It’s Christmas morning, so I am at my husband’s house at the Gulf. (Because his tiny house is a 700 sq ft wall to wall office, I still live in my Mini when I’m here.)
I’m sitting in my comfy leather chair and drinking coffee when I see my new screenroom go AIRBORNE. Half of the 10×10 structure is IN THE AIR, hurtling toward my Mini.
Flying out of my chair, I run outside barefoot to try to get a grip on one of the flying legs. The roof has now turned into a giant sail, so I don’t dare let go to run ask my husband for help.
Step by step, I dismantle the room in the blowing wind. I’m freezing my ass off.
Frantically running around for almost ten minutes, I finally have the room safely disassembled. Able to catch my breath for the first time and lowering my adrenaline, I am again struck by how cold I am.
Another cold gust of wind and I realize why – the back of my cotton skirt is stuffed in my underwear.
Not only was I freezing my ass off, I was baring my ass to all my neighbors.
Merry Christmas!
Jennifer
p.s. I did have the screen room staked into the ground!
19 Comments
Oh, sorry! But funny! My family asked why I was laughing so loudly! Great picture!
Merry Christmas!!!
I was so going to write a comment about being sure you were careful about wind with an lay-up tent. I have seen many of them blown over in the night at art festivals.
I have also lost two (badly twisted) when I let them up in my yard without staking overnight.
But I thought my comment might be viewed as negative, or too nannyish!
I should have followed my “mothering” instinct.
Hopefully it is not damaged, because you will really enjoy using it.
You can also pop it down half way for less wind vulnerability.
Been there! Merry Christmas btw..Just a comment about your “rug”. Here on the Gulf Coast, they don’t last very long if exposed to the sun all day. Three of us had them fall apart-the smaller threads that the larger “straws” are woven into break down in the UV. Leaving one outdoors all summer without an awning will destroy them in a summer. The small threads break and you can trip on them. They make a hard mess to clean up too! Happy trails..
Now this is a Christmas that neighborhood will not soon forget. I’ll be checking Youtube after posting this. Have a nice rest of Christmas Day Jennifer.
I had heard that about the screen rooms, and we actually considered buying one just like yours for one of our trailers.
Wondering if deeper screw-in stakes would make a difference? Will let you figure it out and then share all of your vast knowledge.
Sorry to have missed the Christmas show.
ROFLMAO – Ho Ho Ho – That must have been a sight for the neighbors! You just made a Christmas memory.
Not to be the most unhelpful person in the room but I’ve never seen a screen room that was worth the considerable amount of trouble they are. Ditto for awnings.
Hope you are having a great Christmas, Jennifer!
Best Christmas story, EVER!!!!
The power of the wind always surprises me when dealing with large, light things like tents. When I was in my 20’s, I went through a very thin stage where I weighed only about 120 pounds. My wife and I were sitting on the beach in Florida, watching a thunderstorm roll in. We had just bought a very large (and expensive) beach umbrella that we planned to stay under while the storm passed (yeah, dumb idea). I used a special sand stake, and had it buried about 18 inches in the sand, so I though it was secure. One big gust, however, and off it went, with me holding on tight by both hands. I wasn’t about to let my expensive new umbrella fly off into the sky, even though it literally dragged me 40 feet across the sand, then another 15 feet into the prickly underbrush. When I finally got it under control and dragged myself back to my wife, who never even got out of her chair, she looked at me and calmly said, “What’d you do that for?” I was incredulous. Doh!
I have had one of those EZ-up things go flying a few times. The worst one was at a racetrack. We had hung heavy toolboxes from the posts. It wasn’t enough to counter the wind. I was happy there wasn’t anyone standing in the roadway when the thing blew over, sending the toolboxes in a high arc into the air, like a trebuchet that didn’t release it’s load, smashing it on the ground.
Good show Jennifer, where’s a camera when you need it.
The winds come up so fast here in the southwest.
Kelly
AWESOME.
Yep, I think we’ve all dealt with wind born accoutrements at one time, or another. The power of even a light wind is always surprising, and can at the same time be devastating to umbrellas, awnings, screen rooms, etc. When we used to own a 26′ sailboat I was always amazed how much power a light wind caught by a small jib provided. Hope nothing broke…
Better to laugh than cry!! Thanks for the chuckles and the mental images.
Merry Christmas & safe travels
Steve
Hysterical!
Please say you didn’t have on granny-panties.
If you tell me you then got stung by a killer bee, I will know for sure you and I are soulmates.
Oh boy, what a disaster! But but BUT, maybe the neighbors were too busy looking at the flying screen than your, ah excuse moi for laughing, bare behind! Hope you were not wearing a T-back! ;p
Well, once I was on the beach, my hubby stepped away, the stupid beach umbrella was blown away. I frantically chased after it, leaving my then 1.5 yr old son unattended. I was bare feet, the sun was strong, the sand was hot, trust me, it wasn’t easy to run on hot sand! It took me a while to finally chase down the umbrella, and I was sure people must be having a good laugh at me!
all’s well that ends well, could you ‘engineer’ some kind of relief vent(s)?