Wind damage

The weather forecast had strong winds for today.  15-25 mph with gusts to 40 mph was the prediction.  At the airport near here the strongest sustained wind was 43 mph with a peak gust of 54 mph.  It did get windy in the early afternoon before I went uptown, in line with the weather prediction.  Before I went I decided to wash clothes as the wind would help dry my jeans on the clothesline.  I even moved my RV to allow the breeze to better reach my clothes.   Then I went uptown to get the items I won on the Monday night local auction.

I got 5 temporary corral panels.  I do have a number of panels but this group of five has one panel that had been modified to have a second set of "catches" used to pin two panels together.  With this panel I can split another line of panels to be perpendicular to the first line.

I also bought a temporary panel with a gate in it.  This I really wanted when I saw it.  It was one of six sold.

Not the panels I bought, but an example of what they look like.

The green panels normally sell new for $99.  I got mine for $64.40.  The panel with the gate normally sells for $260.  I bought mine for $92.  Maybe I should have bought a second panel even though right now I can only think of a use for just one panel.


When uptown I didn't really notice that the wind had picked up.  The wind was much stronger than predicted.  When I got home I found my clothesline was broken and my clothes scattered in the yard and the NE pasture.

I have a rotted post in the fence past the clothesline.  The fence boards were holding it upright but the fence was swaying back and forth.  I put a board on each side to brace the fence post as seen on the left side of the previous photo.

I discovered my bicycle cat wind spinner was missing the front wheel.  I eventually found the wheel out in the NE pasture.

My rain gutter downspouts were blown off and other stuff was strewn around the yard.

Then I noticed the cattle's loafing shed.  Almost a third of the roof was missing.  Usually when we get strong winds from a strong weather front, the wind comes from the north.  This time the wind came from the south and blew right into the loafing shed's opening.

The remaining roof was lifting in the wind gusts.  I grabbed a hold of the roof and pulled it back down.  Then I ran and got a chain and chained the roof down in front and in back.

The three middle posts appeared to have been tree trunks.  They had rotted just below ground level and all three had been pulled up out of the ground.  The back wall is leaning back a little bit.

I found the roof behind the loafing shed.

So my plans for this Fall have been drastically altered.  Now the top item on my agenda is to fix the loafing shed.  I'll have to replace the three posts in the front, then see how - or if - I can get the roof back on the shed.

The wind stripped all of the leaves from the box elder trees in the yard. I imagine that once I get out to the pasture I'll find one or more trees down.  The wind is still blowing strong and not predicted to die down until after midnight.  Earlier a few panels high on the hayshed were rattling in the wind. They looked like they will hold.  Still, I'll have climb up there and re-nail the ones that look to be loosening.

When I first got home the cows were in the middle pasture all excited.  They all looked to be ok.  Once they finally got used to the wind they settled down.