Storm on the Avalon

Wow....we had a doozy of a storm on Wednesday! The worst one by far, since moving here. Reports indicated 60 + mms of rain and winds of over 100 km/h with gusts up to 140 km/h ..... and judging by the looks of the ocean (huge, ugly-looking waves), the swaying trees and the creaking sounds the house was making....I'd say it was at least that much.

It was like that all day long...but for some reason it sounds worse at night after dark. I laid awake in bed listening to the howling wind and the creaking house as I tried to identify exactly what was creaking. Sometimes, it seemed like the windows and other times it seemed like the roof.

The weather network guy said it would subside around midnight....but...I think it went on much longer. I did not sleep too much....hoping the wind would just die down.

Morning finally arrived. As with a lot of storms, the day after was beautiful....not a cloud in the sky...the sun was shining brightly and the sky a beautiful shade of blue. Hard to believe we'd just been through a storm.

I ventured out to check the house. I don't like doing this...nervous of what I may find. All was good though...the house and all of it's parts were still in tact. Strong house we live in. A friend of mine who lives not too far said houses in her area did not fare as well.....shingles and siding off. One person even mentioned there were trampolines in trees....oh my.

Amazingly though....we did not lose power. Areas of St. John's were out for a couple of hours. We did not have any snow either (well maybe a few very wet flakes...but no whitening of the ground)....some parts of NL had 15 cms (and they're welcome to keep it!)

We knew this storm was coming and tried to be prepared. One major concern was our winter's wood supply. There were 7 pickup truck loads (that seems to be how it is measured here) that had been stacked outside all summer, drying quite nicely. Surely all that forecasted rain would not be good for it.

Even though the day before was forecasted to be good weather, Larry wouldn't be able to stack it should he have to work.

What to do?

I was more than a little surprised when Tyler volunteered....see....he hates anything to do with the wood stove (It's his job throughout the winter season to bring in loads of firewood as the wood box gets empty.) He's mentioned, more than once....he will never ever have a wood stove when he gets his own place (although that may change when he sees the difference in cost between wood and all other methods of heat ;))

As it turned out, Larry did not get a call to work, so the two of them started at 7:30 in the morning and worked right through until Tyler had to leave for piano lessons at 12:30. Larry continued on until he had to leave for tutoring. When Tyler returned from piano...he went right back to the woodpile and worked away until 8:30....well after dark. He brought it all in...except for 7 wheelbarrow loads...which Larry finished early Wednesday morning before the storm started. Woohoo!

Kind of a double bonus.....all the winter's wood is in *and* we weathered the storm.

Another one is forecasted for tomorrow though....at least we'll be warm.