[A/S] Ocala, Florida - March 30, 2001

[hhamp5246@xxxxxxx]

March 29, 2001 - Patti's Yard

Good Morning,
As you know I have been in Ocala, Florida off and on for the past two 
winters. I have a friend here who lets me "camp" in her yard under 100 year 
old huge trees with spanish moss swaying in the breeze.  The parking space I 
have is lovely and has all the comforts of home. Electricity, water and a 
phone line!  I love it here. 

Monday morning my Aistream went into Walt's RV to have the hail damage, which 
it got in Rapid City last summer, repaired.  I hated to see it go. It was a 
real pain unloading it....moving the kitties, cat box, cat food, dog food.... 
my computer, my personal stuff...etc etc.. into the house.  I keep looking 
out back missing it's presence.

I left the Lynx levelers right in their spot when I moved the trailer. It's 
where I park, why move them? I'll just be hopping back up on them anyway. So, 
there they sit, a shocking orange reminder of my trailer which should be 
there in the green grass.

Yesterday morning at around 11:00 am I was painting out in the front of 
Patti's house. The sky was cloudy, but there was only a "chance of rain". I 
started to hear thunder off in the distance...... I looked at the sky and it 
was turning black, real black... I went inside and got all the dogs into the 
center of the house. Patti has 9 dogs and I have 2. 

All eleven were in my lap. The wind hit the house with tremendous force...the 
power went off.... the noise was deafening and I could hear what almost 
sounded like gun shots outside. The dogs huddled with me for safety. I kept 
thinking a basement would be nice about now. It was over as quickly as it 
started. 

I went to the windows and was shocked b the devistation. The once manicured 
property looked like a tornado had it. OMIGOD! A tornado!! That's what that 
was! 

It was still raining hard and thundering and lightning so I stayed in and 
looked for Patti' number at work. All of a sudden the phone rang. I love it 
when you have no power, but still have phones! It was Patti, she was so happy 
that it was raining...she had no idea. I told her she must have been hit by a 
tornado and to call a tree guy and a fence guy to get first in line. 

The lightning stopped and she held on while I went to check the livestock. 
When I got where I could see the pastures I realized one of the front 
pastures, the horse pasture, had almost no fencing left on the road, which 
could explain why the cars were almost coming to a stop when they went by... 
a dead horse?

My heart was pounding as I ran down.... then I saw them... all 4 horses and 
the donkey, they were in the back pasture and I simply closed the gate to 
hold them in. I checked the sheep, trees were down everywhere, but I didn't 
see any dead sheep under the massive branches. The ducks and geese looked 
okay too.  The cars were going so slow because huge power lines were lying in 
the street, not to mention the driveway and the front pasture.

I came back to the house and reported this to Patti who was practically in 
shock. She said, "I'm coming home". I said, "Brace yourself."

Patti has worked long and hard to make this 7 acre farm a beautiful place. 
She has many huge old trees, flowers, plants. It broke her heart to see it 
yesterday morning...but the good news is no animals hurt, and the house 
wasn't touched. It must have jumped right over the house. She was in shock 
when she actually saw the place. Over 30 huge trees went down. The driveway 
was impassable.  The pastures, the yard around the house..... just a big game 
of pick up sticks...with leaves. 

The phone rang constantly, friends and neighbors checking on her and offering 
pasture for the livestock.  We found out that the tornado was hopping all 
over the place. No rhyme or reason, some places were creamed, others ...not a 
leaf off a tree. A huge new house around the corner gone. Six horses near by 
had to be destroyed because they were so badly injured. I'm sure we will be 
hearing more and more as the days go by. 

After a day of walking around here like zombies we went out for a nice dinner 
and Patti fired up the generator and we watched Millionaire and ER. 

Sitting in the dark living room made me think of what it must have been like 
for people like Ann Frank...hiding in the dark during WWII.... I could see 
huge search lights outside in the dark, hear men's voices. Only these men 
weren't soldiers, they work for the electric company, men who were soaking 
wet, cold, tired and still out there trying to restore power to the 300 
people who still didn't have it. At 1:15 am the lights came on...yea!!! We 
hadn't opened the fridge or the freezer so we think everything's okay. 

This morning the tree guy, the fence guy and the insurance guy all came... 
it's going to be a tremendous job cleaning it all up. 

Oh, remember the orange Lynx levers that go under the trailer? A picture is 
worth a 1,000 words.

http://members.aol.com/airstm2268/patti.htm