Of tornadoes and chinchillas

Jonesboro got hit HARD!!!  As of writing there are no reported fatalities, but the damage was bad.  Mama's friend lost some AC units, part of her roof, her fence, some windows, and had her sun deck damaged, but she's okay.  She said her neighbors suffered "devastating" damage.  Another friend and her son rode out the storm in this car and were scared but unhurt.

I think that may be close to Mall at Turtle Creek.  Oh, I used to love going there, back when I was semi-attractive and could wear more clothes.  The mall itself appears to have sustained some major damage, by the way.  Tim Marshall, legendary storm chaser and one of my childhood heroes, shared this image, captured off of a local tower cam (one belonging to KAIT?), and Facebook user Adam Finley shared this image of damage.  Gateway Tire looks bad, as does the municipal airport, and Barnes and Noble got flattened...it's BAD, kids!  Jonesboro PD has announced an all-night curfew and has opened up four shelters for those who are now homeless...so so much for social distancing, I s'pose.   I wonder how exactly they're going to work that?  

Despite what I said in the earlier post Malden never got put under a tornado warning, but the same storm that hit Jonesboro and Brookland tracked south and east of here.  Spotters confirmed a tornado down around Holcomb, where I used to work, and another tornado went just west of East Prairie.  I didnt hear of any damage at either place, but just because I didn't hear it doesn't mean it's not true!  Malden was blessed once again; that's the third time this spring that we've dodged a bad weather bullet.

Unfortunately I have some sad news of my own to pass along, and my sadness is the main reason for sharing this post tonight instead of tomorrow.  I gotta vent.  My beloved chinchilla Bentley became progressively ill over the week, and the nearest vet who would see her was...I think Malden's vet said Memphis!  Driving a hundred fifty miles in bad weather on a workday was completely out of the question, so all I could do was try to keep Bentley hydrated.  Alas, my efforts were in vain, and when I got off work I found her dead in her cage.  Here is what Miss Bentley looked like during her youth; indeed, this is the first picture I took of her!

When I picked her up her cute white tummy was still warm.  What did I do?  I marched out into a torrential rainstorm (complete with lightning) and buried her next to Sampson, Hunger Games salute and all.  I'll miss my fur baby, who loved chin rubs and dust baths and hay cubes, but I can at least rest assured that she did not die unloved and alone.

Sigh...I promise I'll get back to dolls next week.  I've got four, count 'em, FOUR posts planned.  I just needed to purge some negativity.

Cheerio,

RagingMoon1987