XXI.  Cue:  A big storm

Cleanup

            Saradoc Brandybuck looked about the Hall lands as far as they could be seen.  Roof tiles were missing from most of the outbuildings, and one had been flattened by a nearby tree that had given up its hold on the earth.  Limbs had breached the rail fences of the main paddock and two of the pony fields.

            Turning to the Hall, he counted at least eighteen damaged shutters and half as many broken windows--and that just on this side!  At least the few injuries suffered had not been life-threatening.

            Well, repairs were better than deaths any day, he decided.

This particular storm is described in “Second Mum,” and is patterned after the Thanksgiving Storm that struck western Washington in the early nineties.  I’ve lived through many windstorms in my day, but that was the only one I’ve experienced when power was out for more than a few hours--we went without power for four days, and that was in spite of the fact we lived in town.  We were fortunate--some rural regions suffered major breaches to dikes as well as flooding of the rivers, and were cut off for up to two weeks!