Another tornado visit

[Mike Fennell]

Our second near miss by a tornado in past 2 years has interrupted work for awhile. The house and garage were hit by 5 trees, three of which were 130 year old maples; and the fences hit by 5 more.

Finally got electric hooked up again, but now I must move my engraving equipment from the back of the house to the front guest room, so no engraving for awhile. Contractors are swamped with work, so repairs won’t begin for another week or three. I’m just happy to be here.

There is another storm in progress as I write this.

Mike Fennell

 

[Roger Bleile]

Mike,

I'm sorry to hear about your weather related problems and glad to hear you didn't get injured. That's a really nice Victorian house you have and it looks like you may be moving into an "engraving coupla" like Scott P. has.

Best wishes,

Roger

 

[D.DOUGLAS]

Hey Mike , Glad to here your ok! We had one take out the downtown of a city not to far from me about the time we were at the engrave in. It has been a volitale summer so far. Doug S.

 

[DKanger]

Mike,
Weird weather we are having this year. I remember your house from when I lived up that way.

I live just east of Memphis now, in tornado alley. We have numerous alerts during the storm season and have to stay glued to the TV for updates to see where they're going to hit. I can stand in my yard and watch them go by, but they seem to avoid our little swath of land here.....veering off and going to the north or south of us for some reason. I suppose it's a matter of time before we get a hit. I lose shingles and tree branches every year from the sheer winds the storms develop and hail damage if I don't get the vehicles protected.

 

[KCSteve]

Wow, glad you're ok and your house is at least mostly ok!

 

[Marrinan]

Mike, So sorry to hear of the damage from this storm. Glade you are okay. You might consider investing in a trailer house, park it a few blocks south of your home. It works here in Georgia. They always seem to hit the trailer parks over in Alabama. Just a suggestion. Glade your okay. Fred

 

[rodsta]

Fred's trick might work or you could make your studio in the
storm cellar and never have to move it. Glad you made it through.
Good to meet ya at Scott's.
Rod

 

[Mike Fennell]

Thanks Roger, Doug, Dkanger, Steve, Fred, Rod and everyone else for your kind thoughts. The house was built well and came through a tremendous pounding looking not too bad. Needs a new roof, etc., but that can be cured.

Engraving is an addiction - I quickly ran extension cords to the compressor, Gravermach, power hones, etc. so I can sit down to it whenever I set down the chainsaw. $5,200 only paid for the removal of about 1/3 of the trees downed. I am doing the rest of it myself, as my insurance allows only $1,000 for tree removal, and I think running the chainsaw is fun.

Fred, I like your idea, but I have already had calls from people in the trailer court in the next county thanking me for being the decoy this time. They saw the twister; I couldn’t see it; I only heard and felt it.

I’m just happy that Kathy stepped into the doorway of a hair salon down the street to open her umbrella when she did. A big tree would have hit her like a fly swatter otherwise. We were very lucky and we have no complaints.

My only regret is the engraver bench time I am losing to the telephone and to moving and repairing stuff in the coming weeks. But when it is finished I will have a very nice studio with bay windows facing the northern light. How cool is that?

Mike Fennell

 

[KCSteve]

Now you know why, when I lucked into a Lindsay Classic to go with my GraverMach I went with the CO2 setup - it's nice to be able to do 'powered' engraving with no power.

I'll bet your new studio's going to be great!

 

[Peter E]

WOW Mike! That is some damage to deal with, but at least it is things that CAN be repaired.

Seems like there are more and more violent storms lately. A confirmed tornado tore through Bridgeport CT last week wreaking havoc there!

On my way home from Blade and the Engrave-In I had riddden 335 miles of the final 350, and THOUGHT I was going to make it home DRY...NOT! About 15 miles from home I got off the highway and noticed the sky to the west was BLACK...within minutes, I was in wind and rain of biblical proportions. When I got home and turned on the TV they were talking about a funnel cloud spotted where I had just driven through.

Good luck, and I hope your repairs go well and quickly.

 

[JBrandvik]

Hey Mike,
Glad that you came through it unharmed. Hope you are back to normal soon.
Best wishes,

 

[DKanger]

Mike,
If those 130 year old trees are Hard (Sugar) Maples and are solid in the centers, they are worth a small fortune as long rifle gunstock blanks. I would find someone in the area who has a portable bandsaw mill to come over and cut them into planks 7' x 10" x 3". Especially the stump ends and crotch wood should contain a lot of figure; and just the age of the trees should guarantee good figure thruout. A single, highly figured plank can bring as much as $400 retail and usually 2 gunstocks can be gotten from a plank. Woodworker's also prize maple. The bandsaw guys usually charge around $200 to set it up at your location and then so much per day. You'd have to stack and sticker the planks in a shady dry area to start the drying process.

 

[Mike Fennell]

Thanks, James, but I don't think I ever was quite normal.

DKanger,
Thanks, but they are soft silver maples and some of it not so good in the centers. I have a neighbor who wants to make floor planking out of some of the clear, straight sections. The rest of it makes pretty good firewood, and I have been burning dead limbs for barbeque for many years.

I was surprised that silver maples live this long, but I have documents that place the age of four of them at 130, and a fifth one is much larger and older than these.

Mike Fennell

 

[Sam]

Glad to hear that you're ok, Mike. That's an awful thing to have to endure.

 

[Mike Fennell]

Thanks, Sam. As I said, I am happy that it was not a direct hit.

Mike

 

[Jim Kelso]

Mike, I hope things go much more smoothly from here on out.

Jim

 

[tim halloran]

Mike: Sorry To Hear About The Storm Damage. Brings Back Old Memories, As My Wife And I both Survived A Tornado In 1968 In Charles City, Iowa. It Killed 15 People that Day. Luckily It Struck after the School Busses Had Droped Off All The Kids That Day, It Could Have Been Worse. Hopefully You And Your Wife Are Allright and You'll Be Back To Normal Soon. We'll Keep You In Our Prayers , And hope That You Will Be Spared Any More Trauma.Just Keep The Tool In The Metal!

 

[jlseymour]

Glad ya'll are ok, you can fix everything else...
Great to see ya at Scott's...
Best Jerry