Another Whirlwind Weekend

Literally. I began Saturday morning bright and early. By 8:15am I was on the road heading towards Drugan's to donate my time to the Charlie Kearn's Memorial Golf Tournament. I volunteered to be a witnesses for a big-prize hole, sit out on the golf course, and have a few beverages for the greater good. Last year I got sun burned, so I wore shorts and a short-sleeved top and lots of sun screen. As I drove, I thought how lucky they were to have gotten a bright, sunny morning. After a half hour or so of sitting on the golf course, the storm clouds started moving in. Within an hour and a half, my sun screen had washed away and we were huddled in a shed in the middle of a golf course waiting for the storm to blow over so they could continue the tournament. The only thing that kept us hanging on was the beverage cart lady that kept us company (and drinking). By the time the rain let up, my shift was over and I headed back home to meet up with my house guests. They were planning to attend a family reunion in Veteran's Memorial Park and suckered me into tagging along. We had adequate weather for a good chunk of the afternoon and then it began thundering. The storm was still far away, but the thunder just kept rolling on and on. When it hit, it hit hard and fast. We closed up all the doors to the shelter except one to peer out from. We watched the hail bouncing off the grass as the kids played bingo at the back of the shelter. At six o'clock I finally got my house guests to take me home and on our way out of the park the calls started coming. My family was concerned because they had heard something similar to this: "According to the National Weather Service in La Crosse's web site, an EF1 tornado, with estimated wind speeds of 90 to 110 miles per hour, touched down at around 5:45pm Saturday near Barre Mills, just east of Russian Coulee Road. The tornado destroyed a metal barn and took part of the roof off another." as reported by WKBT.

As I joked that we waited out a tornado in a shelter, I had no idea there actually had been one about five miles from us. I headed home to check if it was still there and luckily it was, Peanut and all. The rest of my evening and most of my night's sleep was underscored with rolling thunder, but nothing as severe as what I had already been through. *Whew* what a whirlwind weekend!