Stormy Night

Well last night our place was shakin'. A line of storms came through. We were under a tornado watch all afternoon until midnight and at just about 10:30 pm, the storm hit. Steve and I had taken Zoe for a late dinner after graduation and we got home about 9:30 pm. I went out to the girls and removed their fly masks and the wind had been kickin' up all day. They were nervous. We were about to crawl into bed at about 10:30 and suddenly the house shook and Steve looked outside and all I heard was, "Holy crap, turn off the computers!!" Me, already in just a t-shirt and underwear looked out the window and then ran to the computers. The rain was a complete sheet of white at a right angle. The trees as well. I scrambled for my boots and jeans. Steve was already downstairs and Zoe too. Spot, the border collie was hiding in my closet and the other dogs and cats were under our feet. Now, mind you, we live in a converted barn. This place is over 100 years old and post and beam. No nails. It was built before nails, just wooden pegs, hefty ones, none the less. When the wind blows like that, you can feel it. There is no basement, just a first floor foundation, acts like a basement, though with about 3 foot thick stone walls.I haven't seen a storm like this in about 8 years, not with these kind of winds. It lasted about 30 minutes and when it was over, Steve and I went out with the flashlight to survey the damage and make sure the animals were alright. The horses for shook up but alright (glad I left to the pasture) and the goats were none worse for the wear. I lost a huge lilac bush about 12 foot tall, the old pear tree, various branches from other trees, a few shingles and the 36' oval above ground pool completely collapsed in and wrecked, but we all are o.k. and it could have been so much worse. They were straight line winds clocked at over 75 miles per hour. I can wait another 8 years for the next one, as much as I do love thunderstorms.