This is the second time I've written this post - we'll see if I can actually get it posted this time without losing it. The lights are beginning to flicker and the internet is going on and off...
When I was born waaaay back in 1954, Colorado was having a very bad dust storm. My mother told me the story of how the nuns in the Catholic hospital were upset with her because she and my dad were going to name me and "unChristian" name and wanted them to name me something else. My parents insisted (I'm glad), and my mother wrote my name in the dust on the windowsill of the hospital window before they took me home. I was also told stories of how my grandparents and great aunts and uncles who lived out on the prairies in the early 1900's would take old rags and stuff them around the windows and doors, and hang wet sheets across the doorways to catch the dust during storms like that. It has always been hard for me to imagine a dust storm that bad.
When Mel and I lived in the Wet Mountain Valley we experienced unbelievable winds. In the spring the jet stream would settle over our part of Colorado for several days. Something in the combination of it in the upper atmosphere and the height of the 14,000+ foot mountains would cause hurricane force winds to sweep down from the high peaks, funneling between the mountains and out on to the Valley floor. It seemed to me that these winds would always begin in the middle of the night, waking us from a sound sleep. We lived in a mobile home on the very edge of town, fortunately in a slight dip beside a low rise. The winds hit us broadside, but most of the force was deflected by the low rise beside us. There were many nights when I would lie in bed wide awake, praying that God would "put His thumb" on our trailer and hold it down, keep the roof on and keep the windows from blowing out. Several nights over the 5 springs we lived there, I would stand for hours pushing against the livingroom door to keep it from popping open because the wind was so fierce. Sometimes it would even blow the pilot light out in the furnace - those were some cold nights. The spring we left the Valley, we heard that the hurrican force winds were so bad that they blew down over a mile of telephone poles, several acres of ponderosa pines and lifted the roof off a building in town and threw it half way down the street. Even though the winds were that bad, we never experienced very much dust.
Here in Kherson we have very little wind. Oh, all year long we have breezes, of course, but strong winds happen very seldom. This week, however, it has been extremely windy. I have not been able to hang clothes out on the balcony to dry because the wind whips them too hard against the building wall and the balcony bars. The wind was howling when we got up this morning, but I did not realize how bad it was until we went outside to get into a taxi. The force was almost "Colorado force" wind. Dust and dirt and trash were blowing around everywhere. We drove over to another district of town and when the taxi turned a corner, we were suddenly hit with the full force of the wind, howling between two or three miles of nine-story buildings. We were going to a team meeting being held at Jamie and Julia's flat since that was easier on their kids. After leaving the taxi, Mel and I walked around and between a couple of buildings. Just before we walked through the passage way that leads to their entrance, the wind either caught a loose window or blew a tree branch into a window on the 6th floor. Glass went flying through the air, falling to the ground with a crash. That was a very frightening experience.
From their 7th floor flat, Jamie and Julia have a wonderful view over about a mile of private homes and then open fields. To the far right we could also see several 9 story buildings about a mile away. As the day progressed, the wind blew harder and the air started to thicken with dust. Soon the fields were no longer visible. By noon the 9-story buildings were no longer visible and we could barely see a quarter of a mile across the private homes. Because the heat is still on full blast, they had a small window open, but covered with a lace curtain. Every so often a gust would blow dust into the room, causing our throats to feel scratchy and our eyes to burn. By the time we headed home, we could not see more than a quarter of a mile down the road, but we could see the bright disc of the dust shrouded sun shining brightly in a cloudless sky to the west. When we got home I quickly discovered that everything in our flat is covered in a fine layer of gritty dust. I could write my name in the dust covering the top of the laptop computer. It will probably take several days to clean out all of this dust - it is on and in everything.
Mel just checked weatherunderground and it says the winds are 40 miles per hour and we are having "a light sand storm." But it's supposed to rain tomorrow. We'll see. I think I've experienced my first real dust storm. Ooops - nope - make that my second - I just don't remember my first one!
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