The pressure-washing made a huge difference in bringing the natural wood color back on the logs.

Jeff washing the top of a girder from the scaffold.

As soon as John came across and warned us about the tornado warning for our area, and the two funnel clouds spotted just south of us, we quickly strapped the scaffold towers to the girders and headed to the basement.

When we got the warning, the was virtually no wind and it wasn't raining. Within about 10 minutes, there was a torrential downpour and strong winds. We watched it all from the basement. Outside the back door, a small lake formed over the patio area and extended away from the house a few feet.

Jeff captured what appears to be the remnant funnel cloud that touched down as a small tornado just minutes earlier in the village.
(click image to play video)

Soon, everything stopped, though the sky still looked eerie. The flood waters began running over the frost wall and down into the stone floor.

It started and stopped a few more times, though nothing as heavy as the first downpour, then it was over.

After another few minutes, the skies began to clear and it seemed as if nothing had happened.