December was quite a whirlwind of activity, but not in the way you would expect.
The Whirlwind
On December 9th we spent the day working on product. Jerry was in the work shop sanding Shawl and Hair Sticks and I was applying the final coat of wax finish on some Yarn Boxes. Around 4:20 pm my phone sounded a weather alert. There was a tornado on the ground about 30 miles away and headed our way. I went out to the shop to tell Jerry and he turned off the machines. We went out to watch the sky. There was a dark bank of clouds just west and north of us. The tornado siren went off in downtown Nashville.
We were watching the local radar on my phone and it seemed like the worst might stay just north of us. Around 5:00 pm my phone got a second imminent warning to take cover. Within minutes of that the wind picked up and it began raining so we went inside to take cover. Our safest place, since we don’t have a full basement, was in the hall outside the bathroom. We were on the floor and Jerry was closing all the hall doors when he said “Here it comes, get down!”.
I was praying the Lord’s Prayer loudly when we started hearing stuff hit the roof and house. I was the most scared I have ever been but I also believed we would be alright. By the time I reached the end of the prayer it got quiet and we went to see the damage.
All of these pictures were from the following morning, since the tornado hit right as the sun was setting. The worst of the property damage was to my brand new trailer. We had to get all the inventory out of there and into the work shop that night, since it was still raining off and on. It is amazing that we didn’t lose any of it. I am thanking God for that, since it is our livelihood.
There were five 50+ foot trees on the ground, most ripped up, root ball and all. The power and internet lines were ripped from the roof. The shop and storage shed roofs were missing a whole layer of shingles. The house, thank God, had the least damage. A few windows and screens broken, as well as gutters and vents on the roof.
My truck was hit by flying debris which broke out the driver’s side rear window. Both trucks got some scuffs in the paint by roof shingles. My window was an easy repair, which they came to my house to do a few days later. We haven’t had time to see if the paint scuffs can be easily fixed yet.
NES had our line restored and our power and internet were back within 48 hours. The following two weeks were a blur of phone calls, repairs and cleaning up downed trees and debris. We were able to replace the trailer this past week and get all the inventory out of the shop. We have a roofer coming today and tomorrow to repair the shed and shop.
So, we are getting there and we are so thankful that it wasn’t worse. My heart breaks for the many who were less fortunate. I looked up the NWS report for the storms that hit Middle Tennessee that day. There were 6 or 7 tornadoes of EF2 and EF3 ratings. The one that hit Nashville (us) started literally behind our home. It must have been still forming and went over the top of us, it headed for and touched down near Dickerson Rd. There it flattened several buildings and power lines. The road was closed for about 5 days. It then went on to Gallatin Rd.demolishing businesses and a trailer park. It headed on across the Cumberland River and Old Hickory Dam. It then continued through Hendersonville and Gallatin. The track was almost 24 miles long!
We are insured and all this stuff is replaceable. Christmas this year kind of took a back seat, but we did have a some of the family over, who are nearby and could make it. Life is finally getting back to normal, whatever that means, LOL!
Knitting
I will close my post with what knitting progress I have made on my Mingling Daisies shawl. I am getting close to the finish line on this project. I had been hoping that I would be able to get this out of two skeins but it is going to require a third skein. I am about 17 rows from the end but they are 561-601 stitches long now. So, they take a while.
