Mother Nature Shows Her Butt
Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2025 12:14 pm
Sunday Night....
We had been saying we needed a bit of rain, and every time it splits and goes around. They were calling for rain the last couple weeks and then the NOAA Radio alert tones squalled, and we got severe Tstorm warnings, with a threat of hail, high winds and then upgraded to Tornado Watch. Okay, okay, we can deal.
We can use the rain and we keep loose items secure, It's Oklahoma, you know... "Where the Winds Come Sweeping Down the Plains?" (At 100mph.) 
Miss T gathered the shelter bag from the laundry room just in case. Fiona growled at the NOAA radio, she doesn't like the shelter.
About a half hour later we got the tones and then the warning... The National Weather Service in Norman has issued a Tornado Warning for the Following Counties. Immediately Seek Shelter, do not pass Go... Do not collect $200...
Off we went. We were in the shelter about twenty to thirty minutes and they cancelled the Warning and downgraded to a Watch....
Going to the shelter means trekking thru the driving rain... that SEVERE Thunderstorm, but better safe than sorry. Grateful to have it. So, back in the house, and dry off. Dog dances around, happy to be out. Not in the house ten minutes, and the alert goes off again. They are saying it's for the North East section of our county, and Miss T is debating going back in when they say there is a Tornado on the ground in ADA, twenty minutes away.
Back we went... through the driving rain and heavy winds. This time we stayed about an hour... and a half.
It was a long night, again, grateful... No more Tornados that night, but there was damage in town the next morning. We had, some flooding in the lower areas but the creeks held the runoff and handled it well. The pond, which had been down about eight to ten feet, isn't anymore, it's full and running off into the overflow.
A long view of the pond shows it's up to the banks and looks great. At it's peak it had run around the berm on the left side and down the road, through the barn and into the creek to the road.
Yup, Mom Nature said, "You want water for the pond, here's some water."
I said, "Thanks Mom, we can use it."
Last year we had the Excavator guy open up the crossing inside our fence at the orchard. He did a great job. Made it easy to cross with the UTV or the Tractor and Bush Hog. Looked Great.
This is what it looked like after the heavy rains.
That water flows into the huge culvert that runs under the road. Before we widened that crossing, the power of the water focused on the culvet and had undercut that culvert and endangered the roadway. Like a nozzle on the waterhose. Widening the crossing took away a LOT of the power of the flow.
So much water was flowing it diverted around the culvert on my range, couldn't handle the flow... normally that culvert is fine.
Not only do we get the water from the rain, but the acreage around us drains down into the three creeks and they all flow into the main creek then into the creek that runs thru the main culvert under the road. The first year we were here, that water was over the road and halfway across the orchard. House is safe, sits high enough the water doesn't reach it.
Predicting Severe Tstorms again Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.
Always use the rain. Makes the grass grow.
We had been saying we needed a bit of rain, and every time it splits and goes around. They were calling for rain the last couple weeks and then the NOAA Radio alert tones squalled, and we got severe Tstorm warnings, with a threat of hail, high winds and then upgraded to Tornado Watch. Okay, okay, we can deal.
We can use the rain and we keep loose items secure, It's Oklahoma, you know... "Where the Winds Come Sweeping Down the Plains?" (At 100mph.) Miss T gathered the shelter bag from the laundry room just in case. Fiona growled at the NOAA radio, she doesn't like the shelter.
About a half hour later we got the tones and then the warning... The National Weather Service in Norman has issued a Tornado Warning for the Following Counties. Immediately Seek Shelter, do not pass Go... Do not collect $200...
Off we went. We were in the shelter about twenty to thirty minutes and they cancelled the Warning and downgraded to a Watch....
Going to the shelter means trekking thru the driving rain... that SEVERE Thunderstorm, but better safe than sorry. Grateful to have it. So, back in the house, and dry off. Dog dances around, happy to be out. Not in the house ten minutes, and the alert goes off again. They are saying it's for the North East section of our county, and Miss T is debating going back in when they say there is a Tornado on the ground in ADA, twenty minutes away.
Back we went... through the driving rain and heavy winds. This time we stayed about an hour... and a half.It was a long night, again, grateful... No more Tornados that night, but there was damage in town the next morning. We had, some flooding in the lower areas but the creeks held the runoff and handled it well. The pond, which had been down about eight to ten feet, isn't anymore, it's full and running off into the overflow.
- 05a pond has filled.jpg (430.49 KiB) Viewed 5452 times
A long view of the pond shows it's up to the banks and looks great. At it's peak it had run around the berm on the left side and down the road, through the barn and into the creek to the road.
Yup, Mom Nature said, "You want water for the pond, here's some water." I said, "Thanks Mom, we can use it."
- 06a wide view of pond full.jpg (434.79 KiB) Viewed 5452 times
Last year we had the Excavator guy open up the crossing inside our fence at the orchard. He did a great job. Made it easy to cross with the UTV or the Tractor and Bush Hog. Looked Great.
- 07 nice job.jpg (566.37 KiB) Viewed 5452 times
This is what it looked like after the heavy rains.
- 01a crossing.jpg (556.25 KiB) Viewed 5452 times
That water flows into the huge culvert that runs under the road. Before we widened that crossing, the power of the water focused on the culvet and had undercut that culvert and endangered the roadway. Like a nozzle on the waterhose. Widening the crossing took away a LOT of the power of the flow.
- 03a culvert flow.jpg (622.95 KiB) Viewed 5452 times
So much water was flowing it diverted around the culvert on my range, couldn't handle the flow... normally that culvert is fine.
- 04a range culvert flow.jpg (815.54 KiB) Viewed 5452 times
Not only do we get the water from the rain, but the acreage around us drains down into the three creeks and they all flow into the main creek then into the creek that runs thru the main culvert under the road. The first year we were here, that water was over the road and halfway across the orchard. House is safe, sits high enough the water doesn't reach it.
Predicting Severe Tstorms again Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.
Always use the rain. Makes the grass grow.
Thanks, we try to stay on top of things. I told Miss T I’m going to paint the inside of the tornado shelter to look like a seascape so it looks like we are kayaking fishing off the FL coast when we are stuck out there.