Highest winds ever, worse than Dorian

Friday night we had a heck of a storm.  It was strange that it was all over so fast, from onset to back to complete calm in 12 hours, with the storm blast lasting about four hours long.  However, it was the highest winds we've ever experienced here, stronger gusts than Hurricane Dorian brought not too long ago.  I know, because it blew over a beehive, and that's never happened before.

The wind was the kind you don't sleep through, jostling me on the bed and making the lamps swing as it shook the house.  I was concerned about the "new greenhouse" that hadn't yet been tested.  After the big gusts that sounded disturbing, I'd walk out to see if the plastic was tearing off of either hoop house.  It wasn't.  There was a lot of strain on the ends, and the door on the small house ripped off.

I came back in and happened to glance outside... the horror!  A beehive was missing!  I rushed back out, and Violet was thrown over, lid off.  The bees were slowly oozing out and permeating the fallen-out hay that had been insulating their eke.  I tucked the hay back in, stood the hive back up, and hugged it to shift it into place.  That was a mistake.  There were plenty of bees pooling around their door on the outside that transferred to me and started crawling up my sleeves and stinging me through my pajamas.  "I'm helping you!"  I shouted at them over the wind.  About a handful of bees were lost, spilled out, and dead of exposure.  Another half dozen had to be plucked off me and flicked back inside.

Retrieving Violet's lid is when I noticed that the lids had blown off all the other hives, also never happened before.  It wouldn't have affected the bees more than causing a draft.  When I got everything reassembled, weighted down, and propped up, the peak of the storm had passed, and I could sleep.    Good to know everything can hold up.