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