Oklahoma

I'm looking outside to overcast skies and thinking of all the work going on right now in Oklahoma.  They were hit extremely hard by yesterdays twister and I am reminded of the small town of Jarrell, TX that was hit a few years back.  Jarrell was hit by an F5 and Moore was hit by an F4 tornado.  The devastation is still the same...Moore is larger by more than half of what Jarrell is but the tornado as I understand it was on the ground for a full 40 to 45 minutes weaving it's path of destruction. 
In Jarrell there was nothing left standing...in fact in some areas the dirt was literally sucked away and all that was left was the limestone bedrock. 
Here where I live in Central Texas we are on the edge of the high risk zone today for tornado's but I will keep my eyes to the skies.  I have been in a tornado before.  Years ago when I was visiting my Aunt and Uncle in Virginia.  It was during my Freshman year in college and I went to visit them in Blacksburg, VA.   I wasn't a weather watcher like I am now and I guess that they weren't either because neither of them mentioned anything about the weather maybe getting bad later on in the night. 
I think it must have been around 12:30 or 1 a.m. when I hear the roar and it sounded just like a freight train was coming toward the house.  I was upstairs in a bedroom.  My Aunt and Uncles bedroom was downstairs and I expected one or the other to come upstairs and tell me what was going on...but neither of them did.  I got out of bed and went to the bathroom that was attached to the bedroom I was sleeping in and I got in the bathtub.  Don't ask me why....I just did it.  It seemed like hours passed with the noise but it was probably just a minute or two or maybe even less.  In times of stress I think that our perception of time is screwed up and what can seem like hours in reality is just a few seconds.  At any rate the noise eventually abated and I went back to sleep.  The next morning when I awoke I immediately went outside to see if all was well and discovered that the tornado had passed between my aunt and uncles house and the house next door.  Probably a small twister but powerful in it's own right as there was debris everywhere and things sticking into other things that didn't seem possible.   It was a close call and once you hear the sound, believe me you never, ever forget it.
Moore has so much to deal with and will have to deal with in the coming months and possibly years so if you've a mind to....donate to an organization that will be able to help those wonderful people get back on their feet. 
I won't suggest any here but I'm sure that any reliable news organization will have information where you can help the best, I know that I'm sure going to do my part. 

Update on the Backyard

We've made more progress on the back yard.  See that stone connecting the "sidewalk" to the bed...well, that's not staying...it was just a temporary measure to keep that area from washing away.  Washing away you are saying...yes, we've had more rain.  Yeah!!!

You can see from the picture here how the beds are filling in nicely and the swing was moved to it's current spot because as you can see from the next picture, we've now finished that bed.

We're picking and choosing the plants to put in there but by this time next year it should look great.  Sticking with natives is such a smart move in more ways than one.  But because they are natives, once they acclimate to their position they are relatively little to no care. 

In this next picture we have some plants that must have come in with the gravel.  They are called "Scrambled Eggs.".   Such a perfect name don't you think?

 

There were a couple of moments when we were bringing in the rocks for the new bed where  I got a little nervous.  My hubby is great on the Bobcat but it was a pretty tight fit and I didn't want there to be any accidents.                                                                                                                                    

We've also finally begun work on our Hell Strip.  Now that's not a normal Hell Strip like you have in the city....it's what we call the area that used to have 3 fruit trees planted and in front of the raised beds.  We had a hard time trying to decide what to do there to make it look seamless from one side of the yard to the next and we finally figured out what to do. 

We decided to pick out rocks just like we've done on the uphill side of the yard. We'd put the rocks on either side of where the trees were planted, fill in with more dirt and replant fruit trees and then the areas around there get more granite gravel and make sure that we get enough to cover the ground in front of the raised beds where there are currently river rocks.  Once we get it all done I think it will really look great and will be so much easier to take care of. 

I'll post more pictures when we've gotten a little further.  Until then...here's an inspirational picture of a dessert I made a couple of weeks ago.  It's a Tiramisu.  I'll post pictures and text on that next time. But until then enjoy.