(no subject)

We had a windstorm here yesterday that was pretty impressive. I went out to get the horses fed, and it was still; I stepped back into the house to say something to my roomie, and when I went back outside, the wind had kicked up and was probably sustaining at 20-30 mph. In seconds. The bungee cords holding the barn doors shut were stretched to their limit. I hurried and got the horses in, then got back to the house as fast as I could, as I was being struck with small branches. I hadn't been inside longer than 15 minutes before the power on our whole street went out. That was about 7:30ish, and it didn't come back on until 10:30ish. I was sure glad for my Kindle! Anyway, we didn't get dinner until almost 11:00 (how European of us), so it was a weird night. The wind died down within an hour, by the way, so I was able to let the horses out again. They were fine, very calm.

Then today I went out to check the damage. There were branches down everywhere - I spent nearly half an hour just clearing the driveway and gates - but most of them were just the usual dead branches that come down in any windstorm. All but one. A live branch came down in our back yard, hitting up against my bedroom's west wall, just missing the window. It was about 20 feet long (9 of my strides), and the leafy top of it was higher than my head. I just stood and gaped at it for at least a minute, stunned. It seemed unreal that something that big was sitting in my yard, right next to my bedroom window. Wow.