Wicked Winds

 

Mallory chose to come over on Monday to watch a movie with me. We had been waiting for the movie Mad About the Boy, the Bridget Jones final chapter to come out and here it was. The movie was airing on Peacock from Valentine's Day to who knows when. As a huge admirer of the Bridget Jones' Diary series, it is a must see. 

Before we watched the movie, we began to chit chat since we had not seen each other in a while. Life gets in the way sometimes and that's just how it goes. Stupid adulting. We chatted about her life, our life, the fur babies, the car, Kia's new facility, and other things that needed to be filled in. The girl time was fun, much needed by us both, and we had a few laughs. 

Periodically, she would reach over and snuggle with Togo, pet Kit the cat, and give kisses to both faces. Things were calm, peaceful, and awesome. Since she had not been over in a while, it was a great visit and so good to see her again. She began to tell me something and then we heard what sounded like a train rolling down the street, past the house, except it got louder and louder. Then BOOM! The house shook.

Mallory and I shot each other a look of shock and fear. "What the hell was that?" she asked me. I had no idea what just happened. It sounded like the entire roof had just been pulled off the house.  

We walked to the front door, opened it slowly, and oh, my! 

The neighbor's car lot uses tarps and canopy structures to protect various automobiles. Wind gusts up to 60 MPH rushed through the car lot and picked up one of the canopies, flipped it upside down, pushed it up and over the fence, and it landed in our yard. One of the poles had come off of the structure and stabbed straight into the ground. There is a straight pole standing behind the climbing rose bush and is pushed into the ground. That is the pole from the canopy. 

I looked my poor car over with strong hopes the canopy had not slammed into it and Mallory's loaner car she is using since her car is in the shop. Both vehicles appeared to be damage free. So close! 

I felt blessed that nobody was standing outside or that Terry's Xterra was not parked at that moment. The canopy was thrown into his space. I'm sure the car would have had some damage. With the canopy laying the way it is, I do believe the house roof was hit on its way to the yard.

In our family chat, one of the girls posted this:

I also found a tornado warning in Portland. Portland, in case you don't know Oregon is about three hours north of us. 

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The day was rather chaotic. Mallory and I walked to the neighbor's lot to see if they were around. I wanted to let them know about their canopy in case they were not aware. Nobody was there but Mallory and I found a phone number on the office door. I called and let them know. 

She could not believe that it was their canopy. I could tell she was worried we were upset, so I did what I could do to calm her. She was in a certain state of shock. After sending her the photos over texts, she understood it was their canopy. The fence between us in the photos has to be at least six feet high, making it seem incredible that the wind was that strong to push the canopy over. I understood her disbelief. I was quite shocked that the wind had been that strong as well. 

Our neighbors were out of town at the time, picking up another car. But we woke the next morning to begin our day and the canopy had been dismantled and removed. Terry and I were both surprised at how early it must have been torn apart and removed from the yard. We were up and running around 7:00 to 7:30 in the morning, unsure of what time it must have been that they took it out of the yard as there was nothing left besides a couple of poles. 

Everything is back to the way it was before Monday and all was good in the neighborhood. The stray kitty even returned, curled up in her fluffy white cat house, and her life had resumed. Bless her heart. 

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We are leaving this here, as a memory of the day the winds went wild. Mallory heard that her son's school was out of electricity. Jess, my granddaughter reported that her house was out. She lives in Junction City, outside of Eugene. Marina's home was without power as well, but they have a generator that kicked in immediately. Marina and her husband are out in Lowell. 

Brandy and Dawn both reported the high winds but no outages. Brandy's back deck cover was looking a little shaky, but it made it through the storm. 

With hopes and well wishes for all of you, we leave the post. The weather is spring-like now and so back to the normal lives we led before the incredulous sighting of the canopy in our yard. Sending love and hugs and wishing you all a safe week. 

Thank you for reading the blog. 

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