Sign in Subscribe
Butte

Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon

Doug Mahugh

• 3 min read
Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon

Living in Montana, especially at higher elevations, means never being certain what the weather might do. The forecast can change by the hour, and today was a good example of that.

I took Nancy for a walk this morning and it was a pleasant winter day: no precipitation, partly cloudy, with no wind and temperatures in the 30s. Mild by Butte standards, as it has been all winter so far. The forecast for the day showed a breeze and no precipitation.

Then, while lazing around in the parlor, suddenly we heard a loud crashing noise: a loud thump and lots of breaking glass. A sudden snow squall had blown in, and a gust of high wind blew one of our upstairs windows out.

The source of the loud crashing sound, in an alcove of the upstairs hallway.
High winds were forecast this weekend for the northern half of the state, but our county hadn't been one of the ones with a severe weather warning.

I looked outside, and it was snowing and the wind was blowing hard. I didn't get a photo of that, because we had a problem to take care of: sealing up the window and cleaning up the broken glass. While Megan got started on the latter, I hopped in the truck and headed to the Ace Hardware to buy a sheet of plywood. Luckily this happened during business hours!

Left: the weather when I left for the Ace Hardware. Right: the weather on the way back home with a sheet of plywood.

We got things cleaned up and sealed up, and we're ready for a new window to be installed. We had every window upstairs replaced this fall except for that one, coincidentally. It's too high to see out, just a light source near the hallway, and we didn't think it was worth replacing. So much for that thinking.

Left: the storm window was open a few inches, which may have been a factor. The frame is an original (i.e., over 100 years old), so replacing it with a sturdy vinyl window seems prudent. Right: sealed up with plywood until we can get it replaced.

We had an unusual wind storm last June with sustained 50-60 mph winds for several hours, and this window had survived that one. I guess it was just time.

OK, back to lazing! #MontanaLife