Well, I've been reading about everyone else's bad weather and even added to some friends blogs about their wacky weather and my small town's string of thunder storms.
Last night we had a tornado rip through.
This experience is not new to me since I used to live in a flat area that had occasional tornadoes and funnel clouds pass through. However, none of them ever came as close to my house as this one did. A mere couple blocks away it did extensive damage. Forty houses were damaged. One gas station's pumps were uprooted and cars were flipped over helter skelter. Worst of all, however was the millions of dollars worth of damage done to Camp Atterbury, our local military base. The soldiers for the most part were sleeping when it hit. Thankfully none of them were killed though there were some injuries.
As a consequence of the sporadic damage, our power was out for nearly twelve hours. IMHO, I think that was worse for me than the actual tornado. Without power nothing worked - no radio, tv, computer, alarm clock, phonelines, or appliances! The darkness would've been easily resolved with a flashlight, except, wouldn't you know it, my DH's flashlight, which is seldom used, wouldn't WORK. Scrounging around, I found a grand total of three candles, the fragranced kind, that hadn't been burned down to the base. Three candles in inky blackness does NOT provide much comfort, let me tell you. My daughter, for the first time in a couple of years, slept with me and DH. Or let me reword that, she slept with DH because I never slept a wink! All I could think of was what might be happening out there without my knowledge.
I tried reading by candlelight. Has anyone else ever tried to do that? If you have, you've probably also figured out why old-timers lost their vision so early in their lives. It is NOT a convenient light. And everytime I went to the bathroom, I had to either go in the inky blackness or tote a candle around. For the first time in my life I felt like the gothic heroine in one of the romantic historicals. Except it wasn't romantic. If you've ever read the Gone With The Wind sequel Scarlet, you'll remember that little scene when she went out to the well at night in the blackness, got disoriented because she couldn't see her hand in front of her face, and ended up crawling on the ground. That was the equivelent of darkness in my house last night. When I held a candle out the door into the backyard, it was as if the night swallowed the light. Pretty scary stuff! I tell you, I never was so glad for the dawn. Our electric didn't come back on until 7:30.
So today I had to clean out the fridge and freezer. Yep, armed with trashbags and a headache, I digged through it all. Thank God I hadn't just bought a full load groceries! Man, I hated tossing out so much food. But knowing that food poisoning could be easily factored in, I WASN'T taking a chance!
We're still having storms pass through - had one a mere hour ago, but so far no more tornados spotted. We're under a watch until 11:00. I may just invest in some old fashioned oil lanterns, not to mention a handful of flashlights!
Hope everyone is is keeping safe!
"Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see."
- Mark Twain
Electricity...
Oh boy can I sympathize! I live in Central Florida in the county that got hit by all those hurricanes in 2004. Let me tell you, saying names like Charley, Frances, and Jeanne doesn't have to have Hurricane in front for us to know what they meant either! We went I think it was 5 days without power after Charley and another day or two without it after Jeanne. I discovered that those booklights I never saw a use for were important and it was the only way I could read... cause oh man, reading by candlelight was awful. We finally started just going to bed when it got dark cause what was the point otherwise? The worst though, as you well know, was after the storm when you had no idea of the damage outside and it was pitch dark so you couldn't go look. Horrible, horrible thing! I hope no more tornadoes hit near you!
The D2K Paranormal Junkies 2008 Challenge
Wow, how scary for you
Wow, how scary for you Amanda! It might be hard to lose a freezer and refrigerator load of food, but at least you have the roof still intact over your head. Hope your weather is improving.
Nancy
The best thing I have found
The best thing I have found for use in electrical outages is a battery operated lantern which is much safer than oil lamps or candles. There are many places that sell them but I got mine from LLBean (hope I can say that).
ELLEN TOO
A true teacher is a person who, at the end of the school day, still likes children!
Next time you will remember
to put batteries in your emergency kit.
Wow, did you guys have any damage? I hope you are ok over there.
In an effort to be "green" I bought a flash light that is supposed to work if you just shake it real hard for a few seconds. Well, the other night when we tripped a circuit breaker, i went outside to check the box and that darned flash light is sooo weak and doesnt hold a charge very long. But at least i got the lights back on.
Terri
Got Books?
I added a pic of the damage in Camp Atterbury....
This is just a mere 2 miles from where I live. Miraculously, it skipped around my house and the neighbors' homes on my block. It did do a LOT of damage along SR 252, which runs through my small town. I have friends who have extensive damage to their homes and properties.
Oh, Deb, I can't imagine going through those Florida huricanes! That has to be much, much worse, being as it contains water and waves. Oh, and about the booklight - yeah, I could use one those, too. I read about someone else here on eharlequin using one to read at night. It might have been you, even, I can't remember exactly. It's certainly practical.
Thanks for your concern. I hope you don't have any hurricanes either!
You're right, Nancy. We do still a roof over our heads, which a few local people don't have. And most of all, we have our health to be grateful for. Thankfully there weren't very many injuries in town, and no deaths from this twister.
Ellen, I didn't realize they had battery lanterns. I'll have to check into one of those, too. That would have to better than a flashlight. I wouldn't think you'd get in trouble for saying LL Bean on here - unless you're getting commission - lol
. Thanks for the idea!
Terri, yeah, I'm learning my lesson about the batteries definitely. Next time (hopefully there won't BE a next time!) I'll be more prepared. Your green light sounds like the solar outdoor lights we bought one year. You could see them decoratively, but you could stumble from the lack of light they put out! Guess the 'green' innovations are still in the green stages, huh?
"Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see."
- Mark Twain
Normally, you need to go 24
Normally, you need to go 24 hours w/o electricity for you to need to throw food away or consume it immediately. 12 hours wouldn't effect the food unless you were opening /closing the freezer every 15 minutes.
"Perhaps what the average member of a group is capable of doesn't limit what a given individual can accomplish." -- Boston Globe, letter to the editor
March's Member of the Month!
Flashlights...
I would highly recommmend the flashlights you can wind up. We just bought a 3 pack of them from Home Depot and they are great for our hurricane kit. The battery operated ones are fine, too, but the crank ones you never have to worry about the batteries dying. They also have a lantern and even radios that you can wind up. We've been very pleased with them. Like you, Terri, we bought some of those shaker lights. Some work quite well but the amount of shaking involved to get a light that is more than decorative is beyond annoying and many never seem to work great. Plus, over time, some seem to work less effectively than in the past, which is also annoying.
Amanda... the good thing about hurricanes in comparison is that you know well in advance they are coming whereas tornadoes don't give a lot of warning. Don't get me wrong, there can be tornadoes in the hurricanes (there certainly were in Charley!!). Luckily, we don't live on the coast so the waves aren't an issue. In fact, we live in the county that is usually used for all the folks on the coast to evacuate to! Imagine the Tampa folks' surprise when they evacuated to our area only to find a bullseye was pinned on us!
The D2K Paranormal Junkies 2008 Challenge
thankfully
you didn't sustain any more damage. Hopefully the people that sustained such devasation pull their lives together.
I'm pretty sure we are on a different power grid than most of the city because when the power went out on August 14 2003(always remember date cause sister was married 15) for something like 24 hours, the building I live in wasn't affected. We also have a back up generator so if the power does go off it isn't for very long.(I couldn't afford to replace it) When my fridge decided to quit on me, I was lucky again becuase it was still cold enough outside that I could put things like milk, cheese...etc outside and things from my freezer up top into my other freezer.
But yeah I've tried the reading by candle lit. Luckily these were 4 bigger candles so they gave off lots of light.
Christa ~ Quiet Canadians ~ 2008 Challenge Blog
My Shelfari Page
Here in France if the power is out and you have to throw out
food, if you have the receipts from the supermarket, you can submit them to EDF who will normally reimburse you for at least part of the stuff
Good to know
When I can't read for lack of light I can always relive the books in my mind - the joys of a good memory
Hugs
Sadhbh
Dream Team 2008 Challenge blogs
No more excuses, just READ!
FF....
You're probably right about the timeframe. But I have a 6 yr-old who opened the fridge door before she realized she wasn't supposed to. I probably go overboard on things sometimes. But my motto has always been 'better safe than sorry'. If you've read Merri's (Paisley's) post about her DH's food-poisoning it's enough to make more than one person cringe about the safety and germs on food.
Deb, wow, in the bullseye? Have you ever had damage to your property from a hurricane? That's scary stuff. Crank flashlights and radios? Cool. I'll have to look for those. I haven't seen them before, but then again I haven't ever tried to look. We're now in the process of gathering emergency gear in case this happens again. This has been such a strange spring, weather-wise. And now, following in the wake of the tornado and storms, we're having some flooding issues. Lots of roads closed.
Christa, my house didn't have any damage at all. And I'm so thankful! Camp Atterbury, as you can see from the pic, has had millions of dollars worth of damage. They'll be cleaning it up and then rebuilding for a long time. Several locals had damage done to their homes. One friend in particular had the roof torn off her apartment building. Luckily she and her 10 yr. old daughter Tyra weren't at home when the tornado touched. She was allowed to go inside for a few minutes to take out as many clothes, toiletries, and pictures as she could carry. But sadly most things couldn't be salvaged. We've been doing as much as we can to help her.
Oh, and candlelight is extremely romantic. It's not my ideal reading light!
Sadhbh, you lucky duck! If there's a system like that here, I've never heard of it! It's kind of like the free medicine that Canadians get (I have a diabetic aunt who lives there). Here in the states, we pay hundreds of dollars sometimes for our meds. It's amazing the differences in our countries. It's also incredible that you can get reimbursed for your spoiled foods. I'm just glad I didn't buy all my groceries like I'd planned to do right before the tornado. My refrigerator wasn't nearly stocked full as it sometimes. Still, throwing out food hurts me. However, like I said to FF, I'd rather be safe than sorry. Just call me Chicken!
"Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see."
- Mark Twain
Yes France has a good health system too, it reimburses a
lot, but wouldn't you know they're trying to eliminate the black debt hole and people are complaining because they have to participate in the costs to the tune of (maximum) 50 euros a year for medication and 1 euro per doctor's visit
Ireland's system is not half as good so I do appreciate when I'm lucky married to a Frenchman
Hugs
Sadhbh
Dream Team 2008 Challenge blogs
No more excuses, just READ!
My Dearest Gnat
If the government would stop giving tax rebates to the rich, it would hurt less to pay the PAF on the consults and meds.
"Perhaps what the average member of a group is capable of doesn't limit what a given individual can accomplish." -- Boston Globe, letter to the editor
March's Member of the Month!
FF....
You are too brilliant! Here in the states we have issues similar to that one too. What we need are a few good Robin Hoods, don't you think?
"Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see."
- Mark Twain
Bullseye...
In 2004, all those hurricanes that went through Florida all went through one county and their paths all intersected about 20 miles from my house. Charley actually went over us with the eye of the storm even. We were blessed as we had one of the few homes that wasn't damaged in our neighborhood. We lost all the trees in the backyard but they all fell in different directions rather than on our house. And we had one shingle flip over. Other than that, the damage was more of the yard being a marsh so the grass drowned apparently but otherwise, it was more the hassle of the lack of electricity and that we are on a septic tank.
The D2K Paranormal Junkies 2008 Challenge
Wow...
.... Deb, I'd say all three trees falling in different directions away from the house is nothing short of a miracle! If you're like me though, you feel ever so slightly guilty that friends and neighbors have to suffer when you don't. It makes me want to do everything possible to help them. And if my time of need ever comes, hopefully someone will reach out to help me and my family.
"Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see."
- Mark Twain
I live on the Texas coast
I live on the Texas coast and have had 3 major hurricanes go through with major damage to the city but fortunately only minimal damage to where I was living. Mainly trees and some flying debris damaging the roof. We have not had one in a long time and every year someone starts with the "It's our year" type of cr@p. The only problem I have with the wind up stuff is the inability to wind long enough to do any good thanks to the arthritis in my arm joints.
ELLEN TOO
A true teacher is a person who, at the end of the school day, still likes children!
Yep, I know a few pessimists like that too!
There'll always be those who issue bad predictions, Ellen. 'The end of the world' is their motto. I know a few who, every winter here in Indiana, say 'Oh, we're due for a blizzard'. I feel like saying, 'maybe you're due for a blizzard but I'm not!' LOL
It's perfectly understandable for you not to join in hands-on in projects if you have arthritis, Ellen. No one is going to think badly of you for that. I always find that there's other ways to help in a disaster too, besides physically. You can help gather up baskets of new or used goods for those who've lost even their basic necessaties. You can offer to make calls or to run minor errands. There's so many, many things.
BTW, I love the state of Texas!
"Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see."
- Mark Twain
Chiming in late
Just read your post. Amanda. Sorry to be late with this, but I'm so glad you came through that tornado okay. Scary stuff!! The weather's been so nuts. Hang in there!
www.bethciotta.com
"...enchanting, madcap romance..." Publisher Weekly
"...wry humor; sexy, multifaceted characters..." Booklist
Thanks, Beth...
...We're still cleaning up. Here in town, most of the damage from the tornado is cleaned up, however we've had the worst flooding our area of Indiana has ever had. It did far more damage than the tornado. Again, my house was spared from this. But a walk down Walnut St. and a few others streets will reveal house after house with sump-pumps leading out onto the streets to suck out water from the basements and lower stories. The nearby city of Columbus is a wreck! Even the hospitial was evacuated because the basement and first floor are ruined. Hundreds and hundreds of homes have been evacuated and lost under water.
My cousin's DH is a policeman who has, of course, been working around the clock in rescue efforts. He found a man who's truck was stalled in flood water. David ordered the man to stay put inside the truck while he went to get help, because he knew better than to enter the water by himself. However, the man didn't listen. Later they found him washed up in someone else's yard - one of two deaths due to the flood. David is very, very distraught, and still feels that he's responsible although he'd ordered the man to stay in his truck. This is why it's wise to listen to emergency workers.
Enough with the morbid! Good news is that the water is now starting to recede, so the worst is over!
Thanks so much for dropping by, Beth! My next blog will be happier, I promise!
"Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see."
- Mark Twain
Chiming in...
I'm chiming in late, too. But I'm so glad you're okay, Amanda!!
We lived through that fateful FL hurricane season, too, but it was Ivan that hit us dead center where we lived at that time. And I can say from experience that FEMA will pay for the contents of your refrigerator, at least in part, if you're in a federally declared disaster area. They even cover, in some cases, generators. BUT, it's a huge hassle to get them to reimburse you for costs and we didn't figure it was worth it, especially when there were so many people in our area with such huge needs and we still had a roof over our heads.
Whew! Now I sound morbid! I will say that with hurricane season upon us, and another tornado season coming in the fall, that EVERYONE should have an emergency kit in their home. Lots of people get caught depending on FEMA or the Red Cross and especially in a hurricane situation, they can't mobilize fast enough on such a massive scale. Both of those groups did help after Ivan, but it was neighbor helping neighbor that made the hugest difference (along with the amazing support that poured in from around the country)
Wow, it's been crazy weather lately, huh? It's nearing 100 degrees in FL some days already!
Steph
Stephanie Newton
PERFECT TARGET, LIS, March 2009
http://www.stephanienewton.net
Stephanie....
Yes, it's been a very wacky spring, weather-wise! On a day like today, golden sunshine and azure blue sky, it's hard to believe that there are those surrounding me that are still mucking through the ruins of their homes.
Ivan? Ooh, just the thought of a hurricane makes me shiver. Did it destroy your home? I hope you were able to salvage most of it. Truthfully, I have to say that I feel incredibly lucky right now. We have our home intact (minus ruined food, which at this point becomes of little importance). We have friends are who not so lucky. Several had to evacuate their homes, only to return to muddy, sludgy messes. It breaks my heart.
I totally agree with you about the emergency kit. Everybody needs one, even if they're in an area like mine that seldom ever had any type of weather emergency. I know we learned our lesson - a double whammy - tornado followed by flood waters.
Thanks for 'chiming' in, Stephanie! I hope the rest of your spring and summer is mild and hurricane-free. Take care.
"Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see."
- Mark Twain
Hugs, Amanda--going through
Hugs, Amanda--going through a tornado (or any kind of natural disaster) can be traumatic. It's good to hear that you're thinking about preparing for the next one.
Living here in Tornado Alley in Nebraska, this has been a crazy storm season. We've already had several tornadoes, severe thunderstorms with hail and wind, and flooding. This week we have to conserve water because the sewer systems are so overwhelmed with the excess water. I don't mind not doing the dishes
, but I DO mind all the ants, snakes and who knows what other kind of critters, coming into my house and garage because it's so darn wet outside! It's interesting to see how much we can conserve water when we have to, and how much we probably take for granted when we don't make a conscious effort to do so.
BTW, you can get battery-powered lanterns at any camping store, probably even Wal-Mart or something like that that has a camping supply department. We got our emergency equipment at Cabela's (don't know if that's outside the Midwest)--weather warning radio, battery-powered lanterns, flashlights, a deck of cards, etc. Plus, we keep water, extra dog food, a leash, a few boxed/canned food items, matches and candles, blankets and a first aid kit in a cabinet down in the basement, just in case. We're a Scouting family, so we have a lot of that stuff for camping, anyway. But there really is something to that Be Prepared motto
.
I hope you and your family, and all the soldiers and Camp Atterbury, recover from the damage and injuries and mental anguish as quickly and smoothly as possible. Take care.
Julie Miller
PRIVATE S.W.A.T. TAKEOVER (Holden's story)--The Precinct: Brotherhood of the Badge miniseries--Intrigue--October 2008
KANSAS CITY CHRISTMAS (Edward's story)--Intrigue--November 2008
OUT OF CONTROL--Blaze--April 2009
tornadoes, weather etc
Amanda, so glad you are ok. Tornado stuff is terrifying. Nirmally, I would say the same aboiut refrigerated items staying ok, but today, I probably would not trust anything. That cauliflower was fresh too.. steamed the night it was bought! I do not think agriculture is as safe for consumers today as it was once. Nowadays even organic is big business.
Having lived through hurricanes, doing ham radio, and once doing Red Cross Disaster Service volunteer work, I think the electrical outage idea is maybe more in my head but I still find outages to always come unexpectedly and to disrupt everything. Our power company can't even seem to keeo the electrical power going on a nice day around here. They have been fined for the outage issues and not using money they should have to maintain the system. I have never seen anything like it. At least when I liked in NC it took a hurricane to bring down the power. When I had to be on oxygen over 2 years ago when I had pneumonia, it was vert terrifying when the power went out and I had only 2 tanks to get through til they turned it on. The power company was totally horrible about it when we called to tell them it was out and I had a medical need for it, they were horrible. I just read
Emergency kits are a great idea. I think the Red Cross has a list of thigs to have on their website. Thanks to ham radio, we have several large batteries plus we have batter powered fans, lanterns, television, radios (borth receive and transmit). Still it's a good reminder to make sure all have a good charge on them. We try to keep foods that do not need cooking around too..,and lots of bottled drinks. The worst thing for me after one hurricane was being so thirsty and the long lines in the grocery stores. The power outages caused a problem at the water plant so we could not drink or use tap water. Places like Home Depot have these portable battery fans that are only a couple of inches high and even fit in a purse. We have 3 and buy more eafh year. They are wonderful! Great items not only for outages but also great for those moments of hot flashes in stuffy buildings.
AKA Merri
Family Challenge Team: The Spine Breakers with my dh Glenn AKA Phaedrus
Julie...
LOL about not doing the dishes! More than likely I'd be using paper products - sometimes I do anyway.
Tornado alley? Mercy, but that sounds... well, creepy! I imagine that any storm clouds that roll in send you into automatic preparation, don't they? Do you have special storm shelters? Whew, scary. I'm not sure I could handle that kind of stress. This was bad enough for us. OTOH, we weren't prepared, so no doubt we were all the worse for the wear.
You mentioned ants and critters coming in. Well, we haven't had any animals, but we have ants coming in. Zillions of them, and considering that we live in a fairly airtight newer home, this seems incredible. Those little guys can squeeze in through the tiniest cracks! We're not sure how to get rid of them. So that's our plague right now! For some reason it feels a little biblical. H'm. I'm almost expecting locusts. So long as it's not bees, I'm okay, LOL
Thanks for your hugs and thoughts! They are very appreciated! Keep safe yourself, as well!
"Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see."
- Mark Twain
Oh, yes, Merri....
...don't even get me started about the grocery stores. Good grief, they were nearly out of everything, and people were practically trampling each other to get what was left on the shelves. It's been... interesting, to say the least.
Yes, the emergency kit is now a 'must-have' for us. I hope that most people around here are thinking about that. We so seldom have tornadoes in our area, and we have NEVER had a flood quite like this one. Here's a picture of the next town over from us. My mom is a nurse at the hospital there. Most of the hospital is currently shut off.
BTW, Merri, have you heard about the tomato Salmonella issue now? I agree with you - organic is big business. I hope your DH is 100% better now!
I think it's cool that you operate a ham radio! Lousy about your electric being so turbulent. I guess we've all grown to depend on electric so much that's hard to go without it.
"Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see."
- Mark Twain
Yes, central US--the
Yes, central US--the flatlands of Nebraska--is in Tornado Alley (basically that term applies to the flatlands from Nebraska down through Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas, though I know we're not the only ones to get tornadoes). I wouldn't live in a house without a basement here. And yes, we do keep emergency supplies on hand, usually May-September. We keep an eye on the weather. You can usually tell when something's coming. And when the sirens go off, we go to the basement.
I invested in ant traps which seems to help. Though there's a lot of satisfaction in just squishing the buggers. I hate swarms of anything! There's an ick factor there that makes my skin crawl. Makes me feel like all my food is tainted, too.
Julie Miller
PRIVATE S.W.A.T. TAKEOVER (Holden's story)--The Precinct: Brotherhood of the Badge miniseries--Intrigue--October 2008
KANSAS CITY CHRISTMAS (Edward's story)--Intrigue--November 2008
OUT OF CONTROL--Blaze--April 2009
What a picture! I can't
What a picture! I can't imagine the clean up! Is the water safe or are people drinking bottled water? I had a short term flood to my apt in NC from a tropical storm that only lasted a day or two but it took weeks to clean after I moved. I lost half my personal library at least and most everything. The mud and mold was the worst. I could only clean an hour at a time because the mold made breathing very hard. The good part ws how people came together, the bad that a neighbor stole from me when I went to help an elderly neighbor negotiate the entryway to her apt. after the flood.
We have heard about the tomato food poisoning. Surprisingly we had not eaten any not even from restaurants before Glenn got sick. He is doing much better but he is still a bit exhausted and off energy-wise. Me too really.
We have this really cool fluorescent lantern my dh got for camping. It works great and there is no fire danger like with candles and oil lanterns. It is so bright (2 settings, one or 2 fluorescent tubes) that a person can actually use it for reading. We use it for night time operating in a tent when we have done ham stuff at night in a field. You can probably get those at a camoping store.
AKA Merri
Family Challenge Team: The Spine Breakers with my dh Glenn AKA Phaedrus
Another Central Floridian
Hi Amanda..
I hope things are getting better for you in spite of all the crazy weather..
I am joining Debbie in the call from Central Florida.. Good ole Charley went right over my parent's home where I "evacuated" from my apartment. :) Funny part was -- they lost power at the house for a few days, but my apartment was perfectly fine.. So, my mom kicked me out.. LOL
It was the same with all the other hurricanes that came rolling over our lovely state.. Now with my two cats, we're gonna bunker down and ride out storms.. For my kit, I do have a bunch of big flashlights, but also picked up this Jeep combo - two lights, compass, weather station, and charger for a phone. It's really cool and very compact.
To everyone else.. luck with our hurricane seasons.. and tornado seasons.. hopefully we'll all ride it out just fine.
Hugs!
Nikki
Pre-published and working at it with pleasure.
email: flafairy@earthlink.net or flabookworm@gmail.com
Known as Faerie Scribe on the web. You can find me/friend me at: MySpace and Facebook.
Nikki....
The sad part was that one of my friends from Tampa ended up bringing over extra supplies to her parents and then by default some to us for the same reason. Luckily, she didn't evacuate to her parents' house or she would have been in the same situation as you. Fingers crossed that this season is a quiet one....
The D2K Paranormal Junkies 2008 Challenge
Take care Amanda!
I hope all is well with you and your family. I have to catch up since I was in Vegas for vacation. I have plenty of candles since I sell them in the side. Last time we needed a flashlight we had to use our son's old playschool one. Good call on throwing out the potentially spoiled food.
I missed Hurricane Andrew because I was transferred to England from Homestead AFB a few weeks before it hit. We sold our house in Ocean Springs, MS before Katrina hit and luckily were stationed in Missouri at the time. My youngest son did not like the tornado sirens and used to cry when they went off or there was a drill at school
I just saw the story about the scouts in Iowa. God bless them and their families. Everyone out there please be careful.
Angel
"I can fix a bad page, but I can't fix a blank one." Nora Roberts
www.angelinabarbin.blogspot.com
Sorry for the weather
I am so sorry you had to go through so much with the weather. It is a humbling experience.
Rather then getting oil lamps, (they smell, they expel soot, they really don't burn that well, and they pose a fire threat) I would go to Wally World. They have nice little plastic lanterns (light weight) for around $10 and they use 4 D batteries. You can keep them on all night and they are still good to go the next night.
L L Bean has these handy dandy miner's lights. You wear them on a band around your head. Great for reading by.
If you get them, you probably won't need them!
w-w-w
Amanda
I am glad that you are safe from that horrible storm. That picture is too scary for words. I live in California and, yes, earthquakes can be scary but I would rather not ever go through what you went through with that tornado. They just pick everything up and it is wiped of the earth it seems. Nothing left but rubble.
I did experience a big quake where the electricity was out for a week. Oh I hated it. And living in the boonies, made it even creepier as it was so quiet and dark. Only a few houses so you didn't see people. I did try to read by candle light and it was not easy. I could not keep it up for long. After that, I got myself a book light. Whenever the lights go out and it is dark outside, I now have my booklight with extra bulbs and batteries. Never again will I be in the dark and not be able to read!
Again, I am very glad that a member our the eHarlequin community is safe.
Take care,
Margie :)
The Scouts
I saw a story on the Scouts too. How tragic that some lost their lives. Tornados are just too scary. One boy, what a hero, through himself on top of another boy to save him. Very courageous.
Got behind....
I've been out of state for a week and just returned to find these messages from Julie, Nikki, Paisley, Debbie, Angel, w-w-w, and Margie. Thanks so much for your concern and best wishes! It was all so scary, but hopefully the worst is now behind us (knock on wood).
Yes, that scout story was awful! Even after going through this, it's hard for me to imagine what they went through.
Everything here is improving as far as weather is concerned. Still some cleanup, but it's incredible how much has been done in such a short time. We felt a little guilty about leaving, but trust me, after having witnessed all of this we were more than ready to have a peaceful respite.
We have stocked up on emergency supplies now. Hopefully, like w-w-w said, if we have them we won't need them!
I'm so glad for all my friends here at eharlequin! Thanks everyone!
"Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see."
- Mark Twain