We had quite a storm here this past weekend. Not much rain, but a lot of wind. We feel blessed that it wasn’t much worse, as we’ve heard numerous reports of tornadoes touching down not too far away and causing great destruction here in Ohio and elsewhere in the midwest US.

Nonetheless, we did have some storm damage on our property. The wind snapped off the upper 15-20 feet of one of our white pines, arguably our nicest looking specimen among the 15 or so white pines that run along the south side of our property.

We have a tire swing hanging from a nearby sweet gum tree (you know, the ones that get those spiny little balls that make a mess and stab your bare foot if you step on one–ouch!), about 20 feet from the white pine.

You can guess where we’re going with this. The top of the pine broke off in the wind, and landed squarely in the path of the tire swing. You can see the aftermath in the pics below, including the upper part of the tree where it broke off: 

Now, it’s pretty easy to see that if someone had been swinging on the tire swing during the storm, maybe to see how ‘cool’ it was, in spite of the weather service warnings, well, it couldn’t have been good. What if it was your son or daughter? Not something you want to think about… 

What’s our point? Nothing more than following good ole’ common sense. When you see a storm approaching, tune in your radio, turn on your TV, or hop on the internet and find out what’s going on. Are there warnings? What kind? When is the storm expected? Has there been reports of damage from the storm elsewhere?

We know, pretty elementary, but you’d be surprised how many ignore the warnings and even make it a point to go out during the height of a storm to show how ‘fearless’ they are. Brian remembers a neighbor from his former residence who would mow his lawn every Sunday afternoon, no matter what.

It was quite a sight to see him out there one stormy afternoon, lightning flashing all around, rain pouring from the heavens, and there he was chugging around the yard pushing his poor little power mower around as if it were a sunny day. Don’t know how he kept the thing running to this day, LOL.

So please, don’t be an intrepid would-be hero by going out in a storm, especially if there’s wind. Those warnings are issued for a reason. And for heaven’s sake, don’t let your precious kids go out either and do something like, say, swing on a tire swing.