5.03.2006,10:57 AM
Night Walk Devotion
Texas storms can be like the Tasmanian Devil. And we had a devilish one in the wee hours of this morning. Sheet and ground lightening and winds gusting up to 70 mph. Being on a hill in the central plains, 'gusts' are more like 'continuous' at my place. The house was rockin' and reelin', blowing through the windows like a devil. The drapes were parallel to the floor.

AT 2 am, unable to sleep with all the rockin' and noise, I got up and watched the light show for a bit. Then it hit me that the open side of the shed faces right into this hell-wind. Shit......

Donning some clothes and slipping into work boots with no socks or tying laces, I grabbed a flashlight and fought the wind to open the danged door, which then nearly flew off its hinges. Propelled forward with the backwind, digging my heels into the ground to keep upright, sheet lightening overhead, there I am, wandering out 400 feet from the house to check on the bike and its cover. Grabbing the post for stability in the darkness and roaring wind around me, the flashlight shone upon Red still standing, cover billowing out and flapping, but still secure. Leaves and dust strewn all over it. She needed a cleaning anyway.

Leaned into the wind on the way back, with an occasional losing ground as the wind circled and tunneled, challenging balance. Struggled back into the house with a bad case of wind-hair and covered in wind smells, shedding boots and clothes on the way back to bed. Took more than an hour to go back to sleep with the commotion.

Woke up to roof shingles in the yard (oh bother), cottonwood branches littering the drive way and near the pond, trees down in the road, the grill is still standing but was pushed about a dozen feet or so.
But it was still outside........... Wish I could have slept in.

Checked on Red on the way out. She's undisturbed in her stall, covered with wind droppings.

Second night with storms, and I am sleep deprived.
But the bike is safe.
 
posted by Macrobe
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