FEROCIOUS WIND

We hardly ever have devastating weather conditions here in the great Inland Pacific Northwest -- you know, like tornadoes and hurricanes. We never have a weather advisory that presents the dilemma of whether or not we should pack up our families and a few precious belongings and leave home. This area is hardly ever the subject of Weather Channel programs. They barely mention us on a daily basis.

It isn't that we don't have weather, of course. Everyone has weather. This time of year we might have rain, freezing rain, snow -- and fog is common. And wind -- we do have wind. And Monday there was a wind advisory in effect for midnight into Tuesday morning. And when it came -- at 12:30 a.m. -- it was a doozy, according to the standards of this region.

I happened to wake up just before the storm hit. With the first big gusts, I thought of the myriad of Rubbermaid garbage cans we keep for various purposes and how -- even though we had been well-advised -- we had failed to put any of those in the shed. I know from experience that when the garbage can with the aluminum cans falls over and the lid comes off, I not only have to chase down the lid but also all the cans.With the thought of having to do that again crowding out any thought of sleep, I arose and went outside to take care of things.

Now -- "No Fear Nellie," who walks trestles but is otherwise afraid of her own shadow, had just commenced to whine, so the first thing I did was to let her into the house. She gets no sympathy from her master for her fear of storms, but she knows the mistress will take care of her emotional needs. I finished pulling the cans into the shed and went back to bed as Nellie made herself comfortable on her pillow in the living room.

Then the storm commenced to rage. Not only did the wind blow but we saw lightning. It was Mike's turn to get up then, and when he opened the bedroom door, Nell dashed to my side. "Can I get in with you?" she asked, licking my face eagerly. "The floor is good enough," I told her.

Mike came back to bed, and with a few more lightning strikes and ferocious wind gusts, Nellie crawled under the bed. It makes a good story to say she was that afraid, but when it comes right down to it, I think she was exploring. The next time one of us got up, Nellie was happy enough to bed down again on her cozy pillow.

The wind storm seemed pretty much over by the time we got up for the day. The wind advisory was lifted by mid-morning but some breeziness remained for several hours. At noon Ken called to say he had a chance meeting with someone from the Gilbert area who told him of wind devastation there. Gusts of up to 85 mph were reported. Gilbert Grade had been closed for a while due to downed trees and the electricity was off for some time.

So, having spent a few days in town, we are going back to the farm tomorrow to ascertain the damage and clean up. It looks as though the temperature may be a little on the cold side over the weekend, but we'll be snug in the house (I hope), and keeping the house warm in the cold is always good.

[Here are a few recent photos of Nellie. In the top photo taken Oct. 28, she's on point. She works hard when she's hunting, but if she doesn't scent birds, she will fall to hunting rodents. Note the snow on the Clearwater Mountains in the background. And in the second photo, she watches through the dining room window as Mike leaves the farm yard to hunt deer. And yes, she's crying.] KW