Last night, the storm hit.
Not as bad as in other areas. Especially to the north and south of us. It was also quite brief but, for the time in where here, it hit hard.
The first sign of things was losing our internet. Thankfully, we did not lose power, though I later learned my brother did, briefly. Then I started hearing a lot of footsteps rushing around upstairs. A leak started at the window. This leak has been a problem in the winter, where an ice dam would form. It has never leaked during a rain storm. The roof is still under warranty, though, so we’ll be able to contact the company and see what they can find. That portion of the roof cannot be seen from the ground, and none of us are able bodied enough to climb up there to look.
Even I started having a leak in my bedroom window. The one that did not get replaced by a new window before we moved out there because my mother suddenly decided she was not going to pay for that one last window. This is an original window from my childhood, but I don’t know if it’s original from when this portion of the house was built in the 30’s. I know the molding around it is more modern, but when it installed.
When it started to develop problems, as did pretty much all the other windows, instead of fixing or replacing them, my parents installed panels of what is probably Lexan, not Plexiglass. This window is two parts, side by side. One side has a screen and a handle that could be turned to open the window, while the other side is just a plain double paned window, and each side has its own panel. Once the panels were installed inside, the screen side of the window could no longer be opened. In the last couple of years, I discovered that when the rain was driven from the north, a drip would start from the frame between the panel and the glass window, on the side without the screen. Last fall, I used spray seal around the entire window frame. It hadn’t leaked again until last night – and the leak was on the inside of the room, not between the window and the panel! It wasn’t much, but it was also a first.
Checking the sun room critter cam at one point during the night, I saw both a skunk and a raccoon at the kibble trays. They were both so completely soaked, I didn’t have the heart to chase them off! There were quite a few cats in their shelf at the window, sheltering from the storm, and none of them were the least bit bothered by each other.
When the storm passed by, we still had high winds all through the night, and through all of today.
When I came out to do the cat feeding this morning, I was very saddened to find this.
That is one of the sliding panels that forms both a window and a door on one side of the isolation shelter.
Sweetie is gone.
My guess is that, during the storm, the thunder and lightening scared her enough that she blaster herself into the window. The panel is flexible, and it would have bents and popped off the tracks completely.
Poor Sweetie!
There was no sign of her, anywhere, but there are many places she could hide, too. I put the panel back on, then opened the ramp door and the other sliding window a few inches while adding some kibble to the bowl. Then I made sure to mix up some cat soup and leave some in there. I’m hoping Sweetie will find things familiar, and remember that the house is where there is safety, comfort and delicious food she doesn’t have to hunt for.
Once the cats were fed, I did extended rounds, looking for storm damage – the first of which was really, really obvoius.
The first two images are of the West yard. The dead portion of a huge maple finally broke.
I was not surprised. If anything, I was surprised there wasn’t more. This tree is part of a row of three. The one in the middle is already dead and, when it broke in the winter, the piece fell on my market tent we had set up by the fire pit. Part of it embedded itself into the ground, and I wasn’t able to clear it until spring, when the ground thawed enough. The third three in this group is at least half dead, and I am fully expecting the dead parts to fall in high winds, too.
I had actually checked everything else, including around my brother’s stuff, when I came back into the inner yard through the gate by the fire pit. That’s when I noticed Colby sitting in a maple and paused to take a picture.
Which is when I realized, the tree he was on was freshly broken.
When I cam closer, I found it had come down in two large pieces. One of them landed mostly on the branch pile we have as fuel for the fire pit, and both where mostly hidden by the tall grass and weeds in that area. I simply couldn’t see them, earlier!
I checked the garden beds, of course. A branch and partially fallen on the tomato bed in the east yard. That bed has the box frame on it, which protected the bed and the branch fell mostly into the path, instead.
Everything else held.
While checking on the beds, I spotted these.
The Spring Blush peas have quite a few pods on them. They are underdeveloped, still, but they already have the pink blush on them.
Everything else in the garden held out fine.
I made sure to update my brother about the damage. He has all the paperwork for the roof.
By late morning, I started to head out to the city, making sure to stop at the post office, first. My husband’s forms to renew his Disability Tax Credit was ready to mail. I also picked up our mail and found my replacement debit card was in – the one they mailed a month before my old one was supposed to expire still hasn’t arrived. The card could be activated by a purchase, so I bought a 40 pound bag of kibble that I wanted to pick up, anyhow.
From there, I went into the city and did our shopping, which will be covered in another post. While I was gone, I was kept updated by the family on the continued severe wind conditions.
After I got back, the truck unloaded and parked, I stayed out a bit longer. The girls had already fed the outside cats, but I used some of the freeze dried cat food mix to make a cat soup. I put most of it in the isolation shelter, in hopes of luring Sweetie, and poured the rest into the sun room trays. The cats were very excited for the treat!
I did see a skittish tabby in the white lilacs when I came back from parking the truck, but I wasn’t sure if it was Sweetie or another tabby. Possibly Flopsy.
I so hope she is doing okay, and learned to come back to the house for food and water!
In the time since I did the damage check this morning, quite a few smaller branches came down – especially the willow – but there was no other large drops like that section of the giant maple that came down last night.
One thing I can see I am very happy about it the chicken coop. One of our concerns was that it would blow over. It did not. It was well sheltered from the wind by botht he house and the surrounding trees.
The last thing I checked was the old kitchen garden, where I found sprig.
This morning she was among the cats eating on the cat house roof. I was able to put my hand on her back and even rub her shoulders a bit! Then she ran off. Not far, though. Just to the next pile of kibbled on the roof.
Progress!
This evening, she was in what seems to be her favourite place, now that the netting here has been redone.
She really, really loves to be on or near the garden netting!
While I was gone, my older daughter got some good news. A call from a doctor. She now has a pre-op consultation with a referred doctor.
In a clinic in the city, of course. Not a close one, either. No matter! Surgeries can take years to happen here in Canada, so if this is being expedited, we are thankful!
The consultation is in the second half of July, so we have time.
After this consultation, it’s a guessing game to know when she will actually get her surgery. I don’t know what kind of waiting list this procedure has. It could be weeks, it could be months, it could be years. Canada is a place where people die on waiting lists. Thankfully, her condition is not life threatening anymore, now that she knows what is happening and can take medication for it. The surgery is the alternative to being on medication for the rest of her life!
Now, we just need for the truck to hold out.
The Re-Farmer
The Re-Farmer 