It's Just A Stiff Breeze

If you don't live in ND, the past two days have been windy.  Even above the usual ND standard breeze.  Sustained winds above 45mph and gusts to 60mph!

That's not just breezy, that's hold onto your hats and small children.

When my brother went to grad school on the east coast there was a teaser on the nightly local news that said, "It'll be really windy tomorrow, stay tuned."  Being from ND where there is always a breeze, he thought he better stay tuned to see just how windy it would be.  In a few minutes, the weather person informed him that the really windy conditions would be 5mph and gusting to 10mph.  And they were serious!  That is windy just about any other place besides ND and maybe Antarctica.

These past two days have wreaked havoc on our farm.  High winds make the animals uneasy.  It makes my goats give about half of their usual milk supply.  It makes our electric net fences blow down and animals escape.  Our sheep, goats and cow are on the loose.  And by on the loose, I mean standing around our yard.  We haven't fenced them in yet, because the wind is still hellacious but is supposed to subside tonight.  Down to 15-20mph tomorrow.  Which is practically normal!

It reminds of two days exactly two years ago when we first built our HoopCoop.  (The hoophouse that our hens live in during the winter.)  We had a two day blizzard that October, on the 17th and 18th.  And it was those two days we put the rafters and cover on our hoophouse.

It all started innocently enough, with beautiful weather.

The kids were helping us set the posts (and dropping tools down the 3 foot pipes).

Then the weather took a turn for the worse.  We called Grandma to babysit and Hubby and I put on our long underwear and got busy.

Here is my beloved 12 feet off the ground in 50mph winds. 

Why wasn't I up there, you ask?

Because I was six months pregnant with this little cutie right here:

No ma'am, I stayed right there on the ground and held onto the giant plastic sheet that is the hoophouse cover.   

I am  happy to report that I was only lifted off the ground once by the violent winds.  I called my sister later that night and said, "If you would have looked up and saw a large white kite sailing over Iowa, it would have been me!"

But we fought through strong winds, frozen hands, wet clothes and damp directions to finish our hoophouse.  We moved the hens in the next day and they loved it!  Heck, WE loved it.  Most days it's warmer than Florida in there.

Here's hoping for a calm day tomorrow!!