Just need to talk to my friends (217)

harshedbuzz · April 26

I am thinking of those of you who are being impacted by the near daily tornado watches/warnings. You must be physically and emotionally exhausted.

Iris— The pictures are amazing. I look forward to your updates. Which has been your favorite stop so far? What foods/wines have you enjoyed the most?

The lakes are DH's favorite part of Italy. The island was the site of the society wedding of 2015. You might recognize some of the backdrops.

https://royalwatcherblog.com/2025/08/01/wedding-of-pierre-casiraghi-and-beatrice-borromeo/

HB

Lorita · April 26

There are tornado watches.north and south of us now.. Watch out Ron and Carl, warnings just into Kansas moving east. Looks murky in the south. I hadn't heard about the tornado in Texas.

Iris, we have a big cellar in which my family spent a lot of time. It always tended to have water in it and I think it does now. I wouldn't go down in it by myself, kind of claustrophobic. We go in the.bathroom in the center of the house. The pictures are beautiful, especially the white peacock and swan.

Everyone be careful.

Carl46 · April 26

What an attractive couple! I love her dress, lovely and modest at the same time.

We're getting a record number of severe storms this season, and large hail earlier than usual. I don't know if that's due to the unusually strong El Nino or what, but it's here. Tonight's storm is out by Carthage, 70 miles west of here, and will be here soon after sundown, so I'm off to put the car away.

Carl46 · April 27

I just watched a brief YouTube video of a young woman leaping and skipping about in a hayfield wearing nothing but a smile. It was "art" because the background music was Beethoven. Question: Are there tick repellants that can be applied to bare skin?

Lorita · April 27

We are stressed out, HB from the severe storms. A.tornado just.hit Sycamore, Kansas and another one is touching down in Osage County, northern Okla. Tried three times to get Darwin so was preparing to go check when he called. He had been in his storm shelter getting three chairs in for.both of them and me. He had been watching the weather and thought we were in the middle of it.

Many years ago we were having severe storms and Charles was at work, evening shift. Strong winds were coming and I was in the MH with eight or nine poodles. Got all of them in the car to come down to my.parent's farmhouse. When I.got to the main gate it was closed and pouring rain. I got out and opened it and got to he.House and finally got all the poodles in the house. One got under the car but finally got.him.. Counted and I was one short -snowflake. Went back down to the gate and she was in the road. She had.gotten out when I opened the gate. Got her and got.back to the.house. I was worn out!

jfkoc · April 27

No underground shelter here bu I do know where to get to for shelter.

ronald71111 · April 27

Good morning

Ron

ronald71111 · April 27

BethL · April 27

For storms, most Iowa homes have basements. In some areas of the country the soil is too rocky to build a basement, or the water table too high. Our basement is finished, so it's not at all a bad place to "weather" a storm. Our basement has a family room, gymnasium, office and furnace room.

In our prior house: One time we had a derecho. We were in the basement. Hubs opened the basement door (walk out basement) and we watched as our neighbors huge white pine was literally uprooted and fell. Another time we had a tornado. Hubs opened the door and the wind nearly took the door off (along with his arm!) it was so strong. (That wasn't a good thing to do!)

Beth

Carl46 · April 27

Beth, I wish he wouldn't do that. Flying debris can injure someone pretty badly. Glad you weren't affected by the storms that went into Iowa from Kansas City last night!

I built my house a couple of years after the Joplin tornado 70 miles west of here, and I had the master bedroom walk-in closet reinforced to FEMA standards to serve as a shelter. I have never experienced a tornado, but I've been close enough to have pieces of someone's roof fall in my front yard. That's close enough for me.

This is the morning for our monthly men's breakfast, so I'm off. TTYL

ronald71111 · April 27

DIL called last night because a tornado was sighted close and she wanted me to come to their home. Here I am trying to sleep and dream about wizard of oz.

Ron

Carl46 · April 27

We're in for it again tonight, Ron. You might as well plan on crashing on their couch. Wind, baseball-sized hail, and tornadoes are in the forecast. I slept right through the storm last night. I heard some thunder around bedtime but it passed to the north of me, apparently closer to you.

Wasn't it Pecos Bill who rode tornadoes like bucking horses?

Iris L. · April 27

I'm glad everyone is safe from the tornados!

Carl, I thought El Niños were only in California. I had never heard of El Niño before moving to CA.

We are packing up to leave tomorrow. Tonight will be our farewell dinner. I have to report on Milan and Lake Como, where George Clooney has a villa. We passed by but did not get an invitation. I may not have time to post tonight or tomorrow, since I will be in the air.

Here is an interesting photo.

The story of Pinocchio is from this area, so these puppets are everywhere.

Iris

Lorita · April 27

Carl and Ron, not sure how far east or.north of Joplin and Springfield you all are but looks like the bull's eye is just east of there. The normal number of tornados by this time of year is18. This year we have had 49 not counting yesterdays. Climate change is the reason for all of the abnormal severe weather and will only get worse.

Just saw something insettlIng on the news- it said the cost of electricity near data.centers can increase.by 267%. I knew it would increase but goodness. There is a big one going in A.few miles NW of us. They bought and leased 4500 acres! The lease is for 99 years. I think I have mentioned one man was paid 20 million for 160 acres.

Iris, I hope you have a safe trip home. I know you will be glad to get back even if you have had a wonderful trip. We.have enjoyed it, too.

l Just saw a report on the tornado NW of Fort Worth. The damage they cause in a couple of minutes is mindboggling. Glad you are okay,Eagle.

Carl46 · April 28

Ron texted me a video of the funnel cloud near his home last night. He tried to post it here but it wouldn't post. It looked pretty ugly. Today's storms missed us and are over in eastern MO now. 1/3 chance of severe storms tomorrow, when DS and I are taking a bus to Branson for a music show. I'm going to bed and will worry about tomorrow's storm (if any) tomorrow. Sleep tight!

ronald71111 · April 28

Good morning

My son just called and told me to look out my window in my front yard.

Ron

jfkoc · April 28

How wonderful to be able to look out at deer.

Lorita · April 28

Morning, cloudy and getting darker here.

Carl, hope you and your son get to go to Branson and are safe.

Ron the deer are so pretty. How anyone can shoot them I cannot understand.

ronald71111 · April 28

Had a severe weather warning to take shelter. I wasn’t trying to sleep, so to make my DIL happy I went to their house till it was over.

Ron

ronald71111 · April 28

Back at their house again! First time around was a lot of hail, hopefully this time not so bad. Had all the chickens running for cover.

When I went back to my camper, sitting and drinking a protein drink. I looked out my window and now it looks like all the wild animals know I’m nothing to be afraid of.

Ron

Lorita · April 28

Ron, glad your hail wasn't bigger. I heard some place yesterday had baseball sized hail. I have only seen hail that big one time and most of the hail was smaller with just a few big ones scattered in.

Where is everyone except Carl, Ron, Judith, Beth and I? I think Iris is travelling.

eaglemom · April 28

Good afternoon. Looks like several of us are in line for storms this afternoon and evening. We are already in a Tornado watch. What the weather forecasters are concerned about is 'the chance of heavy & prolonged hail.' Now doesn't that just sound delightful, not! Ugh.

Can y'all help me understand our insurance Umbrella Policy? For some reason insurance just doesn't make sense to me. I don't mind handling everything else, but insurance just seems to confuse me. We've had this policy for years - it was taken out when DH was a Scoutmaster and had Boy Scouts in his truck. A protection policy for us and them. Then when DH started traveling internationally we kept it for coverage. We've tried, unsuccessfully to drop it, but we kept being told it will raise our house / auto policy. In yesterdays mail the Umbrella Policy came and I couldn't believe the price. In one year its gone up 48%. I realize everything's gone up, but my question is do we even need it? We have house & auto coverage. Surely if I cancel it those won't go up more than 48%? Ugh. It make my brain hurt.

I need to go get our "ready pack" ready. My helper, DH took everything out and put it where he thinks it belongs. So, I'm off on a scavenger hunt in the house to repack our "ready pack" praying we don't need it for the upcoming weather. Do everyone have a bag ready?

Let's be safe and check in when you can.

harshedbuzz · April 28

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/271287#Comment_271287

Unless it's through one's windshield. They're pretty from a distance but herds need to be controlled.

Pretty much everyone I know locally has had a family member ambushed by deer on the road. In 2022, there were almost 6000 deer-related accidents in PA. I have friends and family injured in accidents; some badly enough to be hospitalized. DS has hit 2 with his current car and one with the last car he had; his ride to work is country backroads without shoulders.

Ron I'm glad the hail wasn't worse.

DH and I hung around the bookstores yesterday and hit a local dive diner for dinner. He had a terrific tomato pie (NJ style pizza) and I had some lovely fried chicken. It's kind of weird that both come out of the same kitchen. Today I scrubbed a bathroom, did some laundry, took DS to get his glasses adjusted (one lens wasn't seated properly— a replacement will be in the mail soon), brought mom chili, fresh fruit and eye drops. DS and I caught her off her oxygen. The excuse du jour was "I was having some applesauce as a snack". Is she snorting it?

Mom's bloodwork is back. It's mostly her normal but her parathyroid hormone levels are elevated which is likely due to poor calcium intake or absorption. She's to aim for 1200mg daily and retest in 3 months. I'm taking her food shopping today and will endeavor to prioritize calcium. I am not looking forward to shopping with her, but she can't read labels. Thursday I'm headed to bestie's house to visit her and the twins. That'll be a hoot.

HB

Carl46 · April 28

DS and I saw a great show in Branson and got back to town safely. The 2.5" hail destroyed the windshield, rear window, and sunroof of my old car, that was sitting outdoors in the Sr Ctr parking lot while we were on the bus. I had been looking for an excuse to buy a new car, so now I have one. Right now, we are sitting in my house waiting for the second thunderstorm to pass so I can drive DS home without getting soaked.

The house appears undamaged. The electricity is out, but my generator is running so no problem.

Springtime in the Ozarks 😱

ronald71111 · April 28

Carl, Son and DIL work in Springfield and several cars at work had windows busted and dents in their car. Son was lucky only a few dents, mine also has some small dents. Son said in Springfield it was baseball size hail.
Ron

Lorita · April 28

Eagle, we have all kinds of watches and warnings here, too, North south and east of us. It gets really dark and thunders then gets lighter. We have only had a sprinkle though.

I am not good at understanding insurance but it doesn't sounds like you would need it- 48% is a big increase. Carl seems pretty good at these things so bet he can help. When I was working and we had open season for health insurance, the whole Social Work Service staff looked to one of our social workers to decipher the changes.

HB, one evening we were coming.home from work and a deer bounded across the highway and we hit it. No way could we have avoided it. Just made us sick. I think late evening and night is when we really have to be careful.

BethL · April 28

Hello!

Went out to lunch with my sister and cousin yesterday. Got a $20 parking ticket - ouch! I could not, for the life of me, figure out how to pay for parking on the weird meters and kiosks they have.

Went to a small town to view tulips today. So pretty, but about done blooming due to warmer weather than normal.

I need to go pick up the mail and do a couple of things in the garden now.

ronald71111 · April 28

Eagle, it sounds to me like your DH was just trying to protect his family with extra coverage if anything happened to him. I’m curious if the other insurances is the same company. If not, call the house and car insurance and ask them if they would increase if you dropped the extra coverage. If they all are under the same umbrella, I would call other companies. It’s no way your insurance should go up 48 percent. Now, life insurance might increase at certain age levels, but not by 48.

Beth, beautiful pictures!

Here is the clouds right before our hail storm!

Ron

Carl46 · April 29

My insurance went up about half this year, both car and home. The cost to repair and replace damaged houses and cars has gone through the roof, and the number of homeowner's claims is way up due to climate change. Also, car insurance is higher for old drivers because we don't drive as well as we used to.

I was wrong about the house. The kitchen window is broken and some shingles are dented. A roofer will be here to look at it later this week. A house up the street just got a new roof last week. Bet he wishes he waited so the insurance company could pay some of it!

More storms are expected tonight, then four days of calm weather, perfect for car shopping. The salesmen will lick their chops when they see my car roll in with half the glass broken out. They know a serious shopper when they see one! 🤑 That old "I might trade cars if I can get a good deal" line isn't going to be very convincing.

One of my neighbors has solar electric panels on the south side of his roof, and the storm came from the south. His solar panels don't look very good. 😲 I hope his insurance will cover that.

Carl46 · April 29

Sassy the friendly Pekingese got a scare. She ran away into the woods between my house and Sean's about the time the storm started and was shaking like a leaf when Sean found her sheltering under a cedar tree. He was relieved; he half expected to find her dead. Some of the hailstones were as large as her head and made inch-deep dents in the body of my car.

The zoo was less fortunate. An emu was killed by the hail and another animal was injured.