't capable of working for it, I'd rather they work for it rather than son-in-law work for it and give it to them.  Even if that means someone raking up the leaves or picking up the dirt clods that the tree flung around the yard as it was pulling its root ball out of the ground.  Son-in-law had to take the day off work to do this clean up, others shouldn't take advantage.

Army daughter has to go to school tonight.  Since she's leaving before her husband gets off work she dropped baby off here.  It took her almost an hour and a half to drive the 17 miles because the signals were out so each signal became a four-way stop sign.  At least it wasn't during commute time.  I'm sure it would have taken another hour! 

What if there weren't supplies to be picked up at the store for the repairs?  I could rig up something to keep oldest daughter's fence up.  I don't have any spare windows but we do have cardboard, heavy plastic, and duct tape.  Good thing I have chain saws.  And extra chain, fuel, and oil.  Son-in-law bent the bar on the smaller of the two saws.  He's going to pick up a new bar today, and some new chain while he's at it. 

I need more metal roofing material.  We have about 3000 square feet of barns and sheds under this type of roofing material.  I have the roofing screws and nails for it but no panels.  Some of the panels we have are the opaque white ones to let in light while others are the metal.  I like the opaque ones except they only last about five years while the others will last a lifetime if they don't get blown off.  Perhaps I should check to see if the rest of the roofing needs additional reinforcement.  Just not today when it's windy.

8 comments:

  1. I've seen some of this in the news today. That is some crazy winds! I guess it was like a small hurricane without the rest of the storm.

    ReplyDelete
  2. We have storm shutters that close over the windows for when the wind blows debris around. There aren't too many people in our area that use these anymore. It's a good investment and they just look like window decoration. Otherwise you need to have spare glass or plexiglass to repair windows if the shit hits the fan. I'd rather have the shutters.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your post explains some things. My wife was in Fresno today doing some once a month shopping and called o say she would be late getting home. The stoplights were out and she was having a tough time getting around. She didn't mention the downed trees until just now. I looked online for a problem that would have taken out lights, but no mention of trees down.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Crazy times......A shift is in the wind...No pun intended. We are going back into another cold earth cycle. When I was in High school in the 70's, we were told there would be a new ice age. Now there is global warming.....Or is there? FEMA states that 96 hours of food and supplies are necessary to supply a disaster. Hurricane Katrina taught us that A LOT MORE is necessary. I have a suggestion. Go through your day making a list of everything you use. Toothpaste , toilet paper, etc. Then break that list into necessities, nice to haves and luxuries. fill the first list and work on the second and third.Always remember the 5 "B"'S...Beans, bullets, barter, bullion and band aids.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi G.I. Jim,
    I'd like to add a 6th B...Bible.

    ReplyDelete
  6. G.I. Jim, I got your message and will be up next week!

    ReplyDelete
  7. We got lucky, there wasn't any high winds in our area. I was worried with all the big oak trees we have on our property. Turned out to be all hype for us. Funny how only 40 miles makes a difference. I haven't made it up to our cabin and see what things look like in the mountains yet. Glad that everyone made it through without too much damage.

    ReplyDelete
  8. W.I.I.T.: Your one item in blue was backordered and no other companies carried it. I will get it ASAP!! The other I will hold for your arrival. Your 6th "B" The Bible, should not even have to be mentioned. If I had to leave my home in a hurry, I would take two books. My Bible and Tom Brown's Field Guide To Wilderness Survival. The Bible, especially a lot of the stories of David hiding in the wilderness from King Saul are educational.

    ReplyDelete