returning from the holidays

Wow - over two months since i even typed a word on this blog. Busy schedules and holidays - some sick time and visitors - no time to think - all valid and true excuses. Writer's block plays a part. I actually tried to open up the site and write something a few times, but my thoughts always flew out of my head and I ended up staring at a blank screen and deciding that I had better things to do with my time.

Two weeks into the new year, I still have not gotten all the holiday stuff put away. I have not caught up the house-cleaning - have not caught up the paperwork - and feel more behind at the office than before the holidays hit. That does not bode well for the new year - and I haven't even done my traditional new year goal setting or calendar updates. SO, for the sake of my sanity, I am considering the new year not to actually begin until the 15th of January. By my calculations, I have a fair chance to make headway by then - and then I can start my New Year with a clear conscience.

How about the rest of you? Ready for 2008?

still recuperating

It has been more than two weeks since the tornado or tornadoes ripped through Williamston. I have seen a massive clean-up effort, and decided today to go out and look around to see what still remained to be done. What started out as a simple drive through town, turned into a trip across the countryside - following the path of the storm. I cannot adequately describe now how I feel. I would say I was speechless, but here I sit trying to put into words the awe I felt and the feelings of insignificance compared to the force of this storm and the pattern of destruction. I am left with total gratitude that so many survived. Pictures cannot really do justice to the horrifying reality. Even after extensive clean-ups, there remains so much to do and so many are still dealing with the emotional after-math in addition to the practical picking up of the pieces. I drove down Haslett Road, down M 52, down Harris Rd, Moyer, Shaftsburg and Bell Oak. I witnessed the hop skip and jump of the storm as it jumped over one barn but destroyed it's neighbor, merely 100 yards away. Trees were sheered off at their base, or 30 feet in the air. I never before thought of Williamston as tornado country. Now I do. I snapped a few more pictures while driving - and yet barely touched on what is out there. If there is a bright side, and we need to find one, it is that the people have turned back into neighbors - as so eloquently stated by Judy, and we are re-discovering the need for support and friendship. We would not be moving forward without that.

Massive roots still lying around McCormick Park which has a totally new skyline



More of the destruction of the Mitchell Road homes and Meadowdale. As I drove down that road, more than half of the homes were under repair, and many had either dumpsters or storage units in their driveways.

The mangled remains of some of the stands and metal work near the high school.


Haslett Road, the site of the worst destruction in which a home was totally destroyed.

If you look closely, you will see the trees sheered off as the storm progressed north and east.







The above were all on Haslett Road. Debris of this sort were in trees and strewn across multiple fields.

On M-52 - heading into Perry, this was one of the worst hit homes.

music creates every mood - or becomes the answer

bittersweet nostalgia - homesick - memories - overfull emotions - pictures in souls

finally...

Bob got a short break and spent some time at the park with his family. At the top picture, Austin is doing some shanana dance move from The Office TV show and below, Bob and Austin are preparing to race down the slide. Bob had the head start as his feet practically reached the ground right away.

the weekend improved

Happy birthday today to Eric - who is 20 today - so all shout out to him when you can.


Taking yucky medicine was not the highlight of the party for Reagan .

Ready to help Eric blow out his funny candles - which neither of them did on the first try.







After storms and clean-up, life moved on... as it always does - and we had the chance to celebrate Eric's birthday. It was a great day but we missed the Nick Miller family.

tornadoes

Thursday evening storms raced through the mid-Michigan area. As luck would have it, that area included our little town of Williamston. I can’t even begin to describe the shock I felt as I viewed the destruction.

We lost power Thursday evening and had no way to monitor the passage of the waves of storms. Molly and Pat kept calling us and giving us updates. Pat called once and said the rotations and storm were at Zimmer road and heading our way. We took refuge in our bathroom and when we emerged and looked outside, the last remaining tree in front of our house had been snapped off midway and lay across our driveway and our neighbor’s yard. And we were lucky. I had no idea just HOW lucky we were until morning arrived and we discovered that the whole town was without power and that the damages were extensive and widespread. We had to have our ID to get into our city if we left, and the routes were round-about.

Caring and wonderful volunteers came and chopped up the tree blocking my driveway – as one of the many jobs of service they did that day for many more. I was so grateful as my best source of labor for cutting up the tree was Bob – who was putting in mandatory overtime as a police officer helping out in the emergency. But I was only one of the beneficiaries. Williamston is making quick progress, but that is due, in my opinion, to all the volunteers helping with food, supplies and service. Kudos to all of them!!

For those of you from Williamston who have worried about everyone, I am posting some pictures of the storm damage.






We got the lightest damage in our area - a single snapped tree across our yard and driveway


And these three men cleaned it up for us before the end of the day on Friday!


Take a close look at the way the tree is broken - can these trees be saved at all? This is the norm for trees all around Williamston. Where once we saw houses and trees towering above, we now see housetops and either bare skies or just broken tree trunks. The skyline is so altered in some places!

Teri's back yard - Click on the image to see larger - see the tree broken at the base. She lost so many trees that her yard is permanently altered. Her pool has a tree in it, as did her house.



More of Teri's house - showing some of the structural issues.


View of some of the houses on Mitchell street across from the high school - a very hard hit area. We saw tarps on MANY houses . More structural damage in this area - less grown trees to uproot.
McCormick park - the playground and looking towards the river. Trees are IN the river. Wheatfield golf course. The houses close to it also suffered damage.


See anything missing? The tree used each year for the Christmas tree lighting is gone.

Yes, this is near where the new library is supposed to be going soon. This is right on Grand River -maybe a half mile from us ... if even that. Note that the tree is UPROOTED onto the car and house.
The overhang here at the Speedway station was so damaged that shortly after this picture was taken the structure was totally gone. McDonald's next door lost some roofing.


Service vehicles working along the road next to Felpausch.

This is also from Felpausch parking lot looking west.

This shot is from the Felpausch parking lot. You can get an idea of the heights of the trees broken.

This shot is looking from Grand River down towards the community center south of town

Reminiscing

This isn't my story - it is Molly's, but it just gave me so many flash-backs that I had to tell it.

This evening Molly was doing dishes in her kitchen and she heard Austin running to the bathroom a couple of times. She called to him to see what he was doing and he told her (both times) that he was washing his hands. Okay, so after this was his 2nd response, she got suspicious and went to see what he was doing.

Austin had climbed on top of a piece of furniture and gotten out her craft paints - deciding to do some painting on his own toys. By the time Molly got there he had painted his 3 ft superman figure, his floor, sheets, a couple other toys and his beautiful hand-made quilt! Needless to say, Molly was pretty upset. Austin wasn't trying to mess things up...he was being creative and trying to make something... but that doesn't help when you are faced with potential permanent paint spots everywhere.

So tonight Molly is running multiple loads of laundry, and I am reminded of similar incidents from when my kids were themselves that little. I am reminded of all the melted crayons we have had on carpets and in registers. I am reminded of stickers and even writing on walls. I am reminded of tipping over bookshelves and dumping toy drawers. I am reminded of secret potions and fashion statements and all the multiple times that the kids went to bed and I sat back and looked at the destruction of my house. And I am glad for all those times... they really permeate my memories as much as the so-called 'good' moments. And i chuckle a lot more at the memories than i did when they were in the present.