ANOTHER TORNADO WARNING

 

Two tornado warnings in the past week. In December. Go figure.
As if I didn't already have enough problems to contend with - Mother Nature seems to be uprising against me, too. It's been a strange week.

Yesterday (Friday) I forced myself to make the harrowing excursion to town. I desperately needed supplies. It was a dank, dismal, rainy day with mild temperatures. Christmas shoppers were sparse. A sense of lethargy and  indifference seemed to prevail.

I spent too much money and didn't get half of what I need - but that's a usual occurrence. The worst part is driving home and suddenly remembering the things I forgot to buy. There's no chance in hell that I'll be driving a zillion miles back to town any time soon.

The unending joys of rural life. 

Severe weather and high winds were predicted for Friday night.  At least I was safely back at home with lots of groceries.

My oven still doesn't work. I need to order a new baking element (that's what it's called) from Amazon. It should be easy to fix.
Fortunately, the broiler still works. Yesterday I broiled some thick, boneless pork chops and they were delicious.

The winds really picked up late Friday night - furiously sifting through the trees. There was distant thunder, occasional lightning, and restless packs of wild dogs. Frequent visits from the coyotes never bother me - but for some reason, wild dogs unnerve me.

By midnight the temperature was still only 61 degrees (Fahrenheit) which is eerie, especially in December. I went to bed fairly confident that the impending storms would be minimal. 

Sometime around 4:00 a.m. the weather really got nasty. The wind was shrieking and the flimsy house was shaking. Rain poured in torrents and the lightning was brutally bright.

The tornado warning happened around 4:45 a.m. My only source of weather information comes from my computer. You're on your own in this friggin' rural area.

 I don't generally scare easily, but this storm was horrendous. I just stayed in bed - petrified - watching the lights blink on and off. The wind screamed and the loud, odd noises outside were truly frightening. There was an incredible rushing noise that sounded like the whole forest was being demolished. I kept waiting for the house to be swept away and carried to the Land of OZ.

To make a long story short (which was never my forte) the chaos didn't subside until after dawn. Me and the cats survived and (so far) I've only seen minimal outside damage.

According to weather accounts, the massive tornadic storm swept through four states and traveled over two hundred miles. Damage was extremely extensive and at least fifty people were killed in Kentucky. Entire towns were destroyed.

I'm thankful to have been spared - and my heartfelt sympathy goes out to the thousands of people who were affected by this bizarre monster storm.