Catching the Wind As we packed for our two week vacation, my wife found evidence of a water leak in the back corner of a cupboard in our motorhome. The kids were all packed, the motor home was all packed, and my wife and I had taken off work. We were faced with two choices: either stay home, or I had to fix it now. So I got a ladder and searched for the culprit. I found a piece of molding at the top edge of a window that was torn. An hour later I was back from the hardware store with the proper supplies. As I arrived home, lightning was booming and a black cloud was racing toward us. I thought if the motor home gets wet then I would not be able to work on it until it dries, and this would make us lose a day of vacation and possibly cause even more water damage. So I stepped out of the car and hollered to the family to come quick and help me. I raced to the garage to get a plastic tarp and some rope to tie it down. While my kids held the tarp, I got up on the ladder to help drape it over the motor home. But just then, a sudden gust of wind caught the tarp and instantaneously ripped it from the kids hands. It wrapped itself around me from head to toe, and the ladder started tipping from the force of wind. Though I was blinded by the tarp, I actually landed on my feet, staggered backwards trying to catch my balance, and went through a plate glass window. Bad news! Extensive injuries! It is a year later and we still have not gone on vacation. I still have more operations scheduled, and I have not yet returned to work. We had to sell the motor home to pay bills. We may eventually lose our home. The lesson to be learned is demonstrated every day by sailboats. The slightest breeze can catch sails and move huge ships loaded with tons of cargo without effort. So any large surface caught by the wind can produce tremendous energy. Tarps, sheets of building material, car doors, and storm doors all have the potential of being extremely dangerous. Put a person on a roof or ladder with something that can catch the wind and you are asking for trouble.
Posted on: Tue, 18 Jun 2013 18:12:18 +0000
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