Friday, March 9, 2012

Wow! I can't believe the co-incidence!

To put it another way, I can't believe my GOOD LUCK!~   Usually this kind of story ends differently.  Here's the long of it....

Daughter C had been commenting off and on for a long time (like, for only almost a YEAR) on a huge piece of metal - literally a whole sheet of metal roofing - hanging over an extremely high branch of a very tall Pine tree, since the tornadoes of April 27.  I had always missed it, however - focusing instead on the narrow and sharp curve of the road right around that spot.  Recently I decided I HAD to see this very great piece of metal.  After seeing it, I also decided it was worthy enough to be photographed.

So, after several drive-bys (it takes me several ADD influenced drive-bys to get anything done, you see), I finally stopped in someone's driveway (thank you, people), and took about 3 photos of the metal (February 20). (Side-note: The first of these photos is from the passenger seat, since I was a passenger at the time....Feb 18) {Extra juicy side-note:  Unfortunately my camera was dropped onto the road at one point about a month ago - yes, by ME,  - which caused its auto-focus to be pretty much non-functional, or shall we say "moodily functional". This means that in the future, you will see some photos in focus and others euphemistically "misty" or "ephemeral".}

Then we had tornadoes again - well, not exactly HERE, but we had very high winds - and guess what?  A couple days later, we looked for the metal and - and -  it was GONE!!  Yes, those winds had knocked it down and I HAD THE PHOTOS!   YAY, oh YAY, oh YAY.    So now, after all that schpiel (you had to know the whole story, didn't you?) here are the two sets of photos (yes, after a few more drive-bys I finally got the "empty tree" photos! - March 7) and you can see for yourself the amazing phenomenon-of-interest in this fascinating saga!

Feb. 18.  There she is!  (this is actually from a "drive-by" shot - passenger seat, OK?)

Close-up to see the hugeness of this metal sheet (Feb. 20)

From a distance you can see the height of the trees - yes, tornado winds are STRONG!!

Here are the same trees barely a week or two later! (Mar 7)

The metal is gone.

Another close-up.  No metal!

So don't give up, all you rootin', tootin' cowboys, -  because once in a while, fair luck doth smile on ye and ye can bask in the satisfaction of beating the odds  -  for a change!

So why was I in Eastgate?

I am now officially a student again - taking the Clinical Medical Assistant course!  Yes, Ma'am - and it's 9 weeks of academics, 6 weeks practical and I'll be AT YOU with needle in hand, ready to SET YOU STRAIGHT!   "This is a test of the emergency broadcast system.  In the case of an ACTUAL emergency, I will NOT give you time to escape.  You are now forewarned.....!"

Our new friend

Our teacher, Ms H, can't believe how smart we are!

"No, I'm NOT a crazy woman, why do you ask?"

Friday, March 2, 2012

De Ja Vu - MORE tornadoes??

 Another round of wild and crazy storms is passing through - lightning flashing everywhere....so far we've missed any damage....but not so Ooltewah, Cleveland (again) and other local places - I think 4 confirmed touch-downs (later: I think final count is 6) with lots of damage and more than a dozen people taken to area hospitals.  Brother G and wife are traveling down from Indiana today....or are they?  I can't imagine them traveling along with the storms, and I-24 East and West blocked and backed up due to huge powerlines across the road....We shall see. (later:  yes, they were west of the storms and saw lots of damage, especially in Indiana, got stuck on the freeway for an hour or so, etc...)

I thank God for sparing me today too - was driving home on I-75 from downtown (Eastgate) with the storm pretty much chasing me all the way home.  Don't tell anyone, but I was seriously breaking all speed records! (I'll let you know WHY I was at Eastgate in a future post).  I had to do a lot of Scripture quoting to calm down - but it worked - trust in the Lord!

Here are some photos of today's damage taken by various people - they're not mine at all:

Uh-oh, I think we'd better turn around! (Notice how the cloud looks green)

I presume these lines are "dead"! 

Is this the truck I passed just a few minutes before?  Guess not.

Several houses were moved off their foundations.

The boat marina suffered heavy damage.

Hold it RIGHT there, buster!

Definitely de ja vu   -   sigh.....a lot of clean-up in our collective future.

hmmm, a neat little problem to solve....

This looks like April 27!

And this too.  This is over by Harrison Bay/Tucker Rd.
Here's more in a link to nooga.com:

Better Tornado photos

An entry in Facebook by the Open House Volunteers.  It seems like more houses were destroyed than I thought!
At least 30 homes destroyed in Hamilton County. Volunteers organizing chain saw gangs and aid distribution. Watch site for opportunities. Lowes sending supplies overnight. Doug Walter
Later from the Chattanoogan.com: 
This too shall pass!  So it's 3 for 3 now (an inside joke....)!!

We saw and heard that Calhoun,TN was getting hammered and clobbered by this storm and downtown CHA was getting golf-ball sized hail.  Ouch! The hail below was in Ooltewah.

Ooltewah Walmart parking lot (taken by a friend)
This is funny-looking snow....oh, wait......

If you want to see how Apison is getting all rebuilt from LAST year, check out this video:

Update video on tornado repairs...

Praying for safety...for us and all others who have to face the brunt of this line of storms unprotected!

On a different note yet, we celebrated an 11 year milestone today!  Made those cupcakes in icecream cones!  The kids enjoyed them at school - but then they were let out early due to the storms....oh well!

A memorable day, yes!