Wind Storm!

No Internet for the past 15 hours, so I couldn't let people know that we are ok. Places on the farm are a mess, but nothing that can't be cleaned up or repaired. 

(Small branches down everywhere.)

At 2 a.m. We awoke to the sound of branches pounding the roof, rain coming in sideways, and the sound of big trees breaking. Not much we could do but hunker down and wait. A head count showed that all the cats had come into the house. Gee, it must be bad out there. 

Daylight showed that the banana trees had all their tops sheared and twisted off. Above, this had been a lush stand with several developing bunches. Now it's a mass of twisted trunks. Shredded. 

By morning's light I took off in the ATV to inspect the fence line. Found this tree (above) laying right down on the fence, but it looked like the livestock couldn't get past, so I ignored it. The driveway was littered with small branches and twigs. Nothing big, I thought. Just a day of raking to clean up. So I headed to the back pastures. Branches here and there on the fence, but nothing serious. Just drug them off and we'll cut them up later, I thought. Did a head count of sheep and donkeys.....everyone accounted for. Next headed down to the front pastures. .........shock.......

Trees and tree crowns down everywhere! So thick that I couldn't even climb back to the rabbits and chickens. Big trees. Small trees. A matted mess. A tree fell into the garden area, crushing both the work tents. Others crushed the 330 gallon water transport tote, water barrels, Costco storage shed. I saw that the wind had broken the string that held the bean tower in place, but at this point I considered that just a minor annoyance. 

(Half the bean plants are torn out by the roots. Goes to show you that in the future I will be using wire to secure the bean tower.)

Giant trees, roots and all, fell around the barn, aside the big catchment tank, thankfully sparing both. But the chicken pen took a direct hit by not one, but three big trees right snack on the entrance! After the two of us spending the day cutting an access to the chickens and rabbits, it was obvious that I'd be feeding and watering the hens through the fence today. Surprisingly the girls seemed just fine with the arrangement. 

The rabbits are a different story. 

Branches were wedged everywhere. And although you can't see it well in this photo, a tree truck crushed the last three rabbit hutches on the end of row. Totally in pieces. The three rabbits were no where to be seen. (Later in the day we saw all three and managed to capture one.)

Enough for now because we need to get to work again! More update tomorrow.