An Unexpected "Adventure" Part 2

Like most other families in North Alabama the morning after the storm, we found ourselves with:

• No power (estimated to be out 4-5 days)
• No land line phone
• A cell phone capable of getting an occasional weak signal on a very busy network.
• A fridge of food that was getting warmer.
• A freezer full of thawing food. 
• Bored and weather weary kids.

However, we were very fortunate.  We had our lives, our home, and the ability to make the best of things.

The first order of business was the fridge.  This actually went hand in hand with breakfast as we fed the kids things that were defrosting, like frozen waffles and toaster strudels.  Anything that was spoiled or not worth keeping got tossed.  Every cooler we own was filled with ice packs and the most perishable items.  Frozen veggies now served as makeshift ice packs, and prior to going into the coolers  ice was placed in large Ziploc bags just in case the situation arose where we'd need to resort to it for drinking water.  

Lunch was leftovers from the fridge.  For dinner, there was chicken breast that I'd been meaning to cook for 2 days.  To that, I added a bag of not-so-frozen veggies, and a cobbler made from a bag of not-so-frozen raspberries and blueberries. 

My dear husband dug out a fire pit, which we lined with left over pavers since the ground was so wet.  We also build a wind break from rocks and dirt.  Hubby also started a fire for me, and even though he had never made a cooking fire before, he did an excellent job.  This turned out to be a wonderful place to cook and someday I hope to make a few minor improvements to make it a permanent fire pit.



Open Hearth Cooking's answer to the George Foreman Grill.  The chicken is under the foil on a griddle.  I placed a griddle on top of hot coals, marinated chicken went on the griddle, covered by aluminum foil.  I then placed the lid from my dutch oven on top of the foil.  It still has the coals and heat from where I cooked the muffins.  The dutch oven base is off to the side cooling.  The veggies are in the mucket toward the back.



Not wanting to let hot coals go to waste, or start more than 1 fire a day, I decided to cook the next day's breakfast along with dinner.  I made banana bread and date muffins.  The kids roasted leftover Easter marshmallows as an appetizer, and we shared the extra food with neighbors.



Our hand crank radio, that proved invaluable, and date muffins.
 (The brown sugar, I sprinkled them with, got a little too "caramelized")

 After dinner, the kids provided entertainment with an improvised play.  They are masters of slapstick, but could do with some education on the importance of plot.  We set them the task of coming up with a play early in the day.  It occupied them so we could take care of things like the fridge, trying to learn the latest news from the radio, washing all the dishes by hand, and taking stock of non perishable food items.  Turns out, we had enough food to make it another 4 days if we had stayed, and the stores had not opened.   

Through the Eyes of a Child

I found this artwork on the "drawning board" on the back of our kitchen door right before we left town.    Most of the Yellow is from the previous weekend.  The big kids had tests at school and Easter.  It was a very fun weekend for them.  In Blue, is the majority of the artwork from the day of the storms.  It speaks volumes to me.



"Tornados in Madison County"

 


"Happy Clouds are light Purple."



I don't know if that is an ark, a boat, or our house, but that sure is alot of rain.

Let their be Light!

Whoo hoo!  Today we came back home to tough it out in hopes the power might be back tommorrow night.  We left the kiddos with their grandparents.  As luck would have it, 20 minutes after we got back home, power was restored to our neighborhood. 

Thank you TVA and and all those who are helping us out.  We saw utility workers from near and far hard at work on the way back into town. 

Unfortunately, most of the folks in the area are still without power tonight.  And many are without homes and loved ones.  They are in our thoughts.

An Unexpected "Adventure" Part 1

The last few days have been quite an unexpected "adventure".  Adventure is the word I use to descibe it to my children.  It started in our playhouse ( the downstairs closet), continued as a pseudo camping trip (living in our house for 2 days without power), and now continues as a mini vacation with my in-laws safe in Tennessee. 

I supose the adventure began much earlier than the playhouse expedition.  For the kids and I it started on the ride to school.  School had been delayed for 2 hrs. so the morning storms could pass.  However, as I came within sight of the school, the tornado sirens let out their unsetteling moan.  Looking back, I can find a glimmer of humor as this must have been the only time I remember teachers actually telling children to run.  When my husband brought the kids home 3 hrs later because of an early dismissal, I learned they had spent the hour after I dropped them off in their "safety zones".  Afterwards, they managed to have class for a little while before being sent back to their "safety zones" to wait out another warning for nearly 2 hours. 

I also waited out this second warning, with my youngest and a visitor.  The Cook's Pest control guy had stopped in to deal with the ants that annually pleague our home.  The sky turned dark and ugly so quickly I encouraged him to stay.  I'm thankful he did as it was nice to have someone to share the tension with.  We watched the news coverage as reports were called in of a tornado on the ground nearby, and numerous reports of circulations passing overhead.  He called his wife often to check on her and their son who is about the same age as my youngest.  Eventually the skies cleared, he went home to his family, and my own family came home to me.

For the next hour or so, the weather was nice.  The sun even came out, which is the worst possible scenario on a tornado day.  It seems that by 3:00, the sirens were blairing again.  by 4:00 the kids were in their playhouse, (the closet under the stairs) and by 4:30, we'd lost cable and were relying on the weather radio. 

It was sometime around then that I remember looking out the back windows.  I knew there was a tornado on the ground nearby.  The weather reporter had told me that much.  The sky had an eerie green cast, the clouds dark.  I watched the horizon through the leaves of the sycamore, whose branches overhang our patio.  The little guy didn't want to be in the closet anymore and I knew if I let him down I'd never catch him if the need arose.  So I held him, rocking and bouncing him so he wouldn't fuss while I strained to hear the latest from the meteorologist. 

I remember thinking how odd the sky looked, how the clouds were one solid blanket except very close to the horizon where there was a band of light on either side of a central dark area.  I didn't worry because the winds seemed calm.  I noticed the fuzzy dark area shifting to the north.  Just clouds moving.  The wind picked up, the rain beat down with a new ferocity and the sycamore branches danced violently.  Then came the unique noise from our back door which always startles me.

For some reason, anytime a very strong wind at just the right angle blows past our back door, it's like a mixture of a whalesong and someone blowing a very low sour note on a bassoon.  Needless to say, I scurried myself and the little guy into the closet, closed the door and crouched down with the older kids. 

Today, I saw pictures on the TV (at the inlaws) of the tornado that was on the ground in our area at that time.  Although I imagine it was 5+ miles away, I feel certain that the dark area on the horizon that I saw was that tornado.  Seeing the destruction caused by that tornado as we left town today I can only say we are very blessed to have not been in its path.   

Soon after that, my husband made it home for the day.  We ate peanut butter and jelly for dinner and were soon back in the closet waiting out another round.  By the time power went out, the worst was over.  We made camp in the living room floor.  I read a chapter of Rascal to the kids, called our parents with our cell phone to let them know we made it but had very little juice in the phone, then settled in with the radio and my earbuds to find out when the lights might be back on.  I think I drifted off shortly after that, Maggie the cat snuggled at my feet.  Family safe and sound. 

Gettin' out of Dodge!

This morning, after being without power since Wednesday around 5:30 ish?  We cleaned out the fridge, packed up the menagerie of animals, kids, and all the necessities and headed off to stay with family out of state, just like the local authorities had recommended.  Local utilities predict that power will be out for another 3-5 days at best.  School is cancelled through Monday, possibly longer, and at least here the kids can have some sense of normalcy.

The following are the images I captured on our way out of town today.  They are solemn reminders of just how lucky we were.



One of the shorter lines for gas. We found out this station didn't even have the pumps working, but were expecting a generator "SOMETIME".  People still lined up.  In our town Kroger was selling gas.  It had 2 police officers standing guard and a line about 1/2 mile long. 

 


That odd tower is where the doppler radar used to be.  Next to it was a church.  20 people sought shelter in the basement and survived.




One reason we don't have power.





Several more reasons we don't have power.  There were too many downed poles to count.

 


See that pile of garbage back there?  That was a house.

 



If you look closely you will notice the metal legs of this billboard bent like pipecleaners.