It was 75 degrees here yesterday, a nice temperature except for the wind that blew all afternoon. We have wind here. Today it blew steadily from the west all afternoon at 28 mph, with gusts up to 39. We had dust storms in town. My office building is heated with steam heat, and it has not yet been shut off. There is no air conditioning because the hot water still in the pipes. If I opened my west facing window to cool down, I was deafened by the sound of the wind blowing in and scattering all the papers on my desk. I have coworkers with asthma and allergies who suffer when these winds blow like this. There is no containing the wind.
Tell stories or poems about the wind.
sounds like work at home conditions
LikeLiked by 1 person
my dad used to say you you tell a person from north dakota , they walk at a 30 degree list
LikeLiked by 6 people
wind story #1
my date with debbie to downtown chicago when my kids were 2&4 i think has been mentioned here a couple times before but it was so memorable i love telling it again
i’m going to try voice recognition so excuse my random capital letters
we were downtown by the artist étude on a beautiful July afternoon listening to musicians play in the park and enjoying the people watching when we decided it was time to head back to the train and out to the suburbs where her folks live… Walking back down Jackson Street for about eight blocks to the train station I looked up to see off in the distance a cloud bank rolling in and taking away the buildings one block after another after another coming at us at a rate that was certain to arrive within one minute… We were still four blocks from the train station and I pointed to the site and told Debbie we should find a place for shelter and we begin heading to the nearest building grabbing a kid each I put the four-year-old on my neck and threw the two-year-old on her neck and as I did this the wind it was such a gale force that it began blowing us backwards… The newspaper stands and garbage cans blew over and down the road a person who was walking by a half a block up came rolling by and as we tried to get through the revolving doors in one of the office buildings the doors got jammed with stuff blowing off the buildings and getting caught in the doors as they revolved
It was all over in one minute and we survived but it was the strangest experience of being involved in a flat wind phenomenon that I have ever been in
LikeLiked by 5 people
Glad you retold – I either missed or forgot it… : }
LikeLike
operation went fine now the hard part
do nothing for 10 days that involves lifting
LikeLiked by 6 people
Oh good.
LikeLike
wind story #2
i had a rare moment when reflection was the goal and a bing a vw bus and a tent on route to the north shore was all i needed
drive up
looked for a cool spot, found it and set up my tent rounded up firewood and noticed it was really elevated distinctly where i was hanging out
looked to be the highest point and uniquely set up so you could see for a long distance in all directions
got my vw with the door open getting ready to start my fire. it always amazes me how long it takes to make dinner when camping
it’s hours to end up with hot dogs and beans but the show must go on. my fire building style calls for a tee pee of the tiny twigs making a dimmer plate sized arrangement surrounded by a log cabin the size of the 18” logs i had split to make the firewood pile. i got that already and you know how you notice the weather changing while your standing in it? clouds blew in the air smelled of rain and the temp dropped 15 degrees in 3 minutes. it got my attention
i went up to the top of the hill but i had to push real hard because the wind was in my face
when i got to the top i couldn’t stand up there because it was just too strong a wind
get behind a big tree to block it and watch the branches from tree tops all around bend and sway as far as they could like a movie with the witch in the woods
the car was down the hill and i started towards it and the rain started
hard rain in big drops that hurt with the wind make a weapon of it
i jumped in the van and was drenched. it was cold and blowing and the scenic spot i picked in the sunshine did have serious drawbacks in this situation so i could have left but my tent and tools and supplies were out there getting pounded. i should have stayed after waiting it out but it just pissed me off that i misjudged the spot so badly that i left and found a different much less dramatic spot that worked for me that night
wet me wet
LikeLiked by 5 people
sudden ending bit i guess that’s a good place to stop
wet me wet gear wet tools
weather makes it breaks a memory doesn’t it
LikeLiked by 3 people
hey renee they sell those free standing room air conditioners for about $350 at retail
you have this happen every year
just buy it and caragorize it as office supplies
bet the governor has ac
LikeLiked by 2 people
What will happen is that the University will shut down the boiler for the heating system on May 15th, and then we will have a cold snap and there will be no heat and we will all freeze and wrap up in coats and blankets in our offices.
LikeLiked by 3 people
I’m glad to see that you’re back in top form, tim. Keep washing those hands, an no heavy lifting or strenuous work of any kind.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Doctor’s orders. Signed PJ, MD.
LikeLiked by 6 people
That is Dr. PJ Baboon, MD
LikeLiked by 5 people
My Great Uncle Pete Krueger saw Jesus by the windmill. He also saw Jesus in the bedroom closet. My grandmother, Pete’s sister, believed it was a miracle. She didn’t know Pete was a secret drinker.
LikeLiked by 5 people
The spirits caused him to see.
LikeLiked by 3 people
I saw Jesus once on a frosted strawberry Pop-tart. Does that mean I’m a drinker?
LikeLiked by 2 people
Not necessarily. But it doesn’t rule it out.
LikeLiked by 2 people
You are only a drinker if he spoke to you.
LikeLiked by 2 people
The National Weather Service here uses the word “Breezy” to describe the winds we had yesterday. That is not how I define breezy. One of the weather forecasters says there are regional variations, and that to the NWS, breezy and windy mean the same thing.
LikeLike
Air moving over land is wind. Air moving over water is a breeze.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Did you just make that up, Steve, or is that ground in… something?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Made it up, but there is something there.
LikeLiked by 2 people
It sounded good to me. I was going to buy it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Or a hurricane.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I don’t have any particular wind stories of my own, so I googled “crazy from prairie wind”, remembering the things I had read about prairie madness and came up with this, which I found interesting:
https://www.npr.org/2014/11/22/365691849/in-the-homesman-wind-is-the-sound-of-insanity
LikeLiked by 4 people
I think Giants in the Earth deals with the madness caused by the wind on the SD prairie.
LikeLike
Fascinating.
LikeLike
I’ll think of something eventually, but these lyrics come to mind from a favorite Judy Collins song:
Blow you old blue Northern, blow my love to me.
He’s driving in tonight from California…
And several of you may remember this:
LikeLiked by 2 people
https://www.google.com/search?q=lyrics+to+someday+soon+by+judy+collins&oq=lyrics+to+someday+soon&aqs=chrome.3.69i57j0l7.14052j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Where would he be going for a Northern to be blowing him from California?
LikeLike
I think the lyrics say Colorado, not California, but that doesn’t really make sense, either.
LikeLike
The lyrics say both…
LikeLiked by 2 people
A few years ago we drove to visit an Aunt in Mississippi. On the way back we stopped at a rest stop in Kansas. It was 110 degrees and the wind was blowing about 30-40 MPH and it was a hot wind and it just wore you out to stand there. Saw some guys on motorcycles stop and I just couldn’t imagine how hot that must be.
Have had some good T-storms and wind, but nothing stands out. Trees down, machine shed roof windows blown out (those green fiberglass translucent things- they get old and brittle) But nothing too crazy.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Do you still have a working windmill, Ben?
LikeLike
We never had a windmill. Partially, we’re down in a valley with fresh water springs. (We explain that’s why we’re so far off the road, because the settlers came to the water) and partially dad always said you’d want the windmill pumping in the evening when doing chores and cattle were drinking and the wind always dies down about 5:00 PM.
He talked about threshing crews would set up down around the barns and either it was too sheltered to get much wind or the wind always died out about the time they started.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Carol Burnett “ Went With the Wind”
LikeLiked by 3 people
Oh my god, that’s hilarious. I vaguely remember seeing it before, but had forgotten most of the delightful details.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Many years ago when my son was in his teens he spent waaaaay toooooo much time watching the Comedy Channel. He was doing that one day when he was supposed to be doing his chores. I came roaring up the stairs ready to give him a piece of my mind and take away some privileges. He was roaring with laughter and told me “This is the funniest thing I have ever seen.” I looked. There was Carol Burnett and Company playing out “Went with the Wind.” It was the only thing he could have been watching that would get him off the hook. Of course, Carol was/is my hero. I still like his taste in humor.
LikeLiked by 3 people
This is one of my absolute favorites of her sketches
LikeLiked by 1 person
LikeLiked by 2 people
I wondered when someone would post this!
LikeLike
I wonder what they call the dirt.
LikeLike
Kurt, Dirk, Derick, Sue, Archibald, Rodrick, Bob, Bill, Trump?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dirty Mc Dirtface.
LikeLiked by 3 people
While I was busy watching Went with the Wind, you stole my song, lcl. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Lcl…Thanks for posting this. I’ve been thinking about this song!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Excellent – that’s what I was trying to think of.
LikeLiked by 1 person
LikeLiked by 2 people
Forty some odd years ago, I was camping in the BWCA with a bunch of friends. On our fourth day in the wilderness a storm blew in. Tempting as it was to seek shelter in our tents from the rain that was pelting down on us, we didn’t dare for fear of being crushed by trees that were falling down all around us. That was one cold, wet and miserable night, and portaging out of there the following day wasn’t a whole lot of fun either because of all the downed trees.
It was on that same trip that we visited Dorothy Molter in her cabin on a tiny island in Knife Lake.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I’d be surprised if Chris doesn’t have a wind story from the BWCA knowing how much time he has spent up there.
Which reminds me of paddling on Ima Lake on a fairly windy day. My paddling partner on that day happened to be Bob Jackson. I had been in a car accident a couple of weeks prior to the trip and still had a bruised right shoulder. I’m not a strong paddler under the best of circumstances, so whoever my partner was on any given day had their work cut out for them. As we were struggling along against the wind Bob quipped, I think they should have named this I’m an Ocean rather than Ima Lake.
LikeLiked by 2 people
i remember that one
still talking about hoping it doesn’t catch fire all that standing dead wood
imagine it’s past concern now but that was some wind
LikeLiked by 1 person
A wind joke: a Minnesotan visiting South Dakota was barely able to stand to pump gas because a blustery wind was buffeting him about. He complained to the kid at the cash register of the convenience store. “Can’t help it,” said the kid. “Montana blows and MINNESOTA SUCKS and we just get stuck in the middle.”
Another: A traveler in the Dakotas is trying to pump gas, but a fierce wind from the west is hitting so hard he has to hang on to the pumps to keep from blowing away like Dorothy’s farmhouse. “Criminetly,” he yells to the kid at the cash register. “Does it ALWAYS blow like this?” “Awww, no,” says the kid. “Sometimes she blows from the east.”
Heard these while traveling in South Dakota.
LikeLiked by 4 people
OT – Husband is cooking dinner tonight, so I have the luxury of just lazing about when I would normally be cooking up a storm. Since most baboons are readers, I thought I’d share this:
“Amy Tan’s book recommendations for surviving confinement:
For parents of restless children: “How to Teach Nature Journaling: Curiosity, Wonder, Attention,” John Muir Laws and Emilie Lygren
For the curious: “Summer World,” Bernd Heinrich
For remembering the natural world: “Devotions,” Mary Oliver
For thinking about how we got into this mess: “The Human Swarm: How Our Societies Arise, Thrive, and Fall,” Mark Moffett
For a good time: “Nothing to See Here,” Kevin Wilson
For the immune system: “Undo It!,” Dean Ornish, M.D. and Anne Ornish”
LikeLiked by 4 people
This summer that YA and I went to the Dakotas, we went to Crazyhorse one night and the heads another night to watch the light shows. On the way back from Mount Rushmore, we could see big streaks of lightning in the distance and a little bit of rumbling and it was clear by the time we got back to the campground that there was going to be a big storm. Luckily our tent was smack in the middle of our campsite and on a slight hill so We didn’t get wet, but the wind was so fierce that there were a couple of times I thought it might pull up the tent stakes and blow our tent and us in it away.
LikeLiked by 4 people
Yesterday morning an ill wind came.
Blew your picture right outta the picture frame.
Even blew the candle out from underneath the flame.
Yesterday morning, an ill wind came.
– John Prine
LikeLiked by 4 people
Remembering this from a children’s poetry book:
Who Has Seen the Wind? by Christina Rossetti
Who has seen the wind?
Neither I nor you:
But when the leaves hang trembling,
The wind is passing through.
Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I:
But when the trees bow down their heads,
The wind is passing by.
LikeLiked by 3 people
LikeLiked by 2 people
LikeLiked by 3 people
I love this.
LikeLike
Linda, you post at the end of the day and I always appreciate the things you post! Thanks.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Well, of course I do so appreciate all the Baboons for thir contributions.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sniff
LikeLiked by 1 person
This poem by Ted Hughes is full of strong and evocative imagery.
Wind
This house has been far out at sea all night,
The woods crashing through darkness, the booming hills,
Winds stampeding the fields under the window
Floundering black astride and blinding wet
Till day rose; then under an orange sky
The hills had new places, and wind wielded
Blade-light, luminous black and emerald,
Flexing like the lens of a mad eye.
At noon I scaled along the house-side as far as
The coal-house door. Once I looked up –
Through the brunt wind that dented the balls of my eyes
The tent of the hills drummed and strained its guyrope,
The fields quivering, the skyline a grimace,
At any second to bang and vanish with a flap:
The wind flung a magpie away and a black-
Back gull bent like an iron bar slowly. The house
Rang like some fine green goblet in the note
That any second would shatter it. Now deep
In chairs, in front of the great fire, we grip
Our hearts and cannot entertain book, thought,
Or each other. We watch the fire blazing,
And feel the roots of the house move, but sit on,
Seeing the window tremble to come in,
Hearing the stones cry out under the horizons.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Hi- I thought for sure I posted this way back this morning. But I guess I didn’t.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This plays fine on my computer.
LikeLike
Odd. When I click on it I get a massage it’s unavailable.
LikeLike
Guess I’m special.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hmm. Unavailable? How about this:
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes!
LikeLike