WE ARE SAFE!!!!

My dear friends, we are safe!  Tornadoes, circular motion, lightning, thunder, rain, massive winds, and hail were terrible.  We bugged out of our place with the animals and headed south to a town called Purcell. 

We just returned home, our house is still standing wind damage to the back (nothing to worry about). All kinds of water flooding, we are unable to tell about our surrounding areas.  I will know more tomorrow.  As of right now 5 people are dead and over 50+ injured, 5 critical.  Please pray for Oklahoma!!!

Storms

7:00 PM if you live in south OKC, get under ground or leave now.
6:58PM Parking lot of cars trying to get out of the area by the fairgrounds, a tornado is heading your way.  And surrounding areas there is a tornado emergency.


6:24PM

Update Mustang get in your storm shelters!!!  This tornado is heading toward the hard impacted area of Moore. It's gaining size and moving 20mph be safe!!!!  Tornado is 1 mile wide, it's a wedge and is down right nasty.  If you can't get underground leave the area, head south.  Tornado has merged with another storm.  Update: tornado changed course/direction again.  Tornado chasers injured.  In area of I-40 and Hwy 81.  The wind shear 170 mph, funnel heading down I40 (on south side).  This is a life threatening tornado get out!!!  YUKON, W. OKC, Warr Acres, Bethany get under ground or go southbound.  Hail is softball size. 
 

Update New tornado warnings: Logan, Noble and Payne until 6:45PM

Oklahoma please be weather aware.  Tornado Warnings!!!Storm horns going off circular motion take shelter NOW in El Reno.  Tornado on ground west of El Reno. 

Tornado has moved south of El Reno heading in a east southeast direction. Heading toward Cleveland County.  Mustang  and Moore needs to be careful.  This tornado is now south of I-40.

Warning To Oklahoma Friends

Northern Area Oklahoma

Tornado warning issued north of Oklahoma City.  Lincoln, Logan and Payne Counties tornado warnings.  Getting nasty up north again, be storm safe people.

 

 Southern Area Oklahoma

Here we go again, severe storms on the ground west of the Oklahoma City Metro areas please be storm aware.  The rotation and velocity has increased in this storm with the potential of tornadoes to develop. 

Update again, storm is moving east, southeastern direction.  Not a tornado yet, severe thunderstorm.   Has circular motion heading with hail toward Chickasha, Blanchard, New Castle, Norman, Noble area's.  Looks so far like it will miss Moore, thank God.  This super cell is not looking good.  Potential of picking up and gaining strength as soon as it passes Interstate 35.  In about 20 minutes, this storm is going to hit our location.  Storm is grown again now, there's a hook at the back of the storm (not good).

Tulsa area of Oklahoma be careful with this weather!!!!
Arkansas and Missouri please be careful these storms are heading your way.

Sense of Humor - Status on Some Garden Items

Even after the tornado, a family across the street from where we were working had a sense of humor.  I love this sign, it’s regarding the tornado that barreled through Moore, Oklahoma.

 

 Since we’ve been helping families in Moore, I really haven’t paid much attention to my garden until last night. 

My tomatoes are growing.  I have Purple Russians, Dad’s Sunset, and Cherry Red about 2 inches off the ground.

 

The Big Boston, Rocky Top and Winter Destiny lettuce are about a ½ inch in size and looking good.

 

My Apollo Arugula is coming in quite well.

 

The carrots are about the same size as the tomatoes.

 

The Lacinato Kale is looking pretty good itself, along with the parsnips and fennel.

  Luffa looking good.

And here’s my peppermint.

 

 

Don’t forget to register for the give – away going on here.

 

*****GIVE - AWAY*****

GIVE – AWAY

FOX CARGO

Mechanic’s Tool Bag

 

Made of heavyweight cotton canvas construction. Large brass zippered main compartment, two snap accessory compartments. Inside dividers and hard fiber bottom. Heavy duty, rugged cotton web carry handles.
Size: 11" x 7" x 6", Olive color.

 

Entries must be received by Friday, May 31, 2013 by 11:59 PM. The drawing will be held Saturday afternoon, June 1, 2013. All names will be placed in a bowl, and a name will be pulled from the bowl Saturday afternoon, June 1, 2013.  If your name is picked as a winner, I will post your first name on my blog site, along with my e-mail address. You will have 4 business days to respond to me by e-mail. If there is no response, your entry will be null (void), and I will be required to pick another winner.

How To Enter

All entries must be made on the comment form of this post.  One entry per person. Good Luck Everyone!!!!

 

 

God Bless The Children

 

 

 

Source: YouTube

Helping In The Recovery *****God Bless Oklahoma***** (Warning All Kinds Of Pictures)

Utah Crew (Great People To Work With)

God Bless Oklahoma!!!!!  This morning, Tank and I were off to help anyone involved in the Oklahoma tornadoes needing assistance.  We spent most the entire day in Moore, and will be doing the same tomorrow.  Come Monday, we will be heading out to the city of Shawnee.   I want to take this opportunity to thank all the organizations, churches, and private companies, who came in from all over this country to assist the victims of Oklahoma.

Tank and I worked with two great groups of people, one out of Utah, and another from Denton, Texas. 



Becky Sampson, Tank, Me, & Aaron Browning

David Turquette and Carl Robison From Denton, TX
Great Group of Guys to Work With

Carl Robison and Tank (My Son)

 God Is Love!!!!

 

 

 

Devastation and New Power Poles Coming In

 

Getting Everything Out

 

Part of Out Patient Hospital - A Car Was On The Roof (Can't See Here)

 

 

 

One of the Houses We All Worked Belonged
To a 60+ Year Old Woman On Hospice (God Bless Her)

 

 

Matt (Son  In Law To 60 + Year Old Woman)
First load made to rented storage unit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vans Pig Stand Restaurant (Gone Just The Drive Thru Sign Remains)

If you’re interested in helping:

The Salvation Army Arkansas-Oklahoma Division has dispatched disaster response teams.

Donations can be made to: The Salvation Army Disaster Relief, P.O. Box 12600, Oklahoma City, OK 73157. Designate Oklahoma Tornado Relief on all checks.

Donate by phone: (800) 725-2769. Donate online: donate.salvationarmyusa.org/uss/eds/aok. Donate by text: Text the word “STORM” to 80888 to make a $10 donation through your mobile phone; to confirm your gift, respond with the word “Yes.”

The Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma, in partnership with Oklahoma Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster, is asking that the public support all rescue, recovery, and disaster relief efforts with donations of cash to your favorite responding charity.

Financial donations will allow disaster relief agencies to purchase the items that are deemed necessary, without resulting in the additional burden of securing warehouse space and volunteers to work the donated product.

To make a tax deductible donation to the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma, go to www.regionalfoodbank.org or call 604-7111or text FOOD to 32333 to give $10 to relief efforts.

The Knights of Columbus Oklahoma State Council has begun organizing relief efforts in and around Moore. To donate to assist relief and recovery through Knights of Columbus Charities, Inc., go online to at kofc.org/relief or mail a check to: Knights of Columbus Charities, Inc., Oklahoma Fund, P.O. Box 1966, New Haven, CT 06509-1966.

American Red Cross   Those who would like to help people affected by disasters like tornadoes, floods, and other crises, can make a donation to American Red Cross Disaster Relief. People can donate by visiting www.redcross.org, calling 1-800-RED CROSS or texting the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation. These donations help provide food, shelter, and emotional support to those affected by disasters.

Central Oklahoma Humane Society
The Central Oklahoma Humane Society is in need of towels, paper towels, bleach, gloves, and crates to help with lost and injured animals. "Currently our greatest need is financial donations to help us treat and house lost and injured animals at our facilities," the society says on its site. Donations can be made online here and should be designated for the "OK Humane Disaster Relief Fund."  Phone:  1-405-607-8991

Volunteers on the Ground from Utah – Becky  Sampson  At the present time, what is really needed to help the victims of Moore: boxes, tape, and heavy garbage bags, to move personal items, clothing, paperwork, linen items, kitchen items etc…

Directly from Becky Sampson’s Facebook page: We need to buy MOORE boxes. If you a can help...$50 donation gets us 35 more HUGE boxes for people out here in Oklahoma! Any donation is welcomed!

The pay pal account is "LDS MEET ME" but rest assured 100% of the money is being used for the the relief efforts!
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=FTRSLFHF45TFG’’

If you’re interested in making a donation and want to see all agencies participating in helping Oklahoma, please query the internet or news stations.

 

Resources: NewsOK, Red Cross, USNews/NBC, Becky Sampson Facebook

Join - Welcome - Thank You

I would like to start my post today by welcoming a new blogger to my blog.

 

Welcome DesertHen at Gravel Roads and Daiquiris in the Dirt

blog. Thank you for joining my blog, please sit back and enjoy the ride.

The 2nd Day (Yesterday)

Yesterday afternoon, I found myself opening the small window in our bathroom, before snatching up our dogs, and taking residence in our linen closet. I sat in the closet, consoling our dogs, and thinking to myself; this is not going to be good, this tornado is going to hit where we live.  I couldn’t reach my family to make sure they were okay.  I sat in the closet with a flashlight, water, food bars, legal documents, a gun, blankets, pillows, and a cell phone, with the closet door cracked open to hear the weather radio.  The city tornado horns were going off outside, notifying residents of rotation and of a potential tornado nearby. My cell phone screeched with an alert notification stating get below ground.  I took a deep breath, closed the door, said a prayer, calmed my dogs down, and held the door knob as tight as I possibly could.  I felt an immediate pressure change and then heard an eerie roar.  It was just a couple of minutes but felt like hours.    The strange pressure change and roar left, out of the blue, my cell phone rang.  It was my son, he said he’s okay and will be finishing up working for the day.  I heard from my husband, Bulldog Man.  He told me he was okay, and he wanted to make sure I was okay.  I was relieved to hear Bulldog Man and Tank were safe and okay. Then I lost total phone service, and heard nothing more from husband or son for hours. 

I crawled out of the linen closet with my dogs, and realized I was okay. I also realized our parents, kids, and friends were hearing about this storm over all the news channels and would be trying to contact us to make sure we were okay and wouldn’t be able to get through.    For hours, we had no phone or computer service.  When my husband and son came home we tried to get phone service, with no luck.  We all piled up in a truck and drove out of town, south toward the large casino, in hopes of finding a pay phone or getting cell phone service.  Briefly we were able to get cell service and realized we had 30 messages from family and friends wanting to know if we were okay.  It took two hours to get intermittent cell use to get ahold of our other kids, our parents, and close friends to let each know we were okay. 

We are very blessed and okay, unfortunately Oklahoma lost many adults and children in the storm the last couple of days. 

With amazing grace, our family will be out helping friends, strangers and animals.  Please keep Oklahoma in your prayers.

The next couple of days, I will welcome a new blogger to my blog and post my give-away.

After the storm yesterday,  while driving out of town to find
phone service we had a beautiful sunset.

Thank You For Your Prayers & God Bless The Children

This storm started just outside of where my son works, it was heading directly for the area where we live, when it changed course, and hit the town about 5 minutes from our home.  We didn’t get any damage and we all are okay, thank God.  I ended up in our linen closet on the floor with our dogs while my husband and son were at work.  Thank you all for your prayers, we are safe and we have a home still planted in the ground. 

Please pray for those families who lost loved ones and have no homes. 

My heart goes out to all those little elementary school children who lost their lives inside of the school. 

The city of Moore is just devastated, our family will be going out to help families with their homes destroyed by cutting wood, locating personal property, and cleaning up. 

Tornadoes on the Ground

Folks please pray for us again, massive tornadoes on the ground.

Again in Norman, heading toward Moore and now toward Highway.  It’s massive.  Take cover!!!!!!!!!!

We Bugged Out Tornado On Top Of Us

Tornado over our house, we had 2 minutes and we bugged out.  Hit the road heading south about 45 minutes away from our home waited for all to pass.  We returned to the house, the house is standing and okay.  Some tree branches twisted, broken and fence messed up a little bit.   

Tornado on Ground - Garden - Give Away

Last night we hunkered down, had all kinds of thunderstorms and extreme winds.  The animals were very nervous, pacing the floors and panting terribly, for hours.   I was worried about Bug possibly having a heart attack; I couldn’t calm her down for anything.   The weather crew here has placed several counties under a tornado watch; the winds are starting to pick up and we’re to expect severe thunderstorms again.  I’m sending prayers to all of my friends in Arkansas, Kansas, and Northeast Oklahoma because it looks as if the weather is heading your direction. 

 ******UPDATE Large Tornado on the ground in Edmond and Luther, OK, possible F1 & 2 right now****** 

Update (2) Violent tornado possible F4 on the ground in Lincoln County area be careful folks!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*****

My garden beds are looking washed out a bit.  Some of the seeds have drifted together with all the rain we’ve been having.  If the seeds/plants survive, I will thin them out and hope to have so type of vegetable to harvest in the next few weeks. 

I’ve also noticed the aphids have started eating at my sweet potatoes and luffa plants.  It was time to mix up my natural bug killer and spray these plants down. 

How are your vegetable gardens coming along?  Is the weather causing chaos in your area?

*****

In the next several days, I will be posting another interesting give – away.  Keep checking in to find out what I will be giving away.

Weather - Garden Sprouting - Dog - Security Light

A beautiful day today, temperatures peaked at 88 degrees.  My broccoli, kale, golden beets, lettuce, tomatoes, spinach, collards, and wild strawberries are all sprouting (several pictures below). Several sprouts were too small to take a picture. When they’re larger, I’ll take pictures and post them to the blog.  Now my concern; temperatures are rising, will I have a successful garden with the increase in the temperatures?  How is your garden handling the change of the weather?

Arugula

Kale

Broccoli, waiting for more growth before weeding out the week sprouts

Blueberry plant growing this year.

My Chandler strawberries are a hit, when the family passes by and they see a ripe strawberry there’s no hope it will be there for harvest.  Here’s what was left on the vines for harvest after a few family members targeted the vines for a snack.

What is left.

Bug loves going inside the gated garden area just to be next to Mom while working in the garden. 



Bug In My Garden Areas

Bulldog Man installed a light on the end of the house over by our trucks.  The house we’re renting doesn’t have power running outside, so we selected a solar powered motion sensor light to install for extra security.