The night before last, I was awakened by strong wind gusts. Since I do not have air conditioning, I have been leaving my front door open at night to cool the house down. That night the wind was charging through the screen like an uninvited guest. I had hung a sheet of burlap on the west side of the front porch to provide privacy and shade, but the wind continually blows the bottom end up over the top of the roof. This has resulted in also knocking down my hummingbird feeder at least half a dozen times. It has broken branches off my houseplants that I had set outside for the summer, so I frequently have to tie it up whenever the wind gets up to its mischief. I went out that night to tie it up and bring in the pillows from the wooden bench where I like to sit. The blinds inside the house were banging against the windows from the gusts that were swooshing through them.
The following morning I awoke to find the wood bench fallen over off the porch. Plastic pots that I had left out for cleaning were scattered all over the yard. The burlap shade cloth had come loose from the binding and the hummingbird feeder was once again on the ground.
I was curious as to how the bench, which is not exactly light weight, was blown down off the porch. There had been no rain in the forecast and no rain accompanied the violent wind. Could it have been a tornado? It turns out that tornadoes do not always contain rain. In fact, this is the rule and not the exception in the semi-arid Great Plains. Short-lived thunderstorms carrying buckets full of rain and hail are common in the Midwest, especially in summer. Gardens, trees, and flowers are often able to withstand the extreme heat and even the wind, only to be blasted by large hail. My garden has been safe so far and it is in a somewhat protected spot. I am already harvesting zucchini and the cucumbers and beans are not far behind. But, these storms, whether they contain rain or not, can be spawned at any moment, day or night. Trying to grow anything in this unpredictable climate is a high stakes gamble.
