Early April storms

Nothing like a happy lil' boy to cheer an otherwise troublesome week... More on that later! These pictures are from last week, when Kenny was on spring break. We didn't go anywhere, really, just to southwestern Arkansas. The kids got to play at a new state park for them:

(They're digging holes in the gravel and exposing the high water due to recent rains). While they were doing this, I volunteered at a different archeological dig--this one being done at an 1840s-era house in Old Washington State Park in southwestern Arkansas (http://www.historicwashingtonstatepark.com/). Old Washington was an early settlement along a trail into Texas, and during the Civil War served for a time as Arkansas' capital after those Yankees captured Little Rock. The house we were excavating by:

(That's me standing to the left of the pit) is called the Royston House (after its original owner), and was occupied from the 1840s until well after the Civil War. We're examining a trash pit (19th century Americans often buried their garbage in pits in their yards) that was filled with broken dishes, burned wood, scrap metal and nails, buttons, and all other sorts of trinkets. Historic trash pits like this are just loaded with artifacts, so I found plenty of items in the half day I spent here.

Last Sunday I drove to Tulsa, Oklahoma, after church to attend a business meeting. While I was there, Hope had all sorts of "fun". First, on Sunday afternoon lil' Stephen took a good (accidental) whack on the head from a toy (plastic whiffle) bat Kenny was swinging, leaving him with a minor bump and abrasion and no concussion, thank goodness. Then, the battery died in our minivan on Monday evening, leaving her scrambling to get the car fixed before school the next day. Then Tuesday morning, while I was returning from Oklahoma, a line of thunderstorms that had rumbled through Tulsa the night before reached Monticello. Hope called me immediately afterwards to say that the power pole right behind our house had gotten hit by lightning, knocking out our power. They restored power later that afternoon, and then we found out that the lightning had also damaged the modem card in our computer, and we couldn't access the internet at home. We called the cable company, and the repairman showed up this afternoon and checked out our system, confirming that their equipment was still working--it was our PC that had the problem. Fortunately, the cable modem also had a USB connection that we were able to use instead, allowing me to write this blog tonight!

We were lucky, though--late this morning, another line of severe storms rumbled through the Monticello area, and our friends the Kuttenkulers were now on the receiving end of a nasty lightning strike. It hit a large pine near the front of their home:

The bolt zapped off a strip of bark on this tree, and actually blasted out roots and dirt at the base of the tree:
A chunk of bark or part of a branch was also thrown through one of their bedroom windows (fortunately, the boy who sleeps in this room was at school):

A lot of their electronics were fried by this bolt, and they'll have to meet with an adjuster from their insurance company to figure out the damage early next week. Ouch! The storms brought heavy rain and localized flooding, shown here with a small creek that flows by campus:

April, May, and June are often filled with strong storms, and this year looks no different. Let's hope we weather the storms better than our friends!!