About the weather. We have had thunderstorm after thunderstorm...at least a couple every afternoon. For the most part the worst of the weather has gone off to the north bombing Gloversville and Johnstown with dangerous hail and high winds. Last night our turn came.
We got started milking late for one reason and another (mostly having to do with men). Alan had not yet fed the cows their wagon of chopped oatlage with field peas and new seeding so the boss sent him off to do so as soon as the cows were in the barn.
I happened to look up the hill as he was pulling out with the tractor and shouted for the boss to get that boy back ASAP. The gate where they take the wagon through into the field is in an area we call "Lightning Corner". Trees that sprout up there don't usually get more than thirty feet high or so before they are burned or blasted down.
Anyhow the boss let out one of his mighty whistles; the kid heard him and made it to the barn just as the maelstrom hit. Thank God! Within seconds I looked out to see the four or five heifers that stay in the barnyard while the cows are milked bolting down the hill. The tree that they were standing under crashed to the ground, and was still bouncing, as they came for the door. None were hit though. I think they heard it tearing loose before it actually came down. Now there is a large and tangled pile of potential firewood waiting to be cut up and hauled away. Right there handy so to speak.
It was a wild storm. Parts of the overhanging roof of the milk house porch blew off. Rain slashed in through all the windows, wetting us even inside the barn. Dirt blew into our eyes from the windowsills. (Gritty nasty stuff.) The windy downpour lasted most of milking. I hated to touch anything metal because lightning was banging down all around us, but I didn't have much choice as the stalls, dividers, pipelines and the grates over the stable cleaner, which we must walk on are all metal. On one occasion the cow I was milking jumped right up in the air when a bolt hit. I think she got a little zing there.
When the kid finally got to take the feed out after the storm blew itself out, Lightning Corner was a jumble of blown down and blasted trees. It took him a good hour and a half to shift them so he could feed the cows. I lay awake for quite a while last night being very, very thankful that we stopped him from trying to beat the weather and get the cows fed before it hit.
VERY thankful.
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11 comments:
Wowsers!
Good call! Lightning is the one thing I do not take any chances with. I'm glad the damage was only stuff and not too serious.
Just another day at work eh?
:)
Hi FC, as we often say around here, just another day in Paradise.
Good Grief! I guess even Paradise has its bad days. Whew.
So this townie has to ask: If you tried to 'wait out' the storm rather than walking those metal planks - does it mess up the cow's schedule and throw everything off?
I'm sure glad Dad has a good whistle. That must be an essential of country living.
Thank God you're all right!
Check and see if that zinged cow produced glow-in-the-dark milk.
Cathy, never dull
Sometimes we do try to wait them out because we really hate milking in the middle of a storm. However, it seems as if they always "train" when we do and we get one storm right after another all night...and we were late already....because of men...(they had visitors and got to chatting.)lol
I am grateful for that whistle. I have to carry a shepherd's whistle to duplicate the effect.
Mrs. M She was mooing kind of funny this morning (really).
I couldn't believe how fast that storm came up. One minute nothing. The next insane.
Yikes!!! That's really wild! Wonder what it is about that spot that attracts so much lightning... ?
Storms!! How I hate them!!
I didn't know your area had violent storms, just snow.
Glad you made it through another one!!
Betty G
I am intrigued by the "lightning corner." There must be some reason . . .
AMWD, it has been a crazy summer for lightning here...never seen anything like it. We think that the bedrock comes close to the surface up there and draws the lightning.
Betty, we do get some wild ones. Thanks for visiting and for taking time to comment!
OW, could be the bed rock, could be that a little stream winds past there and draws it. Then again we have big power transmission lines about half a mile away and they get a lot of hits too. There is one spot up in that same field where if lightning strikes it blows every lightbulb in the barn.
In spite of the danger of instant death, there is still something invigorating about a lightning storm. Glad you were all safe.
Hi Jan, it can be magnificent. I like to watch it from the porch at camp...the cabin has been there a long time so I figure that it won't get hit.
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