A bit windy Friday

[John Hasler]

Well, the heat wave broke. As it usually does, it broke with a
thunderstorm. As it rolled in the wind begain to rise as it usually
does. Except this time it kept on rising. And rising. No vorticity:
just straight line wind. A lot of it (also rain). Also no warning from
the weather service.

No injuries: the herd stayed down in the swale in the pasture (except
for Fred and Disco) and we stayed in the house which suffered no serious
damage. A dozen or so large trees are down in inconvenient places
(i.e., on fences), the doors were ripped off the old barn, and the
loafing shed addition now has a peaked roof (the center post was pulled
entirely out of the ground). The shed is safe and more or less
serviceable for now, but it's totaled.

The most urgent problem was the two 18" diameter 50' tall poplars down
across the pasture entrance, blocking the horses from coming up for
water. Second was the ones down across the south pasture fence. Also
some damage to the fences around Fred's and Disco's paddocks. I was
able to cobble up temporary fence fixes and get the tree off the
driveway but made no progress on the pasture entrance blockage.
Fortunately my neighbor Mike brought his skidsteer and two relatives
with chainsaws over after he took care of the trees blocking his
driveway. Still took three or four hours to get the entrance open. The
gate post is totaled: both pastures are open until I rebuild the gates.

Worked on cleanup all day yesterday, of course. Lots more to do.
--
John Hasler Boarding
jo...@dancinghorsehill.com
Dancing Horse Hill
Elmwood, WI USA

[John Hasler]

The insurance adjuster was here. Now getting quotes on the building
damage and cleaning up fallen trees and branches. Going to have several
pretty good bonfires. Got belatedly started on clipping the pastures.
With only 15 horses 20 acres of Wisconsin pasture will get out of
control.
--
John Hasler