Windy

We just passed a blogging milestone. This is post #501! Boy, somebody around here is sure long-winded! It's hard to believe I've written that much. And, harder to believe people actually read all this hot air!

Speaking of wind, we've had more than our share. We found ourselves on the very southern tip of The Great Blizzard of 2011, aka, Snowtorious BIG or (my personal favorite) the Blizzard of Oz. While we are hundreds of miles south of the snow and ice, we got a not-so-healthy blast of wind and cold.

Yesterday's high was 70 degrees. But, we knew it was coming. Last night's forecast called for a chance of storms late with temps dropping to something near freezing after sunrise.

Mother Nature had other ideas.

About 1:30 everybody in our house was jolted awake by a sudden gust, which we later discovered clocked in at 56 mph. Power was knocked out for a second or two. Chairs, tables, bikes and anything not tied down went flying. And the temperature tumbled 20 degrees in a matter of minutes. After that first gust, the winds settled down to something in the 30 mph range. Eventually, a few raindrops fell. Later, they sounded like ice pellets. Within minutes, our household was back to sleep.

In the morning light, we surveyed the situation. Thankfully, the precipitation failed to accumulate. Only our grill was standing in the same place it was last night. Although disheveled, all of our outdoor belongings were present and accounted for. We were most curious about the temperature. Our remote thermometer read 36 degrees. Bullwinkle's thermometer read 25. Our money was on the moose's reading. The big question was, where was the outdoor thermometer? Obviously, it was in a place that was 11 degrees warmer!

As Paul stepped out in the frigid air to restore order to our site, he went in search of the thermometer. He found it on the ground under the back end of the moose, some 40 feet from its proper place! He also noticed our driver's slide cover flapping in the breeze. We're hoping it's nothing serious. We'll have it checked out tomorrow. Meanwhile, we'll keep our gloved fingers crossed!

Today's temperatures never made it to freezing, and they're not expected to until Friday. The overnight lows are supposed to drop well into the teens. With Paul's chili in the crockpot and a Kansas basketball game on tonight's agenda, we're all set. Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone north of us taking the brunt of this storm. Here's hoping our peeps in Kansas City and surrounding areas stay safe, warm and dry.

Meanwhile, here's to our next 500 posts. We'll do our best to keep the wind to a minimum!