I swear, bad luck follows me....

The good news is we found a house in NC - we left our eldest, Alex (16) home to take care of the dog because he started having seizures again the day before we were to leave for NC househunting - and we had to send him to the shelter 3 times while we were gone, the 3rd being tonight (about 2:30 a.m.) when we were about 45 miles away from home, and we got home to a confirmed tornado.

My house is in tact, we couldn't tell about any damage to the roof, but a house a street over has a tree in it, several buildings have sustained major damage, a house in the subdivision behind us that backs on to Chalco Recreation area and Wehrspann Lake was completely destroyed, several homes in all surrounding neighborhoods have been damaged with minor to severe damage.

Once we have daylight and the line of storms still coming through, stops, then I will check for damage here and let you know.

At least I have a house to move into in NC...

Poor Alex, first time he's left alone and he has to deal with tornado warning after tornado warning then with an actual tornado.

Hope everyone else in the midwest has fared well with all the severe weather.

Cat

I am so glad your son is ok.  Tornadoes are scarry.  We had one not far from us yesterday as well.  Not as close as you but non the less still as scarry.  Looks like we are instore for a treat of more severe weather today and tonight as well.  I will pray your house and family stay intact.  Sorry to hear about your dog not doing well.

Poor Alex, I tell you, the weather is strange these days everywhere.
You know I am paying for your house to be ok. I will also pray for your neighbors.

Well no damage with daylight hours.  It's almost as if the tornado lifted up and hopped right over my house, it was in the direct path based on where the damage started and ended.

Guess I'm not as unlucky as I thought.....

Our whole area is pretty much under lockdown though, there are police cruisers at the entrance to just about every neighborhood out here, and unless you live in the particular neighborhood, you can't get into it - that's no big deal here since each housing development is it's own residential neighborhood and unless you live there you really have no reason to be there except to use the various short cuts to avoid congested traffic which is a bit of a mess because there are several stop lights not functioning because of power outages.

I'll mark this one down to a guardian angel watching over my house and Alex and making sure that all stayed well while he was home alone for a few days.

I don't think I'll bother leaving them alone again - the stress is way too much!!  45 miles doesn't seem like very far away, until you are trying to drive home through a tornadic storm to your child who is home alone and in the direct path of the tornado and has called on the cell phone to tell you there is a tornado warning and the sirens are going off, what should he do....then 45 miles might as well have been 450 miles - it sure felt like it was.  Trying to get home to make sure he was ok and not get caught in the tornado ourselves as we traveled - I have several more gray hairs now!

They are starting to get up some of the pictures of the damage now, you can see it here:  START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE

Cat

wow!  Glad to hear you're house and family are okay

Glad you and Alex are OK,Cat, along with your house.  Glad your guardian angel did his job and protected things.

Where is the house in Asheville?  It's a great town.

Jerry

Hey Jerry, I'm doubly glad my guardian angel was watching over Alex - there's not even a rose petal off my rose bushes and yet the neighbor across the road lost the tree in the front yard and the houses 500 yards away are missing roofs.

The house is outside of Asheville in the town of Weaverville - here's a pic of the front of the house:

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And this is the view from the patio doors off the dining room out to the deck - nothing like waking up and having coffee while staring at a mountain!

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And this is the yard, we have our own pond with a little waterfall!  The yard is nearly 2 acres of grass, and then the trees all around

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The black and white dots are Andrea and Clark, so that should give some perspective to how big the yard is ;)

The area is absolutely spectacular, I am never going to get anything done though!  I will spend too much time staring at the landscape around me - the house is awesome, we are just renting it, but it's perfect - 4 bedrooms, an office, a den, 2 fireplaces - lots and lots of room all the way around.

We are excited for sure, moving is always a tumultuous event, especially to a new state, but after seeing the region the kids are excited and looking forward to it, it's just a spectacular area - I can't imagine anyone NOT falling in love with it.  The yard is big enough for me to host convention too! hehe.

Cat

Quote:

The yard is big enough for me to host convention too!

Or a NC Meet and Great perhaps?  ;D

Racer1_NC wrote on Jun 8^th, 2008 at 5:25pm:

Or a NC Meet and Great perhaps?  ;D

Of course it will be great!

Well you and all your "you aren't from around here are ya" crew in NC will be welcome when I throw that meet and greet, and when I have a shindig it's always great! hehe

I figure we'll throw up the dining tent get a couple grills going, set up the fire pit (it has a huge fire pit down by the pond) and we'll have us a full CH party :)  

All I have to do is keep my house in Omaha in one piece between now and when we move!  More severe weather is anticipated this week, so it should be interesting...

At least I won't have to worry about tornadoes in Asheville right??  Of course I was told it wasn't hot there either, and the whole time we were there it was 90+ degrees :P  
(And there were some BIG A$$ bugs buzzin around up there too....Omaha cicada's don't get that big....)

Cat

So glad you're all okay and that's a beautiful place and back yard. Two words: Putting green  :o

Charlie

Racer1_NC wrote on Jun 8^th, 2008 at 5:25pm:

Quote: The yard is big enough for me to host convention too! Or a NC Meet and Great perhaps?  ;D

SHAME on Bill (and I guess, myself) for NOT having had a Carolina meet'n'greet, in a LONG time!

Now, with Cat wielding the infamous 2X4, we can get one organized!

Welcome to the great state of North Carolina!  We will get your damn yankee (Canadian) ass into the life of the south REAL soon!  

Purdy soon we'll git ya using "y'all"  and "reckon" and "Howz yer Mama?" and all the other local phrases!

And remember, before you slam someone or pass on some nastiness about them, start your sentence with "Bless his/her heart ... "

Heehee

Chuck