Holding onto our hats.

[Clipper]

Holy moley, we are hanging onto our hats. There is a tornado to the NW in Lee county Virginia and 70 mph winds to the East in the mountains. Trees are bending here with 40 mph gusts and sheeting rain. I hope all the trees stay right side up and the power stays on. Supposed to pass by before midnight.

I am glad that the dog peed earlier. I sure would not want to be standing at the gate to the backyard waiting for her to go at bedtime.

The wind is loud enough that we had to turn up the tv a notch. Sounds like a jet. I would hate to see what it sounds like when the wind is 70 mph what it sounds like when a tornado passes through. It is loud enough at 40mph.

[Clipper]

We survived the storm with only a few moderately sized branches and limbs down, but all around us things got a bit rougher. There are power lines down on the Virginia side of town and power won't be restored for some areas for 24 hours or more. Down the road in Blountville ( about 2 1/2 miles from us) there was so many branches, twigs, and debris blown into the road, along with down trees, that the county used snow plows to push the tree debris off to the side of the roads. Bill boards and signs blew over, and shingles came off of some roofs within a short distance of us. Knock on wood. We were very lucky. There are still roads closed by downed trees.

We have a fast food restaurant chain called "Pals" that has no inside dining. you drive up one side of the building and order and around to the other side to pick up your order. There was a video on FB a while ago showing a line of about 20 cars lined up into the street to order food there. I feel sorry for those poor souls that were working through open drive-up windows with the rain coming sideways and the winds blowing 30 or 40 mph. I figure a person has to be a bit crazy to even go to a drive thru in that weather. I think I would go home and eat peanut butter sandwiches first.

I just have to go out later and pick up branches and cut up one limb with the chainsaw. Nice day here today. Going into the fifties and no rain.

[BHU]

This morning at about 0630 it wss 64*, an hour later it dropped to about 50. Right now it's 35. The wind picked up for a while with some pretty good gusts but I haven't heard of any damage anywhere. I've never seen anything like the weather we've been having this winter. I've used my snowblower once this season.

[Clipper]

There was photos on the news a while ago of two of those 100 foot tall signs designed to be seen from the interstate. The plastic blew out of a McDonald's sign at exit 5 and the huge KFC bucket on the top of their sign blew out. I wonder how far the plastic pieces blow when the wind blows panels from 100 foot up in the air. That is a densely populated business area.

[BHU]

It looks like winter will return this weekend with heavy snow predicted for Saturday into Sunday. We shall see.