The power had gone off. The wind was howling, the rain spitting angrily at the windows, the clouds low and heavy as roiling black seas, the day so dark I moved my work to the table by the window so I could see. So the first I even knew of a tornado warning (they call it a Tornado Watch here) was when the power came back on. And my phone connected to the wifi, buzzed its warning (seek shelter), too late, then died again. The wind howled – the storm raged – but we had no tornado. Just the storm. Huge winds. And a lot of rain.
With the rain in the forecast I had already brought all the pigs inside and the cow’s barn doors were opened. Everyone has access to the barn and its shelter – but is a barn safe?
The bands of weather here are so narrow you can have a storm on one farm and a catastrophe on the next farm.
One mile away the wind was so bad that it took out one of my favourite old barns. The day before yesterday it was standing up as the workers strengthened its walls for a new roof. Today it is gone. God said, No. I had to call my neighbours as they travelled to Christmas with family hours away and send them photographs of the devastation. So sad. Their barn and all their plans are now a pile of rubble.
And a reminder to me. Tell them you love them now. Don’t wait. Even if it feels strange. Better not left unsaid. That could have been my barn with me and my cows and pigs IN IT! We must speak.
Then the skies parted for a moment and golden light descended like forgiveness.
I hope you are not caught up in the wild weather of the Americas. I hope you have a lovely day instead but if you are in California I really hope that you are getting piles of rain and snow in the mountains. I hear that the rain has arrived. Well done.
Good morning – Christmas Eve tonight. We have no other family here. Just Our John and I but we will have a lovely dinner anyway and I will spend hours and hours on the phone today and tomorrow with my own family and my extended family – Hugo with his Papa in France, Fede who is with his family in Argentina, Amanda who is coming here on boxing day, Tomoyo who is home in Japan now.
I am not a fan of Christmas and all its guilt and commitments and presents because you have to but I love the phone calls!
Above is Hugo’s flock, a bit young yet but living happily in the West Barn, helping Manu with his housekeeping. I always think that chooks and cats make a barn seem alive. We have the chooks now . I am working on a cat for this barn! But ecosystems move slowly.
The home barn rocks along! No stone left unturned since I let the home flock out to range free for the winter. I have let their door stand open and the dogs stand guard – so far so good. But we all remember the days of the Bastard Mink so I hope I am right. I hope the dogs keep them away. But I cannot keep them locked up all year – that would be cruel.
Much love to you.
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
76 responses to “Warning”
I’m glad to hear that all is well – I saw news on the BBC web site about tornadoes in America. 🙂
Yes, it is not unusual weather over here as you know – but they report it on the news as though it is something outrageous.. c
Very true and at this time of year news can be a bit scarce.
glad you’re safe… and I’m with you on the Christmas commitments! Happy Holidays!
Yes, I do feel so bad for the people who feel obligated to buy so much and cook so much – what worries me most is the debt people put themselves into c
I’m so glad that the worst of it all missed you!
So am I .. it was such a shock to lose that barn.. but the winds were pretty high.. c
Happy to hear that you and your barn are still in one piece. I’m glad to have reached the age when Christmas is what I make it and everyone who joins me does so on my terms, not on the spending bonanza roller coaster. Happy Christmas. Stay safe.
You have reached the perfect age then!! Have a good one! c
So deeply grateful that isn’t your barn. I did sit up straighter for a few seconds when I saw that picture after your intro. My golfs alternator spat the dummy this morning 😦 luckily I was still parked in my garage – but the whole of SA is now on holiday till 4 Jan 😦 😦 I am going to be doing a lot of walking in crazy 39C/103F in the sun, weather. Yeah , my dishwasher also retired the day before yesterday… Enjoy the family chats and hoping you have a peaceful and uneventful weekend. Love, love Laura
Oh NO!! I have quite given up on ever having a dishwasher that works longer than a year so we don’t have one either. But car problems at christmas seems mean. c
Crazy weather is a norm in the USA – and we certainly get all extremes one way or another! Glad the worst passed you by, here it is just like London back in the day when fog settled in for days and people walked in front of carriages with lights to see the way. Feels very like a Dickens Christmas! Home all your phone calls go through just fine – will be doing some of my own tomorrow.
You are right Lynda, some people are outraged by the weather here but it looks to me like they moved INTO the weather .. not the other way round. We had a lot of fog for a while too – I called it pea soup and everyone looked at me strangely – you will understand that term I think.. c
We had the pea soup (my mom always said that) yesterday and the day before. When I walked the dogs in the morning I wore my blaze orange cap!
That was a close call. We get gale force winds blowing in from the Gulf of Maine here that can be scary, but I remember the frightening nearness of tornados from when I was in college in Indiana! Enjoy your quiet time with John and your phone call visits from everyone else!
The Americas have such extreme weather.. I must ask Fede is they have tornadoes in Argentina.. much of his landscape looks like the prairies out here but it has more cattle
I sure hope that barn wasn’t housing livestock.
Enjoy your day tomorrow, you and John. Mine will also be very quiet, except (probably) for the shouting of one of my does who has come into season again. Poor girl, she can’t settle down and I feel very sorry for her, but my gosh, is she loud.
I am undecided about letting my hens and roos free-range in Winter. It’s when the predators are at their most desperate, and there is much less natural cover when the leaves are off the trees. I’m still thinking about it…but so far, the little flock is ranging.
It is a catch 22 isn’t it. I can’t let them out in the summer as they devastate the gardens and eat all my food. So it has to be winter. Now that we have Boo it seems that we are doing a bit better and I leave all the doors wide open, then if the Bastard Mink does get in there it is harder for her to corner them. However I feel I am living on borrowed time a bit. When they are locked up at night Boo and I check every corner and hole hoping they are safe. What I really need in there is a guardian dog. That would sort it for ever. c
Lots of love to you and all the animals. Please give Boo and Ton a big hug and head scratch for me. Happy everyone is ok.
Boo and Ton will love the head scratch! Hope things are going well for you today! c
Glad to hear you are okay. Here in North Georgia we have rainy, wet and foggy weather and it doesn’t seem like Christmas! Reality is my spirits are always lifted high this time of the year in spite of the weather. I hope you have a Merry Christmas.
Kim
Bless you Kim – I love to hear of people who love Christmas! c
The storm barreled through here last night and I thought for sure it was going to be make for the ark time. Good to hear you and the farm are soggy but fine. I still enjoy Christmas and no amount of media blitz and/or “guilt” will make me spend more than I deem acceptable and I’m learning in my old age that commitments don’t have to be sometimes. But grand kids who squeal over packages sent make the day. Merry Christmas, miss c….t
Agreed – children and christmas are a perfect match! c
Glad that you missed the worst of the storms. It is very windy in the uk too at the mo and some poor people are being flooded again. I am up to my armpits in Christmas preparations at the mo and just having a little breather. I must admit the older I get the less I like it. The good side is everyone is here for a couple of days. Hope you have a nice meal with John and a lovely chat with your loved ones 😀
That is the best side of christmas – the gatherings! I do love to feed people! and getting ahead of the work is such a good idea – back to work Janet. ! c
So pleased all at the farmy are safe and well. Remember us to all the adopted farmy folk when you speak to them today or tomorrow. My day will be spent quietly alone at home (with phone calls) and the first toast of the day, as always, will be: To Absent Friends!
The celebration proper begins when Buffy brings Elly & George on 29th.
May 2016 be kind to you Celi, your family and all the Fellowship of the Farmy! Happy New Year.
You will be excited to see Elly after her last attempt to get there.. c
I sure will, the hugs are piling up!
Sounds like the Seek Shelter alert that goes out on the mobile phone network here when a cyclone is heading our way. Only of course, quite often the wind gets to the phone tower before the warning is issued. I’ve learned to become a Bureau of Meteorology addict, and I watch the satellite coverage every day when we’re in storm season. The loss of that lovely old barn is very sad, but how much sadder if it had been inhabited.
I hope you and Our John have a lovely peaceful day together, enlivened by lots of lovely laughter and catching up on the news with all your Farmy ‘children’ and friends. Thank you for allowing me to share Farmy life again this year, with its highs and lows, and to share in the wisdom and laughter of the Fellowship. See you soon! xxxx
John will be glued to his IPad as usual – it was a christmas present two years ago and I have not heard from him since. – this year i am giving him a new cast iron pot, a big one, he loves to cook on the fire and it might get him out of his chair – those things are so addicting.. c
Oh, I hear you. My John adores his tablet too… What a cunning plan with the cast iron pot, a clever distraction and one that will hopefully also result in something you can both eat!
Ecosystems indeed move slowly. It took decades for the wind to move that barn. I do hope the loss is not too devastating to the family. Happy phone calls, to you!
It is true that the barn was abandoned for years before her new owners came and hoped to recover her.. they are terribly sad.. c
New barns just aren’t the same. Thankfully they’ll turn old eventually.