April 27, 2026 Storm

 So, almost two weeks ago Monday and Tuesday started off with a bang. It began with bad storms moving through everywhere around us Monday night. It was storming when we went to bed, but we didn't think it was that bad, and the weather channel wasn't saying anything about tornado sightings nearby or anything. Not long after we went to sleep, we were awakened by really hard wind, rain, and hail hitting all sides of the house and windows. We jumped up and got dressed and went to our living room, but the worst was over in a few minutes, so we went back to bed.

When we got up the next morning, Tuesday, and looked out, we were in awe, and so grateful, that we, and our house, had been spared! Several trees were down across our driveway, big limbs were strewn all over the yard, leaves and twigs were plastered all over the sides of the house, the phone line was on the ground, and the highest window upstairs had been partially sucked out and was laying on the ground. Other stuff was also blown around out of place, and there will be a few days work of cutting and cleaning up, but that's all minor. God kept us and our home safe again! 

The trees across our driveway are in front of my dad's shop building, and there's one down by my parents' house. There is also a large tree down across the road going out to the farm and a bunch down by the gate opening onto the road. We haven't been out to the homeplace to check the damage. By the way the trees are twisted in two and branches torn out of the top, we are pretty sure a tornado passed over us. The telephone repair man agreed with us!

The day was spent surveying what we needed to do, hubby making a trip out of town for a piece of plywood to block the broken window before the next round of storms, fixing it after multiple trips up and down the stairs and a ladder, a lot of measuring, and me trying to hold the plywood while he sawed into it, plus the phone repair man showed up to put our telephone line back up.

We have next to no cell phone service at our house, so it took me five trys to get hold of the phone company and for the signal to hold long enough for me to tell them the problem. We were without a landline phone and internet all day, but had electricity until late evening when it went out for a couple of hours during more storms. The pictures don't really show the damage, and I don't have any of the trees down behind our house, out toward the old home place, but they are many.

Hubby's cousin picked him up to go with him to get a new weed eater out of town, because we live near a small town, we have to go out of town to the next town to get anything, and saw the damage. He showed up with his chainsaw the next morning and helped hubby cut multiple trees off of our driveway down to the main road. Very grateful he did!

So, hubby has gotten a lot of the trees, branches, etc. cut up and hauled off down in the field, despite everything else going on, but there's still a lot to be cleared, and he refuses to ask for help. I can't help, and I feel so bad, because he's not in good shape either. Just praying that he doesn't get hurt and takes it a little at a time With the Lord's help it'll get done, at least what has to be done so he can mow.

Bless his heart, he had just gotten the debris from the ice storm in February cleared up. Our driveway has taken a beating the last couple of months! But we're so thankful that our house and us were kept safe and sound. It could have been so much worse...

Anyway, that's some of what has been going on around here. I finished the free Sketchbook Revival 2026 classes that I was interested in by the time it ended, then a few days later I stumbled upon Tamara Laporte's taster sessions with thirty-eight plus classes, all free for fourteen days. So far, I've only taken three of those though, and I'm not going to buy the VIP package. I know I could learn a lot more from all the wonderful generous teachers, but I desperately need to do some house cleaning if I can, along with my daily art practice and PT exercises.

I know this was a long post, so I'll stop now and see ya in the next one! Stay safe out there!