Hail Wars

Interesting title eh?? Stick with me and you'll find out why. I want to thank BFFE for the suggestions. They are great and I have them printed out so when i get a blogger block I can refer to it. Since she did suggest farm stories that's what today is about.

Last night @ 1230AM i woke up to loud thunder, bright lightening and lots of rain. Oh and who could forget the rain. I turned the TV on to see about weather warnings and wondered if i should wake everyone up and seek shelter. No tornado warnings BUT we were in a Severe Thunderstorm Warning which means tornado's COULD happen with little to no warning. Yeah.....I came downstairs to find DH down here and he said that the storm was almost done based on radar. Back upstairs I went. Did I mention I was quite cross. I was so stinken tired from Bible School that being woken up was NOT what I wanted. Back to sleep I went only to be awoken again 1 1/2 later by hail pelting the windows. It was SO loud!!! All I could think of was the crops.

I thought back while growing up how hail storms just meant damage to cars, roof, etc now hail has an entire new dimension. Our life!! As in our crops!!!! How many of you watched Little House On the Prairie and watched Charles try as his crops were diminished to just a stalk, by a hail storm. That's all that was running thru my mind. No lie, it hailed non stop for 30 min!! Once again I came downstairs, this time to find DH ASLEEP on the couch. I think he knew there was nothing he could do. The hail was hitting on 3 sides of the house.

Once again, back up to bed feeling quite cross and nervous. But then BAHM I swear lightening struck the tree right outside our house. It was so loud i hit the floor!! OK maybe I hit the bottom of the bed with the sheets.

Woke up this AM to the sun out, we must have lost power b/c my clock was flashing, and a mess of leaves, branches all over the place. DH set out with the kids to survey damage. All while i was cutting beans to freeze. What a process. Anyway, the garbage truck came and I asked him what kind of damage he saw and he said south of Hwy 20 was pretty bad. EEKS I told him where we have a farm there and he said we'd best check it. Called DH and he was surprised thinking that farm was spared. He brought the kids back home and headed out.

DH just came home and said there was about a 4 mile stretch that got hit pretty hard. Literally 3/4 mile north of our place nothing. Are crops aren't stripped by any means but there probably is some damage. He will have to get the insurance adjuster out. That being said, yes we do carry insurance for hail BUT when prices are where they are at you will never get what you fully have invested in your crops back from an insurance claim.

It's nervous for me b/c the selling of our crops IS our income. We don't have full time jobs that supplement our income. We have a hail storm, strong winds, tornado's, etc that wipe us out, we are going to be hurtin. It's a tough field (haha) to be in. Farming requires a lot of work and timing. Have to have crops in by a certain time, out by a certain time (weather) you pay so much money upfront like fertilizer, seed, gas, time, etc before you see any return. Depending on when the farmer sells his crops, he could go 9 + months before he reaps what he sewed.

So much more I could say about this but really I think DH should do a guest post as Farmer Brown. (any of you know that book??) For right now it looks like we've been spared the brunt of it but in the days to come will know for sure. I did just look at my garden from the window here, and it's not looking to well. I guess I'll go survey my own damage right here.

Off the subject, FIL is back in the hospital and no time as to when he'll be released.