North Coast weather can be dramatic

So our North coast weather kicked our asses again over the last week or so. First came the rains, and then the winds began . . . .

I understand some of the gusts exceeded eighty mph. I do know that living in the forest can be quite unnerving at times like this . . . .
We had just started to drop off to sleep, when we were shaken out of bed by a loud crash, and pictures on the walls and stuff on the shelves came falling to the floor.

A rather large branch had dealt our bedroom a glancing blow. We moved into the living room, and other branches and one small tree also fell quite close to our sleeping quarters, as these photos taken the next morning show.

This is a rather good sized redwood branch, which missed the back wall of our bedroom by inches.

By the next day the power was out, and our phone was also a fond memory. We were basically stuck on the coast, with the major and secondary roads all blocked by fallen trees and downed power lines. Our water is fed by an electric pump, so there was no water, and we were using buckets of rain water to flush our toilets. The power was out for us for three and a half days, and we just got the phone service back yesterday.

This is what it is like here. We are blessed with the beauty of the redwoods, cypresses, and pines, but they can turn into real danger when the rain and wind combine to bring them down. It is very humbling to know that we are a very small, even minor part of this great Northwest Nowhere. And as we sat in the dark, huddled around our wood stove, we were reminded just how fragile our infrastructure really is. No telephone, no television, no internet---just candles, books, and some cards and Scrabble for entertainment.

We lost power for a few days. In Iraq the people are lucky to have power and water for a few hours a day. I certainly gives me a bit to think about.