| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| MeadowLark |
Posted - May 11 2005 : 08:43:09 AM
Keep the midwest in your prayers the next few days girls...There is a classic and awesome setup for tornadic outbreak here in Kansas and the Central Plains the next 24 to 48 hours. There is a huge winter storm barreling into the Northern Rockies with predictions of 2 feet of snow! Where I am at it was 95 degrees yesterday and the same for today. The gulf moisture is pouring in and guess where the class of these two systems are going to be?? You guessed it, right over Kansas! The air is heavy and oppressive today it is almost difficult to breathe...I am preparing our shelter in the basement with extra batteries and a radio and flashlights today...just in case. May is the peak month for twisters here in Kansas.
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there." Rumi, 13th century. |
| 25 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| bramble |
Posted - Jun 12 2005 : 11:48:50 AM
Jenny- We do have dopler radar though it seems to be referred to by the talking head weather people on tv primarily. There is a National Weather Service site just south of us (about 1/2 hr) and I think that must be who put the blip out to the radio. Sadly, we are ill prepared in our area for these events and there is no siren or special call that everyone would recognize as a tornado warning.
I remember the Pa. episode all too well, that was the time I couldn't get home from work and didn't know if my dh was ok( (we were moving into our Yardley house that week) and when I got home I found out it had briefly touched down two houses away at the church and took out a big tree. Then we found out the devastation you mentioned occurred where my cousin lived but she was spared because she was on the opposite side of a dense tree line and not out in the open where the new construction was just levelled. The worst was that so many were lost because there was no warning.Unless you happen to hear something on the radio or see the tv warning you are on your own for any sort of preparedness. Be safe and be prepared everyone, it is scary business.
with a happy heart |
| MeadowLark |
Posted - Jun 12 2005 : 10:01:57 AM
Bramble, You did the right thing...I am curious were there actually tornado warnings broadcast on your radio and TV stations? Do you all have doppler radar back in the NE area? Doppler can pick up rotation in storm clouds before the twister actually touches ground and does damage. I remember back in 1985 there was a terrible outbrake of tornadoes in the Penn. area that killed a lot of people. Maybe you know what I am referring to. This poor lady drove her car head on into this huge funnel and was killed, she heard no warnings and did not know what was happening until it was too late. That really haunted me. When this kind of weather is looming nearby in Kansas our weather service does not call the storm severe implications. They say, TAKE COVER NOW!!!! You followed your instincs and had the experience of a twister and knew what was coming. Kudos Farmgirl!!!
Kim and Molly and all the IL and WIS. girls I am thinking of you. Stay safe, it's nasty out there!!!
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there." Rumi, 13th century. http://www.xs4all.nl/~josvg/cits/sb/sb101.html |
| jpbluesky |
Posted - Jun 12 2005 : 08:49:26 AM
Goodness, Bramble that was close! I saw on the WEather Channel the funnel cloud that formed in Kansas this past week - was it Morgan County? I can't remember, but I thought of you all when I saw it. God spared you that time! Glad you are safe.
Tropical Storm Arlene is gone and just scared everyone basically. We are all skittish this year! Hope the weather calms for all of us this week! I am ready for blueskies!
jpbluesky
Heartland girl |
| bramble |
Posted - Jun 12 2005 : 07:19:43 AM
Kathy - your storm culverts are something else! We used to have them around here exposed but then the corp of engineers decided that they needed to subgrade and a whole system of them went in at the back of our property though unlike yours they were concrete. We have to make sure that the intake grate doesn't become blocked but that is alot better than torrential rivers flowing down the street like before. Once I got caught and the water was so strong that it pulled the shoes right off my feet and knocked me down ( and I am no petite flower!)
Speaking of nature, I was glad the hurricane decided not to visit you and your neighbors Jeannie! Let's keep it that way!
Kim and all our Wisconsin friends, I hope you were safe and not in the
path of the twister this weekend. Our news had a short blurb and said although much damage to homes, no one was hurt; thank goodness!
We had a tornado scare a few weeks ago. My son was at a party and it was time to pick him up. I got in the car annd it was rainy and unusually windy. As I am driving this strange sound comes out of the r5adio and informs me that a cell cluster with severe implications was forming over the very direction I was heading.I had about a mile left to go and wasn't sure what to do. I pulled over and called the house I was headed to and the didn't know anything but that it was windy so I continued on and got to the house.As I walked in the door the sky turned a weird mix of colors, the rain pounded down and then hail, then a strange rumbling trainlike sound. (I was in a tornado at 7 so I knew what that meant. We all went to the basement and waited for the noise to subside.Afterward we found out that it had touched down in the marsh (behind the house) and hit the embankment and veered off toward the river. Aparently,it formed a water spout over the river and then disappated.Our area does not have storm sirens or alert systems other than radio and tv, that was a little too close for comfort!
Keeping all of you in our thoughts and praayers for a safe and happy summer.
with a happy heart |
| MeadowLark |
Posted - Jun 11 2005 : 9:44:44 PM
My goodness Kathy, the engineering gene must run deep in your husbands family! It is funny how these types love to get on their bobcats or tractors with earth movers and move dirt around, carving new paths and inlets and drainage. DH is always willing to do this, and seems very happy and content with that that kind of work! I'm with you, I'd rather mix the concrete!
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there." Rumi, 13th century. http://www.xs4all.nl/~josvg/cits/sb/sb101.html |
| countrykat |
Posted - Jun 11 2005 : 9:36:26 PM
It's funny how engineers can spot each other by the things they say and do. Todd has several in his family of 5 siblings. All but his sister have gone through some sort of engineering program at either KU or K State. So there are 2 Electrical Engineers, 2 Mechanical Engineers, 1 Aviation Engineer and a SIL who has a Structural Engineering degree. Pretty good company and the conversations at various family get-togethers are engrossing.
So far our handy work is holding. We got more rain over night and this morning but things have held up. Todd finished spreading the gravel, using the neighbors big tractor, so that the road over the tin whisltes looks much better than it did last Sunday. Seems hard to believe we had to deal with it washed out like it was for 6 days but all the gravel contractors were super busy this week and that was the major hold up.
Sounds like we are supposed to get more rain Sunday. I hope this place doesn't wash away when we go to Massachusetts later this week.
Hope everybody in Florida is hanging on. |
| MeadowLark |
Posted - Jun 10 2005 : 08:49:06 AM
Ahhh...I just knew it Kathy! I am the daughter of a retired civil engineer and DH is a commercial pilot. Your husband is really efficient and thourough on the creek project...had all the markers of an engineer!
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there." Rumi, 13th century. http://www.xs4all.nl/~josvg/cits/sb/sb101.html |
| countrykat |
Posted - Jun 10 2005 : 08:02:45 AM
That limb was actually a dead tree that got washed out of the ground last year during a very heavy rain. We got 6" in less than 2 hours. The boys had cut off as much as they could of the limbs before we were able to get a strap around it and pull it out of the culvert. All I know is it took two days and a mighty big fire to get rid of it. I had though a friend would want the wood, it was Walnut, for making knife handles but he wants burled wood.
Todd is an electrical engineer, maybe it is helping. He's very good with Math too. Me, I liked mixing the concrete, especially when the man at home depot said it should be the consistency of brownie batter. That made sense to me and I put on rubber gloves and got right in.
We should get the gravel delivered today that will top off things, we'll add concrete to it to try to create a solid surface and hopefully next time the water just goes over and leaves everything where it was. |
| jpbluesky |
Posted - Jun 10 2005 : 06:19:20 AM
Wow, reading about all of your hard work and water damage control is amazing. Here, on the Gulf, we face the same problems. We have a creek fifty yards or so from the house with a large concrete culvert that runs under our road. I have seen it crest the road once, during a tropical storm that dropped eight inches in one daylight period. It was running angry, too. People were trying to ford it, but you never know when the road itself will crumble because of the sandy soil and shifting dirt we have here in Florida.
What a huge limb you removed! That washed into the drain? WOW.
Hope your twisters calm down soon. And think of us here as we watch Arlene approach.
jpbluesky |
| MeadowLark |
Posted - Jun 09 2005 : 8:02:47 PM
Kathy, I hope all your efforts on managing your creek pay off. That sounds like hard work you and your husband are doing and hope all goes well! Sounds like he knows what to do! I almost think one has to have engineering background to figure the water thing out. My DH has some of that ability ( math, engineering) and seems to just know where the water should be managed. We have a small pond and he recently had to cut out another ditch for water drainage to the pond off our field. It worked in the last big rain we had. We don't seem to have much eroison or runoff thanks to DH and his earth plow on his tractor. Once I watched him try to save a pipe that was being washed out in a torrential rain and all I could think of was Mel Gibson fighting the river back in that movie called The River. He came in soaking wet and said "the darn water always wins!"
Another tornado watch has been issued for my neck of the woods. I hate the watches at night. Another sleepless night in tornado alley!
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there." Rumi, 13th century. http://www.xs4all.nl/~josvg/cits/sb/sb101.html |
| countrykat |
Posted - Jun 09 2005 : 7:30:05 PM
Clare, I used to call them culverts too, then I heard them called Tin Whistles and liked that name. I figured with the picture everyone would know what I was talking about.
Meadowlark, we downloaded the software that is our gallery. Since we have access to the server that our domain (that's the www.tuschhoff.net/gallery) sits on we can do it. Otherwise I'd probably have to use something else. We have lots of "albums" in our photo gallery. It's really neat because my whole family is long distance and this way they can keep up with things that we are doing.
Also, the wooded area is mainly along the creek, which causes us grief when dead wood washes into the whistles and there are also quite a few trees around the house, we have probably 10 open acres of our 13.
Just as an update on the creek issue. We've been working hard manually at this point. We have built a retaining wall on the south side of the whistle, the water flows from the north, so I thought we were going about it backwards but Todd said he wanted to get practice on the down creek side before tackling the up creek side, anyway, we got quite the wall built on that side then yesterday he built a wooden retaining wall, pounded in rebar and used some old chicken wire to help strengthen the wall on the north side of the drive. Then he poured quick setting concrete. All this right before a pretty good rumbler of a storm came our way. After two hours in the basement we got the all clear and went out to survey the damage. Since we didn't get much rain (1/2 " by our rain guage) everything was fine. Today he added another section and maybe we'll be ready to rent the bobcat by this weekend to recover as much of our gravel as we can, also to open up the low end of the creek so both whisltes are flowing again, one sits lower than the other.
|
| Kim |
Posted - Jun 05 2005 : 10:54:06 AM
We had a bad storm yesterday and it blew down our friends new barn and blew the roof off of the pig barn. Pea size hail and you couldn't see a foot in front of you. We are supposed to get more today.
On the subejct of digitals. I need to use mine more too. Last weekend I took a picture of Emma (our golden) her girlfriend Riley and the newest dog in their family Maisie with my regular camers. My frineds 3 year old said "Let me see the picture!" I said it wasn't that type of camera and he looked at me weirdly and said "Why!!??"
farmgirl@heart
Be at peace with yourself and the rest will follow |
| MeadowLark |
Posted - Jun 05 2005 : 07:20:29 AM
I like the way you do your photo gallery Kathy. Dh bought me an HP digital and printer set up for my B-day and I am still tinkering with it.( it was in April) Not comfortable in posting pics yet. Yours are laid out great. Maybe you could tutor me on how you did these? You must get some BIg rains there girl! I can tell you are in a heavily wooded area. We call those big drainage pipes tubes where I am at. Funny how language can change in different parts of the state. SE of here they really got hammered with winds and a few twisters. We lucked out. Hope the rains subside in your creek! Take care.
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there." Rumi, 13th century. |
| Clare |
Posted - Jun 05 2005 : 06:38:19 AM
Thanks for the pic, Kathy! I couldn't figure out what you meant by whistles...well I had an idea... but that's a new name for them. Up here we call those culverts. Maybe that's an irrigation term, not sure. We do alot of irrigating in our region. With them being so big, a bridge might definately be a better option; however, I imagine it would be a big investment. Might pay off in the long run though. Sending good thoughts to everyone.
****Gardener, Stitcher, Spiritual Explorer and Appreciator of all Things Natural****
"Begin to weave and God will give the thread." - German Proverb |
| countrykat |
Posted - Jun 04 2005 : 10:39:31 PM
We are doing okay here. Lots of rumbling but we keep checking the animals and things we can mend or patch in case water is getting where it shouldn't. We did have the creek come up and over our driveway. The two tin whistles were clogged with debris and that forced the water over the top. Unfortunately it took most of the gravel we put there the last time this happend with it. So, our creek on the south side of the drive is full of rocks and gravel and our driveway is nearly impassable. Thanks goodness for the 4x4 truck. No car will make it in or out until we get it fixed. I call it a moat, too bad we don't have a bridge.
One of us will be working with the rented bobcat again on Monday. Here is a picture of Todd and his brother the last time our whistle got clogged. http://www.tuschhoff.net/gallery/Test/img_1270
We need a better solution. I hate to think we need to go through this whenever we have a heavy rain. Last year it happened three times. This is the first this year. We've only lived in this house 19 months. |
| jpbluesky |
Posted - Jun 04 2005 : 8:07:53 PM
I was watching the weather channel just a little while ago and saw the storm alerts. I am praying for you and your family. Hope all is well.
jpbluesky
Heaven gives its glimpses only to those
Not in position to look too close.
from "A Passing Glimpse" by Robert Frost |
| MeadowLark |
Posted - Jun 04 2005 : 3:32:48 PM
As I type this all of tornado alley is in a watch and on high alert for tornadoes. I am praying that no one is injured and that damage is minimal. I am especially concerned in that my daughter lives in Manhattan and in direct line for these supercells. She has a lot of common sense and does not take this weather lightly. I knew it was going to be "rock and roll" time because in working outside today I was just drenched from the humidity and heat, and the air is dead calm. It snowed today in Boulder! Wierd... Thinking of all the Midwesterners in the watch areas.
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there." Rumi, 13th century. |
| MeadowLark |
Posted - May 14 2005 : 12:06:39 PM
Thanks Lorj and all others! WE all face weather and natural disasters of some kind, everytime I hear of something happening now in my farmgirl friends neck of the woods I always say a prayer...whether it be a hurricane, flood, tornado, blizzard, mudslide,or God forbid volcanic eruption. We are all tied to each other in this country, and united in good times and in bad... I feel you all are extended family.
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there." Rumi, 13th century. |
| Aunt Jenny |
Posted - May 13 2005 : 7:43:03 PM
When we moved here...to the mountains in Utah...not exactly Tornado country!!...nearly 3 years ago there was a tornado that hit the other side of our very very small town about two months after we moved here. It was amazing what alot of damage they can do. We were in church when it happened and it only hit the other side of town..scary though! I sure will keep you all in Tornado areas in my thoughts and prayers!!
Jenny in Utah
Bloom where you are planted! |
| LeslieAnne |
Posted - May 13 2005 : 5:40:41 PM
Meadowlark, sorry I'm so slow in replying... I couldn't turn on my computer last night because we were having storms all around & I didn't want to risk a power surge from the lightning!!!.. nothing severe at my house, but there were a few funnels sighted east & north of here... one did a little damage to a barn & some power lines about 40 miles away...
You said my neighbor was brave... at the time, I was thinking more like dumb or crazy!!!..
In 1970 I was a college student at Texas Tech Univ. in Lubbock... on May 11, finals were over, & I was flying home, & when the plane was taking off, I could see that although there wasn't a bit of wind, dust was hanging in the air all around the horizon... it had been really hot & still all day... we heard on the 10:00 News about the tornado... I wasn't the least bit surprised... that dust in the air was so weird... I mean, we had dust storms all the time, but the wind was always blowing 40 or 50 mph... I'd never seen dust in the air when it was perfectly calm...
Everybody's tornado/hurricane stories are so interesting... & SCARY!!!.. but thank God all have escaped unhurt...
LeslieAnne...westTexas |
| jpbluesky |
Posted - May 12 2005 : 09:28:07 AM
Well, last year I had the pleasure of packing our car in case of evacuation from Hurricane Ivan. It is interesting what you choose when the time comes to decide. For us, it was my grandmothers last quilt, a box of financial important papers, a box of family photos, culled down to some of each generation from our great-grandparents to our granchild, a crystal vase that was my mother's, a patchwork teddy bear that my daughter saved up and bought for me when she was 7,.....and of course, a suitcase for each of us with clothes, medicines, etc. And a cooler of food. I put other important stuff under our beds and deep in closets where I thought they might survive. Where I live, rising water would not be the problem, it would be wind damage.
I am thinking of you Meadowlark. I hope that storms are kind to us this year, nation-wide! This country needs a break from natural disasters.
jpbluesky
O, cease to heed the glamour that blinds your foolish eyes,
Look upward to the glitter of stars in God's clear skies.
from God's Garden by Robert Frost |
| Clare |
Posted - May 12 2005 : 08:27:33 AM
I may have mentioned this before, but I'll restate it. In 1999, my daughter was in the Air Force stationed in OKC. One weekend she decided she'd drive down to Little Rock to visit her then boyfriend, and thank GOD she did. That was when a huge tornado went through, demolished her apartment building, and caused just a general path of destruction. My mom and I visited her two weeks later and were just floored by it all, since we don't see that kind of thing here in the Northwest. (For places without basements and cellars they recommend getting into the bathtub and putting your mattress over you for protection. YIKES!)
And there was a miracle.... The apartment building had the second story roof blown off, and in my daughter's ground floor apartment, flooding and windows blown out, etc. Her cat was home alone while she was away. When she returned to the scene, her cat was not to be found anywhere. Then one day, about a week later, they were there still trying to retrieve salvageble items from the apartment, and in strolls her cat. Gone a week without food, etc... and scared at the slightest sounds, but especially the wind. I can only imagine what the sound of the wind was like. The military sent them from tornado alley to hurricanes on the east coast in Virginia. They survived a major hurricane in 2003, too. I'm so glad they're in the Northwest now. Our natural weather phenoms and diasters seem much less catastrophic by comparison... but maybe it's just what one becomes used to.
****Gardener, Stitcher, Spiritual Explorer and Appreciator of all Things Natural****
"Begin to weave and God will give the thread." - German Proverb |
| MeadowLark |
Posted - May 12 2005 : 05:09:34 AM
WOW!!! LeslieAnne your neighbor is brave...very brave! What an awesome pic! I would have been in the cellar too, whew just 2 miles from your house. Texas certainly has its share of terrible tornadoes, and you all have the big ones too!( Everything is bigger in Texas, right?) An F5!!!! Were you actually living in Lubbock in 1970? I have experienced those snakey devils up close and personal also. It is a experience that you cannot forget. I pray that Texas is spared from a rough and devastating tornado season. I recall seeing the video of the Jarrell F5 around 6 or 7 years ago and could not believe the devestation that monster left in its wake! Be safe LeslieAnne, and on guard! From one tornado alley farmgirl to another! Jenny from Kansas
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there." Rumi, 13th century. |
| LeslieAnne |
Posted - May 11 2005 : 8:49:42 PM
It's amazing that you should post this today... 35 years ago today, May 11, 1970, an F5 tornado hit the city of Lubbock, Texas, which is about 10 miles from where I live... it's been on the news for days... I still remember how the sky looked that day... really eerie... it was back before doppler radar; so the city was completely unprepared, &, since the tornado came after dark, the people who were killed never knew what happened... 18 people lost their lives & over 1500 were injured... this tornado was, I've heard, one that Fujita studied to come up with the Fujita Tornado Damage Scale...
Tornados are probably the most frightening things I've ever experienced... I've been rather close to several in my lifetime & hope I never see another one... as for what I'd take to the cellar if I had to take cover, I'd need a U-Haul!!!.. my dog & cat, pictures of my son, my grandmother's piano (see why I need a trailer!!!)..
Here's a pic of a twister that touched down about 2 miles from my house about 15 years ago... my neighbor took the photo; I was in the cellar...
LeslieAnne...westTexas |
| sleepless reader |
Posted - May 11 2005 : 6:35:36 PM
I would absolutely take the pictures of people gone from us. Those can never be replaced, but other than our loved ones (two- or four-legged), the rest is just "stuff" and,though missed, can be replaced, or done without. I'll be keeping you all in thoughts and prayers.
Sharon |
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