The victims...I know, too graphic. But it is what it is.
As soon as the dust settled yesterday, I headed out to the orchard to check on the status of my fruit trees. That wind was vicious but not as bad as it could’ve been. I found many, many baby apricots on the ground. Sad sight.
The tough survivors
But the good news, they had cousins that hung on for dear life, the tenacious little stinkers!! And it does seem that they grow inches ever day. You can almost see it!
This means I don’t have to worry about thinning the apricots. Not that I ever worry about it anyway. I always think of the time my Daddy was here and my apple tree was absolutely loaded with babies. He came in and said, “Deb, you’ve gotta get out there and thin those apples out. There’s just too many and you won’t have any apples with any size if you don’t!” I assured him that I would take care of it.
The next day, my parents left for Texas. That night, a storm came through and the wind took care of thinning chores for me. Many apples were left on the tree but the lesson I learned that night was to NOT thin fruit in Kansas. EVER. Between constant high winds, light freezes and hail storms, you just don’t have to worry about thinning your fruit.
And I should add that pesky deer are excellent thinners also.
The peaches were not as thick to begin with and are just beginning to grow so I found very few bodies under the trees.
So, today, for those who had damage on their places, was spent cleaning up and repairing. BB took his front loader over to a friend’s house and helped get uprooted trees moved around so they could haul them off. It could’ve been so much worse!
I watched the news until about 11 last night. Tornadoes were sprouting everywhere. There were at least 124 in Kansas alone with over 400 between OK, Iowa, Nebraska, Texas and KS. A huge one tore through the second largest city in KS, Wichita with proms going on and concerts and I haven’t heard of any injuries yet there. A friend said her son spent his prom night in a storm shelter in downtown Wichita off the Arkansas River. Bet he won’t forget that prom.
Thankfully, the aftermath wasn’t horrible. But it could’ve been. Think Greensburg.
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Country Life 
I still think of your sister town when I hear of your wind storms. glad the current status is.. all good. love from the right coast where we endure snow, heat, humidity, hurricanes, north easterns and the occasional earthquake. glad the fruit trees are still fruity too (tee)
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I still haven’t brought myself to go to Greensburg again. I was there literally 24 hours before the tornado hit. Very thankful I decided on that day to go instead of the next. That had been my plan but for “some reason” I went a day ahead of schedule. Close call.
When you look at pics of the aftermath and read the stats…on the ground for one eternal hour, a 66 mile path, over a mile wide, clocking 205 MPH…it was a miracle that anyone walked out of that mess!
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Thank God, many prayers were answered for our northern (not Yankee!) friends! 🙂 It could have been much worse with all those twisters. We can hear you say “There’s no place like home, Toto! “
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Clicking my heels together as I type! 🙂
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You have the true mentality of the farmer. I’m impressed.
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