The Catalyst for Change

The catalyst for change here on Windy Hill came in the form of hurricane force winds in a May 2008 storm.  We were out of town at the time and only experienced the aftermath.  There were apparently 80-110 mph winds sustained for nearly an hour.  They were straight line winds, not to be confused with a tornado.  The type of storm is called a derecho, which apparently means straight in Spanish.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_2009_Southern_Midwest_derecho

Fortunately the damage to our house was comparatively minimal and only the top of a tree hit our house.  We did loose a solar panel,

 

the roof to my shop and a bunch of trees.  Basically, the place looked like a wreck for a while as we decided how to repair and whether to upgrade the shop, etc.  It also took a long while to process and move all the downed trees.  Still have a lot to do, in fact.  Here is a photo of the log and brush pile we have going.

It is hard to tell the scale, but the loges at the end are hard maple that is about 18-20 inch in diameter.  These are beautiful and we hope to get them milled for making some furniture.  They are curly maple that has a nice spalt to it at this point.

In any case, it was the process of crawling out of storm damage that lead to our current plans.  Maybe something of hitting rock-bottom as a property owner.