"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime"-MARK TWAIN

Friday, May 24, 2019

Tornado


There hadn't been much happening in our lives since returning from Arizona the end of February.  We've made a couple of week long trips, but nothing that I haven't blogged about before.  Why post about the same ol' things?

Our front yard a couple of years ago, and this past Fall.






Life as we knew it changed on May 9th, around 11:30 AM.  Our phones alerted us of a tornado warning for our area.  We've been exposed to hundreds of warnings in our lifetime, but never felt we were in danger enough to seek shelter.  This one was different for some reason, though I can't put my finger on why.  Maybe it was the small warning box with our home dead center, or just God taking care of us.  We grabbed a blanket, picked up Sally, and headed to our smallest bathroom. Within minutes we could hear the wind; then the sounds of debris hitting the walls and roof.  We kept waiting for the horrendous crash of our home coming apart around us.  After a couple of minutes all that could be heard was pouring rain. I walked to our front door, opened it, and this is what I saw.














My shop, and truck.




Our driveway.



Random shots around our yard.









A miracle, or the Hand of God, saved our house.  We had "large" pine trees down on three sides of our house.  We had a tree overhanging our house, but it didn't fall.  We chained it up over night, till a tree guy came and cut it down.


















We had no choice but to practically clear cut our front yard.







The last one falling.



Our front yard, today.


This small pile of logs represents what our front yard once was. Everything that wouldn't make a log was hauled to a burn pit.  There's no market for pulp size wood, anymore. We have a very big job clearing all the stumps, roots, and associated trash.  We'll have our own burn pile for weeks to come.


As I mentioned before, we were blessed that our home received NO damage.  Our fence around two and a half acres was destroyed.  My shop, as well as another out building received damage also.  Insurance?  Yes, we thought so.  We've had a homeowners policy with the same company for almost fifty years.  We thought we were adequately covered. But a little known clause called "policy limits for peripheral coverage" raised it's little head. 

We're going to be fine, though we're covering most of the cost of repairs.  But, a word to the wise.  If you have a house, and maybe a fence covered by your homeowners policy, you're probably ok.

  If you have a home with a shop, extended garage, fence, pool house, etc.; you might want to check with your agent to find out what your "policy limit" would be for repairs on all those if you have a catastrophic loss....jc



13 comments:

  1. I'm sure sorry you're dealing with this, but thank our Lord that you and your house we're safe.

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  2. Tornadoes are horrible. Congratulations on making it through with no serious human or canine damage. You were blessed on this one.

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  3. What an experience. And what a load you have deal with. I lived in "tornado alley" for over 40 yrs and never experienced one. Your pictures really bring it to reality.Glad the 3 of you are okay and hope your neighbors are okay too.

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  4. Glad you're ok. On the bright side if you remove the stumps that could be a beautiful front yard.

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  5. Very glad that the three of you are OK and that your home is intact. Scary business!

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  6. Glad to hear the house sustained no damage. Unfortunately we don't always read our insurance policies as carefully as we should.

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  7. Wow, thankfully y'all and your home are okay. I can't even imagine looking out the door and seeing the devastation you saw and experienced...how sad, but praise to God you and your home are okay. Take care and maybe the front yard can take on a new and brighter look.

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  8. Glad to hear you three are OK. And second that the house is OK. I'll bet your phone company friends are having a busy time. It also looks like you have your work cut out for you. Again glad to hear you are OK. I watch the TV coverage and it makes me happy we don't have those type or problems.

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  9. Just read your post ... glad that everyone(and house) are OK .. ! Take care >> Paul & Terri G

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  10. Wow....the important thing is that you Guys., and Sally are ok!!!! such a beautiful piece of property...did your bother sustain any damage? Take care....and take yourselves and the Casita to Ruidoso area for some "Get away" time. Horst sends

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  11. Forgot to ask how did your Casita make out?

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  12. I'm surprised to note that the insurance didn't use the "Acts of God" excuse. I just surfed into your blog to see what was up. So glad the three of you are ok. With all that new clear space, have you thought about starting an airport? ;-)
    Best,
    Dutchman

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