Tornados!

[efb]

Jackson was blasted with five tornados on Friday round noon. The worst one pretty much went through our back yard. It was creepy y'all. One of the best things about our neighborhood is the old trees...all the streets are canopied. It's gorgeous....but, in 115 mile an hour winds it's extremely dangerous.

I was home having lunch when it happened. The power went out but everything was still quiet. I got up from the computer, went into the kitchen, looked out the window. It started in an instant. Branches were falling like rain-drops and then I looked up... ! 200 foot loblolley pines swinging around in the wind...then BOOM, SNAP, BOOM, BOOM... BOOOOM. It was crazy. I went to the front to see what was happening in that direction. I opened the front door, you know with the idea of maybe having a smoke...to this roaring sound RRRRRSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...the rain was blowing sideways.

We lost one big pine. Fortunately, it fell on the street...it smashed the light pole, in our front yard, into about a 100 pieces. We still don't have any electricity. The folks on the streets behind us are in a lot worse shape. I took lots of pictures and I'll post them whenever we get power and cable back. I'm posting from a coffee shop.

Thank God nobody was killed.

[Peter]

I'm glad for you, that there are only material and no human losses. You're a bit far away to give a helping hand, so I can only send some good vibrations to solve your and the other people problems.

Take care!

Greatings Peter

[Adam]

Glad your alright dude, its gets a bit like that here sometimes, we face the irish sea, and there is a 100-150 foot tree just out back whihc I eye suspiciously each time!

..And people say global warming is a myth- its snowed today at our house, after 4 weeks of sunshine.

[efb]

I can't speak either way about global warming. This is our tornado season and it's not unusual for Tornados to hit here....Pearl got it pretty bad some years ago and Madison after that. I guess it was just our turn.

Katrina was a monster. It hit Jackson, about 200 miles from the coast, with hurricane force winds but, this was far worse for North Jackson than Katrina.

I think I'd rather have tornados than snow . I hate the cold weather.

Wait'll y'all see these pictures.

[Adam]

Yeah get em online!

I expect Rafa is the only one who knows anything about it. All I know is, my frogspawn keeps coming out too early, then they all die cos it freezes, the snowdrops and crocus's came out twice in the last two years, and Richard attenboroughs documentaries seem to be reporting more extinctions than they used too.

I don't mind cold, at least untill I had to clean the pond pump this morning, and now I do!

Must be scary having proper tornado's, we have had a few twisters over here the last few years fairly regular, which again is very weird for this country!

[Adam]

what did yer do then? let me guess, lit up and poured yerself a JD and coke, no point worrying right?

[efb]

I'm glad for you, that there are only material and no human losses. You're a bit far away to give a helping hand, so I can only send some good vibrations to solve your and the other people problems.

Take care!

Greatings Peter

Thanks Peter. We'll make it. People around here are pretty easy going. We talked to a woman yesterday who was laughing it off. A tree fell through her roof but it came in above here tub so, all the water that would have been flooding her house was going down the drain.




The next fella we ran into described the damage to his house as "tree-mendous hahahahaha." Maaaan aren't we all suffering enough without the added torture of bad puns.

[efb]

what did yer do then? let me guess, lit up and poured yerself a JD and coke, no point worrying right?

Everything you're not suppose to do...I stood in front of our giant windows and watched for falling trees. .

Unfortunately, I had no bourbon in the house so that night I finished off a couple of beers I had in the fridge...didn't want them to skunk afterall...and went to bed at like 9:00.

[efb]

JCB's ready to relocate. Kan't argue with a pregnant woman. I'll talk to y'all when the power's back on.

[Adam]

take care of yerself, JCB and MINIEFB

[Peter]

That's right. With a laugh and a smile problems don't look that big.

PS: I hope my English is not to bad?

Greatings Peter

[rpardo]

Hi
I am glad to ear you and your family are well. I'm not an expert in global warming but I am related with environmental research and my son and daugther both have degrees in Environmental Sciencies. They assure me that the global warming is real. You can see the trend with Google Earth following the instructions in their blog:
Global Temperature Trends
Here in Spain we have water problems in some zones by the longest drought from 60 years and the last glaciers of the Pirineos mountains will be melt in a few years.
An dangerous world for our children!

[Siegfried]

Glad you're still standing. no broken metal figs
It's just rain, rain, rain etc over here.
Cheers,

Christiaan

[efb]

No broken metal figures....because those were all stolen a couple of weeks ago. That's another story...weird. Who steals a giant tackle box full of 25mm napoleonics when there's a perfectly good leaf blower, a drimmel, and other actually useful stuff around?

We're up at JCB's office now.

We all may be one firing of a piston away from the apocolypse but, I can assure you this was just the usual spate of cyclones. These are just the first to actually hit Jackson...all the surrounding suburbs have taken their hits.

[rpardo]

Who did stole?.... maybe a wargamer seeking for cannon fodder ... Sorry for all your misfortunes.... You have my sympathy

[efb]

I don't have the foggiest notion. Maybe some crackhead went into the outside room looking for something to steal and thought they were antiques??? I have no idea but, that rooms always locked now.

I know it wasn't any of y'all because every one of the plastic figures was left untouched...even the old revell sets.

They were mostly Elite 25mm Frech and Brits in campiagn gear for Spain. There was also about 100 15mm French WWI minifigs and a pile of Dixon Confederates. A lot of odds and ends too.

It was more puzzling to me than anything else.

[Benno]

I'm glad you and your wife are allright efb. The weather here is fantastic, so it's hard to imagine you had a tornado going through your backyard!

[efb]

Thanks Benno.

We're having terrific weather now too. It cooled off a little after the storms (65-70) but, the suns been out since Saturday. Good weather for the electricians to work in. We still don't have power though...not really sure when we're gonna get it back any time soon either. Our meter box (where the electricity actually enters the house) was completely ripped of the side of the house.

That means that after the electric company gets the power lines back up (and I think they finally have), we won't have juice until we get an electrician out to put our box back together. As you might imagine, they're all pretty busy right now.

I took a cold shower this morning. It was the first time since being deployed as a soldier to Hungary.

[Susofrick]

Here we only have a cold April, but not to cold for the tics (hate them ) (already four on the dog). Good that you all survived! But who would steal toy soldiers??? Annoying and mysterious. Got a guitar stolen some years back. I knew the thief, could point him out (probably swenglish, I know) to the police, but since I hadn't saved the reciet (I had bought da guitarre some ten years earlier) I couldn't prove that it was mine. The police wouldn't do anything. I don't think the police will do anything about your loss either, maybe shake their heads. It's sad.

[rpardo]

Here at Valladolid: yesterday 17ºC and today.... 3ºC