Saturday:

My anxiety was through the roof when I woke up early Saturday morning and noticed that the wind was already picking up. Aside from thunder, high wind is one of nature’s forces that never fails to spook me a bit. I’m pretty much fine with breezy and even windy days, so long as I can see what’s around me and am not at risk of getting impaled by a tree branch. Staying for weeks out on the plains of Elizabeth, Colorado during my later high school years got me used to the wind. Dare I say, the wind out there usually felt pretty good. 

But, there’s wind. Then, there’s whatever the hell was roaring over the state starting Saturday. The wind was so bad that not even my dogs wanted to go outside in it. I couldn’t blame them either. To be entirely honest, I was nervous about the wind, too. But, they still had to go outside periodically, and I went out there with them to make sure they did their business before sprinting back inside. 

However, shit got real shortly after sunset. Thankfully, both dogs were done going outside for the day, so I didn’t have to worry too much about going out there with them. But… my God. Even in the safety and shelter of my house, I could hear the wind loud and clear. Hell, I could feel it bowing the walls and windows at times, too. The trees outside were dancing in circles with each passing gust. And my cottonwood was littering the yard with twigs and branches. 

In my front yard, I worried a lot about my giant spruce tree. I’d parked my Xterra in the driveway hoping that if the tree were to come down, the house would take the brunt of the hit and my Xterra would remain drivable. Still… having a spruce-sized hole in the roof would’ve been a huge problem, so I just had to hope that wouldn’t happen. 

Just before going to bed (AKA hiding in my basement bedroom) for the evening, I went outside to get everything tied down one last time. The few bungee cords I had didn’t stretch enough to wrap around the grill, so I put the heaviest rocks and cement bricks I had onto the grill to keep the cover from blowing away. I also weighed down the lawn chairs in the same way, stacking them up against the gate leading to the side of the house, hoping they’d hold it close. 

All the while, I stayed underneath the porch roof as much as I could, where I was (mostly) sheltered from the wind, and kept my ears open for the distinctive sound of cracking wood, in case my cottonwood tried to kill me again (yes, it has tried before). Even under the porch, however, the wind was still miserably cold and strong. My hat refused to stay on and the wind sliced through to my bones. Needless to say, I didn’t spend much time out there before seeking shelter in my cozy little basement den. 

To drown out the noise of the wind outside, I had two fans running full-blast in my bedroom. Even then, I could hear it, and poor Toby was so scared that he hid under my bed for most of the night. 

To be continued...