I hadn't heard of this word until the last week of June 2012. Check it out. A Derecho is a straight-line windstorm that often offers up hurricane-force winds. What we observed after arriving home 48 hours after the storm passed through (we were out of town) seemed to be true to form. Trees were down everywhere - most snapped like matchsticks. Our neighbors barn was picked up and moved from its foundation. Power lines were strewn about and laid across the road like snakes. We knew the power was out at our home and now we understood it would be awhile before it was back on. There was much destruction to sift through.
Our home was spared any damage. My husband likes to make fun of me for wanting to buy a house without large trees in close proximity. He finally saw firsthand why this is one of my 'things'. Our gardens were a bit beat up. Corn was laying flat on the ground. Hops vines which I had growing in pots were either dead or completely missing. Yes, completely missing (pot and all) from the property. Flowers were toppled over. All in all though, I'll take a beat up garden over a tree on my house. I propped those corn stalks up. Cleaned up the debris and we're pretty much in good shape almost a month later.
We did endure 8 days without power during the hottest week of the summer! The contents of our kitchen fridge/freezer were shot by the time we got home. We were able to salvage most of what was in our basement freezer like deer meet and broccoli and peas I had just harvested and put up. That was a relief. It's just hard to let go of food you work so hard for. We dumped it all into a cooler and brought it to my freezer at work. Thankfully there was no loss of power there. A university has to run and this one did without skipping a beat! The freezer was so full, I had to duct tape it shut. Luckily there is also a shower there so we kept mostly clean during that week although it was a little challenging. It makes you realize just how dependent and vulnerable you are on electricity. It exposed some of our weaknesses and has encouraged us to make some changes, so this is good.
After a week of powerless living, thankfully, we had a vacation planned and were able to get out of town for some R&R. We're home now and all seems to be back in order. Lots to write about and will do that soon!
