Guest Blogger: EMMA HORINEK

This is a guest post from my daughter, Emma.  Twin A, fragile like a bomb, wild and free, but cares so deeply.  This is a recent photo of her with her sweet boyfriend, Austin, who helped fight the wildfires yesterday along the Oklahoma and Kansas border.  Emma is "#1" in the post I wrote about the craziness of yesterday.

Yesterday was a little grounding for me and made me remember to count my blessings. 

I experienced a fire, my significant other experience a fire, my little brother experienced a fire (and his baseball senior night!) and my other little big brother experienced a tornado. Then my mom and stepdad along with my sister, my littlest brother, and their dogs evacuated their house due to a wildfire. Finally, when we got settled in I saw the news that one of my friends from high school lost their house to a wildfire. All this, yesterday. 

So my story starts when I was on my way to Stillwater and Austin Spielman called me to tell me that he was needed to help fight a fire in Silverdale. He told me he just finished filling the water tank on his truck as well as the water trailer and he was headed out. When I arrive at my eye doctor appointment in Stillwater a tree had caught fire in the parking lot due to getting caught in a powerline and the power went out, I was not able to finish my appointment. (I am getting glasses tho) During this time my brother was fighting fires in Osage County. When I left the eye doctor, I called my mom to tell her what had happened and she informed me that she was evacuating with the rest of the Weaver household due to a wildfire in Guthrie, Oklahoma. I made it home from Stillwater and later on in the evening had dinner with Austin then we were relaxing at a friend's house and he got the call. He had to go back out. It was 4 AM before he got home and while he was out, I was looking through Facebook and found out about my friend. My big little brother was headed up to Memphis Tennessee for basketball and they had a couple of run-ins with tornadoes due to this crazy weather. 

Yesterday could have ended so badly for me and so many people close to me but I thank God today that it didn’t.

March 31, 2023 - The one with the weather

Today is April 1, 2023. April’s Fool Day. But yesterday really fooled us!!

Yesterday, the weather around here made for a Very Interesting day. Dry conditions and high winds in Oklahoma and Kansas, plus a storm front barreling east across the middle of the the country. Multiple Wildfires and Tornadoes along the way. My family was in the thick it it!!

#1’s SO was out volunteering to fight wild fires along the OK/KS border.  Started mid-afternoon and lasted through sundown. 

#3 travelled from OK to TN narrowly avoiding a tornado in AR, only to have one hit right by his Memphis hotel and knocking out power all night. (Still out)

#2 was with my in our far north Edmond / Logan County home when 3 wildfires were near our home. Two were within 3 miles, so we decided to grab some things, the Doxie babies, and evacuate. Spent 4 hours away from home - drove south to OKC to meet up with #4 and hubs. 

#4 and the hubs had their own adventure as this all broke out about the time dad got off work, so he came home for a few minutes - packed up essentials, then went back to get baby boy at the end of his school day. Took 1:10 to drive the 4 miles to the school due to evacuee traffic, after school buses and traffic, and road closures/detours. Once he finally had child in hand, he headed south to OKC to meet up with us and the dogs. 

We sat in the parking lot playing with very nervous dogs for about and hour, the started messaging our neighbors for updates. So many road closures and detours, it took a village of back road experts to navigate us back home. #3, the dogs and I went first to confirm the route, while #4 and hubs stopped to grab us dinner. By 8pm we were home and fed, and started unloading our lives from the back of our cars.  But, we didn’t unpack it all, because wild fires like to respawn. 

And respawn they did along the OK/KS border. #1s SO was back out in it in the middle of the night and finally got back home around 3:30am. 

#3 woke up in Memphis to the sound of fire truck sites around 6am, which was good because they needed to load buses at 7am to play a game at 8am (moved to a different hotel - one out of the danger zone - later that same day). 

#2, #4, hubs and I safe at home. Taking it all in. 

April. Please done be a fool!