Forgive the delay. I've been in storm cleanup mode.
Wednesday, 27 April, 2011 will be talked about for years at local barbershops or at least it will be every time I go into one. NOAA estimates at least 173 tornadoes touched down in parts of the South including East Tennessee where I choose to abide.
The local CBS affiliate reports 25 tornadoes in the Volunteer State have been confirmed so far. (NOTE: The National Weather Service ultimately reported that 48 tornadoes touched down in Tennessee, breaking the previously one day total of 15.)
One twister in Knox County began "near the intersection of Old Settlers Trail and Lakemoor Drive and ended around the area of Wye Way Lane and River Oak Drive." It then climbed a ridge and bounced, hopping over my house like a Myotis out of hell. Pounding me with chunks of ice, i.e. hail, the other spelling of the word.
I've never been through such a load whacking. BAM! BAM! BAM! Pound, pound. Think of it as Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg. If you were in the line of fire, there was no place to hide.
Hailstones (somewhere between the size of a ping pong ball and an RC Cola bottle cap) ripped a bazillion new leaves, branches and branchlets from their moorings over my home creating a yellow-green blanket over everything. Surreal.
The local CBS affiliate reports 25 tornadoes in the Volunteer State have been confirmed so far. (NOTE: The National Weather Service ultimately reported that 48 tornadoes touched down in Tennessee, breaking the previously one day total of 15.)
One twister in Knox County began "near the intersection of Old Settlers Trail and Lakemoor Drive and ended around the area of Wye Way Lane and River Oak Drive." It then climbed a ridge and bounced, hopping over my house like a Myotis out of hell. Pounding me with chunks of ice, i.e. hail, the other spelling of the word.
I've never been through such a load whacking. BAM! BAM! BAM! Pound, pound. Think of it as Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg. If you were in the line of fire, there was no place to hide.
Hailstones (somewhere between the size of a ping pong ball and an RC Cola bottle cap) ripped a bazillion new leaves, branches and branchlets from their moorings over my home creating a yellow-green blanket over everything. Surreal.
With over 300 dead and thousands left homeless across the South, my loses are light. Outdoor chairs, birdbath, hummingbird feeder. But the one that hurts the most: my classic—collector's item, made in Tennessee—19 year old Saturn SC with over 250,000 road miles took a direct hit. (Yes, a quarter of a million miles in one car. That's roughly the distance from the Earth to the Moon. Hello Houston, the Eagle has landed.) My beloved Saturn is now dimpled like a new Titlest Pro V1, the windshield spider cracked and the sunroof I always wanted is in the back.
BUT, despite all that, the GM darling is drivable and a lot more airy.
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6 comments:
Lyn, I feel your pain. Both of my Subarus (total combined mileage close to 360K) also have the golf ball look. Rikki and I have noticed fewer birds too around our feeders. This was a tough time of year for such a maelstrom, I am sure a lot of nests did not survive...
Unbelievable the power of nature.........terrifying as well i would imagine. I'm glad you survived even if the car took a beating.
Hello Adrian.
Hello Adrian.
Yes. Scared me. The sound on the roof was overwhelming. I crawled under a heavy desk. The dog under the bed. The electricity had already been knocked out, so we were in the dark with just flashlights.
I hope all is well with you. Thanks for your comment.
Hello Kim.
It's funny how we get so attached to cars. I bought the Saturn brand new for $13,000 in June 1992. Haven't car shopped since because I hate it. Too many choices. I loved the Saturn at first sight; thought of it as my teal Batmobile. So it was easy to decide back then.
The birds had to have been pummeled. See today's post. Cheryl said they got very few small birds perhaps for obvious reasons. But oddly, several male cardinals. Tough little guys.
I've been cleaning up leaves for two days but have so far found no nests or signs of birds other that a few cardinal feathers.
I assume that it's so early in the nesting season that the surviving birds will start over. Nest box users are looking pretty smart after this.
For the longest time yesterday I saw no hummingbirds, but then a couple showed up at my surviving feeder.
Lyn, so sorry to hear about the loss of the Batmobile! What a scary storm that must have been! Glad you didn't get the same pounding as your car did. Great documentation, though.
Hello dear Rhonda.
My hail problems were much less than your hurricane damage.
Losing a 19 year old car is minimal, although I loved the Batmobile and would have driven it until it disintegrated, which in a way it has. I could pay to get it all fixed but it’ll cost too much. But it is drivable, at least for the summer. I’m seeing “South Knoxville sunroofs” all around this part of town.
Are you OK? I need to call you and catch up again.
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