Aerie Report, December16, 2011

It's been a wild ride over the past 24 hours here at the Aerie.

All day yesterday the winds blew out of the south and we were hit with a misting rain much of the day as we watched a long thin stream of heavier and sometimes down right violent rain move north northeast over the Allegheny National Forest, Erie and Buffalo. As this band of rain rapidly moved along the front, it also edged its way eastward and it became a question of whether or not we would be affected by its passing.

All day the temperatures slowly rose as the warm southern air engulfed us until the thermometer reached its high of 50 degrees around 7 PM. That's about when the wind shifted to come from the west and the tail of the band of rain hit us. It poured for a little over half an hour as that front moved through. Then the wind shifted even more so as to come from the northwest and its velocity began to increase as well.

During the night, the rain stopped but the wind blew even harder. The house creaked under the onslaught and the sound of the wind in the trees increased to the point of being akin to a freight train just outside the window. It woke us between three and four AM with its din.

Miraculously, there were no trees blown down or uprooted under the force of the wind. If this had happened while there were still leaves on the branches, I'm sure the story would have been different.

The wind has since died down to a more acceptable 5-10 mph. The temperature has also dropped to 30 degrees this morning as Canadian air moves in. It's still overcast and gray but the threat of precipitation whether rain or snow is pretty much over.

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Tomorrow promises to be a cool but clear day for our annual Christmas Bird Count. Terry and I will be hitting the Lamb's Creek area, part of the Mansfield Watershed area up on Shaw Road and, perhaps, the Firetower in the State Gamelands Area 37. A lot depends upon how much we see and how much time we spend in any one area. Each of these would be full morning visits--in the spring. During the winter there are far fewer birds and bird species around. In a preliminary scout last week, we saw and heard very, very few individual birds.

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Terry has been out partying with all her groups (Ladies' Guild, EGA, Curves) virtually every day this week and tomorrow's Bird Count ends with another luncheon at a friends house.

Next week we'll be heading into NJ for Christmas Eve with my sister and her family and Christmas Day with Grandma and our daughter, Jessica. We'll take two cars since Terry is going in early and staying late. Grandma needs a ride to the airport for a cruise through the Panama Canal with grandson Brian and daughter Lucille and SIL Doug, with whom she will connect in Miami.