Spinning in the Dark...

We had no chance of rain yesterday... Yahoo weather said so. We checked....

This was taken around 4pm... See the sign...Almost on the ground with the wind. About five minutes after my computer acted like it was shot and then shut down this is what I saw when I went to the door. The electricity went off all over the house. When we call our neighbor next door, he said they didn't have any electricity either. It seems that the electric line in their yard broke and was hanging free. DH was standing at the door watching for the work crew when a huge lightening bolt went off and I guess it charged through that line because he said it looked ten times brighter than a welder's torch arcing across the air. Scary...





When we called Reliant Energy we were assured the problem would be fixed by 6pm. So we lit candles and got out the flashlights because it is dark in the center of our house...especially with it storming outside.

6 o'clock came and went... Dinner was prepared under the romantic lights of our heavy duty flashlight... For the first time in a long time we actually ate at the dinner table in the kitchen..lol Another call the Reliant... Now it's 8pm. I got out my spinning wheel and went to work on some Merino that I've been spinning to sport weight. I have a little more than 300 yards finished in Navajo 3-ply. Anyway, DH used his flashlight and worked a crossword puzzle. Another call to Reliant promised an 11 o'clock fix.

Well... our romantic evening continued until we finally gave up and went to bed around 9pm or so and read our books by flashlight. We left the bedside lamp on to wake us up when the electricity came back on since everything had been unplugged and we really needed to plug in the refrigerator.

I woke up about 3am freezing to death... It seems the electricity came back on around 1:30am (great show for the 8pm fix time... don't you think?) and DH had gotten up and fixed everything and let me sleep. I turned off the overhead fan and sunk back into oblivion... What a night...

But... we did decide that if it were not the laundry and refrigerator we wouldn't really mind all that much living without electricity. And then again... there is the pc... and the printer...and the... hmmmm

Cellar Night

We have lived here since 2004. That would be 5 years and last night was our first trip to the cellar. Unless, of course, you count the trips to wipe the cobwebs off the walls and sweep the floors.

We had just gone to bed around 9:15 or so and snuggled in with our books in hand when the phone rang. It was the Civil Defense recorded message about dangerous weather. We have only had this happen one other time... I like it. We got up, re-dressed and turned on the television. It took a bit, but around 10 or so the sirens here blew and this not-so-young lady made a bee line for the cellar with the half-quilted Hannah quilt and my single spun yarn that I am using to knit the EZ shawl.... and there I stayed until all was passed. (Constantly bemoaning the fact that I did not have my spinning wheel down there with me!)(And what about all my pictures???!!!) (Can't we just move into an underground house?)

This was one of those unusual storms that had a tornado rotation and yet it moved from the northwest to the southeast. This happens very rarely...almost always do tornado storms move from the southeast to the northwest. We actually got very little of the harsh activity. As the photo shows, the worst we got was the wind that blew the oak beards off the tree and all over the yard. About 5 miles north of us it was a different story. They had some horrible hail and very high winds... as far as I know there was not a tornado that touched down.

I can now breathe a little easier... the cellar has now been christened...lol

It's Cold Outside!

Frozen rain ... 2009

Tomorrow will be 55 degrees, but for today it is definitely home made soup and cornbread ..

What a Morning!

Somewhere around midnight the storm started. Thunder shaking the house, lightening lit up the place...and the rain! We had 7 1/2 inches from midnight to 8:00. Almost and inch an hour. We checked out the front door around 7:30 and the water was about 1 inch from coming in the front door. I think the drought is broken..lol Somewhere in Cooke County they said on the news that a tornado had been spotted but not confirmed. The water on Hwy 75 is so deep the news showed a car with water up to it's door... the fire dept. having to rescue people that would drive into the water and couldn't get out. What a morning... Looks like more rain this afternoon, but not as severe as this morning... No way was I stepping out to take pictures... this one is definitely clipart..lol

June 3, 2007

Thunder storm imminent... wind has picked up, thunder beginning, lightening off to the west... and here come the first drops. Perhaps we should have put our lawn sprinkler system in last year... looks like it has broken the drought! grin

Watching the stillness of the trees and the changes in color of the sky and cloud formations, this is probably the closest to fear that I have felt in a long time. See this site for the reasons why....

Stormy Night

(This pic was taken last fall... I did not venture out last night to take any...grin)

The phone rang last night about 9pm... That in itself was unusual since we seldom get calls that late at night. When I answered, it took a bit for any response on the other end. I immediately thought it was another of those computerized soliciting calls that everyone hates. Then a voice came on and said something about it being a public notification system and that a tornado had been spotted close to Howe and everyone in the surrounding vicinity should take cover. Well... I must say that over the years I have gradually lost some of the instant panic that comes with seeing a cloud in the sky, but I don't think I will ever totally lose that sense of urgency when someone says anything about a tornado being spotted. Without any sense of personal control, I am instantly gathering up clothes, important pictures, jewelry, camera, radio..whatever I can carry to make the trip to the cellar.

We didn't have to go to the cellar, but the night was a busy one anyway. The elementary school at Southmayd...just down the road about 10 miles... lost the roof of their classroom and administration building. The weather person could not confirm that it was a tornado and said it was more likely to be straight wind damage...

Everything had past by about 10pm, so I went on to sleep. DH was still asleep at 7, so I went to wake him. It's unusual for him to sleep past 5:30 or 6. It seems that more storms built up around 3 and he was up until 5 watching them....