Hill Country Living
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Hill Country Living
By Coulter Fussell
It’s a beautiful time of year in this area of the world if you’re willing to ignore the apocalyptic thunderstorms that cause total havoc and destruction on a near weekly basis. A little over a week after we finally cleaned up the giant oak I watched fall in my yard during the last big storm in Water Valley, I was caught in yet another storm that was equally wild!
This time, I was coming back from my weekly Larson’s/Kroger run in Oxford. Despite warning my husband that the weather on the radar was looking severely iffy and that maybe we should wait a little bit to drive back to the Valley, he stayed true to his nature as a man and ignored my warning. By the time we got to NMRC, the clouds were so ominous that they looked like the end of “Ghostbusters” right after the team blasts away the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man outside of the Empire State Building.
A mile or so further and Highway 7, on which we were driving, essentially disappeared before our eyes in a total white-out situation. We saw nothing but rain and visible horizontal wind. Two times in as many weeks I have witnessed seeing not only wind have a color, which is odd enough in itself as it’s typically clear, but be entirely horizontal in direction — completely perpendicular to the ground. Debris and tree limbs began to fly across the road in front of us. It was time to figure out a new plan because driving south down Highway 7 wasn’t it!
Fortunately, we were right at Hill Top gas station and pulled over by their car wash. There were near 30 other cars who had to do the same and we all sat in our cars, I assume in prayer, while the storm whipped past us – shaking our vehicles like wrapped Christmas presents. When it started to hail, I became very thankful that we pulled over at a Christian gas station. Hill Top has played loud Jesus music at their pumps for many years. I’m not typically religious myself but I figure it it’s time to momentarily commit in situations such as what we were in.
The whole storm was over after a while and one by one the cars drove off. Trees were down across Highway 7 at the split and as we drove past Shelbi Place, I could see that it got knocked around pretty good. Taylor had it rough during this one, as well. I guess if you’re a giant old beautiful tree, this is not your season.
Other than near death in storms, the month of May has been lovely. It’s very busy for parents and as the parent of a high school senior, it’s also very emotional!
Where did my baby go?! Literally.
Where did he go? He’s gone all the time and comes home like once every three days to ask me to make him a quesadilla or a biscuit. He mentions crawfish a lot, so he seems to be hopping from crawfish boil to crawfish boil. Is that all he’s eating? Who else is feeding him in between? My guess is Vicki Turnage.
Congrats to all the moms, grandmommas and caretakers of high school Seniors! We did it! Congrats, too, to the Water Valley seniors themselves! Y’all did it, too!
