Weather Issue...

[BrokenolMarine]

Saturday nite, watching a movie, after a day of NOAA weather alerts.
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings
Tornado Watches
All.Day.Long
Not a drop of rain.

Weather Alert interupts the movie...

Tweddle Tweddle Tweddle..

This time, instead of a Tornado watch...

The National Weather Service out of Norman has issued a Tornado Warning for South Central Oklahoma. (Us) Don't wait, seek shelter, if you don't have a shelter go to an interior room of your home or office. If you are outside, or in a mobile home (same thing) bend over and kiss your but goodbye.

I asked Tina if she wanted to go to the shelter now or check the storm trackers. She said we could gather the kits, go to the back porch and wait for the siren on the tower a mile away. She opened the back door, we picked up our stuff to head out to the porch, Siren Started Wailing.

We went into the shelter in the back yard about ten fifteen, just as the rain started. Severe Thunderstorms, hail, very high winds for the next THREE hours. NOAA kept extending the tornado warnings another 30 to 45 minutes... We poked our heads out at 115am and ran for the house. The Tornado watch was downgraded to a warning. We had six to eight inches of rain fall in three hours.

My pond is full again. Been down six to eight feet for two years.
All the creeks were flushed.
Serious water ran all night and halfway thru Sunday.

Damage all around the state, four deaths.
We count ourselves lucky. Minor fence damage we already repaired.

[Sir Henry]

Wow. I’ve never experienced anything like that. Glad you are both safe.

[RetiredSeabee]

Good to hear you had the shelter to go to. And hope the livestock are all well.
We will be driving through Oklahoma on 19 May. We plan on an overnight stop around OK city. Praying for no tornados.

[Hatchdog]

Just yesterday I was telling my wife about the shelter you and Tina put in when you moved to Oklahoma. We were talking about the storms and a conversation we had earlier this year about moving to the mid west somewhere and we agreed that if we ever did that move we would definitely have a shelter.

So sad all the destruction we’re seeing on the news and the poor lost souls. Happy you guys only experienced some minor damage.

[BigAl52]

When I saw the news about Sulphur I wondered if that was close to you and we have other friends we know from the gulf that live in Oklahoma. Glad you are ok.

[BrokenolMarine]

My dentist is in Sulphur. It's about an hour's drive.
When we bought the farm here, we made several improvements a priority...
*Upgraded the security system.
*Replaced the tractor and implements we sold when we moved with a larger kubota unit.
*Installed the generac 22k generator.
*Installed the camera system.
*Installed the storm shelter.
*We also added the two workshops, one for HE and one for SHE.

Never regretted any of the investments.

[North Country Gal]

Growing up in Nebraska, I've had similar experiences. Have a daughter still in Nebraska who had a tornado touch down 5 blocks from her house this week. Been a rough week for so many people in Tornado Alley. Glad you and Tina are safe.

[BrokenolMarine]

For the last couple years the pond has been way down due to the drought. As you can see in the picture, the level has been very disappointing. We have been hoping for some rain, a good rain, to fill 'er up.

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The hard rain Saturday night into Sunday morning was a Gusher... and put some water back into the pond. It looks great.

pond filled.jpg (352.38 KiB) Viewed 783 times

The pastures have gotten a nice soaking over the last few weeks, but those rains hadn't been enough to move the pond up. That last rain, was heavy enough that the ground got well soaked and the creeks, which has been dry, were still churning several hours after the rain stopped. Those who followed my posts might remember we contracted some dozer work to widen the creek crossing at the culvert to make it easier to cross in the UTV.... The contractor did a great job.
Widening this area also took away a LOT Of the power that had been focused at the culvert and the fence here, doing a lot of damage when we got flooding.

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The water at the top of the rainstorm had enough power to knock out the fence at the culvert and sweep it downstream. Luckily the livestock won't enter the fast moving water. As you can see in the pic below, that water is still moving right along as we approached noon.

creek rushing.jpg (406.96 KiB) Viewed 783 times

Once the water slowed, and the levels dropped to knee high, Miss T used a safety line to get down in the pool in front of the rails crossing the creek and wired in another cattle panel cut to fit. Otherwise the livestock would go down into the creekbed and wander thru the culvert into the pastures on the other side of the road.

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The fence at the top of the creek where it enters the property just needed the brush removed so it could be forced back down into position. The rest of the fenceline was fine.

[BrokenolMarine]

I would do this work myself in the old days, but these days Miss Tina won't LET me do the work. Doctor's orders and she enforces them. "Broken" folks don't get to break more stuff. The stuff she can handle, she does herself. She loves it. The stuff she can't do, or I won't allow, we hire out. Some things are better left to professionals...

[North Country Gal]

I would do this work myself in the old days, but these days Miss Tina won't LET me do the work. Doctor's orders and she enforces them. "Broken" folks don't get to break more stuff. The stuff she can handle, she does herself. She loves it. The stuff she can't do, or I won't allow, we hire out. Some things are better left to professionals...

Very much, agree. I'm in a somewhat similar position as Miss Tina, given some of my husband's old injuries. Do keep an eye on Miss Tina, though. Don't let her over do it, either. I'm kind of the champion at over doing it, so I know how dangerous it can be.

[BrokenolMarine]

Funny thing, I hire the pro to DO the work, there she is in her work boots, digging a trench for a water line... While his assistant mixes the concrete for a pad. The pro is laying out parts for the new frost free spigot for the paddock. I tell her, "I'm paying them so YOU don't have to dig trenches and shovel."

She just grins and says she's just "Helping."

[North Country Gal]

She and I would get along, great.