Third Time's the Charm?

I've always loved the fairytale setting for our little farm home. The mighty arms of a chorus of old trees shade our house and yard.

Home Sweet Home "dressed" for fall - file photo

But on Tuesday night/early Wednesday morning, I was questioning my love affair with our big old trees. I know that Sunday night's storm toppling our 100-year-old-plus cottonwood had something to do with our hasty exodus from our upstairs bedroom to the main floor. As branches pummeled the roof and rain fell in sheets, it sounded a little like we were in a war zone. (Not that I know what that sounds like, but you get the idea!)

Early morning light revealed that not all the branches and trees had fallen in the Sunday night storm. There seemed to be plenty to "decorate" the yard and smash the rain gutter and flag pole after Tuesday night's storm, too. But, thankfully, the roof survived at our house. However, we will have to replace the roof at the farm employee's home.

The road in front of our house had been blocked by our massive cottonwood Monday morning. On Wednesday morning, it was trees from the shelterbelt across the road that blocked our way until Randy could get the loader tractor to again clear the path.

Our south driveway again took a hit in the Tuesday storm. This tree was just to the east of the cottonwood.

The tree that shades Randy's pickup also got an unexpected haircut. Thankfully, it didn't fall on his pickup.

We have had our share of wind storms this summer. A storm in mid-June skewed our lean-to and made it "lean" a little more than it should, as well as delaying wheat harvest for a few days.

The same storm damaged trees at a cemetery not far from our farm.

The two storms this week brings us to three - count 'em, 3! - violent wind storms since June 21. I'm really hoping "third time's the charm" comes true and puts an end to the storms and the damage.

Google tells me that the origin of the phrase "third time's the charm" is probably ancient since things that come in sets of three have often been associated with good fortune due to their similarity with the Holy Trinity. Another source says that the possible origin for this phrase comes from the common folk belief in perseverance. It's said that one shouldn't just give up in the face of setbacks and should instead, "Try, try and try again." This suggests that trying once or twice isn't enough, but trying four times is too much.

I'm all for perseverance, but I'd say a fourth wind storm this summer would, indeed, be too much.

However, Randy and I were surprised to see that the corn had fared much better than we'd expected.

Both of us had envisioned our corn snapped in two and leaning over like our trees. So we were surprised and, yes, thankful, too!

I missed this round of the clean-up since I needed to be in Stafford at 8 AM to help with 4-H foods judging.

Hmmmm - maybe I wasn't too sad about that!

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This morning, we did a little farm scouting tour. Here's the milo, which has enjoyed these abundant "drinks" of water lately:

The silage is doing well, too: