Well, that was quite a run of weather. Beginning Tuesday and ending last night, it definitely was the most serious extended threat we’ve seen since moving to The Mountain 11 months ago.
Yesterday morning’s tornado has been rated EF3 by the National Weather Service. It first touched down near Bellefonte in Boone County, then traveled 21 miles before lifting near Summit in Marion County. Preliminary estimates are that it was nearly a mile wide, with winds of 145mph.
In the 37 minutes that it was on the ground, it took four lives, including now three here in our small, sparsely populated county.
We had a very close call, and we know it. We’re fortunate to have emerged without a scratch.
Those six days also brought the expected four inches of rain, plus an unexpected windfall — bonus firewood. Once I get around to venturing past the roadside and into the woods, I suspect I’ll find more of the latter. Provided a downed tree is relatively close to a fire pit, or if I can reach it with the Ranger to haul it out, I’ll take all I can get.
We’re still without grid power. Entergy has restored a good bit of Marion County already, and grid power slowly is creeping closer to The Mountain, but we continue to operate with electricity we generate ourselves.
Estimated restoration time — officially, and subject to change — is now Wednesday by 10pm.
An Entergy damage-survey team was on our road late this morning.
The Predator 5000 Inverter Generator is doing its job just fine. Though it doesn’t (and can’t) power the well pump, we went into the outage with a full tank (60 gallons) of fresh water, as well as another 110 sanitized gallons stored in barrels and several flats of bottled water.
No worries. We’re livin’ like we did when we first got here.
The song of chainsaws drifts up from the valley and down from the crest of Hall Mountain. Driveways and roads were made passably passable before noon yesterday, and now it’s a matter of cleaning up the general mess.
One of the benefits of the way we’ve put together this homestead is what we do with fallen leaves and twigs and small branches — basically, we do nothing. I’ll walk along the driveway, pick up what offends me (which isn’t much these days), and pitch it over the bank or into the woods.
If I come across a sizeable limb, dead or alive, I’ll deal with that differently. I might turn it into kindling.
There’s no trash to pick up — no wrappers, no cans, no butts. Of all the places I’ve lived, I believe that’s a first.
When it came time to do laundry today — we couldn’t do it yesterday, because Gassville didn’t have power — Deb made the trip and I stayed back to babysit the generator. (I won’t leave it running unattended.) She found the laundromat closed for the holiday.
After checking out another facility on her way back — it was open but not up to her standards — she decided to gas up at Murphy USA and then come Home. The fillup complete, she turned the key to pull away from the pumps.
The Jeep wouldn’t start.
Folks waiting in line behind her were patient and good-humored. (Have I mentioned that it’s different ’round here?) Two fellas helped her push it over to the side, asked her to pop the hood, discovered a loose battery cable, tightened it, and she was on her way.
We whiled away our Memorial Day afternoon in relaxing fashion. We did burgers on the grill.
Between 6:30pm and 8:30pm yesterday, Deb photographed a dramatic and rapidly changing Ozarkansas sky. All of these images were captured from the middle of our driveway during that two-hour span.
Pinch-hitting for the squirrels, a different woodland rodent was my coffee companion this morning — an eastern chipmunk (Tamias striatus).
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath #Ungovernable
#LetsGoBrandon #FJB