When we came back from town (20 miles away) yesterday (6/22/01) We were met with devastation. 10 of our big oak trees were down. Our 100 year old popular had been stripped of all its branches. Our fence has multiple pines laying on it. Had we been at home my truck would have been crunched as one of the popular limbs (7" round) was laying where the cab would have been.

Well the GOOD news is all the animals survived. The new kittens got more of a bath than they would ever want. The dogs ran under the house so they fared well. Damage to the home was minimal. Our front porch tin roof took some hits but survived. Out buildings lost a few shingles but basically are ok.

What blows our minds is that our neighbor "slept" through the storm. He didn't hear a thing.

Well that will teach us. WE went out to the movies for the first time this year. Kind of a belated birthday present to my 7 year old. Its amazing how much can change in 4 hours. We felt like we had been gone a year.

Hope all here are doing well.

-- Kenneth in N.C. (wizardsplace13@hotmail.com), June 23, 2001

Answers

Wow! Sorry to hear about the damage, especially those old trees! Good that the house and animals faired better. This time of year, we really have to keep heads up to the storms. Years ago I clipped a cartoon of a couple in bed, the walls of the house around them blown away. One is sitting up and says to the other, did you hear anything unusual last night?

-- mary, in colorado (marylgarcia@aol.com), June 23, 2001.

Kenneth, HOW scary! I am thankful that your crits were okay and your home still intact, but how sad that you lost those trees.

Mary, that is funny!

Once when I was a kid and my Dad was out of town I was sleeping in my parent's room and there was a massive storm that came through. My Mom says that it jolted her awake when the tv was blown up and I just said in my sleep..."mmmm...I wonder if there's anything left of us... mmmmm" I never even knew there was a storm until the morning.

-- Doreen (bisquit@here.com), June 23, 2001.

Try to be positive. Consider this a windfall. Easy firewood! Perhaps bring a portable mill in for some nice affordable lumber. Don't you feel it a blessing that you weren't home so your vehicle was not damaged and no one was hurt?

Would you like some fast growing replacement trees? I have white alder growing like weeds if you would like some. I also have our local flavor of spruce and hemlock.

-- Laura (LadybugWrangler@hotmail.com), June 23, 2001.

Hey Kenneth! It was a wierd storm everywhere. By the time it got here, the winds were down from what you apparently had, but there was a lot of hail. (The hail was ½ mile south of us and ½ mile north of us. but missed us completely!) Neighbor's farm just west of us was struck by lightning. We saw, and felt, the bolts, but didn't know what had happened until we heard the fire sirens. (nobody hurt - the bolts took out his workshop, though) Glad nobody was hurt at your place.

-- StevenB (thicketyrowfarm@aol.com), June 23, 2001.

How awful for you! It also blows one of my popular theories that i tell myself during those horrible storms.."Now Lesley, get a grip. See all those huge old trees in the yard? Just think, they have been there for over a hundred years worth of storms and they are still standing, so the likelihood of the storm blowing them and you away is pretty small"..duh..this is why I got into medicine instead of statistics..my youngest cheerfully pointed out to me that the odds increase each storm for destroying the trees rather than decrease..I never wanted to hear that LOL....Seriously, you indeed were blessed to be at the movies, it's bad enough to see the effects of a bad storm, it is worse to experience it! When we lived in Texas and Missouri, the power of those storms really floored me..all that nice green sky twirling and swirling around, and hail the size of real golfballs pounding on the roof..yikes! Now that we live in Alabama, I was not thrilled to discover that the state loses a few citizens each year to tornados. We priced storm shelters..ha ha ha...minumum $5000 for a small one. Apparently the cost of Rebar and concrete is sky high.So,,,,,, we figure either the Lord will keep the "big one" away from us until we get the $$$$$$ for a shelter, or we will go to Glory at 500MPH! God bless!

-- lesley (martchas@bellsouth.net), June 25, 2001.