I’ve not done much today – just the usual, including labelling vegetables at Turriefield in the morning, making a sheep and mucking out the grubby little boys, and old ladies afterwards. I have also prepared 7 haynets which will keep every going for a little while.
The weather is cold and there is a mean rather fresh north wind. But it is nothing compared to my Florida friends who I worry for and I shall never complain about the Shetland weather again (but we all know I will). I can’t imagine how we would survive what they are about to go through. Thoughts and prayers don’t really seem enough. I keep going through the what-if scenario while tracking their hurricane. I think it is different for us because a) no storm surge, and b) very little flying debris as we don’t have trees. We do have the wind speed, though.
From Shetland.org – “Unofficially, the RAF station at Saxa Vord in Unst holds the British wind speed record; a gust of 197 mph was recorded in 1992, after which the measuring equipment blew away…”
So these are just random photos from my quiet day. Later, I will hang up haynets in the “red light quarter” of our croft, put the chickens and ducks to bed, finish making my unfinished sheep and transcribe another month of Aunt Kate’s diaries – 1939 so War has been declared and that, too, is very scary for the family.
What a stunning picture of Pepper. Hurricanes are nasty beasts. Thankfully Southern New England has been spared so far this year. The amount of damage the wind does to the tress is bad. But the worst is the rain and storm surges that bring muck, junk and devastation.
It is interesting to think of others living in climates so very different than ours. When I read of your gales or see everyone in jackets in the summer or see the mud, ‘I think that I would be too much of a softy yo cope.’ And yet here I sit, wondering when the hurricane will hit, when we’ll lose power, if our trees, that have to trimmed to hurricane readiness, will stand a sustained onslaught. I think all of us are adaptable to varying degrees, but it comes down to our past experiences. There has never been a year of my life when I have not gone through hurricanes. Yes, they are stronger, & ,yes, we don’t live on the coasts, but when we know a hurricane is coming, the preparation is engrained in us. However, your point about those on the coasts of my state is so very true. It looks like Milton might hit in the very same area as Ian did; there will be so much devastation. However, we go on because this is home.
thanks for your concern Frances. I am in New York and out of danger but my brother and his family are in the path of the hurricane as are my daughter in law’s parents. Thankfully they were spared from the first one two weeks ago but this one is taking a different path. Your blog is always a bright spot in my day.
I’ve got coworkers living in Tampa and it is so scary for them right now. One thing California doesn’t deal with is hurricanes or wind – however, we have wild fires, which are an entirely different (and also absolutely terrifying) beast.
No one is truly safe from the effects of climate change, seems like.
Sometimes we all need days like that, those “sometimes I sit and think, and sometimes I just sit” days.