April 24, 2014

Today is Tornado Awareness Day.

Actually it's Wisconsin Tornado and Severe Weather Awareness Week.

Today is Drill Day.

I have never "experienced" a Drill Day but I can only imagine that it is going to be LOUD!

A mock tornado watch will be followed by a mock tornado drill, beginning at 1 p.m.

The drill will be broadcast as a normal tornado watch and warning. It will be broadcast on the NOAA weather wire, across radio and television.

Sirens will go off state-wide.

It is pouring rain outside right now. 

The NOAA site cautions that if REAL weather conditions develop concurrent with the drill, that the drill will be postponed and rescheduled.

It does not, however, explain how we will be able to determine the difference?

This whole dedicated day of weather preparedness made me curious, so I looked up a few Wisconsin weather facts (courtesy of the National Weather service Weather Forecast Office):

• Wisconsin averages 23 tornadoes per year, most tornadoes occurring in the 3 to 9 p.m. time frame.
• The busiest spin-up hour is 6 to 7 P.M. 
• The peak tornado season in Wisconsin is May through August, with June having the greatest number of tornadoes. 
• A record-setting 62 tornadoes occurred in 2005, followed by 46 in 2010. In 2008, Wisconsin had 38 tornadoes, including one EF3 tornado in western Kenosha County on January 7th. 
• The "average" Wisconsin tornado has a 7 to 8 minute duration period, a path length of about 4 to 5 miles, and a damage width of about 120 yards.

So, basically....tornado season in Wisconsin consists of the entire summer!

Good to know, following on the heels of the winter that coined the phrase: "Polar Vortex."

It also explains why Mom keeps talking about getting the "weather radio" set up.

I'm certain this kind of awareness saves lives. So, I'll do my part.

I just sent a text to Miss Margie to remind her (following my Mother's email reminder to me), she replied that the "kids" will be napping.

Can you really nap through Drill Day?

.....

I've spent the last few days mad at work in the yard.

Raking.

Tree trimming.

Digging out the path (round) and sidewalk (square) stones from the grass that had long grown over them.

And more raking still.

In a rare convergence, Mom took a vacation day off from work, Harry was home from school (Miss Margie needed a personal day and closed the school) and I? Well, I was...available as well.

So, we three, spent the day outside...the whole day.

It started out a bit chilly, but the sun was shining and it soon warmed up to be a lovely day.

Mom was atop her riding lawnmower with the leaf/mulch bag attached collecting and shredding the leaves and sticks from the back yard. She hadn't gone very far before her bag was full and then the whole cart too.  

The back yard was carpeted with the fall's leaves and sticks, finally loosening from the ground after the winter's icy grip held them there well into April.

When she had collected as many leaves and sticks as was possible, she would drive the mower, cart following, across the road and into the corn field to spread the leaves over the remains of the corn stalks. Those stalks soon to be plowed under, along with the leaves, when spring planting begins in earnest.

Harry was a bit timid about the whole idea, but he rode in the wagon (atop the leaves) on the first trip, as I walked beside him holding his hand, providing what comfort he needed for the mini adventure. 

He had absolutely no interest in riding on the second, third for fourth trip, despite Mom's offer each time she had accumulated an overflowing load of debris.

Harry did play happily in the newly exposed dirt where I'd battled and won the removal of the 3 Sumac trees along with the mighty root of the Burning Bush.

We borrowed a huge Tonka dump truck and a bright yellow grader from my sister's sandbox. Harry set up his own construction site and went to work plowing and loading and dumping, using Mom's new hand trowel as a Harry-sized shovel.

I spent the morning digging around the edges of the round stones on the path to the back door, and the square stones that lead from the driveway to the front porch. 

Some of the stones were half buried under sod and grass, and I presume, have been that way for some time. 

Some stones have sunk into the ground, some remain raised, making the path uneven at best. Some round stones have hollowed and curved and collect rain water in little pools when it's warm, and mini ice rinks when it's below zero. 

Resolving that is a project for another day.

Break time.

We took a break for lunch and for a nap (for Harry.) Then Mom and I were quickly back outside to take advantage of our momentum.

Mom said that she would have to get a "tree trimmer fellow" out to trim up a large pine tree that used to be part of the back lawn, but that had become surrounded by berry bushes and other growth, and taken back into the woods. 

Its prolific branches had sprouted from the very bottom of its trunk, continuing upward.  Most of those branches were dead and needed to be trimmed off, so that Mom could reclaim that part of the yard, including the pine tree.

I took one look at the tree, determined it to be a project that I could accomplish fairly easily (confidently without further injury to myself) and set about doing it. 

I spent the afternoon that day trimming branches with a hand saw, dragging them out to the pile of brush that I had started when removing the Sumac trees and the Burning Bush, breaking and sawing them into manageable pieces.

Final count? Forty seven branches trimmed.

Mom and I were both exhausted that night. Fresh air and physical work taking its toll.

I returned to the yard the next day, despite the predictions for rain.

I raked the parts of the yard that had been resistant to Mom's efforts aboard the riding mower, making piles of debris to be collected this weekend when we are hoping for at least one day of sunshine, without rain.

I also raked the Tiger Lily bed (orange flowers spotted with black) under the four Black Walnut trees and the newly reclaimed lawn under the big pine.

Tiger Lilies.

I dug up the Nettles (a plant covered with stinging hairs that make you itch like a fiend, turning your skin bright red) that surrounded the pine.

Nettles.

I filled the bird feeders, vacuumed out the 4-Runner, scrubbed the salt stains from the carpeting, washed the floor mats, vacuumed the living room, dining room and our bedroom upstairs, and scrubbed the kitchen floor. 

I also consulted with the plumber who came to address the leak...again...under the kitchen sink.

Oh, and I think it's worth mentioning...the only injury I sustained were some scrapes and scratches from the ferocious berry bushes along the border of the yard, under that pine.

I'd call that progress.

There was also the slightest bit of progress on the employment front.

I got an email from the organization that I have interviewed with twice, saying: 

"Hang tight, I will have some news on where we are soon."

There seems to be no other option but to do just that.

.....

I've spent the morning at the Public Library, backing up iPhones, iPads and computers, updating Apps and software, but I've got to get going. 

I need to make it home by one o'clock...to the country...where I'm hoping the state-wide sirens will be slightly less apparent than smack in the middle of the city on Drill Day!

OH, Wisconsin!