Wind Advisory

We made it there and back safely. Door County. Such a lovely place. Except when the wind blows. And blows. And blows. The first two days we were fighting gusty gales and walking against a glorious and powerful invisible force. I'm not kidding. The National Weather Service really did issue a maritime wind advisory for Door County. Leaves, twigs and large branches lay everywhere. In fact, when we rolled in at midnight on Thursday, we encountered an official road block, which I promptly drove through part way. We were prevented from driving up to our cottage, since only feet away dropped three trees, one of which knocked down a power line, firing off a transformer that pierced the street and sent 1400 volts of hot live electricity into the ground. The shot was deadly enough to bubble and melt the asphalt like a burnt marsh mellow over the camp fire, overdone and unedible. The hole in the ground was deeply immersible, the circumference of which Orca the Whale could swim into had he been in Door County that evening. Luckily, we were detained only for about 15 minutes under a dark, very eerie sky and then the kind gentlemen of the township of Gills Rock escorted us to our cottage and waited for us to climb in safely, apologizing the whole time for asking us to wait while they secured the surroundings.

I love small towns.

So here're a few snaps of God's Gustlies and a small glimpse into our weekend. I'll have another post later of the fun we had.

We woke the next day to the clean up.... No time was wasted. A crew of 4 men and 1 grandpa were hard at work while Oliver and I drank our morning bevies on the porch. Here's the culprit that took down the power lines.



Here's where the hole in the ground was. It was filled by midnight that very same night. We were blocked off from our cottage just at the bend of this road at about 12:30 am.



Did I mention that I love small towns? Can you say your neighbor owns a Case 580D backhoe loader? We can. And Oliver got his first ride on a real live digger.







Two days later, the wind was still fierce. We've owned our cottage for few years now and we've never seen waves crashing this high. This is Gills Rock Marina, and we could feel the water from those crashing waves almost 2 "blocks" away.



Then off to Sister Bay for some good old-fashioned rock throwing. The wind brought out the beast in my child.





And this is where Oliver and friends were throwing their rocks.







(I wanted to throw a photo in of Oliver and me here....)



(Ok, maybe two...)

And here are some crazy yocals (young locals) enjoying riding the waves. I might mention that the temp was in the mid to lower 60's. Not sun-bathing weather, that's for sure.



And.... here's a fun little "before and after" series. You'll see a photo of the wind storm and then a photo of the same view taken a day or two later.













We did a lot of fun things this past weekend, and we even had guests for a part of the time as well. I'll post more about that later this week.

We went go-karting, horseback riding, hiking, rock climbing and swimming, not to mention three trips to the ice cream shop, a pizzeria dinner and a drive-in movie! I was able to focus on my little guy all weekend. We played together, ate together and even napped together. We gave each other lots of love, hugs and giggles. Of course, some parts of the weekend were difficult for me. His daddy and I have many, many memories up there, some with Oliver, some before he came into our lives. But I stayed in the moment for the most part, and reminded myself to have faith. I have much to be grateful for... today, my little guy is healthy, I'm healthy and his daddy is healthy. My own father is doing OK, my family is doing OK (well, my nephew James could use some prayers please! He has some serious health issues going on...) and I have some money in the bank, just for today. I miss my little guy. He's with his daddy tonight. I don't like having to do this sharing stuff, but it is what it is. I'm trying to grasp the meaning of faith—what that really means—and trust that I will be OK, that God will be sure I'm OK, no matter what.

I read a lot of great readings this weekend.... I'd love to share them all, but I'll share this short quote which sort of sums up what I need to do (or not do):

I sit on a man's back, choking him and making him carry me, and yet assure myself and others that I am very sorry for him and wish to ease his lot by all possible means—except by getting off his back. 

Tolstoy

Ok, just one more...

I will not interfere with the activities of my husband or watch over him, counsel him, or assume his responsibilities. He must have the same freedom to make his own decisions as I have, since he must suffer for them if they are wrong. (OK, but so will I! Oliver and I will also suffer for his wrong decisions! Oh Andrea, stop!!.... You see guys? I'm not an easy person for God to work with sometimes!) :)

ODAT

Ok, just one more...

The Captain is on the bridge. God is still in business. All that you have to do is to realize the Presence of God where trouble seems to be, to do your nearest duty to the very best of your ability; and to keep an even mind until the storm is over.

Emmet Fox

How apropos to have that reading whilst during a wind storm (or after the storm had passed) in Door County.

Take care all, thanks for joining in and see y'all soon!