Journal: Weather! -- And We're Under It (Literally)

 

I’m having trouble concentrating on typing my journal this afternoon because of all the tornado and thunderstorm watches and warnings.  I had my weather radio on for a while, but it’s loud and annoying (the volume cannot be adjusted on the dumb thing, and it prefers to broadcast in Clangorous Blast Mode), so as soon as the actual tornado warning was canceled, I turned that one off, at least.  I still have Tornado HQ up and running, Ryan Hall, Y’all streaming on YouTube, AccuWeather, Windows weather app — and I periodically peer out the window.  Oh, and Victoria texts me if anything is headed directed at me, too.

Above is a screenshot from a livestream by weather chaser Ryan Scholl, who is driving near Schuyler.  There was a lot of rotation and lightning in those clouds, and shortly thereafter, another tornado warning was issued.

Tornado HQ thinks ‘Genoa’ is pronounced ‘JIN-oh-uh’.

Every once in a while, I sign into Reed Timmer’s livestream, because, after all, he’s usually smack-dab in the middle of an ongoing tornado, and he’s in the Dominator, you know! – but it’s never very long before I turn him off again, because the Cuckoo Brain screams constantly.  I mean, if NOAA Weather Radio broadcasts in Clangorous Blast Mode, then Reed Timmer is in Exploding Meteorite Concussion.  He has a doctorate in Meteorology; but mercy me, his bedside manner is “Scream ’em Back into Consciousness!!!” 

Tuesday, I planned to finish the binding on the Safari Animals quilt and get started on the Wolves’ Dream Catcher quilt.  That is, that was my plan if I could tear myself away from my piano!  I think I played a song or two every time I walked by it that day.  Levi made it sound so very beautiful, and he fixed a couple of hammers that weren’t hitting the strings perfectly.  He had to slide the entire key action out in order to do it.  It’s the first time he’s taken the action out of a grand piano, though he’s done it with a couple of uprights.  I helped him, as it’s heavy, and when sliding it back in one must be very careful that a hammer doesn’t rise and catch on the action frame.

Here’s Levi working on the piano.  See his tablet there with the tuning app on it?

That evening, I picked up an order of groceries at Walmart.  It takes a while to haul them into the house and get them all put away, when you order $300 worth of groceries.

Larry went to Salina, Kansas, that day to pick up a larger sweeper he bought on Purple Wave.

Wednesday morning, I worked in the yard for an hour or so, doing nothing but cutting down one volunteer tree after another, and then dragging them down to the south side of the property.  Whew, that was as much work as pulling weeds.  When I ran out of steam, I showered and then blow-dried and curled my hair while sipping hazelnut iced coffee.  That hit the spot.

After eating some breakfast, I swept the deck and then took pictures of the Safari Animals quilt out there.  Colors always look truer in natural light.

I spent the rest of the day until time for our midweek church service working on Lyle’s Wolves’ Dream Catcher quilt.

That evening, we had our graduation service, which started with the school children singing a medley of songs.  Then my nephew Robert gave a short sermon, after which he handed out the diplomas and showed pictures of the children on the big screen (it’s above the baptistry in the picture; you can’t see it).  Lyle is one of the graduates; he graduated midterm, back in January.  He’s the tallest boy there in the middle of the back row.  He’s at least 6’ 4”, maybe 6’ 5”.  When he went up on the stage to get his diploma and shake Robert’s hand, he was at least two inches taller than Robert, and Robert is 6’ 3”.  (But Lyle had on cowboy dress boots, so he was cheating.  😉)  These are the children from 6^th grade to 12^th grade.

Lyle was named after Larry’s father, who died of cancer in 1987.  ‘Lyle’ is also Teddy’s middle name.

In 1983, Theodore Lyle was added to our family.  He was a Teddy from the start, for he was the cuddliest baby ever.  With his enormous blue-gray eyes, the child garnered much attention wherever we went.

One day when he was a little past two, I said to him, “Teddy, did you know that your real name is Theodore?”

He grinned at me and wrinkled his nose.  “No, I is a Teddy!” he responded.

“No, really!” I attempted to convince him.  “Your name really is Theodore; Teddy is just your nickname.  Your name is ‘Theodore Lyle’.”

Teddy giggled.  “No, Mama,” he told me, “I is a Teddy!”

I tried the more.  “Teddy, when you were born, we named you Theodore Lyle.  That’s what is written on your birth certificate in your baby book.  But we just call you Teddy.”

Teddy’s small nose wrinkled even more.  He patted on my arm, giggling.  “Mama!” he exclaimed, tapping on his chest with one index finger.  “I is a Teddy!”

I gave up, and let the child be a Teddy.

There was a landspout near Sutherland that evening.  Sutherland is 230 miles to our west.

Do you know the difference between a tornado and a landspout? 

A landspout is a type of tornado that forms over land, similar to a waterspout over water.  Unlike traditional tornadoes, landspouts don't typically originate from a mesocyclone within a supercell thunderstorm.  They often develop from the ground up, stretching upward into the updraft of a cumulus congestus cloud.  They often appear as a translucent, laminar helical tube, sometimes initially seen as a dust whirl before condensation develops.  Due to the lack of a mesocyclone, landspouts are rarely detected by Doppler radar.  Landspouts are generally smaller and weaker than supercell tornadoes, and they tend to be short-lived. 

I went out to work in the gardens Thursday morning, but while I was rehanging the bird feeders, the wind nearly blew me off my feet.  I decided it wasn’t the right morning for garden work.  By the time I got back in the house, we’d been issued a wind warning.  Gusts were already up to almost 40 mph.  So I showered and had some Toasted Southern Pecan coffee while blow-drying and curling my hair.  After eating breakfast, I headed to the quilting studio to continue working on the Wolves’ Dream Catcher quilt, with a few breaks to do the laundry.

By 1:00 p.m., wind gusts were topping 50 mph.

What on earth.  A peach-colored knit top came out of the washer — yellow.  The embroidery down the front of it was still the right color, though.

The only thing I did differently was to douse a clip-on necktie of Larry’s with Resolve Multi-Fabric cleaner and toss it into the wash – but it specifically says on the bottle that it contains no bleach and will not change the color of fabrics.

However, it also says not to use it along with other detergents.  Maybe it reacted to the regular Mox detergent and the Downy fabric softener?  Nothing else changed color, and it was a large load of clothes.

Rats!  The peach color was prettier!  Siggghhhh.  At least it was just for every day.

For supper that night, I put a Red Baron Supreme pizza in the oven.  We had apple pie for dessert.

I didn’t work outside Friday morning, either, as the wind advisory was extended until that evening.  My eyes and ears don’t appreciate wind and dust.  There were sustained winds of 25-30 mph, and gusts up to 60 mph.  Shingles blew off the roof, and some landed on and mangled a couple of hostas.  There are enough hostas that the damaged ones will be camouflaged, I think.  At least those big, heavy shingles didn’t land on my hapless pate.

The wind kicked up so much dust from the fields, I couldn’t even see Teddy and Amy’s house.  This picture was taken on Highway 30 near North Bend.

I spent a good part of the day working on the Wolves’ Dream Catcher quilt.  The 13” Delectable Mountain blocks were about half done when I quit.

That evening, I listened to and watched live online streaming of a large number of severe tornadoes and thunderstorms scattered through Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Texas, Missouri, Michigan, and Wisconsin.  28 people were killed.

Saturday was my sister Lura Kay’s 85^th birthday.  She is in the assisted-living home where she’s been since getting out of the hospital after she broke a hip in mid-December.  She has dementia, and is no longer able to live alone.  The facility is just a couple of blocks away from the homes of most of her children and grandchildren, so several of them see her every day.

 A nurse was helping her walk to a chair in her room when I got there.  After sitting down, she turned and saw me, and immediately told the nurse, “This is my sister.”

I gave her a Picture Book  of Natural Wonders.  

Her window looks out onto a pretty courtyard.  There was a male house finch with a fledgling in a tree just outside the window.  The father bird was finding insects on the branch, and every time he snatched one up, the baby flailed his wings madly and opened his beak wide, begging for food.

I described all this to Lura Kay, and told her that the bicolored irises she gave me years ago were blooming.  She told me sadly that she has no place to plant flowers there, and that she’d had lots of flowers at her other houses.

I pointed out some flowers that were starting to grow in flowerboxes across the courtyard and said, “There’s a bunch of flowers right there!  In a couple of weeks, there will be blooms just covering those boxes.”

There are bird feeders right outside her window, and they had bird seed in them.  

“Looks like someone keeps the bird feeders filled,” I said, “so you should be able to see plenty of birds!”

She had many bouquets of flowers in her room, and some balloons, too.  I exclaimed over all the pretty flowers, and she turned to look at them.  Spotting a clear glass vase with water lines on it, she grimaced and said, “I’m going to have to wash those vases.”  😏

As I was leaving, I met one of my great-nieces and two of her children coming to visit Lura Kay. 

That is, I was trying to leave.  I need a map of that place.  It’s a labyrinth.  I think I wound up in the servants’ quarters.  Or somewhere.

There were EXIT signs practically everywhere.  But! – they were trick signs.  Like this:  

⇐ EXIT ⇒

Most of them are green.  One is red, apparently to tell you, “You’re getting warm!”

“Maybe they are trying to make sure no one escapes!” Hester said, laughing, as I told her this story.

“Haha!” I retorted.  “It worked on me.”

I spotted a nurse and asked for directions.  Rather than just point the way, she walked with me almost all the way to the door. 

Here’s the dining room.

When I eventually got outside, I realized that possibly the reason the nurse thought she needed to walk me to the door was because I said I’d parked in the south parking lot – however, I discovered I was actually parked on the west, and the south parking lot is for the employees.  🙄

The nurse probably thought I needed a room next to my sister’s. 

Ah, well.  I managed to drive home without bumping over curbs, running over anybody, or getting lost; so there’s that.

“Maybe wear a hat next time you’re there,” advised Hester, “so they don’t recognize you.”

I have good and helpful kids.

This is the chapel at the home.  Most of the people in the picture are my sister’s grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  It was taken the day before Easter; I found it on Brookestone Acre’s Facebook page.

Our supper that evening was boneless pork ribs (tougher’n all get-out, even though I cooked them in the Instant Pot), lima beans with lots of butter, and corn on the cob (also with lots of butter).  At least the vegetables were good.  We had Moose Tracks ice cream for dessert.  That was good, too.

I finished the 14 Delectable Mountain blocks for the Wolves’ Dream Catcher quilt that evening.  There are corner blocks to make for that border, but it was getting late, so I quit for the night.

That day was also my nephew Kelvin and his wife Rachel’s 38^th anniversary.  Sunday after church, because they enjoy camping, I gave them these placemats that I once made for Loren and Norma, and which they never used.  I got a couple of coffee mugs to go with the placemats.  One looks like an old VW van and has wheels on it that actually turn.  On the side it says, “Not all who wander are lost.”  The other mug looks like a vintage camper, and reads, “Happy Camper.”

Kurt and Victoria invited us for dinner after church.  She fixed chicken, baby potatoes, carrots, and homemade biscuits.  We had a lovely time with them and their little family.

OH!  There’s a cardinal right outside my kitchen window!

Earlier this week, a bright orange Baltimore oriole came to the suet feeder with a yellow oriole that I first thought was the female – but then he got a bite of suet, and the yellow one went to flapping its wings and opening its beak wide, and I knew:  it was a young fledgling.  I haven’t seen a Baltimore oriole fledgling before.  We have orioles every year, but I’ve never seen the babies, although I can sometimes hear them in nests in nearby trees.  They’re always well hidden, though.

At 5:30 p.m. yesterday, I discovered there were a couple of tornadoes and severe thunderstorms to our west and south, and coming our way.

Earlier, my weather app had said the approaching rain wouldn’t start until 9:00 p.m.  But at 5:30 it said it would start around 6:00 p.m. 

“We might get wet on our way out to the car!” I told Larry.

The weather app was wrong.  When we headed out to the car, it was bright and sunny.  It didn’t start raining until nearly 10:00 p.m.

It rained much of the night and this morning; but by afternoon, the sky was merely cloud-covered.

I no sooner wrote that than we were issued a tornado watch.

At ten ’til three, Victoria sent a screenshot from Ryan Hall, Y’all:  a tornado warning for Fullerton and Genoa, and the tornado was coming my way.

“I’m all set,” I responded.  “Correct lens on the camera... check.  SD card in it... check.  New pot of coffee... check.  I’m only lacking the popcorn.”

The coffee was Cameron’s Caramel Pecan.  I ‘skimmed the cream off the top’, as Larry says.  That is, I only wait until there’s a small amount brewed in the pot, then pour my mug half full and fill it the rest of the way with hot water.  It tastes a lot like French press coffee when I do that.  Quite satisfactory.

Sip... mmmm...

“I’ll go look out the window now,” I texted Victoria.  “I’ll stand on the porch if anything looks promising.”  Soon I informed her, “I hear rumblings... rumours of war...”  (That ‘rumours of war’ phrase is in Matthew, and the next part of the verse says, ‘See that ye be not troubled.)

“It’s either thunder, or the neighbor’s noisy pickup,” I added.

It was thunder.  Seeing that 60-mph winds might be arriving shortly, I brought in the bird feeders, much to the disappointment of several finches who were chowing down on sunflower seeds and one robin who was feasting on suet.

Soon it started raining fairly hard.  The tornado fizzled out, was downgraded to a severe thunderstorm, and then came back to life again on the east side of Columbus.  Some areas around town were hit with hail, anywhere from pea-sized to ping-pong-ball-sized.  We were spared any seriously bad weather.  An hour later, I took the bird feeders back outside, in case the birds wanted a snack before bedtime. 

They did.

I was glad we didn’t get high winds like we did Thursday and Friday; those winds took down the first few blossoms of bicolored iris.  Yesterday and today several more bloomed.

Once we’ve been issued tornado warnings or watches, I look out the window and spot hangy-down tails descending from every cloud – like this one I saw in the west.

“They’re like Goldbug sightings in Richard Scarry books,” agreed Victoria.

A meteorologist reported ‘DVD-sized hail’ in Oklahoma.  That’s 4.5” hail.  (Is it flat?  Can you play it in a DVD player?)

It’s 6:30 p.m. now.  The rain has stopped, and the skies have brightened up considerably.  In fact, the sun is valiantly trying to shine through the clouds.

Time to fix supper! 

After I finish those corner blocks, I shall start on the Lemoyne Single Irish Chain blocks (so called by EQ8).  

There are 48 of them; they make up the next border.  There’s at least one more border after that; maybe two.

,,,>^..^<,,,          Sarah Lynn          ,,,>^..^<,,,