Is there any doubt that the wind blows here?
Yesterday was very windy. I thought it would be a good day to take pictures demonstrating how windy it is.
After looking around the yard, I decided the chickens really demonstrate the effect of the wind well. Can't you just hear her saying, "Oooo! There's a breeze up my feathers!"
This chicken doesn't normally lean to the right and cross her legs while walking, but that's the only way she can move in a straight line in the wind.
Roy had just put up a power predictor so he can measure the wind speed and solar energy for his wind turbine company.
That's the predictor way up there on top of the quonset.
Here's a close-up of it. My camera was fast enough that you can see the little cups on the bottom that are turning in the wind. To our bare eyes they were just a blur.
Inside the quonset is the read-out. The top number is for solar. It was overcast yesterday, so I don't think that is a very high reading. The bottom number is the wind speed in meters per second. That reading is roughly 20 miles per hour.
So today is even windier and I was all excited to go out and check the power predictor! I had to feed the cats, so I was holding a bowl of cat food in one hand while I pushed the door open with the other. It took all my might to hold the door open against the wind. Melise toddled out the door, completely unaware of what was about to hit her. When she got beyond the door's protection, she stopped for a moment because the wind hit her full in the face. She tried to turn out of the wind, but as soon as she lifted one foot the wind pushed her over face first onto the ground. The wind was so hard that she couldn't get herself up again, so I dove out of the door to grab her. As soon as the wind hit the bowl of cat food it was snatched from my hand. I got Melise up and then looked in the direction the bowl went, but it was gone! I decided to abandon my original plan and ran back into the house!
I'm sorry I can't report what our wind speed is at this moment, but luckily the predictor has a memory card! As soon as Roy checks the memory I'll be sure to report how strong the wind has to be to kick my butt!
After looking around the yard, I decided the chickens really demonstrate the effect of the wind well. Can't you just hear her saying, "Oooo! There's a breeze up my feathers!"
This chicken doesn't normally lean to the right and cross her legs while walking, but that's the only way she can move in a straight line in the wind.
Roy had just put up a power predictor so he can measure the wind speed and solar energy for his wind turbine company.
That's the predictor way up there on top of the quonset.
Here's a close-up of it. My camera was fast enough that you can see the little cups on the bottom that are turning in the wind. To our bare eyes they were just a blur.
Inside the quonset is the read-out. The top number is for solar. It was overcast yesterday, so I don't think that is a very high reading. The bottom number is the wind speed in meters per second. That reading is roughly 20 miles per hour.
So today is even windier and I was all excited to go out and check the power predictor! I had to feed the cats, so I was holding a bowl of cat food in one hand while I pushed the door open with the other. It took all my might to hold the door open against the wind. Melise toddled out the door, completely unaware of what was about to hit her. When she got beyond the door's protection, she stopped for a moment because the wind hit her full in the face. She tried to turn out of the wind, but as soon as she lifted one foot the wind pushed her over face first onto the ground. The wind was so hard that she couldn't get herself up again, so I dove out of the door to grab her. As soon as the wind hit the bowl of cat food it was snatched from my hand. I got Melise up and then looked in the direction the bowl went, but it was gone! I decided to abandon my original plan and ran back into the house!
I'm sorry I can't report what our wind speed is at this moment, but luckily the predictor has a memory card! As soon as Roy checks the memory I'll be sure to report how strong the wind has to be to kick my butt!
Posted by Susan at April 13, 2010 
Categories: Rural Living
Tags: power predictor speed chinook energy wind turbine chicken colorado aninometer solar
Categories: Rural Living
Tags: power predictor speed chinook energy wind turbine chicken colorado aninometer solar
Great pictures and funny story. I can't imagine wind knocking a child down. Poor Melise, when she's a teenager she's just going to want to move to the least windy place in the world!
Love,Bertie
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Are you sure that the chicken with steering problems hadn't gotten into the juice flowing from the silo? Heard of a farmer in Pennsylvania whose chickens drank from the silo juice - and he sold the eggs by the pint!
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