The Eagle has landed...er, the TREE has landed, over the Eagle...

[Gremlingts@xxxx]

 Spent the entire weekend working at my aunt's farm, trying to prepare the 
grounds for a wedding ( mine ). Saturday afternoon, a severe rain storm moved 
in, as I was about to climb a tree with a chain saw to trim dead wood...uh 
uh! Started putting away tools and stuff before the rain showed, had a HUGE 
lightning strike close by just as I walked into an outbuilding, I didn't see 
where it hit. YOWZA! The sky opened up just as we got most stuff inside to 
dryer ground (pun!), and watched it pour...THEN the fun started! A huge gust 
of wind picked up, as we watched from a front porch area...and kept building! 
I heard the preverbial "freight train" sound of the wind moaning, and 
wondered Is this a tornado coming!? We saw tree limbs crash to the ground 
(great, I'm cleaning up dead wood from storms 3-4 YEARS ago, and nature is 
adding fresh work NOW! ) , a huge old cedar tree split off one of it's upper 
trunks in the front yard, and crashed down over top my fiancee's car that was 
parked between it and another huge tree of another type. Luckily the other 
tree caught the main trunk, only a few branchs struck her car, and it escaped 
with minor dings and a scrape. The wind lasted about 1 minute or less, I 
think it was a Microburst, it was weird watching it blow thru and pick up 
water , blowing turbulent gusts sideways. Visibility dropped to about 300 
feet from 2,000 that quick. Turns out the next day, her farming neighbor next 
door got nary a drop. 
Anyway, the wind took off two roof sections of a decrepit barn building, 
scattered other roofing hither/skither, loosened some others, but the main 
house , an old mansion with a Civil war history built in the 1760's, called 
Hyde Park Farm, survived it with little to no damage. Some outdoor furniture 
misplaced, but that was about it. 
While walking around surveying the damage, I spied a tree laying down 
where it wasn't before...ACROSS the top of my Eagle wagon! Part of the 
branches were laying across the hood of a Chevy p/u truck next to it, and 
some on another Chevy truck next to that one, but the Eagle was just under 
the main trunk, pretty much free and clear. Again, only minor scrapes to the 
vehicles , no real damage. I cut away the limbs on Sunday, and was hoping to 
drive the Eagle out from under the trunk, but there was little gas in the 
tank, and I wore the battery down trying to pump some up, after adding a 
couple gallons. While I positively HATE electric fuel pumps , they do come in 
handy pumping up the gas after a vehicle sits awhile ( IF they work, that's 
the catch!). So, eyeballing the situ, I thought the branch trunk was still 
attached to the tree solidly enough to be safe enough to leave there, as it 
wouldn't fall on the car later. WHile looking at it, my friends noticed there 
appeared to be a charred area...maybe that was where the lightning struck 
earlier! The tree didnt' fall then, but the wind that happened a few minutes 
later took the final "blow" to the split trunk, taking out half of the upper 
part. I got most of the smaller upper branches cut off and away, piled for 
later removal. 
Spent most of Sunday finishing the cleanup of old deadwood from Saturday, 
and the newly fallen greenery, but at least we got some rain, my aunt said 
wells in the area were going dry , that had drawn water for years...we have a 
severe drought on in parts of Virginia, actually quite a lot of the eastern 
and southern regions are tender dry, lawns are brown, water restrictions are 
taking hold all over. My northern area has escaped, as I live right by the 
river and a water plant. Anyhoo, the fields were turning green again Sunday 
morning, after looking burnt on Saturday. The cows were loving it! I got some 
of my other AMC fleet documented on paper, listing positive-negative 
attributes, model/trim #'s, etc. Didn't do the Eagle, though. Did that to a 
Gremlin, two Matador coupes, and a V-8 Spirit. 
I"m home now at 11 pm, what a long weekend! And I still have more cleanup 
to do down there before the wedding...argh! Felt like I stood in place today 
while running ragged, but we did get alot done. Hopefully the next time, it 
won't be so bad, with no new work added atop the old. :) Have a great work 
week, folks! ( for those of you who DIDN'T hit the lottery this weekend, me 
included! Well, I haven't checked YET... LOL ) . 

tired Jerry, in Virginia...