All OK in Kansas?

[red]

Just heard where KS had a terrible tornado. Know we've got a lot of people from that area on the board here. It was in SW KS, around the Greensbug area.
Just wanted to check in with you!




Red

 

[Doc]

Hope everybody there is fine! I live 25 miles north of Nashville, TN & got 5 inches of rain in 5 hours this morning. We needed the rain but not like that. (clapping)

 

[red]

(welcome)  Doc

Thanks Doc, glad you joined our little group!

Red

 

[shortdawg]

Hey Doc , Send me some of that rain ! We haven't had any in 7 weeks.

 

[stick]

Are you close to where they've been having the wild fires?

 

[cowz]

The tornado that hit Greenburg killed 9 people and wiped out 90% of the town.  It lies directly west of Wichita.  What a terrible thing.  These are salt of the earth farm folks.  My prayers are with them.

 

[Jill]

We were about an hour from there showing in Hutchinson, we never turned on the TV in the hotel or we probably wouldn't have gotten much sleep.  From what I understand we are getting the wrap around from the storm now, we have had 4 inches of rain so far this morning, I would love to send it anywhere we are drowning in a mud pit here. 
Don't know anyone that was in the tornado area this time, but our thoughts and prayers are with them, they have lost everything from the pictures I have seen.

 

[shortdawg]

Stick etal,
    I live about 30 miles from the Ware County line where all the fires were at. That county is the largest in GA. The wind has kept the smoke and fires out of our area except for one day. We had a lot of smoke 2 weeks ago and I could see the smoke clouds many days last week. This spring has been the driest on record in our county. The humidity was only 29% the other day which is almost unheard of this time of year this close to the Gulf of Mexico. The drought here is really reaching a catastrophic level. We farm and we've been irrigating day and night. Someone told me it would rain 3 days before it was too late ( jokingly) but too late is closing fast. I would really appreciate any prayers for rain you all could lift up for us.

 

[red]

Shortdawg I will certainly add you to my prayers! I knew it was dry in your area but had no idea how bad. Thirty miles is just too close for me!
Too often we look at our own problems & think they are the worst. Then we hear about others that are truly being tested & we need to be thankful for our great fortunes.

Keep us informed!

Red

 

[red]

Jill- how did you do at the show?
I imagine the tornado was the talk to the show.

Red

 

[brahmergirl]

Just lots of rain here, just about to wash away.  We cannot believe how much we keep getting and it's not letting up.  We have the dirtiest quarter horses around.  They just keep rolling and rolling in the mud.  I'm not sure how much more we can take here.  It totally washed away all of our lespedeza seed  and we can't get in to plant anything. 

Not good for Kansas Farmers 

 

[shortdawg]

We had another fire today about 10 miles from our place. It really had us worried b/c the wind was blowing our way. This one was sparked by a cigarette someone threw out the window. It looked like they had it under control by late evening and I'm not sure how many acres it burned. The Ware and Atkinson County fires have burned 100,000 acres so far! We have a lot of land planted in pine trees in this area which is mostly what has been burning. The pine straw and low humidity make it burn like gas.

 

[Jill]

Jill- how did you do at the show?
I imagine the tornado was the talk to the show.

Red

We actully did very well, we had Champion and Reserve Maine both rings and Reserve Maintainer both rings.  Cheramie Vietor opened up her talk that morning with thoughts of Greensburg and that was the 1st we had heard about it.  There were several at the show from that area and knew people there.  Ketzner's got wiped out a couple of weeks ago so this is really the 2nd time damage has hit our showing family.

 

[red]

Jlynch sent me this link of pictures of the damage.

http://www.kansas.com/static/slides/050507tornadoaerials/

 

[Jill]

The amazing part to me is that there were only 10 deaths.  This happened at night and could have been much worse.  I can't imagine loosing everything and that would be horrible, but you can replace material possesion.  What a tragedy.

 

[red]

John said that a guy had 11 new combines at the JD dealership waiting to be picked up. Can you imagine?

Great on the show Jill!

Red

 

[red]

John sent me some pictures of the combines. As he & I agreed the machinery can be replaced but the human lives can't.

Red

 

[cowz]

Jill- how did you do at the show?
I imagine the tornado was the talk to the show.

Red

We actully did very well, we had Champion and Reserve Maine both rings and Reserve Maintainer both rings.  Cheramie Vietor opened up her talk that morning with thoughts of Greensburg and that was the 1st we had heard about it.  There were several at the show from that area and knew people there.  Ketzner's got wiped out a couple of weeks ago so this is really the 2nd time damage has hit our showing family.

I talked to Nick Ketzner the other day and they are actually making a great recovery.  They found a house in town to live in while they rebuild.  The feed mill was only down for a couple days.      Me, I would dig a new big basement!

 

[cowz]

Here are some more pictures.  The devastation is just unreal.  Notice how the elevator was untouched.

http://www.kansas.com/static/slides/050507tornadoaerials/