Tornado, Part 2

Sorry I've been gone a little longer than I said.  It's been hard to get everything back on track here.

As I said, I parked my car in the neighborhood behind us.  I left a note on the family's door and explained when my car was in the street in front of their house.  I got my things together, and made a plan.  I put the groceries in a big tote bag that would hold every thing easier.  I got my  purse, and looked through the car to see what I needed to take with me, and what could wait.  I put my book and bible in my purse, the post office keys, and a few more items.  Then I locked the car, and started walking. 

Pretty quickly, I was walking in mud.  I had thought about stopping at the Tractor Supply Store or the Farmer's Co-op to buy mud boots, but they had both been closed.  So here I was going through the cotton fields in my sandals.  Slipping and sliding, trying to stay upright and moving forward.

I came to a small area of moving water, not really a creek, because it is not always there.  I walked along side it till I found a spot where I could almost step over it.  I crossed to the other side, but my shoes were really wet.  By this time, I could see our barn.  But somehow I was turned around from where I thought I should be.  I remember telling myself, "They lied.  I can see the barn, but the house is gone".  I'm so glad I was wrong!  Pappy called and asked where I was.  I could see someone walking the opposite direction across the pasture.  I said I was in the pasture, and if that was him, he was going the wrong way.  I could see he had GrandBoy with him, walking along holding hands, looking for Honey.  He then saw me and told me I had parked in the wrong place, and I needed to go back.  Go back?  I said, "No, I'm not going back" and I hung up and wouldn't answer the phone again.  Pappy and GrandBoy disappeared.  A few minutes later I saw Pappy, coming toward me on the tractor.

When he met me, he took my bags and told me to climb on.  I didn't want to, cause I'm afraid of the tractors.  I've never ridden on one before.  They seem to move too fast to me.  But under the circumstances, I did as instructed.  You probably don't understand, but there is only one seat on a tractor, so that meant I was to ride standing up.  So we take off.  The wind is still really strong, and my skirt is blowing up around my head.  I notice that Pappy is getting a good look!  I said, "what are you doing?"  and he said, "Looking at you".  I tried to pull my skirt down, but that meant letting go to what I was holding on to.  Pappy said, "you are just going to have to show your hiney to whoever is around to look, cause if you let go of the tractor, you are going to fall off".  So I continued to hang on, and made it to the farm unharmed except for some scratches on my feet and lower legs from the walk across the cotton fields, and a little tarnish on my dignety!.  The next day my feet ached horribly!  I think they were bruised from the rough ground traveled.

So that is the story of how I got home.  Our farm was fine.  There was a big ball of metal in our front yard that looked like tinfoil.  It had been a storage shed in it's previous life.  Just picked up, and dropped into our pasture fence.  Guess we'll figure out how to get it out of there.

Each morning I would walk the half mile down our driveway to see if there was any progress.  Each day, there were utility workers trying to get the lines back up and get our electric on.  One day, I looked and found one of our missing garbage cans across the road in a field.  I knew it was ours because an envelope with my name on it was inside.  Monday, someone pushed the downed trees to one side, that were blocking our driveway.  We were able to get out, buy milk and bread and go to the post office.

We are so blessed compared to some in our community.  I will try to post some pictures soon, if any are worth looking at.  Most were taken with my cell phone, and may not be any good.

See you soon.  Thanks for stopping by and checking on us.  Honey 

Tornado

I'm sorry I've been away for the last week.  We were in a tornado last Friday.  I was at work.  Early in the day, it started looking dark and earie outside.  I told my boss that it looked just like the day last April when tornadoes struck here.  Little did we know what was to come.  Weather sirens started going off, and kept going off.  We didn't  know exactly where the storms were, or what was going on.  At one point my oldest daughter texted my that Pappy wanted me to call my parents, cause there was a tornado over their home.  My parents have been hit by tornadoes twice before in this same home.  The most recent time last April.  I tried to get them to move, but they have not listened.  I called my Mother, and she said they were under the house.  She said the sirens were going off, and their power was off.  She said police were speeding down the road but they couldn't tell where they were going or what had happened.  Later we would find out that the neighborhood behind my parents home had been hit again.

Daughter contacted me and told me our power was off.  That she, Pappy and GrandBoy were in our storm shelter.  This was about 10 in the morning, I think.  She told me the neighborhood beside us had been hit, and we could not get in our driveway for downed trees, but we were safe for the moment.  When 12:00 came, I told my boss I had to leave to see about my home and family.  I got in my car and went north, not realizing the extent of the damage.

I went to cash my paycheck, in case the banks closed.  Where we live, they were already closed, I would find out.  I stopped to buy batteries and a newspaper, but lots of things were already sold out.  Pappy would need cigarettes.  As I got in the small town about 10 miles from where we live, the commercial section of town had been hit.  The parents were parking on the highway, and walking to the church to pick up their school children.  The restaurant had been hit.  Every where was damage.  It was hard to look at.

Pappy had already told me one road home was impassable.  So I began trying to find a way home.  Our whole road was closed on the section we live, because the tornado took out eight power poles and the lines.  All the lines going the half mile off the road to our home, were down.  The trailer in front of our home had been hit.  The storm jumped over our home, and hit the neighborhood behind us.  I parked in that neighborhood, and started walking across the cotton fields to our farm.  I found a large tote bag in my car, and put all the groceries in it.  I slung my purse across my chest and started walking. 

I'll type more tomorrow.  It's getting late here, and this is kinda a long story!  See you tomorrow.  Honey