Some kinda something

Yesterday, some sort of weird storm blew through town.  We had 75 mile per hour winds, an enormous amount of rain, and the loudest thunder ever!  I was at my office looking out at the fountain created by the water rushing down the street toward the storm drains!  At the same time, I was wondering if I should have made a run over to Mallory's to use her basement!  The radio was saying straight line winds and baseball size hail.  I am super happy that the hail stayed pea size, but that wind was crazy!  

I don't know if you can tell, but a big tree fell down in the street where Jim usually parks his truck!  I am glad we had ridden together yesterday and his truck was not in town!  I was also worried because the kids were at home, and the power was out, and my cell wasn't working.  Preston was in charge, and he did make the girls stop playing outside to come in for a while!  :)  We did not get the same storm at our house as the one that hit town.  We had some rain, but apparently not the wind.  I am thankful for that too!  

Jim and the city crew were out before the storm was even over, moving trees off of the streets, and assessing the damages.  There is so much tree damage! 

Also damaged, this grain storage bin at the co-op.  The wind knocked it off the foundation and put a pretty good dent in the side.  Jim said they had to get an engineer to determine whether it was stable, and had to shut the road down for a while as a result.  It is crazy to think that straight wind did this!  

The wind also took the roof off of the local storage units.  The tin is all wrapped around the across the road.  Of course, since we are still not doing much, the kids and I took a small  tour around town.  We also brought Jim lunch and his truck, so it wasn't a complete "ambulance chasing, nosy neighbor" kind of trip!  I am feeling lucky that nobody was hurt during this craziness.  There will be a lot of clean up, many new roofs put on, and a busy couple of weeks at the city's tree dump, but overall, we are good!

Not storm related, but this bird is so handsome!  Sometimes I just have to take his picture.  He is an interesting pet.  The kids want to be his friend.  They all want him to love them, but he really only loves Quincy.  He tolerates me and Harper.  Saige is terrified of him because he sometimes bites for no reason.  He annoys Preston!  Of course, I have seen Preston try to play with him....but Frankie doesn't love men, so it is a constant question of whether he will tolerate the love or not.  He does not love Jim - at all.  We do enjoy him though, such an intelligent animal!