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Friday, January 30, 2009

When the wind blows...



We used to live next door to the family that had this happen. In fact the tree that you see was on the property we were renting. We were always a bit nervous having so many big trees around, but I wouldn't have had the heart to cut them down either. Kinda makes me glad we have smaller trees or trees that would be unlikely to hit structures (there is only an apartment parking lot the direction the wind would blow a tree down) now that we own our house.
I remember once when Ariana sat at the base of that now fallen tree to draw and she ended up with so much sap in her hair that I was afraid I would have to shave her head to get it out. That was when I discovered the peanut butter treatment. It took an afternoon of peanut butter treatment followed by shampooing then more peanut butter, but by the end of the day the sap was all gone. I'm pretty sure that will be a lesson Ariana and I remember forever.

I'll have to try and get pictures of some of the collapsed cyclone fences around my area with stumps nearby. It is a pretty common sight. I think there are 8-10 on the main roads within a couple miles of my house. I didn't pay that much attention to the news on how gusty the wind was, but it was likely in the 60mph range for about 4 days (with constant wind in the 30-45 range). All I know is when a gust blew by you had to turn and hudle up a little to keep from being blown over. Last winter (or was it the winter before?...) we had 65-75mph gusts that took off my chimney cap. We never found any evidence of where it went, it was just gone. That is the price we pay for living near the Columbia Gorge!

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Do Schools Kill Creativity?

I couldn't have said it better myself.