54°F and intermittent rain this morning, going up to 57° today.
Wife and I were getting ready to go to bed last night when our phones started going nuts with alerts. We'd been watching the storm front getting closer, and had planned to lay in bed and watch the light show through the windows. One of the alerts was a tornado warning. I hesitated a bit, thinking that we get warnings now even if there is a tornado in an adjacent county. After looking outside again, we decided to head to the basement. We turned on the television to a local news station to see them talking about heavy rotation between Highland and Trenton. That's us! When they zoomed in on the radar, it was moving right along the Madison/Clinton County line, which is about a mile north of us. It was moving east at 40mph, so it passed quickly. When I left for work this morning, I took the northern route to drive through there. I saw a bunch of trees down, with one against the front of a farm house just about a 1/4 mile north of the county line, and one barn further north and east that had some significant damage to the roof and at least one wall. Most of the damage I saw seemed to be in and east of the St. Morgan area. Nothing too serious, but a lot of chainsaws will be buzzing today.
Speaking of chain saws ... I called the Harbor Freight store in North St. Louis County yesterday afternoon, and a kind young fella there checked and told me they had a few of the Lynxx 40v chainsaws in stock there. So, I swung by there after work to pick one up. When I got there, there were none on the shelf, so I asked one of the guys at the checkout counter. He asked if I'd called earlier, and when I said yes, he turned around and picked one up sitting on the counter behind him, which he'd set aside for me. Very cool. Used the coupon from the HF coupon database to get it for $149. I also noticed that they'd rearranged that store since the last time I was there. All the isle are now running sideways, and they've clearly acquired some more space next to them, as the place is huge now.
I also stopped at Walmart in Highland on the way home to pick up some fruit and bread at The Wife's request. Since they never have any of the smaller carts inside anymore, I always grab one from outside on my way in. They had them all strapped together, so I loosened the strap and took the first one from the stack. When I pushed it in the front door, there was a guy in there disinfecting the full-size carts. He stopped and gave me the most entertaining sneer I've seen in a long time. I smiled and went inside. Found everything I was there for, and left through the same door, with the same guy still sneering at me. I smiled and nodded to him, and out I went. After loading my stuff in the car, I took the cart back to where I got it, and noticed they'd re-strapped the other carts together again. I understood why they were not taking the smaller carts inside during the holiday shopping season, but I'll never understand why they are continuing to do it in April.
Welcome to the GM thread, gstrom99.
