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12/17/2006: "These Things Happen"
The news on Wednesday and Thursday predicted a large winter storm to rampage through the valley. Now here in the Willamette Valley, we might not know much about snow, but we do know a good deal about rain and wind. Imagine several wet, soppy days in a row. The ground is saturated. Along comes a cold front, pushing a wall in front of it. This was a wall of high winds and heavy rains. We battened down the hatches and prepared for a howling night.
We weren’t disappointed. We had just taken the delicious corn bread out of the piping hot woodstove, when the power went out. No problem, we thought. We stoked up the fire and lit some candles. Romantic. Just then the high water alarm went of on the water level sensor in the basement. The sump pump had been working all day to combat the rain, and with the power out, the water level in the basement was increasing. Nate went down and reset the sensor level to one foot. No problem. We ate our soup and cornbread, then read by candlelight. At milking time, the wind was ripping through the tall Port Orford Cedars in the backyard. As we found out, a large branch had already been whisked off and deposited in the north yard. 
The wind seemed to die down a bit after milking, so off we went to bed. About 1:30am, the water sensor alarm went off again. Yuck. Nate and I got out of bed and trudged downstairs. Nate went out, put on his boots and raised the sensor yet again. At that point, it was useless to try and bail it out, with just the two of us. And being dark and miserable out, we were content to let the water go up another foot. The furnace that Kurt put in (to replace the furnace that was flooded out last year) is situated about four feet off the basement floor. Plenty of room for the water to rise another two feet without panicking. In the morning, the water measured 17 inches deep. We were praying for the sump pump to come back on or the weather to clear. 
Still without electricity, we stoked up the fire and had a cheery breakfast and milking. Then we took a walk about the property to inspect the damage. A pair of young firs had uprooted in front of the barn. 
We had wanted to take out a few of the densely spaced firs in that row, but the large one that fell we had wanted to keep! Oh well. The ducks certainly had a good time getting to their pen, which was on the other side of the trees. The two drakes just flew right over the top. The Campbell ducks, lighter than the Anconas but heavier than the drakes, scrambled up between the trunks of the two trees. The Anconas, heavy and mostly flightless, scrambled under the trunks. But everyone got outside and enjoyed the sunshine. 
The seasonal creek had flooded. The southern ash had lost another large branch and the northern ash, which is mostly a hollowed out snag, is now a hollowed out snag with a widening cleft. We can see through it now. The swale and woods had surprisingly little damage, just some smaller downed wood. The huge oaks in the pasture stood through just fine too, though some storm maybe 100 years from now will bring them down too. 
Our neighbor, Chuck, had his brand new fence smashed by an oak limb. The fence was at the corner of our property, near the barn. Since we were working there, bucking up the firs, we offered to cut his oak up for him, which he gladly thanked us for. Then he gave us the wood, which will prove both nice firewood and good shitake logs! 
The tree the branch came from. 
I think Nate just likes to have an excuse to use his chainsaw...
Friday wore on, without power, but we hardly noticed. One of the goals here at Living Green is to get “off the grid”. This was a nice test run to see what needs to happen next. We saw that the woodstove heats the kitchen and the upstairs really well, but that the living room and office and practically uninhabitable. Also, the storage tank of water in the basement is great, until it runs out while you’re watering the animals. Note for future reference: critters are fine with creek water, you are not. Then we had to fish the 5 gallon carboy of water out of the mirky basement. (By that time the water level had dropped to 11 inches). My biggest complaint with the last few days has been the lack of running water with which to keep the kitchen, and myself, clean. But I’ll let Kurt write about improvements and design plans. Nate and I enjoyed dinner and a bottle of wine Friday night, again over candlelight. 
Still no power in the morning. We were to meet Kurt in Woodburn to return the chimney pipe that Installer couldn’t figure out. I had told Kurt our morning routine of milking and breakfast would take maybe an hour and a half. Well, without a clock and needing to rebuild a hearty fire to boil water with which to sanitize milking buckets…. it was a wee bit more than an hour and a half before we were on the road. As we drove down our road, we saw a mighty oak that had fallen, crushing a power pole beneath it and pinning the lines to the ground. So there was the cause of the outage.
We had a pleasant chat with Kurt and one of his daughters, then headed back home. We made a detour for fishing gear in Salem, woohoo, and made it home about an hour before dark. And to our amazement, and a little bit of disappointment, the power was back on. Nate and I both relished a long, hot shower, but missed our candle light and clockless minutes.
The weather turned very chill after the storm. Last night the temperature dropped into the low 20s. Queen Aura was even shivering this morning! The ducks water is still completely frozen, at nearly 11am, so they’re drinking out of the creek again. But we’ve got the woodstove cranked up to 500 degrees and a pot of food simmering away! The basement is dry. We’ll have to open a bottle of wine to make sure the corks held out against the soaking they received. It's nice to know where we're at with making the farm self sustainable. 
