Country Life = Super Derecho

Were you hit hard by the Super Derecho? You know, that word no one ever heard of till the huge storm rolled across the midwest and Mid-Atlantic states on Friday, June 29.

We were lucky, we never lost power at home. The store was without power on Saturday, so I had to close. Considering what so many others were going through, that truly was no big deal.

I know lots of folks who were without power for several days, some for closer to 2 weeks. During a prolonged, sweltering heat wave. Never a good combination.

We had some branches down, even a tree, but again - considering what others were going through, that was no big deal.

We also had some rather amusing "damage".....

I looked out our kitchen window the next morning, and couldn't figure out what I was seeing.

It seemed as if a bucket was hanging in mid-air. Upon closer inspection, we saw that the wind had picked the bucket up, flung it across the yard, and it's handle got caught on an old farm implement in our flower bed.

And yes, other than the handle being caught, it was indeed hanging in mid-air.

Please don't look at the weeds. It's been very dry here for weeks, hardly any rain. But the weeds still thrive.

Actually, looking at these photos, I'm amazed at how green the grass was just 2 weeks ago. We've only had one brief rain since then, and our yard is getting more brown than green, and the dirt is turning to dust.

I saw a map of the drought areas, and to my surprise, we were not included in it. I'd hate to think how much worse it could get before we're declared a drought area.

Wonder what the criteria is? Maybe it's when even the weeds won't grow.

Rain is in the forecast for this weekend. We have our fingers crossed.

Oh - by the way - when we were traveling last weekend for our son's wedding, we saw lots of electric truck convoys on the move.

I don't know how much money those linemen make, but however much it is, it isn't enough. They have to work in the worst conditions...and we thank them.

Edited to add: Shortly after posting this, I saw in the newpaper that our area is classified as an "abnormally dry" area. Guessing that's one step below a drought?