Thoreau writes in his journal:
Very high wind this forenoon; began by filling the air with a cloud of dust. Never felt it shake the house so much; filled the house with dust through the cracks: books, stove, papers covered with it. Blew down Mr. Frost’s chimney again. Took up my boat, a very heavy one, which was lying on its bottom in the yard, and carried it two rods. The white caps of the waves on the flooded meadow, seen from the window, are a rare and exciting spectacle,—such an angry face as our Concord meadows rarely exhibit. Walked down the street to post-office . . .
P.M.—Walked round by the west side of the river to Conantum.
Wind less violent. C. [William Ellery Channing] has already seen a yellow-spotted tortoise in a ditch. (Two sizable elms by river in Merrick’s pasture blown down, roots being rotted off on water side.) . . .
