Cue the Next Storm

I had one eye on the weather when I got up yesterday morning. I knew a large line of thunderstorms had moved through Spokane overnight and was headed in our direction. The husband and I were sitting on the porch around 8 a.m. drinking coffee. I was watching it get darker and darker to the southwest of us, although the clouds appeared to be moving mostly to the north. All of a sudden, the wind came up and it started pouring. I ran inside to close some windows and the husband went out to make sure things were secure in the yard. As I came back down the stairs, I saw that a tree had come down in the front yard, and when I looked out the screen door in the kitchen, I could see large branches down in the back yard.

I also saw a little kid standing on the porch talking to the husband. Elysian’s son had started over to our house with a bag of egg cartons and got caught in the downpour. He was going to try to run back home across the road. I heard the husband say to him, “You’re not going anywhere; come in the house.” I got him a towel—he was drenched—and then the power went out.

Thankfully, we caught just the edge of the storm that went up through the valley. The damage in Kalispell was considerable. Our power came back on mid-afternoon, but some parts of the area are still out.

The top of this tree sheared off about 20 feet up. It missed the mailbox by about 3” when it landed:

(You would never know I cut the grass a few days ago, “grass” being a loose description of what grows in our yard.)

The top of another tree sheared off and fell behind the woodshed. And then there was this one:

It started to blow over but got hung up in another tree. Had it fallen, it would have landed in the middle of the old herb garden and possibly clipped the edge of the chicken yard.

The husband brought the forklift over and carefully lifted the tree up, moved it over, and dropped it in the woods where it wouldn’t do any damage.

More work to be added to the list of things to do. I should note that there used to be a large pile of chicken manure just to the left of where the forklift is sitting, but the husband used the backhoe to move all of it over to the garden for me on Saturday.

The husband fired up the generator so we could have power until the lines were fixed. He went out to work out in the new shop. I had trouble focusing on anything; even though we had power, the internet was out, so I couldn’t access the tutorial for the one project I really needed to work on. I basted a quilt together and then decided that it would be a good day for scrap management.

When I attended that online Accuquilt seminar a few weeks ago, I received a 20% discount coupon at the local quilt store. I picked up this strip die, which has turned out to be surprisingly useful:

I already have a die that cuts multiple 2-1/2” wide stripes. This die, however, cuts three strips in widths of 2”, 1-1/2”, and 1”. Sometimes I end up with a strip of fabric that is wider than 2-1/2” but narrower than 5”. I can’t cut that piece into 5” squares, and I may want strips narrower than 2-1/2” for some of my scrap quilts. This die is the perfect solution. I went through and cut all my large scraps, then emptied the scrap bag and went through that, too, cleaning up strips that had ragged edges. Now my strips are neat and tidy and ready for sewing:

I’ll have to start another scrap quilt soon.

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I am not unaware of what is happening around the country. My mother’s metal stamping plant is just to the east of downtown Cleveland, and there was rioting and damage in Cleveland Saturday night. DD#2 and her housemates—all Gonzaga grads—had gone to Spokane for the weekend and were headed back to Seattle. They had to detour to get back to their house because I-5 was closed in and out of downtown Seattle. (They live about half an hour north of downtown.) DD#2 was supposed to work yesterday, but because of the damage done to Nordstrom’s downtown Seattle store, the stores in the outlying suburbs were all closed.

I don’t feel the need to add my voice or opinion to the cacophony—indeed, I think that social media is, in many ways, contributing to the problem, not helping it. However, that doesn’t mean that I am not concerned about what is happening. I like to think of myself as fairly resilient when it comes to upheaval, but 2020 continues to stun me with the series of sucker punches it has delivered.