Nasty weather

It's been quite a day weather wise. It began after 3AM Wednesday morning with gale force winds, and by 7AM we had lost our power. Being out in the "sticks" you never know how long before it's back on, so we had to run the generator. We did let the wood stove go down, and there were only a couple small logs in it, so at least we didn't have to worry about that. We took a trip to the local diesel station and got more diesel fuel just in case too. Our tractor will run for about 8 -9 hours on a tank, and that powers up our refrigerator, freezer, wood stove, water pump, and gas furnace that we have as a back-up. We can also plug in some lights or other appliances. Gary re-wired our house many years ago, just for these power outages. After we got the electric back around 10:30AM we heard of a train up near Lake Erie that some of the cars had been blown off the tracks by the strong winds. We decided to go take pictures. On the way there were some really huge clouds forming off the Lake, and the weather coming along behind those clouds didn't look good at all.

Not being able to get very close to all this mess, you can see the rail cars off the tracks on the right side of the rails. This particular string of cars were carrying semi trailers, and they are laying on their sides.

As I was taking pictures I noticed the wind picking up in intensity again, so we decided to head for home. Part of the road to home was blocked by a telephone pole and wires across the road, so we had to take another route. The wind howled, it began to sleet, then hail, thunder, lightening, and everything you see in a horror movie! The rain was mixed with heavy snow, and pelted the van. I kept checking the temperature, and it went from 45º near the Lake to 39º as we neared home, and we got here safely just as the sky began to clear. Go figure!

I snapped these pictures of my white Amaryllis. This is one of the ones I got at Wal-Mart for $2.50! What a deal.

The birds will forecast the weather for you if you are observant. We are supposed to get ALLOT of snow over night, and they were all out on the feeders most of the day filling up. This Hairy woodpecker loves the peanut butter, and it will provide protein to help keep him warm through the night.

When he had enough, off he went.

It's 8:30PM as I'm posting this, and I wanted to get it on early so if we lose the power over night again, at least I'll have it done. If I don't get around to all your blogs forgive me. I'll do better tomorrow.

BTW, the weather forecasters are predicting 1-2 feet of snow by Friday . The winds are picking up once again and it's beginning to snow. I'll keep you posted. Welcome (?) winter. Stay warm everyone.