STORMS ARE CALMED BY GENTLE PRAYERS

I’m sure Wednesday and Friday are just a warm up to what Spring will actually bring us. However, those storms proved worthy of some respect.

As it happened, Judy was out and about in Knoxville Friday, but got home before I did.

I had to pick Lily up from school at 1:30, so the prelude to the evening of anxious TV weather watching began with a warm-up line of storms that passed just ahead of me on my way to Knoxville. However, they were just some heavy rains riding the first wave. I shot a couple of photos of the weird clouds going up I-40, and of the rain while I waited in line for her to be released.

They had given a “tornado warning” on the way up, so I was afraid they would keep her longer...waiting until the warning was lifted. However, she was released at about 1:40, and the rain had stopped.

The rain held off, so I decided to stop at Chic-fil-a in Oak Ridge, and let her play before heading on home.

Corey picked her up just before 4, and after glancing at the radar on TV, decided he’d better get on home in Knoxville.

The second round came in around 6:30, and I could see dark clouds passing rapidly to the east. The clouds were again weird, zipping along, at the will of the wind, and displaying strange colors. 

Judy and I tried to watch some recorded shows between storm systems and warnings, but after several interruptions from the EAS, we stopped trying to entertain ourselves, and just watched Channel 10 weather. 

Wednesday evening, the storms had broken up after hitting Walden’s Ridge, as usual, but they were stronger on Friday evening and spilled over into the valley.

After squeezing through the gap above Rockwood, and flowing down into the valley, the storms had been weakened just enough to just give us heavy straight line winds, lots of lightning, heavy rain. However, the heaviest, scariest, part of the wind and rain only lasted about 15 minutes. It was just after they announced for Rockwood, Kingston, and Harriman to take cover!

Judy and I stood around in the basement during that time, but soon went back to watch the reports. 

One after one, they came! The strong systems came in rapidly too, moving from 45 to 60 mph.

Finally, one lined up on us and we held our breath!   However, like I said, after reaching the edge of the plateau and hitting the ridge line, it lost some of its energy.  Saved again!

I was thankful for the mountains, my answered prayers, but when I called mom I knew the real story! She had been sitting in her large walk-in-closet, in one of her stored folding chairs, flashlight by her side, and reading her Bible.

That’s what really saved us all! Thanks mom!

STORMY SATURDAY FOR FOOTBALL IN TENNESSEE

If you started watching the University of Tennessee and Oregon football game held in Knoxville Saturday, you know that there was a 70 minute game delay due to lightning.  That same storm rumbled across my backyard some 30 minutes prior to that delay, raining down some heavy drops that quickly turned into torrents down my drive-way.

I grabbed my camera and took a few shots and discovered a shivering hummingbird sitting on the feeder.

Lightning flickered across the sky and leaves and limbs came tumbling down from the trees.  There's always something to pick up or blow off my drive, but storms give me even more work.  It's the price you pay living under a canopy of Beech, Oak, and Hickory trees.  

From our second story screened-porch, it makes you feel like you're living in a tree house.  We love it, but we duck every time a storm comes through, or the Hickory turns loose of another nut!  They hit the aluminum roof like a rock and roll loudly off to the ground.

This latest rain gives us hope for a beautiful autumn leaf show, but it has been dry at the key time for turning the colors brilliant.  Up until the past three weeks, our place has been like a tropical jungle; all rich and lush with green grass and foliage.  Recently we noticed the usual August brown moving through the trees and across the grass.  However, there is still hope.

I'm still hopeful for Tennessee football too, although it will have to wait another fall to happen.  Today's game went as I expected it, even if I did go into the game thinking we might see some surprises.  We did...lots of young players, with a young coach, with lots of potential.  Next year my friends!

Yes, I'm mindful of what fall usually depicts - the end of life for another season.  With my current situation (see previous post), it does make me stop and reflect, and think about things to come.

SUMMER THUNDER STORMS

A cold front moved through Thursday, bringing us some much-needed rain, but it also brought through some unneeded high winds. There was considerable damage in the city of Harriman, while my subdivision only got sporadic wind sheer. This huge limb came from the top of an old oak behind my house. You could see the nice hole the wind made coming through the trees from the west!

However, this was minor compared to the June 2003 storm that toppled four trees and topped several others in our yard. With my trusty chainsaw, I should have this cleaned up in a couple of hours.

To get the rain, it is almost worth it!

TORNADO CHASING

“Get up son,” mom said as she gently nudged me awake. “Take your pillow and quilt out to the car. Dad’s waitin’ – hurry up!”

It was only then that I became aware of the flashes of lightning and the subsequent close rumbles of thunder, and the rain hitting hard against the roof and southwest side of the trailer.

My eyes widened and my ears perked up to listen to conditions outside, as I ran toward the front door where my dad scooped me up and rushed me into the backseat of the ’55 Star Chief. Yes, the same Pontiac I have mentioned repeatedly. We had that old car for ten years and it served my family well through many a storm, and snowy trips “down home.”

Dad slammed the door shut and ran back to the trailer for my mom and baby brother. I raised up and watched them running back to the car and saw them illuminated in several flashes of lightning, and hid my eyes as the close thunder shuttered the vehicle just as they closed the doors with synchronized slams.

“It looks like it’s coming from the southwest,” dad told mom. “I think we should go toward Florence.” Mom shook her head in agreement and pulled the blanket up over my brother’s head.

Every time there was a flash, I hid my head under my grandmother’s quilt and pressed my hands against my ears. In that backseat, under that quilt, I felt safe. It was so strange that I had not heard all the excitement before being awaken, but that was generally the case. Dad, or possibly mom, had the keen ears and usually had the family on alert if the conditions seemed threatening.

“We should be safe here,” dad said as he pulled under an overpass, pushed the lights in to the parking position, and tuned the radio to any sound he could find. There was little real-time weather coverage on the radio then, but the sound of other voices from the midst of the darkness comforted my mom and dad.

As fate would have it, we often found out the next day that we had in fact driven toward the worse part of the spring storm and were in much more danger where we ended up than if we had stayed put. However, dad felt like he was protecting his family in the only way he knew how, and that makes it okay with me.

Today, I am the one that awakens at the sound of the first branch hitting the metal roof, the large drops of rain hitting the window, or that eerie roar the wind makes in the treetops near the house. I used to depend on dad to be on vigil, but Vietnam’s frequent rocket attacks moved me into a life long state of readiness. I now waken briefly some nights to ensure the distant roar and vibration is just the Southern working its way south some half-mile from our house. Once I am satisfied, I think back for a moment on the tornado chases of the past, pull my grandmother's quilt tightly up under my neck, and slip off again.

“We should be safe here,” a distant voice whispers.