Dirt Devil

We all have pretty much seen dirt devils.  They are usually low to the ground spinning around like little tornadoes.  We had an experience with one that made us go what the heck was that!

We were sitting quietly reading mid-afternoon when all of the sudden a very strong wind came up with a very intense sound.  John and I kind of looked at one another when all of a sudden, we started seeing items of ours flying by, our table with BBQ got lifted up from the pegs holding it down and was flipped over against our steps, one of our loungers was headed towards the truck but stopped just short of banging into it (thank goodness) and another chair was moved opposite from where it had been left.  The wind picked up our ladder golf game frames and sent them in two different directions and broke them all apart.  We found one of John's flip flops near the truck some twenty feet away.  As quickly as it started, it was soon over.

After picking up our stuff and depositing the broken ladder golf frames in the garbage, we got talking with manager, Eric, and he said it was a big dirt devil.  He was out working on the lawn when he first heard it and then saw it.  He said neighbors mats got airborne, one of the neighbors had a number of airplane whirlygigs that got deposited in the trees at the far end of the park, and one of our neighbors lost an awning.   Eric said that last year they had a dirt devil come through that picked up one of the heavy picnic tables, took it up about 150 feet before releasing it and having it smash to pieces on the ground.  Thankfully, no property or people were damaged/hurt.

At the potluck this evening, it was again mentioned not to go off and leave your awning out.  Actually, come early afternoon, it is not unusual for the wind to pick up so we never leave our awning out as we don't trust the wind sensor on the awning.  After experiencing the effects of a dirt devil, we will be even more cautious.