A Windy Day
Today: A 20 percent chance of showers. Areas of blowing dust. Partly cloudy, with a high near 70. Windy, with a southwest wind 28 to 31 mph increasing to between 41 and 44 mph. Winds could gust as high as 60 mph.Today was windy. Julie and I canceled our morning walk and found inside activities. The wind generator shrieked throughout the day and things that I thought I had secured firmly changed locations at the whim of the wind.
Yesterday we accomplished part of our outside work. We're preparing for winter weather and have a list of things to complete so we can move to inside projects.
One of our inside projects is the installation of a two feet by 25 feet tile counter in the sun room. Last winter we purchased saltillo tile on Craigslist, small blue tile from Habitat for Humanity and a few colorful trim tiles from a local business. Yesterday with blue skies and pleasant breezes we settled on a pattern, cut the tile and returned it to storage until a cold weekend when we'll install it. I'm glad I didn't leave that task for today.
Tile awaiting installation. (Larger version)
This afternoon about four o'clock I got cabin fever and decided to brave the wind and take a short walk. Normally I tip my head into the wind and remain ready to grab my cap. Today, I pulled a hooded sweatshirt over my cap, went to my shed and got a pair of earmuffs that I wear when operating loud power equipment. My cap never moved.
Earmuffs on a windy day.
Next weekend is a play weekend. We have a permit for a backpacking trip to Keet Seel on the Navajo Reservation. I'm glad our permit wasn't for this weekend. The hike includes sandy ground. Forty miles per hour winds and sand wouldn't make an enjoyable hike nor a peaceful night in a tent.
posted by Paul at 8:03 AM
2 Comments:
Paul,
How did the plastic on your hoop houses do in the heavy wind condition?
Tim
Tim,
I had the plastic cut and installed temporarily until I had the bed planted. I monitored the temperature inside on Saturday and raised one end to do some venting. I decided to cut some semi-circular ends for the bed and install manual vents to make it easier to control the temperature and to insure the plastic would remain in place in strong winds. I didn't get this done on Saturday so the plastic was held down by 16 pavers which didn't provide much weight or appropriate distribution. Good for a strong breeze but not a real wind.
About 5 AM on Sunday morning the wind picked up and I heard the leeward side begin to flap so I removed the plastic. It's warm now and I don't need it yet so I'll not reinstall it until I have it ready for permanent installation.
The wind moved the large piece of corrugated pipe about 20 feet. It probably weighs about 300 pounds. It's didn't roll the pipe, it pivoted it on one end then rolled it. I could see the scuff marks on the ground to tell how it moved.
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