Storm Update

Wind gusts along the coast today exceeded 100mph at Cape Meares and reached 83 mph at Newport. Gusts in the valley hovered in the 40 to 45 mph range. Tonight, however, at midnight, the next much larger storm is supposed to hit, with higher winds and much more rain. This storm also brings warm temperatures which may melt mountain snow, further increasing the chance of flooding. In North Bend, this next system, expected to run its course from midnight tonight through 8:00 a.m. tomorrow, may bring over 2.6 inches of rain.

In my backyard, a large limb has split off the Maple tree behind my garage. It didn't fall, however, supported by other branches. The branch it split off of, will also likely break. These are huge branches, three to four inches in diameter and thirty feet or more in length.

For awhile tonight, I tried to lasso the end of that broken branch. It's over 25 feet up, however. I used my limb cutter, extended to its max, but still couldn't reach it. So I duct taped a piece of PVC pipe to the end of the limb cutter and ran a length of wire rope through the PVC pipe in a loop at the end, hoping to loop that over the broken branch end, pull the loop tight with the wire rope, and yank the limb down. I was unsuccessful.

I was successful at least at repositioning its inevitable fall, so it wouldn't shoot through the new cat yard fence. In the end, with the rain pounding, and wind howling, and myself out in the dark and the weather with that extremely unwieldy contraption I'd rigged, I could think of only one thing: Darwin awards. I don't want to get a Darwin award. In fact, it's one of my life goals to not get a Darwin award.

So, I put down the contraption and came inside. What will be, will be. If that tree splinters up and crashes down on the garage, or the fence or whatever, that's an act of God and I can't stop it at this point.