STORMY WEATHER . . .

". . . wave upon wave of showers across the Northwest," the weather lady was saying as I surfed through The Weather Channel last Monday. Seems like they seldom talk about the Great Inland Northwest, probably owing to the fact that not many of us live here and our weather is usually not extreme. I took her report with a grain of salt. Often the storms do not materialize in our area.

But we have had shower upon shower since coming to the farm on Tuesday. Since we can see a lot of sky, we have watched the storms as they move through, some of them hitting us, some of them not. Yesterday morning (Thursday), we got up to what appeared to be a decent day. "Let's take advantage of this window of opportunity to thatch the trees," Mike said. I wasn't so sure there was an adequate window. Sure enough – these first photos show the storm that hit about 15 minutes later. By watching the sky and choosing our moments, we were eventually able to care for the trees. I even spied one little seedling tree lying on the ground – evidently an escapee from Mike's sack of trees as we planted. It appeared no worse for wear and Mike planted it.

Just after 4:00 p.m., a big storm hit, and we were glad for the safety of the house. Mike's weather station showed an actual temp of 39 while the wind chill was 20.7. The wind blew at an average of 29.5 mph with the maximum gust at 38.9. At 4:20, the electricity went off and was out about an hour. Mike called our rural provider, Clearwater Power, and was advised that the wind blew down a tree near Stoddard Electric on Riverside (Orofino) and that because of the back-up of traffic on the highway they were as yet unable to make the necessary repair. She wouldn't provide a timeframe for restoration.

I decided it was time to think like my grandmother. In the event that electricity would be off into the night, what did I need to do while I could see to get around the house? A kerosene lantern was ready, and I found some candles in a drawer and inserted them into holders. I chuckled to myself as I thought of Mother. She hoarded candles and I always thought that was a habit from the days when electricity was undependable. Candles and matches are an important part of preparedness. Mike ascertained that he could light our gas stove manually and a fire burned cheerily in the fireplace. So, we would have light, heat, and a way to fix food. No matter, though – the electricity was on about 5:20.

Today the weather is still unsettled, though we have had no rain. KW