We’ve had quite the wind swept weekend here in Walla Walla.
Friday morning, I was awoken by an old man screaming obscenities into the 70 mile an hour winds, as he try, unsuccessfully, to keep his garbage can from flying away.
I rose from my bed and peered through my bedroom blinds, to see my neighbor barking and biting at the wind, like a rabid dog, shaking his fists in the air, as if to say,
“Bring it on wind, I spent my younger years as a Navy Seal. I’ll whoop your butt!”
After greeting the new day with a nice little chuckle, I rubbed my eyes and tripped my way down the hallway to Jason’s office. He no-sooner got out the words,
“Well, looks like we’re having quite the windstorm. I just hope we don’t lose pow….”
Then, just like that, our power was gone.
Less than an hour later, we received a call from my parents that they needed help trying to keep one of their outbuildings from completely blowing away!
It just happens to be the outbuilding where my dad keeps his beloved Hovercraft.
I have fond memories of hanging out in my dad’s shop while he worked on it. For hours and hours. Day after day.
His baby was under the outbuilding during the storm and the wind blew the trusses onto it!
I know, you can barely see it, but to a man with a blue baby that just had it’s 40th birthday, this is a huge boo-boo that sticks out like a sore thumb!
This photo was also taken after an hour of back-breaking labor and a tub of Turtle Wax.
We spent Friday evening at the in-laws in hopes they would take pity on our souls and feed us.
Of course, they did. And they even took the grandkids down to the local Firehouse where Grandpa is a Procurement Officer.
We spent Saturday night with my parents since they had their power but we were still without.
I can’t tell you how nice it is to have close family that are willing to take in you and your three bratty ragamuffins in the midst of a storm.
If not for them, we’d have been sleeping in our 50 degree cave house. Which is exactly what we did the night before. (Not again, thank you!)
By Sunday morning, we were ready to go home and sleep in our own beds again. Around noon, our next door neighbor called and told us the power was back on.
Back at home, there was a sink full of crusty dishes just waiting to be used in a science experiment to be soaked and a washing machine full of rank sour clothes.
Our house looked like a war-zone.
After tidying up a bit, we decided to drive around town and take a look at some of the damage.
This is a tree inside the cemetery where my husband and I ate lunch together when we were dating.
And this is the barn that my husband and I drove out to to take pictures of when we were dating. We always come back to this barn to reminisce on our courtship.
Spofford Road barn, originally uploaded by walla2chick.
It’s sad.
The Valley also lost a beloved place for families to go for inexpensive entertainment on the weekends. We could take our entire family of five there for $6.
The Drive-In. One of the very few that was left in the nation.
And now, it’s gone.
And the place where we take the kids to walk every day…
It will probably be closed for at least a month, while they clean it up and try to return some dignity to each and every tombstone that was destroyed.
I can’t imagine the work that the city has ahead of them, between the garbage that was strewn all over town to the fallen trees, torn up sidewalks and fallen power lines.
I am so thankful to the people that work for Pacific Power, who have undoubtedly been working day and night to get everyones power back up.
And it has been amazing to see how quickly the fallen trees get chopped up and removed from the street after just driving by an hour earlier.
I doubt the city will qualify for Disaster Relief but you never know. I am sure, all that I have witnessed is only a mere fraction of what this storm has actually done to the community.
Time will tell.
Hoping all of you had a better weekend than us!
15 responses to “Weekend Update: Riding out the storm…”
Jeez and crackers, that was SOME storm. I am grateful that you and yours are safe.
My sympathies to your dad. Clearly the man has some good taste. Sweet ride.
My sentiments exactly, glad you are all ok. We had just the tail end of the storm here, a couple of trees down around town but very little damage.
Glad you are all safe and back home. So sorry about your Dad’s losses.
We’ve had storm warnings here since Friday, but luckily have only had a little wind and a few showers.
Hope you get some sunshine soon!
The devastation and destruction there is incredible! One hardly considers how powerful a force the wind can be unless it’s associated with a hurricane or tornado. I can’t believe there hasn’t been a lot of news coverage on it because I haven’t seen anything about it here. So sorry to hear about all the damage at your dad’s place but I’m so glad you’re all safe and sound!
evie
Oh how sad. If it makes you feel at all better, we have a drive-in in my town and it’s BOOMING. Hopefully yours gets rebuilt. but that old barn…
It was actually fun having you all here for a couple of days. Seemed awfully quiet after you left yesterday… still haven’t found our camera even though I braved the freezing wind and blowing snow to look around the outbuildings and the property. Darn! I keep thinking your Dad set it down somewhere without thinking, but who knows where.
Glad you finally have power!
I can’t believe there wasn’t more coverage, either. But then again, we didn’t have snow mixed in with our high winds. The places that did really had some doozies of some disaster scenes on the news.
When we called Pacific Power on Friday, they said that there was over 31,000 Customers currently without power. That was between Eastern Wash., Idaho, Southern Oregon and even Northern California.
Again, I can’t imagine all the long hours those workers put in for all of us helpless (and inpatient) folk. What troopers!
Ohmyword! Thank goodness you only lost power! Yikes!
…the barn made me sad 🙁
BUT… I also thought how lucky that you’d taken that picture!
wow…
I had no idea about the damage in your area–the levee break in Truckee is what got all the coverage. Having had a front row seat to the firestorms in San Diego (Cedar and Witch Creek), I can tell you it takes a little while to recover your equilibrium, even if you personally didn’t lose anything.
My boys are salivating over the pre-storm hovercraft–you must have had a good time growing up!
glad to read that you and yours are safe minus some damage to your parents’ things. (the car brings tears to my eyes.) it’s terrible that so many special places have been damaged. sometimes i think that is almost god’s way of renewing places though. if you want to try to think of it in philosophically terms.
Jenn,
I hadn’t even heard about the levee, due to our power being out! I feel TOTALLY out of the loop!
And yes, growing up with a dad who is a kid at heart was definitely fun! 🙂
Sarah,
Around town, the thing I feel worst about is all the very old trees in the cemetery where we walk. You just can’t replace those. Not right away!
Some were almost 100 years old!
BTW, where has your blog gone??
I miss it! 🙂
Oh my goodness! Kalurah!
I ‘m so glad you’re all safe. What a nightmare! Those pictures are amazing. It’s crazy what the wind can do when it gets a hanking for destruction. It’s too bad about the barn.
Now, quit pissing off the Gods, would ya?
oh man… it’s heartbreaking. the barn- so sad.
i’m glad to hear all you lost was electricity… your poor dad
I never heard about this, and yet the photos look JUST like our hurricanes. Didn’t you have the weather reporters in their windbreakers, standing diagonally against the stream of wind? I wish they had, so we could think of you all that day.
So sorry about the barn, and the big trees. We’ve lost so many in our area (huge oak trees and pecan orchards). That’s an unreplaceable loss. 🙁
Just Pure Lovely,
Our local news station is 50 miles NW and while this storm was happening, there was a Tornado that swept over Vancouver, WA. So, I think they felt that’s where they had a bigger story!
Thanks for lurking my blog. I’ll be sure to check out yours! 🙂