Dorothy and her crew stopped by for a brief visit Wednesday night just as Keith and I were settling in for the evening. Cell phone alarms are so grand when you are too far away from town to hear Tornado Warning sirens.
It's also helpful that when all four of your adult children are in the general path of bad weather, there is social media to help with gentle text instructions...GET IN THE BASEMENT NOW! (Me to youngest son) or "Tornado in area, hope you get this message in time, if not, then tell the wicked witch hello for me" (Message from oldest son to me) Our daughters message wins the prize for emergent brevity. "We're ok are you ok?" Even the middle son who avoids all technology more than he avoids vegetables, sent a facebook message. "Hey old folks, Still alive?" With no basement of our own in our grain bin house, we just stayed close to the concrete foundation, snacked on floor crumbs and waited for our metal cone to start spinning.
All ended well for our immediate family. Our two oldest and their families, who live in Pontiac which was hit on the west side by an F2, were unscathed, but their neighbors had roof and yard damage. Worst hit was the area near the Rt 116 and I-55 interchange. There the BP gas station was badly damaged as were a couple trailers just south of town. Many businesses were also hit but our local hospital, just on the other side of the interstate, was missed.
Fortunately, only a hand full of injuries and no deaths. For more damage photos/video go to ABC Channel 7 News
We also received 3 inches of rain here on The Poor Farm that night, which was desperately needed. It's been humid since the storms and work outside is a sweaty, muddy experience but we are happy about it. Our well ran dry on Tuesday night (someone forgot to turn off the hose when watering HIS garden which almost makes up for the all the times I forgot on our old place) causing us to fret about an upcoming dry summer. So when we got drenched with the post tornado rains, we were giddy with relief. The well is full again and all is uh,,,well.
It takes little to make us giddy here, we're just that simple (minded).
I cannot fathom living with tornadoes. We get all excited when the wind hits 120km. In our little pocket (inside Melbourne's Bay at the bottom of Oz) we are safe from such things. Keep safe and WELL!
ReplyDeleteI saw my first tornado at age 12 when my father brought me up out of the basement to see it in the neighbors yard! In fact, I may still go back to school again to be a storm chaser. But electrical fences? They scare the crap out of me. Go figure.
DeleteI would hate to live in a tornado area, it must be scarey.
ReplyDeleteSee above reply to Lynda AND...the pre-tornado skies are gorgeous. Living in Italy where they deal with volcanoes or Canada where they deal with so much snow, now that seems insane. Ireland on the other hand is perfect. At least I think so.
DeleteI agree with you there Donna, we tried Spain, too hot in summer too cold in winter and it get wet! Very wet, we could never go back to the UK, that to us seems like a foreign land now.
DeleteI'm a tornado fan from way back too. Spent many a Summer night in the cellar with grandparents when I stayed with them. Scared but fascinated. I would LOVE to be a storm chaser or at least take one of those trips that follows the chasers so you can see up close too.
ReplyDeleteHave y'all thought of a shelter? We are thinking about it at the farm. Have a post coming up about that in fact. Glad you (and the family) are safe!
There is an old root cellar on our property but it needs lots of work. Looking forward to seeing your post on the topic.
DeleteOh thank goodness you are all safe and sound. I second 1st man -- I know Ilene installed a prefab storm shelter, but you may be able to convert that root cellar to dual purpose. Watched "Twister" last night. Yikes. Take care.
ReplyDeleteThe more I think about remodeling our root seller them more I think about...wine cellar, writers retreat, den of iniquity, the possibilities seem endless.
DeleteLair?
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