More Tornado Damage

Well, it's official. We had not one, but 2 tornados and 1 Micro Burst cut a 14 mile path through my neighborhood and others on Thursday night. When Jim heard the words "micro burst" he said, "what's that, a small fart?" I just rolled my eyes as he and Logan proceeded to have themselves a hearty laugh. Why do boys find farting funny? I don't get it!

Unfortunately, there's nothing funny about the damage those Acts of God created. These are images from the very next block after mine. It was impassible for 2 days until the Fire Department rolled through with their chain saws which drew quite a crowd of unlookers.

Everywhere I go in my area, there are signs of how nature can be destructive. I also read in the newspaper that a good samaritan who came to the aide of the lady who was crushed by the falling tree has died. He suffered a brain aneurysm and was pronounced brain dead over the weekend.

Judging by the kids I saw walking towards the college carrying their stuff, I would assume dorm residents are allowed back onto campus today. Also judging by the way people were jockeying for parking spaces this morning, classes also resumed though the gym and tennis courts are out of commission until repairs can be made.

Our power has been restored but my food budget is going to take a beating as everything has to be replaced due to spoilage. That's way ok in my book considering those poor families are making funeral arrangements. My heart goes out to them and others who have been affected by this event. Add them to your prayers tonight. Thanks!

Expandable Mini Album

Howdy, bloggers!

So here is my latest venture at a mini album. It's no secret how I LOVE doing minis but this was one that I'd always felt a bit challenged by. I was feeling a bit feisty so I yanked that sucker out of the storage drawer and went to work. The color of the covers just lent itself to an autumn theme. I used pumpkin picking pics from a few different years and I think it came out nicely.

I had some serious fun doing this one yesteday and what's more, I even used up quite a bit of scrap paper not to mention a whole bunch of pics that were not the best for los but worked in this mini.

This is what it looks like with just the top cover opened. I should have turned it so the pics would be straight. Duh! Oh well, you get the idea.

This is what it looks like fully opened. (Center shot)

This is the left side.

It's a bit like folding a road map -takes some finesse but what an impact it gives when the viewer opens it.

Weekend shots 9/12-9/13/10

There was no car parked in front of my neighbor's house so I was able to see the doggy's lantern when it was lit. It's a bit brighter than the pic shows. The flash detracted from the brightness of the light in the lantern. This is Baby. He belongs to the people across the street, (the ones with the doggy lantern). He's a stray that comes and goes at their house like Shave does at mine. They are in FL now so he's homeless. I opened my door to feed him and he just walked in and made himself at home. He was out cold on my couch in a most relaxed position so I just had to take pic of him. After he woke and ate some, he very loudly alerted me to the fact that he wanted out. I opened the door and out he went.

Weekend Shots 9/18-9/19/10

We conducted a little experiment with the dry ice the power company was handing out to help people during our blackout from the 2 tornados and 1 micro burst that blew through my neighborhood on Thursday night. Too bad you can't hear what it sounded like. Imagine a bubbling witch's cauldron, that's what it sounded like when Jim poured hot water over the dry ice.

This pic is really from Friday night. Jim brought out the sparklers that he couldn't find on the 4th of July. Notice how dark my block is. It was a bit spooky to look up and down and not see a single bit of light coming from anyone's house.

A Scary Night

We had some wild weather move through our area last night just at the start of rush hour. There's talk of a tornado but I haven't heard definitively if we had one. This out-of-nowhere storm did some serious damage and even killed a lady in her car. She'd pulled over to wait out the storm and a massive tree toppled over and crushed her in her car. The other 2 people in the car survived but that 30 yr old woman is no more. So sad! My heart goes out to her family.

I was unable to even get home last night. The roads were impassible due to downed trees. Highways were parking lots. No one was going anywhere. After not moving for 45 minutes, I turned around and headed to a friend's house. She put Logan and I up last night which was so kind of her and I am eternally grateful to her for her aide in our time of need.

Logan and I got up early this morning and decided to try to get home so we could shower and change for school and work. We did get home only to find that we still have no power. I took a shower by candle light. So not romantic. Obviously, I was unable to curl my hair this morning at home so I brought my curling iron to work and did my hair at my desk before people started filing in.

Jim managed to make it home after 3 hrs of sitting in traffic. He had to park his car about 1/2 mile from our house and walk the rest of the way. I was glad he got home so he would be safe but also so he could feed our furballs. They were, no doubt, glad to see him as I'm sure the storm was scary for them as well.

He called me when he got home to tell me that the outside furballs that I feed were ok if not wind blown and soaking wet. I was relieved to hear that.

So, we have no power and we're told it's not expected to be restored until at least Sunday if not later due to all the damage and debris that must be cleared first before crews can begin repairing the downed lines.

Here are a number of pics of what my immediate neighborhood looks like.

That white thing next to the man is a section of the college's football field bleachers. They were ripped out and thrown into the street behind my house. Another section is on the other side of the street next to where that truck is. They were working on dismantling it. At least they'd moved them from the middle of the street thus allowing traffic to flow on that block.

This is my corner again. I took this shot with the little girls waiting for the school bus to give some perspective as to how big that tree is. You can just make out that there is a car under the tree.

This is a house 6 doors down from me. There is a house behind all that green. It's the house next to the white door. The door to this house is completely blocked by the tree. They can't get out of their house.

This is a view of my street from the opposite direction. You can see some debris from the tree above.

This is the corner at the end of my block. You can see some of the white bubble from the college tennis courts in the background. The bubble is destroyed. Half of the vinyl tarp from the bubble is hanging on the side of the campus gym which is the building to the left of it.

This is the other side of the corner.

A closer view of the massive tree blocking my block.

Here's the other half of it.

As you can see by that woman's leg, I wasn't the only one taking pics this morning.

This is the view I got as I turned onto my block when I tried to get home this morning.

Here's another view of the tree that landed on the house 6 doors down from me.

This is in front of my house.

Considering all the damage which can be cleaned up, I'm thankful that my loved ones are safe.

Big day of a big year!

Today is the first day of 8th grade! Big day for all of us. While it may be Logan who's actually in the 8th grade, believe me, we, as parents, go back to school with him. Between the homework help and the projects, Jim and I, feel like we are going back to school ourselves.

We're proud of him, though, for working hard and being in the honors class and I told him so as I kissed him goodbye after taking this pic of him and sent him off to "rule the school" this year. He's a senior in middle school and that's huge if you all remember back when. He's already thinking about the prom which I found hysterical.

He just called me complaining how it's only the first day and already he's got essays to write as homework.

Did I say it's going to be a big year? Maybe I should have said it's going to be a llllooooooooooooooonnnng year. Wish me luck!

Labor Day Weekend shots

On Sunday, we got up at 6 a.m. (UGH!) and drove upstate to visit with our friends, Leo and Andi. In the afternoon, Leo and the kids fished at that pretty pond near his house. Check out this little frog who came up to check us out.
The reason for getting up so early was so we could go to a large flea market upstate. I'd never been to such a large flea market. The day was lovely for it, too. It wasn't too hot and there was a nice little breeze to cool us as we walked the rows of vendors. I came across this vendor selling birdhouses. I'd never seen so many in one place so I just had to take a pic of them.

We had a great day with Leo and Andi, as always. I'll be posting more about the rest of our day with them later.

Until then, have a good one!