Aug. 24, 2007 - Rain, Rain, & More Rain
We have had rain off and on every day for the past week. Yesterday was the clincher. I was taking my oldest son to work. We left the house and the sky was sunny. In fact, I had just finished sweeping up the drive and walk from the previous days' rains. I figured if it hadn't rained all day like they had said it would, then maybe we were finally in the clear. As we were going down the road, just a couple miles down the road from home, we could see the sky in back of us become a wall of black that was moving in our direction. Then we could see the rain as well, like a waterfall. The radio weather broadcast announced a tornado warning. No tornado touching down had been reported, but there was rotation. They were reporting sixty mile an hour winds. We sat at a stoplight and had branches, paper signs, and garbage blowing past us. It was too late to go back home, we'd be going right into the storm. I figured we could all go into my son's workplace if we needed shelter. (I had my youngest daughter and her neighbor friend in the car) I had my son go to the back of the van and get the blanket just in case. Then I had him call home and make sure my oldest daughter was safe in the house. She was home alone as the other two boys were at a friend's and my husband was still at work.
We reached my son's work just as the rain caught up with us. They announced on the radio that the tornado warning was over, but that there would be severe thunderstorms all evening and into the morning. I waited with the girls in the car until the rain subsided a bit and then we headed back home. Along the same road that we had just came down to take my son to work, there were trees down and branches in the power lines on fire. At home here there were trees down in yards all over the subdivision, some people had damage to siding and skirting on their mobiles, the streets were full of water, the gutters blew off of our shed, my daughter's little tykes house was apart, and there were leaves and branches all over my freshly swept drive. It didn't look like the same place I'd just left 45 minutes ago!
It was truly scary that the storm came up so fast and that we were all, my whole family, in different places. We are usually all at home here together, listening to the weatherband radio, during storms like that. I was surely glad that the outcome was minimal. It did continue with thunderstorms all night though, and so the kids and I were all together in the living room and sleeping lightly off and on until about two in the morning. Then we finally fell into a deep sleep until eight.
All week we have been painting between two bedrooms, the girls' room and the younger boys' room. I have to admit I was grumpy about it a bit too. We've wanted to get it done for two years, but it is messy and somewhat chaotic to say the least, especially when teaching a seven year old how to paint. I said quite a few prayers last night and this morning though that we still have walls in rooms to paint, and that everyone will be safely tucked into beds in those rooms when all is done. This past week of storms here in the midwest have cost the lives of several people and left many without homes to return to due to flooding. We have been blessed, and my heart goes out to all who have been not so blessed due to this wave of weather.
Comments
Aug. 27, 2007 - Untitled Comment
Posted by sunydazy
I loved hearing about your cats! I love kitties! I've never seen one with 'mittens' like you described...very interesting. Glad she has you to be her family. :-)
