Thursday, October 28, 2010

November Witches or the Big Wind

November Witch: the name given to the winds that blow across the Great Lakes in the Fall.

We have endured two days of incredibly strong winds.  30-40 mph with gusts to 60.  This storm had the lowest, non-tropical low-pressure on record. 

Tuesday I went out to have lunch with a friend.  Tuesday also happens to be garbage day.  Tom watched for the truck before bringing the trash can and recycle bin to the curb and then brought it back in as soon as it was emptied.  Most of our neighbors work and their garbage cans were rolling down the street and recycle bins were tumbling down the street and across lawns end-over-end like tumbleweeds.  I had to dodge one that was caught by a gust as I went past. 

Our privacy screen was swaying in the breeze but stayed put but our grill cover is toast.  Somehow our leaves mostly disappeared. One of the local television weather ladies said her leaves were in Canada by now and I think ours joined them.

The winds died down last night. All appeared well . . .

. . . Until this afternoon.  We let the dogs out into the yard for the umpteenth time today and Harley disappeared.  I went out and checked around the corner of the house—no Harley.  As I headed back inside I noticed a gaping hole in the fence behind our shed.  Tom called Harley as he went to check out the damage. There on the other side of the fence was Harley.  Did he run?  Don’t know. How far did he go?  We will never know.  He is a chicken so he probably didn’t go too far.  How long was the fence section down?  Who knows.  The real question is why didn’t the new neighbors, who have dogs of their own, say something. 

Later I noticed her in the yard with her dogs so I yelled over the fence, “Hi, new neighbor,” and went over to the fence.  I introduced myself and mentioned the fence section down and she said she had noticed it and thought about letting us know but was too busy unpacking.  WHAT! 

About our fence. We did not put it up. The previous owner did.  If we would have put the fence up, it would have been done properly.  Tom has had to add screws to many of the sections. Some only had two screws when they should have had six.  It is clear now that in some places the screws that were used were too short or did not catch enough wood.

Tom and I made temporary repairs yesterday but our drill battery died.  Also Tom will need to scab some 2 x 4s on to the fence posts and then screw the fence to them.

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