Messages

     A couple of the tornadoes in the 60's happened South of Howard.   I don't remember when they occured, but one Saturday night our house I believe was jumped by one.   The sound was just like when Guy Denton used to buzz our place (noise and windows shaking).   It never occured to us to ask what Guy would have been doing flying that close to the ground on such a stormy night.
     Another one followed the Elk River and did some damage at Dave Majors place, and then continued over to where JC Wiseman was living on the lake road.   I remember that it took the West and North sides and part of the roof off their house, and if I remember correctly it did not wake anyone up.   Can't remember any other damage, but I am sure there was some.
     One that I am sure did not make any lists happened one evening when Mom and I were headed for the dairy barn.   I remember that the wind got strong and blew so much dust that we had to hold onto the barbed wire fence and shut our eyes.    When it was over we went and milked some fairly spooky cows.    Brother Scott was working ground out at the Boston place (5 miles East on the Busby road) and when he came in he talked about seeing a tornado that looked like it jumped Howard.   I don't think I ever heard of any damage from that one, so it must have gone back into the clouds.

Happy Birthday Wilma.    May tomorrow be as nice as today, and then just get better into spring in celebration of your birthday.

     There were a few streakers around Howard back in the 70's.   I won't mention names, but I remember one young man running the length of main street, planning to jump in a van to get his clothes.   Just as he got to the van, his buddies slammed the door and drove off.   I forget how far he chased them before they let him back in.   
     The best one though was one evening at Doug's.   A couple of masked boys planned to run through the building and out the back door into the alley.   Someone saw them coming and closed the padlock on the door into the storage room.   They stood back in the alcove by the bathroom for a while until they were sure that Captain Kirk was not going to beam them out of there, then ran back through the bar and back onto main street.   
     Everyone wore masks back then, but in a town of this size we always knew who to kid afterwards.

Lois, I noticed the timing on that and was amazed.

Alan, I won't say nothing if you won't.

     Brother Alan, saw you had signed up.   Welcome to the forum.

     Last winter they burned most of a load of hay on 169 highway North of Cherryvale.   A load ended up in the ditch on both sides of the highway and they threw a match.   Of course last year hay was worth a fraction of what it is this winter.

Don't tell his mama.

     I have only seen a few, but in the summer you could hear them screaming down by the creek below our hill sometimes at night.   It sounds like a woman being hurt, and will send shivers down your back.   Dad always said they followed the deer as they moved along the Elk River.   Obviously that was back when seeing a deer was a cause of celebration around our house.
     Ken Kelly and I saw one in the field South of Clay Rheems house one day when we were skipping school (so probably 1976).
     The one that I remember the most though is when Dad was running the Copperhead back about 1994.   I was working somewhere else on the place, so I took the boys down to fish for carp on the distilling basin below the lake.   There was a baby calf over about 20-30 yards.   I came back an hour later and asked the boys if the mama came after the calf.   I found it in the same place with the whole side torn out thru the rib cage.   The boys had not heard a thing.   I have always been thankful that the calf was there, rather than one of the boys.

     I messed up and sent this out under Joanna's log in.   I don't suppose she would want to be thought of as "bobcat".   

I may be wrong, but I was thinking that highway transports carried more like 7500 gallons of product.