Monday, November 18, 2013

Yesterday afternoon, Knox County, Indiana came under a tornado warning…twice!   About 3pm and again at about 430 pm, a wave of strong storms swept across the county.  A tornado was embedded in the first wave.  This tornado hit south of Vincennes, and north of Decker.  It smashed some homes in its path.  Fortunately, there were no reported injuries.

We rode out the two warnings in our basement.  We were listening to the radio station in Washington, Indiana when it suddenly went off the air.  We found out soon that a tornado had touched down in the west end of Washington, destroying 2 restaurants, and damaging a strip mall and the radio station.  Etienne’s produce market, high on a hill at Maysville (west of Washington along new Hwy 50), was also destroyed.   Our school, South Knox, was on a two-hour delay this morning to allow more time to clear the roads.  Schools in Washington were closed for the day.

We ask that you pray for our Knox County neighbors who suffered damage, and also for the many families around Indiana and the Midwest who experienced destruction even more severe.

We count ourselves fortunate to have missed the destruction again.  It only took a few minutes this morning to pick up some small tree limbs in our yard.

Here’s the extent of our damage from Sunday afternoon’s tornado. Many families around Knox County and the greater Midwest were not so fortunate.

In good news, we are using this cooler day to wash up a tractor and a combine in the shop.  It’s just too cool (53F) and windy (28mph) to wash outside.

Brandon scrubs the JD 9330 tractor in the shop today. It once again looks like new.

After the tractor moved out, the JD 9770 combine rolled into the shop.  Nick assisted Brandon to make it look much better.

Before…

…and after.

Once the machines are cleaned, we can re-arrange the equipment in the big storage barn, to accommodate everything for the winter.

More corn was delivered to market today, and will be delivered every business day for the rest of November.  We are hoping that the soybeans we have in storage can also be delivered soon.

Looking out the window, the day looks pleasant today, but the strong wind brings a little chill to the 53F degrees.  In just the last 2-3 days, you can begin to see tiny green wheat plants emerging as a cover crop on the spots on this main farm that had the conservation-repair work.  I was beginning to wonder if that would ever get going.  Hopefully, it will grow sufficiently to protect the soil.

The storms of yesterday were another good reminder to

Count your blessings….