TORNADO IN OMAHA 1975

In 1975 I lived in Council Bluffs, Iowa which is right across the river from Omaha. I worked in an office building in downtown Council Bluffs at that time. Our office was on the fifth floor. Late in the day near quitting time we were all told to head for the basement because of a tornado warning. So everybody in the building was huddled in the basement where we couldn't see anything or hear anything, and nobody had a radio. After a while a few of us had to go up and look out to see what was going on. Apparantly the tornado had missed us.

I went home and stayed glued to the TV until the wee hours of the morning. It was the best Television coverage of an event I've seen up until the Flood of 1993 in Des Moines.

My brother was at Aksarben Racetrack in Omaha at the time. This is a photo that was taken at the track as the tornado appoached. My brother obtained a print of it several days later. He remarked that it was the first tornado he had seen in person and he didn't care if he never saw another one. (Click on the photo to see a larger version. Click on it again to see a still larger version.)

The tornado tore a swath along the West part of Omaha and did tremendous damage.

CONSTRUCTION PROJECT

Close to Four Mile Creek there is a huge underground construction project going on. They sure tore up a lot of corn; so it must be something they didn't bother to tell the farmer about before he planted. Whatever the project is it must involve water and the huge concrete pipe sections indicate quite a lot of water. I wonder if they are going to channel Four Mile Creek through it. The structure in the pit must be a manhole in case they have to go in there and do some work in the future.

CREEK

Four Mile Creek runs through the farm property shown below. I have no idea why they call it Four Mile Creek because it's a lot longer than four miles.

FARM OPERATION

This is a pretty good sized farm operation for being so close to the Des Moines Metro. They raise corn and beans, and also cattle. All of the corn and beans in the previous sections go with the farm buildngs and structures shown here. As you can see, our Flag was still there.

AFTER THE RAIN

We got a really good rain early this morning. It was coming down like the well known cow and woke me up. It was such a beautiful morning I took my camera and went for about a three mile walk.

The rain certainly helped the soybeans and corn which needed it badly. Here is some tall corn and a couple shots of some soybeans.

MORE PHOTOS I SHOT TODAY

The photo in the middle is a field of soybeans. Last year that field was all planted in corn. Farmers usually alternate between corn and beans. The soybeans put nitrogen in the soil and corn takes it out.

The other photos are at a Park here that is maintained by the County. It is kept in a semi-wild state. I call these photos The Iowa Jungle. For some reason, when you post photos to these Blogs they never end up in the order you post them.

MY AFTERNOON WALK TODAY

Here are some things I saw on my afternoon walk today from about 3:00 to 4:00 PM. On top are some Oak Trees. Bottom photo is of some wildflowers along the road side. The orange flowers grow wild and look to be some kind of wild Iris. Even though they grow wild they are attractive enough that some people cultivate them and grow them in their yards.

The temperature was a bit on the warm side, but not oppressively hot. I was not particularly uncomfortable, but the air conditioning sure felt good when I got home. It would not have been a good day to to have to do physical labor outside for any extended length of time.

More Screen Shots from SWAN LAKE

Screen Shots from SWAN LAKE

INTRODUCTION

Odette

I am starting over with my blog. This time I think I will use it primarily to post photos and other graphics of things that interest me and which I think may interest other people I know on the internet.

I recently recorded a broadcast of Swan Lake on DVD. Above are some screen shots from the recording.