Thursday, March 31, 2016. National and local weather prognosticators had called for nasty weather. Wednesday wasn't too bad in our area. Thursday started off rainy then cleared for the afternoon. But. It got unseasonably warm. And I knew.
Mr. Macho and I had just sat down for a small supper while we watched the local news. About 6:20 our local weatherman cut into his own newscast. He quickly reported a tornado on the ground and he warned people in our very own community to be in our safe place. Right. Then.
What does Mr. Macho do? Right - he steps out onto the front porch. Where he could hear the tornado siren going off. I heard it, too, after a few seconds of listening. It had gone from being scarily still to wind whipping around. I insisted we both get into the hall. And we did.
It got loud. Mr. Macho thought he was still hearing the siren. I told him that was no siren -it was the tornado. I thought I heard very loud hail - Mr. Macho said that was limbs and projectiles hitting our roof. I was afraid the two enormous pines in our front yard were coming down on our house.
Then it was over.
Other than cones and limbs and leaves in the yard - we were unscathed.
Our neighbors did not fare so well...
Quickly the sound of emergency sirens and chain saws filled the air. Pick up trucks and emergency vehicles saturated our neighborhood for two days. Even today I have had to dodged trucks and clean up crews on our street. Blue tarps went up fast.
We lost power for about 6 hours and so had to use flashlights and candles. I was worried about losing all the food in my fridge. I had made 5 pounds of potato salad just that afternoon.
I think I was in a little bit of shock. I had lots of adrenalin. Then I got very tired with a little headache. Then I began to shiver. Finally I went to bed. And. It was so dark. At about 12:30 our power came back on and I had to get up to turn off the teevee.
Friday brought more of the same - emergency personnel and clean up crews. I walked around a little bit and hugged neighbors I didn't know. I didn't walk all around because people and crews were so busy attending to the clean up. I don't like looking at other people's misery.
By Saturday I was ready to see it all. So I walked around to look. Twice. Some houses had nasty gashes. No injuries were reported. Thank heavens.
Saturday one of the local baptist churches set up shop in my next door neighbor's front yard and cooked 200 hot dogs and 200 hamburgers to feed all the neighbors. My children and grandchildren had arrived for the weekend (planned weeks in advance) and we all dined on the burgers and dogs. I just have to say how good it felt to be taken care of.
View from Linda D.'s front yard.
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I was glad to have family distraction over the weekend, especially since Mr. Macho had Daddy Duty. He took the day off Friday to clean up the yard then left that evening to care for his dad over the weekend. I was sorry he couldn't stay and visit with his children and grandchildren.
Peyton and Millie were the first to arrive. When Cecilia got here it was a happy squeal fest! These cousins were so glad to see each other. Then more squealing when the Tuscaloosa cousins arrived on Saturday. I can't described how it feels to see them all loving each other. Tucker and Lauren are so good and gentle with their small cousins. Merritt has so much fun with these girls. We got to play a few games over the weekend. The kids watched a movie or two that I had purchased last week.
I had the best time on the way to church Sunday morning with 4/6 of the cousins in the car and Katie Perry singing "I am the champion" - and we were all singing at the top of our lungs! Of course, the grandkids know the words much better than I do! It was great fun.
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I hear chain saws right this minute as I type. Our Friday garbage has not picked up, yet. Dump trucks have carried away loads and loads of storm debris already. There are still mountain of trees and limbs that need hauling off. My little neighborhood will not look the same. I will even have my pines cut down for fear of damage with the next big wind. It is sad but necessary.
I am hoping for peace and good weather in April.
Namaste.
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