Friday, June 18, 2010

Tornado Alley

Well... little did we know that we set up camp in the notorious Tornado Alley.

We knew a storm was headed our way, but had no idea what to expect. The wind picked up a bit before we hit the sack at 11pm. An hour later, I woke up to sirens blaring nonstop. I looked out the window to see a lot of campers heading into the clubhouse. By this time the wind was blowing even harder & it started to rain... sideways. Liam was having one of his a panic attacks, so Joe stayed in the RV with the dogs while I ran across the street to find shelter. The sirens were still blaring. About 30 people were huddled inside watching the weather channel for storm updates. A tornado was headed in our direction. It started to hail... grape-sized hail! Shortly thereafter, the sirens stopped, the hail stopped, and the rain stopped, but the wind kept blowing. The tornado veered off to the east. We never did see it, except on TV. Just the way I like it.














Some pictures of the dramatic evening skies in Amarillo.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

What's Up with that Black Bird






I've had several people visiting the RV Park ask me about the peculiar black birds with the tail that looks like a fan. What do I know? Turns out these noisy birds are called Great-Tailed Grackles. You see, their tails are as long as their bodies and they are indeed "'V" shaped so they do look like a fan. They have bright yellow eyes and they whistle... loudly!