Ok, so after the wind last week, I knew that my roof on the front barn wasn't so good, but I didn't realize until Thursday Afternoon, that I was missing not only the steel. I was missing sheets of plywood as well.....I normally don't get home from work late in the day so by the time I get the inside dogs out and taken care of, it is dark by the time I am ready to do chores. So, I didn't notice that the old barn had a skylight of anykind....I did wonder why I had chickens in the driveway two days in a row but couldn't really come up with an answer as to how they got out. So Thursday, answered all my questions.....I didn't have the time to repair it until Saturday so had to deal with the rounding-up of the chickens until then. So I picked up grain Saturday morning and then got right into repairing the roof. I had to get new 2x4's screwed into the sides of the existing 2x's...in the worst spot anyway, then put the stringers on and lay the steel back down. I did lose some steel, but I didn't have anymore to replace that so it is just bare plywood, which won't last long. It took me about half the day the get everything back down and such but it took me until late Sunday to finally find the missing plywood. It was on the south side of the highway about 70 feet east of my mailbox. It amazed me that it didn't whack my power pole or the wire itself, but there is was, laying the the ditchand from the looks of it, I don't think it touched anything on its way there. So everythign is back to the condition it was in last week, minus half a shhet of steel. Hopefully this summer I can get that part of the barn either torn down or re-built.

I watched and listen to the weather for a couple days, so I knew it was coming. The wind was supposed to start here yesterday around noon but that really did not happen. On my way home from work is when I could start to feel the long expected wind. It wasn't all that bad until about
10 to 15 mins after I got home. I'm not much for wind or storms, but all I can do is hope for the best. According to the weather reports we were supposed to be getting 40 to 55 mph sustained winds with gusts up to 60 mph. The new barn pictured here has already withstood 70mph winds , but with what was coming and knowing that you have a HUGE kite in your back yard, will still make you nervous.

Well, This barn is still standing this morning, it looks the same as I left it last night. The barn in the front was not as lucky. Half of the steel roofing on the west side is curled and flipped up against the peak. The stell sheeting that I took off the the old hog house is everywhere, heck some might be in PA, I'm not sure. The big metal feeder I had out in the pasture got blown across the pasture and into the fencing that comes off the back side of the old barn. I also heard a noise last night while I was sitting there feeling the house shake. I knew right away what the noise was, but didn't see it until this morning. It was a strange slapping noise. When I went out to do chores this morning I took a flashlight and checked on everything. That is when I found that the front of the house had some damage as well. Thanks goodness it was only one piece of siding. So, all in all things are ok here, no one was hurt, nothing collapsed,......and we move on

After giving this a little thought.......with the way the basement pump is pumping, 2010 might just be time for the Village of Uniopolis to have an indoor water park. I could be become almost solely responsible for growing economy of the little village. I could create jobs! Not only the construction phase, but once it's built, all the people that helped with construction could then be employed to work at the various rides!!!! Not to mention the concessions!! Maybe this rain is sign!!! Maybe it's my destiny!!

Well, seems last week we had almost a foot of snow on the ground. It hasn't been that many days since we were in -22 degrees F. It has been warming up a bit the last couple days to the point where I don't even have to bundle up to go outside. This morning around 3 or 4 a.m. the rains started! We are supposed to get around 2" today. As I was letting the dogs out this morning I flipped the basement light on to check on the basement repair mans handy work. I am now the proud owner of the Colorado River BASEMENT EDITION! That $5000 to keep my basement high and dry was money well spent! Having an INDOOR Rafting Adventure this close to home is AWESOME!

So, the Saga that IS my life, continues.