Stormy weather

I woke up on Monday morning and heard the local news discussing this horrible storm that tore through Greenwood County the previous night, causing lots of damage. I live in Greenwood County but I didn't remember a storm. Then they gave the location of the damage and I gasped.... right where the farm is located. Yikes!

We headed straight out, my 5-yr old daughter and me, praying that everything and everyone was in one piece. I was encouraged at first coming down the very long and winding drive. But the closer I got to the animals, the more I noticed that things were no longer where they used to be. Chicken coops over, chickens running everywhere, miscellaneous furniture blown all over the place. The Donkey Pasture was suddenly the recipient of my large well cover, the lawn mower cover, a rocking chair and a few other items. It was also missing the donkeys. I found them wandering around the back of the property, all in one piece thankfully.

Our little farm house sustained a lot of damage. My beautiful futon swing, heavy and metal, was carried about 2 acres uphill and left in pieces. My grill even moved all the way across the deck and only stopped because it smashed into the rest of my deck furniture. Somehow my little orchard survived with only a few apples toppled off one tree. Even the blueberries were unscathed.

A few hours later, and with the help of Big Dwain, our new farm guy, we uprighted what we could and set things somewhat back to normal. A little sweet feed helped me coerce the donkeys back to where they belonged. The goats seemed fine, even the new babies. Thankfully the worst of the damage was downhill from all the animals and they were somehow protected. My chicken coops are repaired, dinged up but functional, and all the chickens are safe. I said a prayer of Gratitude to the Lord for watching over our animals and for sparing so much of what we've worked so hard on these last few months. My husband should be proud that our hand-built chicken run survived without any hint of damage! Woo hoo!!!

Our entire property is pasture land which makes for lots of wind and nothing to block it.  It's rather hilly, okay... it's very hilly, and I'm sure that will help in the future. Still... once was enough.

The local news reported the next day that it was not a Tornado. Just very heavy straight line winds of up to 80 miles an hour. Oh, is that all??? I'm so glad we weren't out there. I would have been so scared, and if I would have been scared, I know the kids would have been!