I Don't Know....I Don't Know....I Don't Know Where I'm a Gonna Go When This Tornado Blows

Okay...maybe it wasn't a tornado, but I wanted to slip in a little Buffett. On Tuesday, I got a text message saying that there was a severe thunderstorm watch that morning. Normally, I don't think much about these watches as we get them quite often in the summer, but I hopped on the Weather Channel for a minute to see what was coming.


I brought the car into the garage as soon as I saw the radar. We had a bow echo, and it appeared that we were right at the front, where the wind speeds were usually fastest. The last radar update before it hit us pretty much confirmed that:




In case you have been living under a rock for the past ten years, that snapshot comes courtesy of the Weather Channel. We live right at the tip of the bowed-out part...looks like a nose on the radar return.


I thought we had a little more time as the stations in Peoria were just bracing for the storm...they were back in the bow. One look outside, and I knew it was going to be a fun one:





Lots of folks were outside watching the skies. A few minutes later, I looked back outside and saw the clouds overhead. I flipped it to video to show the actual shape:




I was facing west taking this, and the wind came straight from the west...it increased from 5 mph to around 40-50 in the span of a couple of seconds, and the rain came out of nowhere (thus the "calling it a day").


The center of the bow was about 30 miles deep, so we were going to be in for some fun for a bit. I looked east and saw what folks usually see in a hurricane (from footage I've watched). I grabbed the camera and got this:





Check out the bird attempting to fly about 18 seconds in. The boys' commentary was pretty good...I loved Eric's "It's so foggy!", and Aaron the know-it-all educating Eric about stuff (he is my son).

I can't imagine the coastal folks going through that for hours on end. Winds were estimated somewhere around 50-60 mph. We got between 1.8 and 1.9 inches of rain in a 45 minute time span. Le Roy, a town about 5 miles east of us, really had some straight-line wind damage. No damage around here in Downs nearby our house, but several large trees went down (one on a house a couple of miles west of us), and a lot of corn was flattened. Local coverage of the storm can be found here.

Track and Field Day 2008

When we decided to build our house, one of the big draws was the school district. The location of the lot that we purchased was about as close to school as you could get...our back yard butts up with the school property. We have an awesome view of football games on Friday nights. I wanted to install bleachers on our roofs (like Wrigleyville), but Sheri threatened bodily harm if I followed through with it. Still, we can see 90% of the field from our deck.

As we were working on the plan for the house, I drove out to the lot and noticed a lot of activity at the high school. I met our soon-to-be neighbor across the street, who told me that it was the elementary school's annual "Track and Field" day. Having never done this when I was in school, I asked her what all it involved. Apparently, it's one of those days that the kids look forward to all year.


Now I know why...Aaron was talking non-stop about it for a couple of months. When I was home, I'd see the classes walking out to the track and practicing. Back in the day, I actually was in fairly decent shape and did track. I was a sprinter by nature...anything over 200 yards seemed like a waste of time (just get in a car...it's quicker). I loved the sprints, though, as I ran the 110 hurdles (placed 3rd in state in 7th grade and broke a 25 year old county record in 8th grade), 100 yard dash, 200, and 400 relay (I was in 7th grade running with the 8th graders, and we shattered the state record at regionals...unfortunately, our anchor finished in the wrong lane thanks to the lines from the 100 dash start (easy thing to do), and we got DQ'ed). Proof that I'm not making this stuff up . I tolerated the 200 and the 800 relay when I ran those, but I was about exhausted near the end. I had a decent time in the 40-yard dash in high-school (4.65-4.7 my freshman year), but half of the linemen would pass me up on the 2-mile runs every Monday. At the Air Force Academy, I could pass the physical fitness test, which included the 600 yard dash (it took everything NOT to throw up after that run), but I could never do the aerobic fitness test, which was 1.5 mile run. I failed it a number of times, and, when I did pass it, it was just under the deadline. During basic training when I was in peak shape for distance running, my 1.5 mile time was still right at 11 minutes (the deadline was 11:16). I spent several months on athletic probation at the Academy because of my inability to run long distances, no matter how hard I tried. Several of my friends tried training with me, but it was hopeless. Whether it's an elevated red blood cell count (which I have), histoplasmosis (long story...never checked this out, but I'd be a prime candidate for it thanks to prolonged exposure around starlings (alive and dead) in my pre-teen years) or just plain sucking at long-distances, everyone who's seen me run knows I can't do long distances.



I bring all of this up because I finally have proof that Aaron truly is my biological son. As I mentioned earlier, I was able to watch the kids practice when I wasn't teaching. Aaron's class was always the last one of the day, so, to his detriment, I knew when to look for him. Every practice, they did a 50 meter dash and a 400 yard run (one lap). Aaron usually did really well in the 50, but he was walking about 150 yards into the 400 (he barely made it to the back straightaway). I'd usually talk to him after school to make sure that he knew that he didn't to be the best, but he had to try his best. He appeared to have my genes, though, in that he loved sprints and hated distance-running.


Aaron was extremely excited the morning of Track and Field day. The kindergarten class was scheduled to start around 12:30. Aaron was scheduled for 4 events: the long jump, the "wacky races", the 50 meter dash, and the scooter races. Up first for him was the long jump:

From Mush's Blog

Everyone did a practice jump, and Aaron nailed the launch...he jumped right at the line and soared!

Yeah, Proud Pappa writing this.

From Mush's Blog

His official jump didn't go as well as he started his jump a good 1-1.5 feet in front of the line. He had a blast doing it, and the smile on his face let me know that he was pleased with how he did.

Next came the wacky race. I'll just let the picture give you the 1000 needed words:

From Mush's Blog

They had to run with that thing on about 20 yards, bend over, pick up a frisbee, and carry it 20 yards back. I think every kid did at least one face-plant during the event. Nobody got hurt, and everyone loved it!


Then came the 50.

They had heats, and they took the top 2 from each heat to compete in the finals. Aaron was in the second heat.

From Mush's Blog

He won his heat! He's still in sprint mode as he heads back to the starting line.

From Mush's Blog

The Final Heat:

From Mush's Blog

AND THEY'RE OFF!

From Mush's Blog

Waiting to find out how he finished:

From Mush's Blog

He ended up finishing 3rd overall of all the Kindergarten boys!


Very Proud Pappa writing this. Aaron was just beaming at his accomplishment.


He had a break then, so we headed over towards where a lot of his class was hanging out and talked to some parents while Aaron sat near some friends to watch classmates do the ball throw.

From Mush's Blog

Up next for Aaron is the scooter race. He's again in one of the later heats. As he gets ready, we try to get a pic...he doesn't look up, but we get a great pic of his friend, Ben.

From Mush's Blog

He got second in his heat, but he qualified for the finals.


The finals go, and it was too close to call who won from our vantage point...

From Mush's Blog

This pic was taken at about the half-way point.

From Mush's Blog

That smile on his face should be an indication as to which (1st) place (1st) he finished (1st).



Done for the day, he headed up to the stands (bouncing around everywhere) and watched the 400. I seriously think a couple of them could beat me in the 400! After the 400, the classes go together for their awards and group pics.

From Mush's Blog

...and, being Kindergarteners, they had to do one of these:

From Mush's Blog

Sufficed to say, they all had an absolute blast, and I think they're already looking forward to next year's events!

Gettysburg in Our Back Yard!

Every May, the area just beyond our fence becomes a living classroom. While I'm not sure just how many years they have done this, the high school, along with people from all across the region, put on their "Civil War Days." The day before, there is nothing but a few log barriers set up. During the evening, everything comes in. I often come home from teaching my evening class to see two campfires going across the fence, and this month was no exception. The only real difference between this and previous years was that there were storms in the forecast. As they rolled in, I watched outside to see if they appeared to be safe. If the winds and/or lightning got to be too intense, I was going to let them head into our place. They all were fine and were outside within minutes of the rain passing.

The following morning we saw this:

From Mush's Blog

The high school girls dress the period as Southern Belles:

From Mush's Blog

The above 2 pictures were taken around 8:45 in the morning. It was really overcast, and the fog added a realistic sense of eeriness to the area. Over to the right in the football/band practice field, the P.E. class was learning the game of cricket...the teacher was even dressed up in the attire of the time. I tried to get a picture of it, but it was just too foggy, and all the attempts came out blurred.

Throughout the day, classes from other schools on field trips as well as people from all across the area came out to learn about the time period. They had people showing what life was like (medicine, military life, cooking, etc), and they even had Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis giving testimonies of their lives. I could be wrong, be the crowds looked to be a little smaller than last year, be it because of the weather or because of budget cuts at local school districts...I don't know. Regardless, they were out there in the fog, mist, and, ultimately, rain.



Around 1:30, the majority of the Tri-Valley student body, and (I think) a couple of the closest school districts head out to witness the re-enactment.

From Mush's Blog

To show how involved the school is and how well this is put on, the chemistry class sets up pyrotechnics to set off during the battle (you can see the chemistry students in the pictures and videos below in the prone position on our side of the battle) and many of the students take part on both sides of the battle. They set up the tents, go through practice sessions to learn how to load and fire the rifles, etc).

From Mush's Blog

The rain let up not too long before the battle was to begin. The picture above shows some of the final preparations prior to the battle.


The videos below do not do the sounds justice. If you put earbuds in and cranked up the volume to high, you'd probably be close to the sound but still not quite there. When you see the picture shake during a cannon firing, it should be pointed out that most of the time the camera was stationary. THAT'S how loud it was. Unfortunately, I can't blame all the moving on the cannons...I had the camera on the handrail of the deck and was moving it to try to capture the action.







Our neighbors (Barb and Bob) have the better view of the battle, mostly because they don't have the playground right in the line-of-sight of the field. I considered asking if the Confederacy wanted to set up a sniper in the tower. Some of the crew over on Bob's deck had a son on the field. He (Landon) was on the Confederacy side (you see him running back after the volley of cannon fire around 3:45 into the video above). So you don't think I was toying with the volume, I was talking to Bob, who was barely audible from about 40 feet away.


In past years, they had someone announcing what was happening on the field of battle, including the moves, strategies, etc. They had the auctioneer truck there (in the background near the school), but there was no announcing this year. in the video below, you see a cavalry being turned back and a forward movement by the South.





The North, superior in numbers this year, also advances to take up post behind one of the barriers:

From Mush's Blog

Below, the South sounds retreat and rallies behind their established line. The artillery crew provides cover as the infantry falls back. It was probably around this time that the pyro crew was getting frustrated. The weather must have wreaked havoc on many of their buried charges.





You can actually see a nurse out there attempting to tend to a wounded soldier on the North.

I think it was not long afterward that one of the buried pyro charges actually went off. You should have seen the pyro crew celebrating! I wish I would have gotten that on video.





Sufficed to say, Landon didn't make it.


At the very end of the video, the casualties got up, and a large round of applause ensued. Afterward, both sides cleared their weapons:

From Mush's Blog

The North won the battle this year. I'm not sure how they decide who is victorious from year to year. Regardless, I think it's an awesome thing for the school district to put on for the area. Hopefully this event continues to grow in stature and attendance every year.