Stories from the Stringam Family Ranches of Southern Alberta

From the 50s and 60s to today . . .



Thursday, January 16, 2014

Warm, But Gusty

This . . .
Sometimes, setting a record is a good thing.
Sometimes . . . it isn’t.
Yesterday, on the 15 of January in Edmonton, Alberta, we set a record for temperature. +10C ( +50F).
Happy dance!
And wind. 120 KPH (75 MPH).
Ick.
Fortunately, we don’t often get gales of this force up here.
But in Southern Alberta, they are quite common . . .
In the early days of our marriage, Husby and I bought a mobile home.
It was 686 square feet of cozy, happy space.
And it was all ours!
Our little home on wheels came with a small entryway, built by the previous owner and attached to the side of the trailer with an assortment of screws.
Husby got the trailer set up. Dug lines for water and sewer. Connected the power.
And attached the entry.
We had a home!
I should probably mention, here, that, in Southern Alberta, mobile homes MUST be set up in an east-to-west direction. If they sit north-to-south, there is a very real risk of having them roll over in tomorrow’s gale force winds.
True story.
Moving on . . .
Our little home sat on the bare prairie, fully exposed to the elements, but it presented one of the small sides to the wind.
All was well.
Our bedroom was in the far west side. No problem.
And then . . . the wind.
During the day, spending our time - as we did - in the center, or on the east end, the wind was merely scary as the trailer shivered with each onslaught.
At night, however, it was truly terrifying as we lay in our bed with the floor bucking and hopping beneath us.
One doesn’t get much sleep when one is in a constant state of ‘oh-my-goodness-we-are-going-to-roll-completely-over-with-the-next-gust’.
One afternoon, I was standing in the kitchen with the wind howling around me. A strange noise had begun. A . . . scraping sound. I waited for the next blast. There it was again. I followed the sound.
Right to our little entryway.
With each blast, it was being slowly ripped from its moorings. I could see daylight in the cracks.
Frantically, I called Husby at work.
He hurried home and surveyed the situation. He fired up the tractor and placed the bucket against the backside of the little box, supporting it against the onslaught.
Then went back to work.
For the rest of the day, I kept an eye on our sad little entryway.
Things didn’t look good.
Finally, Husby came home for the day. He looked at the entry, creaking and jumping with every gust.
Then he reached out and, putting a hand under the step, lifted.
The entire structure vaulted into the air like a box-kite and flew 300 feet, landing in the nearby field. You have to know that this wasn’t a little, flimsy, featherweight structure. It was built of solid materials. Walls, floor, roof, doors.
And yet it flew 300 feet.
Yikes.
Husby then proceeded to build newer, bigger and better.
Which lasted until we sold our little first home and moved north.
Out of the wind.
Into the cold.
But our house didn’t shake and we could sleep at night.
Yep. I'll take the cold.
Or this . . .
Photo Credit

15 comments:

  1. Yah...I think I'd prefer the cold to a wind like that.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'll take the cold over that gale we had...!! At least you can escape the cold...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There's no escape from . . .
      And you're at the very top of the town. I kept checking to see if you had been blown away!

      Delete
  3. Whoa, Diane! Now THAT is wind!

    I love how the second picture is all lit up like fairytown - who wouldn't want to live there? LOL

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wind? That isn't even a draft. Hang a 3/4 inch logging chain from a pole. When it's pointing straight out you might want to take caution when burning trash.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As one who still lives in the infamous Southern Alberta, you'd definitely know!

      Delete
  5. Wind is not my friend. I don't enjoy living in a windy area. It isn't too bad where we are now. My children live in Idaho and the wind always seems to be blowing. Thanks for this cute story.
    Blessings for the smiles you bring to my face~

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wind and me aren't friends, either. Ugh!
      I think much of Idaho is like Southern Alberta. Your poor kids! Blessings you you as well!

      Delete
  6. Not a fan of the wind---I've lived through many hurricanes and when I hear the wind howling outside, it just gives me chills and reminds me of some really bad storms we've had here. I'm with you---I'd take the cold!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yesterday, January 16th, we set our own record here in Adelaide. We were officially the hottest capital city on the planet. 44.2C
    We had country areas that were hotter.....

    the rest of your story illustrates why I will never, ever live in a trailer home or caravan. I like my homes solidly anchored to the ground. None of this blowing over in the wind business.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yikes! I'd absolutely melt! Hmm . . . I wonder if I could actually melt away some of my own fat?! I think we're on to something!

      Delete
  8. We have a lot of wind where I live, because it's very flat. But not like what you're describing! It was very windy here this week too-we were under a high wind warning, but I don't think it got nearly as bad as they thought it would!

    ReplyDelete

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