What we thought was the usual thunderstorm last night turned out to be a furious whirlwind. For a few minutes, with lightning as its backdrop, plants started flying, roots seperated from pots, bottles tumbled down, the entire balcony of the future Cafe Domingo soaked, then, a mighty crack, followed by another.
A lush branch of the camachile tree on right side of the tiny house fell, squashing the vegetable patch, covering the mushroom where we have our warm morning drinks. The fallen overgrown branch blocked access to the gate from the front and damaged the gutter, immediately flooding the flower bed below.
The other crack was from the ipil-ipil tree standing at the front of the tiny house, its thick foliage once shading the tiny house from above. Had we been unlucky, it would have torn the roof. But the trunk split a little low, so that most of the dense branches rested casually above the roof, in this unsafe, maximum-anxiety-triggering way.
It happened so fast. The whirlwind passed by without care or thought and in its wake left us half-buried in foliage, branches, and a healthy dose of fear.
Oh, did I mention that all my sisters were visiting last night when it happened? They were sat on the balcony and were treated to frontrow seats to the destruction.
The rain was nothing, soft and negligible, and would have been cozy on normal circumstances. But the ferocious wind turned everything upside down. What a night!
Today, we spent most of our hours clearing debris and cleaning the mess, especially the broken tree on the roof, which required no less than a grand production to take down safely. I cannot thank my father enough for helping us first thing this morning.
We also saved the plants, let go of others that were destroyed, and started again as the gray sky gave way to the sun: slowly, patiently, with purpose.
Markus said we still got lucky. It could have been worse. The good news is we know the tiny house is strong and stable. Two falling trees and a whirlwind is no joke. Now time to rest!
Markus + Micah 
So sorry to see but it does look like you got away with a black eye only. Do you have insurance on your tiny house especially in case for something worse❓
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It is all good now, like nothing happened. Actually it helped some of the small trees grow, after the shade is gone. All worked out okay in the end, but it was quite a scary experience. Thank you for your visit and welcome to our blog.
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Oh no. Glad you all survived (+ plants!)
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Salamat. The plants are okay now. We are missing the shade from our big tree at the front of the tiny house though.
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Oh my goodness! I am glad to hear that you and your house guests are alright.
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Yes, thank you. It was a very exciting night – and day after!
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I am so sorry for the fear and devastation that storm caused! I hope that you will be able to create an even more beautiful garden in time. Peace and love 🙂
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It was really bad, but after cleaning the mess, it was as if nothing happened. I miss the shade in front of the house though. I had to move the nursery a little bit to adjust. Thank you for your well-wishes!
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Woah!! Glad all of you are safe!! 😄😄
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Thank you. It was quite the experience. I do not want to repeat it actually. Have you experienced extreme weather, too?
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Well, not exactly but yeah extreme weather in our apartment has occured a few times. A few weeks ago a bunch of trees fell to the ground because of heavy heavy rain
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Never fun when this happens. But what can we do, right?
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Yeah.. nature needs to reboot itself 😄
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Well, we have in the apartment we live in, a couple of weeks back a bunch of trees and stuff fell because of heavy rain
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i’m glad that you are all safe. what a scare!
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Thanks, my youngest sister certainly did not appreciate it!
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Oh dear me! I am so sorry this happened, Micah. It sounds like the big winds that came through near our house last Saturday night. Someone posted a picture online of their roof ending up in their living room. Hope all has been cleaned up and there was no lasting damage.
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Yes, I remember that post from you. Fortunately, all is well. Thank you for the well-wishes, Kathy.
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It’s good to be in NC. Our county has not had a lot of cases of the virus. I think there have been only one or two deaths so far.
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Good to hear you are safe. We are also safe here with very rare cases. I really wish this resolves soon!
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I am glad you are safe and that everything is now back to normal. Was that your house? So cool! Do you have a tiny house feature of it somewhere? I love your roof esp. the shape and the color!!!
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Many thanks. It is like nothing happened. Yes, this is our tiny house. You can see more of it on Instagram @tinyhousebagac or @markusundmicah. We are glad that you like the way it looks. Maybe one day you will also experience how it feels!
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Thanks for sharing!!! ❤️ can’t wait to take a glimpse 💕💕💕
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Thank you for following us, Janis. You are so supportive of us and we really appreciate you.
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❤️❤️❤️
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Wow! What destruction! I’m glad none of you were hurt.
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Thank you, Anne. We are all okay. It was scary though. Have you experienced anything similar?
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I’ve never experienced such a freak storm. Blizzards and hurricanes hit Long Island, but those are long, slow storms. Was there much destruction in your general area?
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That is good news. Hoping it stays that way. Yes, here in the beach area, it was synchronized cleaning the next day!
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We love in the mountains now, and our weather is much more civilized than it was in NY.
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Probably a big advantage now seeing the pandemic numbers out of NY!
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Am glad your safe and you had people to help with the clearing after.
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Many thanks. Yes, it was such a big job! We were half-buried in foliage and it took hours to chop the tree into bits so it can be safely brought down. As you know, the roof is also triangular so there is not a lot of surface to work with. But it was all cleared in the end and now we can focus on rehabilitating the plants that suffered.
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oh no! I hope you guys are ok!
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We are all safe, thank you. The roof held up. It was just a lot of cleaning after!
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How scary! I’m glad it wasn’t anything worse.
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Yes, if the branches fell just a little to the side, the roof would have been gone.
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Geez that’s hectic! Glad you’re safe!! Silver lining: free workout 😅
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Thanks, haha! We ran inside the house when it started going crazy. But I have to admit I was worried the glass (the entire front of the tiny house is glass) will break, too!
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Eeek scary!
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Quite. Do you get whirlwinds or tornadoes there, too?
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Nope! We get hail and frost 😅
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Still sounds like trouble!
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Did some yoga today with Adriene and feel awake.
Thank you for mentioning it in your previous post.
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Happy to hear! What kind of flow did you practice? I also watch YouTube yoga teachers – Cat Meefan, Jessica Richburg, and Tim Senesi are my favorites. The current five day wellness series of Cat Meefan is super!
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I should check it out. Adriene has 30 day yoga programs, but I do random ones depending on how I feel or what I am looking for.
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Yes! I do the same. This is why I have a few favorites. I love a flow focused on what hurts in my body that day.
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🙂
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Wow! That’s a little too much excitement for one evening! I am glad all the people and most of the plants are all right. And you still have a roof over your heads. Pretty scary storm.
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I am used to storms. I grew up here in The Philippines. But a whirlwind is something else. It just came and went 421%! Thank you for the well-wishes. Have you experienced anything similar?
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Good to know that you managed to get away safe.
Yes, natural calamities happen but those who live a simple life like you suffer the least amount of damage.
Indeed a simple life is the course of wisdom.
Stay safe!
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Many thanks – it was scary! It was a bigger worry because all my sisters were there and big trees just started tumbling left and right! The best news is we know the roof is strong. It can handle it. Haha!
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A strong roof + a strong marriage, what else? What can a storm do? Stay safe!
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Thank you. Wishing you safety and health there, too. Technically not married yet – we are still waiting for the fiance visa to come through! Taking its time because of corona, I suppose.
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I wish there was a fiance visa arrangement here too. I had to struggle a lot to get my wife to marry me here legally.
Wish you all the best for your wedding plans
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In Germany, it exists. Thank you. Just a waiting game now. We do not really want an event though. Why was it very hard for you there?
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It was hard because my wife didn’t have a passport and she was completely undocumented.
But we found a way out
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Good to know you figured it out! How long have you been married and where is your wife from in The Ph?
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Almost 20 years and she is from Bulacan. Saan kayo sa Pilipinas?
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Long time! Bataan. Just a province away from Bulacan. My mother is from Bulacan, too. You are fluent in Filipino, yes? Markus has not had the time to learn.
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Taga San Ildefonso Bulacan si misis. Madali lang ang wikang Tagalog. Matututo rin si mister mo, sigurado iyon!
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Showing off, are we? Yes, I know he will. Just right now we are both taking on other foreign languages and there is not enough space for adding Filipino to the list! We are only self-studying, too. No language school. How did you pick-up Tagalog?
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Self study + maraming kwentuan (maBUTI at maBOTE) sa Pilipinas…study + napakaraming practice at syempre naman practice sa bahay araw-araw
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Ah so you and the wife lived here, too. Yes, I am looking forwar to practice more. Great advice. I have yet to be surrounded by German and I feel it will help me pick it up faster.
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Germans are smart people and they have a great country and mine pales in comparison in terms of cleanliness. You will enjoy it there
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I am looking forward to it. Markus assures me Asians are treated okay there. How about in Italy?
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No problems here. Italians are tolerant people and they have the same Latin blood as the Spanish who shaped much of the Filipino culture
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Poor you – what a dreadful night. But well done for confronting your difficulties with such resilience. Good luck!
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Thank you, Margaret. It was not fun to experience it, and do the cleaning after! Have you had a similar experience with nature being angry before?
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Noooo – not like that. So far. I’m hoping it stays that way! Hope that things are pretty much sorted no.
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Glad to hear that. And yes, hoping for the same for you. The branches have been taken down and everything is back to normal now, thank you. It is as of nothing happened actually!
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