Before I get to the seriousness of today's events, quick overview of my Friday and Saturday in Louisville, Kentucky!
My sister shows cattle, I did too in high school, but she's very good at it. She got on with some big name ranchers in Oklahoma and they took her all around to Cattle shows from Denver to Kansas City and the last stop was Louisville. It's about a 3 and 1/2 hour drive from Carbondale so I was pretty excited to see her and my mom as they both flew out for the show.
It was a VERY big deal with at least 5,000 cows at this HUGE expo right next to the University of Louisville, and Churchill Downs (the big fancy horse racing track, next time I want to go just so I can wear a ridiculous hat). But anyway us Cali girls are there in Kentucky where the accents are thicker and no one says "Luey-ville" but "Lull-vull". No joke, they don't move their lips when they talk a whole lot and we stand out real bad when we talk.
But we're there just checking it out, washing cows, feeding cows, walking around in literally tons of cow crap and life was pretty good. It was nice to catch up with my mom and sister as I haven't seen them in over a month and really miss all of my family so this was a nice constellation.
My mom and I have definitely always been close, as I pretty much call her every other day talking and venting or just chatting. But my sister and I, not so much. We are very different personalities, I take more after my mom in that I like to socialize, travel, and after I left for college I pretty much turned my back on my farming roots and never really embraced the country side of my life. Not very many people know or knew that I lived on a farm in college even. But not my sister. She's 3 years younger and all about that life. She loves her cows and horses more than she does people (this isn't a joke) and she hates being away from home for more than a few days. She'll live and work on our farm forever and she wouldn't have it any other way. Growing up together, we had our moments but otherwise we'd fight. A lot. And now we aren't the most loving of sisters but it's changed. We don't fight nearly as much and I actually enjoy her presence. She's funny and witty and now that I'm not in her domain as much I think she doesn't mind me either. We're close enough that we get each other and our quirks. So even though we were amongst a ton of people and cows it was really nice to be with my mom and sister again, even if it was a very short stay. I left Saturday at noon because I storm was supposed to come in.
And boy, it was a big one.
It looked gross and over cast and windy all day when I was driving back to C-dale. And then it started POURING down rain. Like flash-flooding is a very real thing, folks. Thunder and lightening and rain coming down in sheets not drops and the sidewalk and road is now a river and you can't see out your window because your windshield wipers do not physically swipe fast enough.
And then this morning I woke up to a very large tornado warning. What?!? Tornado?? You mean those are real and not just in the Wizard of Oz?? I think we had one tornado warning in California and it turned out to be nothing, just really strong winds. Which by the way are NOTHING compared to the winds out here. The entire state of Illinois, Indiana, and parts of Kentucky were all under this tornado warning. I got a loud beeping warning on my phone and then after looking up online just how bad it was the sirens went off. Sirens, as in the town's siren to warn of danger.
So what do I do? Run to my big window and check to see if I can see anything. A big window that will definitely crash into pieces and slice me up like a knife. Just as it dawns on me that I should probably not stand next to the window I get another warning from my phone. Twisters have been spotted in Illinois. Oh goodness. I'm watching the trees blow in the wind and it's starting to get really dark.
I panic. Majorly.
I'm not used to tornados or sirens or anything of the sort. I grab my phone and my blankets and dive into my closet as I don't have a basement. I'm texting friends and trying to call my dad but I am fah-reaked out. And then a loud crash of thunder and instantly it's pouring rain again. Really hard, it's pounding so hard on my bedroom window that I can hear it from the closet like I'm sitting right next to it.
But then the sirens stop. And i can hear it's still raining, but not as hard. "Ok, relax Dorothy, it's fine, just go out and see what's happening, you can't stay in this closet forever."
And as I come out from my hiding spot, I can see blue skies and there's sun.
What. The. Heck. Just. Happened???
So no, I didn't see a tornado or live through one. But there were tornados all around and there was some major damage north of me. It was crazy how fast it came and went like that and my heart goes out to those in the Peoria area that were affected. And I guess I'll have to learn how to better equip myself for another warning like that instead of just a blanket in my closet if I'm going to live out in this area. I'm not in Tornado Alley but I'm close enough.
Let's just say I'd take a California earthquake over a tornado any day. Dorothy, I am not, and I'm not about that twister life. For those that live here, I'm sure it was not that big of a deal but when you hear tornado sirens for the first time all I could think was I'm for sure getting blown away and not to the Land of Oz.
To be continued!
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