10 February 2013 When the wind is in the trees

“   And still of a winter's night, they say, when the wind is in the trees,
    When the moon is a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
    When the road is a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
    A highwayman comes riding—
                      Riding—riding—
    A highwayman comes riding, up to the old inn-door.

                                                 XI

    Over the cobbles he clatters and clangs in the dark inn-yard;
    He taps with his whip on the shutters, but all is locked and barred;
    He whistles a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
    But the landlord's black-eyed daughter,
                      Bess, the landlord's daughter,
    Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.”

Cassi Creek:  The wind has been blowing steadily since around noon.  About 1700 it climbed to a sustained 15-20 at flagpole height – measured by behavior of trees and the flag.  So far, as of 2200, we’ve clocked several 10+ gusts at ten feet above the back deck, the best anemometer site we have. 

          The sustained winds are forecast to climb to 40 MPH and gust to 60 MPH. There will be wind damage in the area How much is uncertain. 

          It’s been a brutal winter so far for many of us. 

          When I took Loki out at 2100 the wind was so loud as to impede conversation.  There was, and is, a constant bass roar interlaced with shrieks and screams of the wind in the utility wires.  Random crashes and thumps, things going bump in th night are part of the unseen challenge that comes from living with these winds.   Noyes poem came quickly to mind.  There is most definitely “wind in the trees!”  Stands to be a broken night spent listening for changes.  

 From the sound of things, I’m guessing that the gap above us is under a standing wave.