Tornadoes and Turkeys

Yesterday was a very scary day. There were tornadoes firing up west of us and heading our direction all day and most of the night. Severe thunderstorms were the order of the day. High winds and huge downpours were matter of fact, starting and stopping as regular as traffic lights. There was nothing we could do about the weather except worry about it. Last night around 9 PM one fired up and passed by us less than 10 miles away. The TV weathermen and women were breaking in with updates constantly. The worst of it went on for about 9 hours. The roof sprung a leak again. I can’t be sure of how bad it is yet, but this old man will be up there again, trying to figure out where it is coming from. That is as soon as the winds die down. I do not like being up there on a windy day. I feel sorry for those who were hit by the tornadoes yesterday. I cannot imagine losing my entire home and having to face that. I think when I was younger it would not have bothered me, but at my age now I don’t know how I could face it. I just don’t think I have the strength. It would be worse yet if something were to happen to me or Joyce that would be the real tragedy. We are not replaceable. 

 

On a lighter note, Rhett bagged a 22 pound turkey gobbler yesterday morning before all the bad weather started up. He was pretty proud of that and as you can see in the picture that turkey was huge!

 

April Showers

Snowflakes falling horizontally at 30 miles per hour

This they call an April snow shower

We are halfway through April today

Things shouldn’t happen this way

Yesterday my fruit trees were chock full of bees

Tonight at 23 degrees they are all going to freeze

Spring just before a storm

The pictures in this post were lost in transition.

This ancient mulberry tree appears to be on its last leg, but it may still outlast all of us. Annie thinks there are spirits living in it. The tree does look spooky to me.

Spring Blooms are Finally Here

Again, more pictures lost in transition.

The Alton Giant

This picture is of the Alton giant (Robert Wadlow) beside Joyce's uncle Joe's midget race car at the Alton Speedway in 1941.

This is the giant beside his father and other normal sized people.

Bear breaks into local home today

Fear struck a local farm family today when a marauding brown bear came through the open window of their farm house this afternoon. The bear entered into a grandchild's playroom in mid-afternoon. The child's grandma grabbed a pistol nearby, shot the bear and then notified the conservation department. Below is a picture of the bear shot this afternoon.

The missing picture below was of a teddy bear the granddaughter had upstairs. It was not a real bear.

 

 

 

A Funny Thing Happened Last Friday

A funny thing happened last Friday. Joyce and I were sitting having an afternoon drink or two when there was a loud rap at the front door. We both looked at each other, somewhat startled and wondering who it could be. Everyone who knows us comes down the driveway and up to the back door.

I got up from the table and opened the front door. It was the mechanic from the quick stop two miles away. I have known about him for a year or two now, so I stepped out on the front porch to see what he wanted. He had heard I wanted to get rid of the old truck and he was interested, so we talked for a while about it.

Little did either of us know, but when I did not come right back into the house, Joyce became concerned. She grabbed the pistol and was standing two steps from the door, ready to shoot the intruder at the first loud or argumentative sound she heard. She was going to shoot him first and if she missed she was going to put a hole in his truck as he tried to drive away.

What can I say more than, “That’s my girl, backing me up when I am in trouble?”