Goodbye Irene...

Well...we're glad that's over!

First off, let me say that we are very fortunate, and very thankful that we only saw a smidgen of what a lot of the east coast saw of Hurricane Irene this weekend!

All day yesterday the clouds rolled in, but we had no steady rain until milking time last evening.  By then, the rain was steady and the wind had picked up.  We went to bed and got a few hours of sleep until "something" woke us around 3 am.  Things were definitely happening outside!  The wind was howling and the driving rain was seeping in around some windows where it wasn't supposed to.  Jim went out to the barn to check things out, and had been back inside for just a few minutes when the power went out.  We lay in bed, seeing blue flashes in the night sky...were those transformers exploding? 

We were wondering when we'd last needed to use our generator, and wondering how it would work for morning milking...

It's time consuming to do the work this way, but if we wouldn't have had the generator, those ladies woulda been a hurtin'!  Our generator will run only one major thing at a time...the vacuum pump for milking...then the compressor to cool the milk...then the barn cleaner to empty the gutters...then the pipeline washer...etc...  It was almost lunch time when Jim was halfway up to the top of silo with a silage fork, to fork out silage by hand, when the power came back on.  He was more than happy to climb back down and throw the switch!

This was a typical scene.  Once again, we are thankful that this limb was on a telephone line, not an electric line, and it only stretched the line, didn't tear it...

This is what's left of the corn field behind the barn that we chopped on Friday.  Not down too bad, but definitely leaning...

This one section of our neighbor's field didn't fare so well...



We only had 3 1/2"  of rain, and minimal damage.  There are still people locally who are without power, and people with flattened corn fields.   Many in other areas have experienced flooding and other damage. 

By milking time tonight, it was hard to believe that just twelve hours ago or so we were on the edge of a Hurricane!  The skies were a beautiful blue once again!  I find that amazing!

It was definitely not my choice, but definitely a memorable way to celebrate my birthday!