Want to let our blogging friends and family know that we, chickens included, are safe and sound during hurricane Isaac. Although there have been tornado reports and flooding, Lower Alabama has been spared the hardest part of the storm. We, fantastic as it sounds, have not even lost electric power or internet service. Wonders never cease! The beaches and Mobile Bay are taking a beating from the storm surge, but we are away from both. The same sandy soil that was a trial during the exceptional drought of 2011, is a blessing now. It is a perfect sieve for draining water.

The outer bands of hurricane Isaac slammed into the house last night around 11pm. The sound of the wind and rain hitting the house woke me. I could hear a roar, like a wave, the wind gust coming through the trees before it rolled over the house. There is a pecan tree right next to our house, maybe four feet from the wall and my bedroom. The thought of that tree looming over my head made me move to the guest bed in the center of the house. I lay there listening to the storm and praying for people in Mississippi and Louisiana, those experiencing the storm up close and personal.

Our winds have been around 30 mph since last night, not at all fierce by our measure (Oklahoma regularly had winds of 60 on a clear day), but here in the land of thick trees and soft ground, such winds often push trees over, roots. Pecan trees, though, have a deep tap root. They do not go over so easily. Those in our yard are nearly 100 years old, tall, and cope with wind by letting branches break off.

Three years ago when we moved in to our little homestead, the pecan tree at the left, smack in the front yard, was still so broken from hurricane Katrina that we kept saying, “We’ve got to cut that ugly thing down and plant new.” We did not get to it, though, and today I saw it afresh through the misty rain. Today it is a lovely shape and new branches gracefully moved with the wind. It was actually made stronger and more beautiful by hurricane Katrina. All it took was some time.