WIND DEVASTATION

I took this picture of the farmhouse last Sunday (Nov. 21). It's not a classic winter picture of a farmyard, but it does look wintry. You can see the tall pines of the grove behind the house and why it is we worry when big winds blow through.

One of the younger Millers of the Miller Road family came to visit Mike in the afternoon and told him that his dad's shop had been totally demolished in the ferocious windstorm. So, before we left Gilbert, we drove over to investigate.

The old Miller place, an original family homestead, lies about a mile northwest from our farm by overland route. The old house pictured here is no longer used as a home. You can see how the trunk of the pine tree in the yard was snapped in the windstorm. So many downed trees look just like that.

 Here's another picture of the tree. The debris in the foreground and out in the field is from the demolished shop.

 And this photo is of the shop proper. You can identify items in the photo that were being stored in and around the building -- a refrigerator (maybe two), a boat, even an old pick-up that doesn't show. My assessment is that they lost an old building that was useful in its way, but with the possible exception of the small boat, the things stored there were mostly "someday" projects and things they kept because they could.

So there it is. I'm sure the Millers are in a quandary as to how to proceed with clean-up.

By the way, the Senter house where Mike and I were "making wood" is still standing, apparently none the worse for wear in its dilapidated state. And of course, the surrounding trees had already been cut.

Mike and I have been weathering the cold snap here in town. The Lewis-Clark Valley received only a couple inches of snow, but the cold has set in -- officially -1 this morning -- but it looks like warmer temps are on the way. KW