Fri-Sat-Sunday: HORRIFIC WINDS ALTERED OUR LIVES FOR A LONG TIME!!!!!!

OMG.....I can't even begin to describe the disaster zone I have been living in!!! It looks like a war zone.......I don't know where to begin!!!!

First I have no service other than water.....everything is totally shut down!!! I do have natural gas still in the kitchen, but I had to turn off the hot water heater as the flu system/vent to the outside is damaged and I didn't want to NOT wake up this morning due to carbon monoxide.........

Let me see if I can begin......

Yesterday morning around 11AM (Friday) the tornado sirens went off and kept screaming for quite some time. As I always do when this happens here in "Tornado Alley", I gathered together some insurance files, my repaired laptop, and my camera and went into the laundry room where we have a 2ft x 2ft square opening to go down under the house in the "crawl space"....and at that point, under the house, it is almost high enough to sit up, but not quite. Putting a step stool in the hole, I looked and couldn't find a damn flashlight in the whole house.......I made a call to the 1st Lady who is still at her Mother's......and told her what was going on....and as I was doing that the cell service went down/out.

It was almost noon.........and then the winds began to blow...and they grew stronger and became worse and worse......I could hearing the roaring above....and it was not even dark as usual in a bad storm....the clouds where a dark white/gray.....not the usual for a tornado. I decided it was time to down under the house as the winds became stronger and loud....and so I went with the files, the laptop, and the camera, and laid down on the plastic sheeting we have on the ground under the house.

WELLLLLL......it howled and roared until 12:18....and then the winds sounded as if they were slowing down. During that time I had continued to hear loud thumps on what sounded like the roof of the house and at times, the house would actually shudder.....and so when those winds slow down, I crawled up and out from below......looking out of the window of the laundry room...and I could see the neighbor's tree had been completely uprooted and was laying clear across the back yard and onto my house, tearing down the privacy fence around the patio area.

And then....the winds began again.....and it was worse than ever. This time they were coming from the north instead of the west which they had been blowing from. I couldn't believe how terrible they were.......and I was beginning to become a bit worried: worried that the large tree just outside the laundry room might blow over onto this area of the house and no one would know where I was......and NO cell service!!!! Well....these horrific winds last ANOTHER 15 minutes......and then they died down and it calmed down.

Again, I crawled out from under the house and up into the laundry room......and began to look outside and....OMG.....OMG....it was just terrible!!!!!!! I will put pictures on here to show my yard and the surrounding area, but the HUGE maple tree in the front yard that must be at the least, 100 years old was totally uprooted and laying on the ground, stretching across the street and into the yard on the other side!!!!! One side limb was resting on top of the RV, but it was a light and it appeared there was not damage to the RV! In the back, trees everywhere....and some laid across the back of my house extending over the wing that we had just recently remodeled and put in the new bedroom and bathroom. Roof shingles were everywhere in the yard as well as debris and limbs and...and...and...and I can't begin to describe it all!!!

The entire street was blocked both ways in many places by the HUGE old trees that had gone down from the winds. Trees on top of houses....stuff laying everywhere. My house: no windows had blown out nor where any knocked out, but my shingles were everywhere with gaping spaces on the roof where they had been, the turbine type vents were blown of the top of the house, leaving wide gaps open to the elements, my gutter was down, and I could hardly get out of the patio door because the trees blocking the way and stuff laying everywhere!!!!

I began taking pictures of everything for the insurance adjusters.....and then the sirens from the emergency vehicles were sounding everywhere........and then sun began to emerge, which helped.......but everyone just walked around the trees on the street.....shell shocked!!! I borrowed a cell phone from a lady up the street and called the 1st Lady to tell her the house was still standing but open in the room in some areas to the skies and weather, and that I had survived as well as all of the neighborhood.

Then the young man who lives across the street came out with his chain saw and began working on my huge tree, trying to get the street open......at least in front of our houses. He is a tree trimmer working in the STL area for Ameren..and so know what he was doing with the tree...and after others joined in with chain saws...in about an hour we had the street open so that vehicles could go through. Many people were walking up the street towards their homes as no cars could come up the street to our section due to more huge trees blocking it....the parents were really worried about their kids at school and with no way of communicating successfully no one knew what the situation was across town. More help arrived to help with the trees in the street further down the street and we finally got it opened up, at least for one way traffic which became an obstacle course.

It took a couple more hours for the street to become completely unblocked so that the emergency vehicles could get through, if necessary. By late afternoon, parents were walking back up the street with their kids, having picked them up at the school where they were being held until family signed them out of the school to go home. Many had left from work to pick them up....and they then had to walk part way home with the other streets being blocked. Many of the country roads were completely blocked and no one could in or out.....and with no communication available to those in the country, no one could find out anything about their friends and relatives.

As the afternoon went by, I climbed up onto the roof with plastic sheeting and duck tape.....and began trying to cover the wide open holes in the roof where I could look down into the attic. However, the main large tree in the back that fell over our new bedroom, I could not get to the large opening in the shingles there....no way to reach it with all of the branches laying over it. I just decided it would have to remain open all night.....

I did get out and drive around in some areas...where it was possible to get through. Went by the HS and it's roof over the gym was severely damaged, in other places buildings were completely flattened, windows out in the Court House, businesses main plate glass windows were out, awnings missing,........a surreal sight, to say the least.

I stopped and found my insurance agent and talked with him, giving him my info and the damages that I could see at the present time. Working my way up the hill to the stick and brick......MANY STICKS.....I couldn't return to the driveway as the utilities trucks were taking down the broken poles and beginning to erect new poles in place of the broken ones. This went on in front of my home until 10pm.....however, I was able to wedge my truck into the driveway by that time.

I charged up the cell phones of my neighbors several times during the afternoon/evening when I ran the generator....the only way, without driving their cars...that the phones could be charged up. I then lit some candles and remained in the house all night. A curfew went into effect at dusk and everyone was to be at their own homes where possible. I downloaded pictures onto my computer in the event that I could locate some wifi.....somewhere.

TODAY...SATURDAY.....I got up, opened up the Rv, and turning on the generator, I made a pot of coffee, charged up my cell phone again, as well as the laptop, and then realized just how dazed....in some kind of shock.....I was finding myself. The next door neighbor came over....and said the very same thing.....he was just suffering from the shock of all of this damage. We just couldn't believe how terrible things are/were!!!!!

Most of the morning was taken by talking with various city workers, others who drove by stopped and offered to help if there was anything they could do....and the sounds of generators and chain saws were sooooo noisy this morning....but they were definitely needed. Already we had utility trucks here from STL and from Poplar Bluff assisting our city crews.....and the help is really needed.

Drizzles kept coming down...off and on... and I worried about the affects it would have on the open area of the roof, but I still had assistance from anyone with a chain saw....... I talked with Marcos across the street...and hopefully, he will be able to get those limbs sawed off so I can cover the open space above the bedroom. I made more coffee....and passed it out to the neighbors who needed some. I made a sandwich with items in the fridge.....and realized that I would soon have to throw out all of the food as the inside of the fridge was rapidly warming up. It will all have to go into the trash by this afternoon!!!

I do/did not have any water hooked up to the RV as yet....and cannot take a shower inside as I am still worried about turning on the hot water heater. I then hooked up the hoses to the RV, turned on the hot water heater there...and planned to get a shower. I kept thinking that shower would make me feel better about all of this......but it didn't. I still felt like crap afterwards...!!!!

OK.....several hours later.....I had a visit by a rep from State Farm Insurance saying the adjusters may be a week before they get around to everyone!!!!! She told me that I need to the huge limbs off of the back of the house so the adjusters can inspect it for damages........I wondered just how the hell that was going to happen!!!!!

After lunch, I ran up to Farmington to get some plastic tarps, roofing nails, bread, and some batteries as I need to recharge the camera batteries and I don't want to run the gennie that long or I will run out of propane....and then the generator will not be able to operate until I find more propane......and then no fridge in the RV will run, either!!!

Returning to this devastated town......I ran the obstacle course up the hill and back to the driveway......and then spent the next six hours on top of the roof.....SIX HOURS.....putting down tarps and nailing them to the roof to cover the places where I could look through the boards and see the attic below!!!!! I then spread some black tar goop that I had in the garage around the edges of the tarps to try to make them more secure over the holes. I am trying to save the inside of the house after all the money and time and effort and love and shouting matches that we spent remodeling the house about three years ago. So far.....sooo good...as we haven't had any more rain yet.

By 8pm, I had emptied the fridge, the freezer, and had made a list of everything that was throwing away......the fridge in the RV is tiny, tiny, tiny compared to our new fridge in the kitchen. I had 5 cell phones being charged up with the generator running this evening while I was typing up these lines on the computer, as it charged up it's battery.

Darkness descended quickly.....and the CURFEW began then, again. No one allowed on the streets....and anyone coming into town were stopped to check their ID's and their home addresses. Yep.....it really was like a WAR ZONE!!!!!!!

Soooo, another night of sitting by candle light ........DAMN, I just cannot imagine how people ever were able to read by candle light!!! I am supposed to go to my daughter-in-law's in Cape G. tomorrow evening so I can get online and take care of things that need to be attended to. I hate being gone very long with all of the people that I need to get hold of about the house, etc., etc.

SUNDAY: early evening. First off....I am in Cape G. at my daughter-in-law's....and as I attempted to copy and paste this long post.......the damned computer would not that task!!!!!!!!!!!! Soooo, I am having to copy everything I have written over the past 48 hours....not an easy task as I go from the document file to this blogger posting program online....and going back and forth I am realizing that I am changing verb tenses and sometime speaking in the present and sometimes in the past........SORRY ABOUT THIS!!!!!!!!......I am exhausted again as last night I didn't hardly sleep at all. Everytime I moved in bed, I woke up in pain from the strained muscles from working on the roof all afternoon yesterday afternoon.

Last night I also went to bed about 9:30....sick of staring at candles.....and went right to sleep. Then about 11pm....I was awakened by voices......and thought someone must be trying to break into the house. Soooooo, taking my trusty flashlight with me, I stumbled into the front of the house......and noticed a bright light in the driveway.......and parting the drapes I realized that it was another utility truck working on the poles again....IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT!!!! Soooo, back to bed I stumbled....and again, everytime I moved....I woke up!!! DAMN!!!!!

This morning.....SUNDAY.....I took that hot shower, made a pot of Fr. Roast coffee.....and then took a walk, where I COULD walk....in the yard surveying the trees and damages, trying to get my mind to accept the fact of all of the damages again.... the yard, the back of the house, the gutters, the TREES!!!!!!

Later this mornin the insurance agent came by.....and we toured the property together as I pointed out some of the smaller issues that must be dealt with......discussed the problem of the neighbor's tree falling clear across the yard and destroying my fence, the patio set of table and chairs, BBQ grill, and just whose responsibility this is.......err....mine!!!!! We also discussed the deductible on the policy, the costs for tree removal, etc., etc., etc.

A bit later in the morning a tree remover came to the door.......the same company I had called last night over in Ironton.....and we spent 30 minutes looking at the trees and discussing the two estimates I need for the insurance coverage.....the way I needed it prepared for them,.....the options that are available about a couple of trees. He quoted me a total of $3600 for the removal of the trees and limbs that I had shown him, as my son-in-law is going to take care of some of them.

Then I worked in the yard....getting a wheel barrow completely overloaded with roof shingles that I picked up in the yard. Again, I ran the gennie to charge up the phone, the laptop battery, and other's cell phones....and then after more talking with others who have the same problems up here, I headed to Cape G. for the evening!!!!

Arriving there, we met at O'Charley's....and had a good dinner. I am now on the sofa trying to get this whole long post re-typed on the blog......reading emals....and knowing that I am not sure when I will get to post on here again. I must return to the stick and brick early in the mornng to continue with talks about repairs, etc, etc.

How do I say this and really be truthful???

LIFE IS GOOD.......COULD BE MUCH BETTER.......BUT THE HOUSE SURVIVED AND SO DID I!!!!!!!!......And, I hope things are much better than that with you!!!!!!!