This has not been the best of weeks!

The last straw which makes me think I will stay home for some time was my first glimpse of what was the closest thing to a tornado I ever want to see!

Hey Dorothy, ( and Phil and Cheryl), tornados are supposed to hang out in Kansas. Aren't they? LOL!

I went to a local nursery about 4-5 miles from my farm to get some plants to replace the ones the darn little goat ate, and just as I was coming in to check out, everyone was running around like crazy, slamming doors, and calling to each other to shut the doors on this greenhouse and that one! It is a family owned, hands on operation, and the person who always womans the cash register, said to me, "We just got a call there is a tornado over on Ballenger Creek ( which was just a couple miles to the northwest)and it is headed this way. . . you run and get your truck, and bring it to the door while I add up your items"!

I went out to get my truck, and in the distance to the west, there were the darkest mass of clouds I'd ever seen. Down right scary!

We THREW those plants in my truck with little care or concern for their well being, and I headed for the highway, all the time watching that mass of clouds moving fast towards me! There was not a funnel, but there was a section in the middle of the clouds where a portion hung down below the body of this dark mass. I was praying it wouldn't hit the nursery, and then that I could get home and it wouldn't hit my house!

I was driving southeast, and the clouds seemed to be moving north-east, so after a couple of miles it tailed away from me. Thank goodness! There was lots of wind, but hardly any rain.

I haven't heard on the news if there was a tornado, and if so, if it touched down anywhere in the area, but those were the most frightful looking clouds I've ever seen, and wish never to see again!

Anyone seen a tornado before? Been in one?

-- Granny Hen (cluckin along@cs.com), June 06, 2002

Answers

did you hear the "freight train "? thats when you know its getting REAL close

-- Stan (sopal@net-pert.com), June 06, 2002.

Nope....Never been in a tornado nor have I ever seen one!! Thank goodness :-)!! Here in Maine tornadoes are extremely rare and I think I can mentally and physically prepare myself for a winter blizzard alot easier than a tornado. Glad you're okay and the "twister" never touched ground!!!

-- Marcia (HrMr@webtv.net), June 06, 2002.

Granny Hen, I've been wondering where you were. Glad you weren't blown away. I lived in south west GA for 11 years but luckly never encountered a tornado. One day at school, the sky turned pea-soup green and we had a real tornado drill but nothing came our way.

The worst was living in NC when hurricane Fran went through. We lived in the path it took, we're pretty sure the eye went right over. Gilly and I had put a lot of thought into preparing for the storm but what really scared us was hearing multiple tornadoes all night long and not knowing for sure which way they were going. And, yes, they did sound like a freight train!! The devastation from these tornadoes was incredible! Whole sections of forest completely flat!! Since then (but not because of :o) we've moved to the mountains and I hope to never have to go through something of that magnitude again.

Annie, I bet you have a story or two to tell?

-- Bren (wayoutfarm@skybest.com), June 07, 2002.

Hi Granny, glad to hear you're ok and made it back home safe and sound. Gives you a weak feeling in the kness, huh? I lived in Indiana for awhile when I was younger, and the tornadoe scares are the one thing I sure don't miss. We had one hit close to our house and destroy alot of the communication lines for the railroad, along with some RR track, some buildings and trees. The thing I noticed that night was the eerie silence before the #@!$ hit the fan. You never know where the darn things are going. Especially at night. Last year we moved back to Indiana for a few months, of course during the tornado season, and alot of days I'd just stand at the back door and watch the black clouds come rolling in, while all the time listening to the warnings on tv. I told Dave I wanted to go back home to the mountains! So scary. Years ago, my mom and dad lived in Dayton and we took a trip up to Xenia, Ohio to shop. You could still see where that tornado had gone through the town. It looked like a giant took a hedge clipper to all the trees and sheared off the tops in a large row. I can't begin to imagine what those people went through that night. .....I think I'll just stay hidden in the mountains!

-- Annie (mistletoe6@earthlink.net), June 07, 2002.

I quit counting in '74. This is the first season we've had that I know of with so few tornadoes. I have had 9 go right over me. Got to stare right up the funnel of one from the safety of the basement , when I was living in Hunstville. In an eerie way, it was actually beautiful.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), June 07, 2002.

Marcia, did you hear that we did have a tornado here in Maine last week? A small one (F1)hit in West Paris.

-- Murray in ME (lkdmfarm@megalink.net), June 08, 2002.

Murray...didn't hear anything about it!! With all the "weird" weather we've been having lately, though, I'm not surprised :-)!! Hope there wasn't any damage.

-- Marcia (HrMr@webtv.net), June 08, 2002.