After a night of wind and racquet of a flapping tarp, getting up to step out into the environmental chaos was not especially appealing. The wind was still howling while I cooked breakfast, making the multiple trips between the kitchen and the mess tent most disagreeable.
Cloud cover concealed the moon and stars. The darkness, combined with the sound of blowing trees, felt like an enigma. We couldn’t tell if it was as bad as it seemed. Gradually, daylight filtered through to show us trees waving about like grass on the prairies.
Work for the planters was delayed to see if the wind would lessen. It didn’t. Gusts of wind rattled the sides of the kitchen trailer and caused the sides of the mess tent to suck in and out as though it were breathing. After breakfast, I returned to my truck bed as usual for a nap but couldn’t sleep. Gusts rocked the truck every few minutes. It was decided that the planters would stay in camp for the day.
Sleep did finally come and when I awoke, the wind was still blowing. I went and closed myself in the kitchen to begin my usual routine of baking and prep work. Around three o’clock, the wind eased enough to feel a bit safer outside, and I took the opportunity to drive down the road for some signal to call Ric. The road was littered with leaves and branches and a few fallen trees but nothing too serious.
My husband gave me some news updates of the storm damage in other parts of the Maritimes, and I filled him in on our own experience. Back in camp, by dinner time, we started seeing patches of blue in the sky, but clouds continued to march across the azure slate at a brisk pace, bringing us periods of heavy gusts.
In the past, when hurricanes traveled up the eastern coast, it never occurred to me that Canadian lands might be affected. By the time the system reached us, it was the remnants of a tropical storm and mostly wind. We were lucky to be inland and not in the direct path of Fiona.
The next morning was calm by comparison. The sky was clear and there was a light breeze. The campers seemed eager to go out and make up for their lost day of work.
Interestingly, we were in a bit of a better situation than those in cities and towns. Being off the grid, we didn’t worry about losing power; we had plenty of gas and two generators. We didn’t worry about water because we pump ours from a natural spring. A few of our shitter huts were blown about, and my tarps took a bit of a tour of the woods, but other than that, we fared just fine.
Beyond Clarity 