Our elder son, Aaron, is in town for the coming month. He lives abroad off the grid, with his power coming from the sun and the wind and his water from a well on the property and a nearby spring. He lost everything two years ago when forest fires swept through his area but he’s rebuilt with concrete and, after teaching himself how to weld, with steel. Living that way is something he has wanted to do since he was a kid.
There was great irony in that I was talking with him by phone (the week following high winds that knocked out our power for many hours) about what we might be able to do for power with solar in the event we were without power again. It was 6:30 that Sunday night and I saw things outside my window turn from rainy grey to black and green with stuff blowing wildly our way. “This doesn’t look good,” I said and then the phone line went dead. Tornado debris from a nearby farm had blown into the power lines and cut off everything. Interesting to have had that conversation with Aaron just as we got hit with the tornado. Pieces of silo and barn roofing/siding still hang from trees around our area and are scattered through the woods, in ponds and by the side of the road. I’ve been working the chainsaw and splitting maul. Aaron did some wood splitting and stacking today while we were in Osceola; I appreciate his help.
No story spinning lately and just a couple of story readings still in the discussion stage. Soon enough a story line will keep me awake between 2 and 5 a.m. and I’ll be putting words on paper again.