Good morning, All.  We have had very strong winds overnight.  I woke about 3am thanks to a heavy blast and couldn't get back to sleep.  I finally gave it up and got out of bed a little after 4.  I figure I can cat nap later.  Nothing on our patio has been affected.  I put a lot of my empty pots on the lower shelves of the mini-greenhouse so it had some weight to hold it.  And I put the hose reel right up against the front.  But the fence has done very nicely against an almost straight north wind.  Indiana Toll Road is closed to semis with the long double or triple trailers and to high profile vehicles.  The weather people are talking about 20-30ft waves on the lake.  They said that areas in eastern Indiana had sleet and snow.  Our temps will be too high for much of that.

We now have some light outside.  As I thought the patio is in good shape but we did see a strange sight.  Our heavy mat which usually rests in front of the door now is 3ft away under the stacked patio chairs as though we had set it there.  Trees that yesterday still had leaves have been stripped bare.  I decided Sunday that I wouldn't put our trash tote out because we didn't have much in it.  We don't generate a lot of trash.  Now, looking at the street in front and all of the totes upended by the winds (many of which were very full) I am glad.  I have no desire to chase our wheeled tote down the street.

The chairs just went flying.  I rushed out to shove them under the table on their sides.  The only thing keeping the table in its place is the planter set on it.  I took the opportunity to pick up a couple of items I really didn't want to sail away in the wind.  The picture of that tanker beached by the storm on the NJ coast simply amazes me.  Actually I am stunned by most of the pictures.  I moved the planter to the center of the table but was totally surprised when one of the gusts almost picked up the greenhouse.  We expect more wind through tomorrow.