Last night, our small corner of the world was hit with some fairly violent storms. My kids were to have a spring show at school and just about the time we were showered, dressed and putting our pretty little feet out the front door- some storms were heading our way.
We knew they were coming, The Dairy Farmer said so. And, if he said so, then it's true. Two things my man knows like the back of his hand: weather and time. You can ask him what time it is and with a quick glance at the sky, he can nail it within 5 minutes. He has never been one to wear a watch, so he does come in handy.
We opted to wait a few minutes, let the storm pass and make sure our power stayed on, then head to school. Now, I don't worry too much about weather. Thunder, lightening and rain- they don't bother me. My kids weren't nervous as they plopped back down and turned on the Disney channel. The dogs weren't nervous- one was sleeping and one was disemboweling a care bear. The Dairy Farmer wasn't nervous, he was laying in bed watching re-runs.
But, my mom, she was nervous and called to make sure we were hunkered down in our basement. Actually, she wanted to make sure we were inside- luckily, Thursday is our day off, so we didn't have to worry about being out feeding calves when the storm hit. I still wasn't nervous.
Then 911 called me. They wanted to be sure that I knew tornado watches were in effect and then they explained what I needed to do. Ok, now, I'm nervous. If 911 calls you, it must be bad. But, my basement is pretty disgusting....being a 200 yr old farm house and all and for me to drag 2 kids and 2 xxl dogs down those rickety, cobweb infested steps....well.....I better see a twister touch down before that happens. I mean....for the love of nancy......there's no tv down there.
The DF walked outside and stood in the driveway for a few minutes checking the sky and <cue wizard of oz music> looking for flying monkeys. The rest of us tuned in to the news and facebook, because if you ever want to know what's going down in your area, check your facebook. It was a buzz with tales of hail the size of golf balls, tractor trailers turning over, folks taking cover in their basements and massive rivers running through their yards.
Our town must have been hit pretty hard.....but those of us in Chambersburg adjacent made out fairly well. The wind whipped and the rain blew. We watched limbs break off our tree we watched our beloved swing set twist in half and smash to the ground and we <gasp> lost satellite signal, so we had snacks and played cards. And then.....it was over.
We waited on edge to make sure our power stayed on. We've had a good bit of heat and humidity this week and The DF closed up the barn and turned all the fans on in an effort to keep the ladies comfortable. If the power went off...the fans went off and that would leave over 650 cows to create their own sauna. He needed to be on hand to get the generators up and running.
The Lord blessed us in many ways: we did not sustain much storm damage, our power stayed on the whole time and we were able to get all our hay in before the storm came. Well, except for 3 acres behind our house. As The Dairy Farmer went to take his shower that night, he saw out our bathroom window that he totally forgot to have them chop this little piece of ground. Oops.
We did have a swing set blow over on our horse fence but were able to lock the horses in before they decided to take a field trip and see if the grass really is greener on the other side.
The biggest blessing is that people are ok, we still have our families, our homes and our lives.....unlike many people in the Midwest particularly Joplin, who have had everything obliterated right before their eyes. We have folks who are still without power and we have lots of trees and power lines down......but in the grand scheme of things, we are all just fine.
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