On May 30th, 2004 Lazy Run Ranch was hit by a tornado, while the damage here is extensive it is nothing to the lose of 3 human lives just a half a mile north of the ranch.  I was at Lake Pomme de Terre at the time but was watching all the bad weather up here and was not pleased to hear that tornadoes were forming over Osborn, Mo. where we have a home.  It is this tornado a category F4 (very powerful, F5 is the highest) that inflicted all of the damage.  Our house suffered minor damage but nothing like what happened at John's.  I am not going to put any captions with the pictures but will leave that to John whenever he has time.  I was very apprehensive about going out to John's place because I tried for two days to get him on the telephone and all I could get was a busy signal because the lines are still down there.  Needless to say that I was very happy to see that everything was AOK when I arrived, to see John resting after a hard day of cleaning up. 

John would like to thank all of the people that responded with their assistance in his time of need.  The nice thing is that these people just keep coming back to help....free of charge.
THE MENNONITE COMMUNITY AROUND THE AREA 

There is a link to a second page of pictures at the bottom of this one

On 29 May 2004, at 2230 hours three to five classed F4 tornados turned Lazy Run Ranch upside down and brought the operation to a standstill.  The evening started out by breeding stallion “Jet” to an outside mare and completing night chores.  At approximately 2130 hours it started pouring down rain very hard.  Finishing chores, J.C. and I headed to the house.  While fixing supper we received a call from a friend at the Fed.  He advised there were three to five tornados in a mile wide path right on top of us. We headed for the basement.  Within five minutes it sounded like a high pitch jet engine coming through the house.  We headed for the cold storage room in the basement (concrete walls and ceiling with insulated door).  Once in the there, we heard nothing. 

At 2140 hours we opened the insulated door.  The phone rang.  We still had power and the house seemed to be fine from the inside. A friend called to advise a big tree hit his truck.  Lightning lit the sky up like day time and looking out the kitchen window I first seen the horrors of the storm.  The horse barn received major damage, my first thought was the outside mare and her filly stalled on the north side and of course “King” and “Missy” who were stalled on the south side.  The garage was destroyed.  The center barn was totally gone.  The storage barn was gone.  The tractor shop was destroyed and ready to fall down.  The storage u-haul was gone.  The grain storage bin was gone.  Power lines were down and sparking.  Trees down everywhere.  We now have lost power.  J.C. and I headed to the horse barn.

Getting to the horse barn was a challenge due to the downed trees everywhere.  It was very dark, more than normal, the moon offered no assistance. Tin and other objects were everywhere.  Arriving at the horse barn we were happy to see “King” and “Missy” still in their stalls. The mare and filly however were not.  They were sucked out. (We later found them in the north pasture – the mare had a scratch on her neck and her filly had no injuries).  Stallion “Jet” and his broodmares in the south pasture did quite well.  The same was not to be said for stallion “Taz” and his broodmares in the north pasture.  “Taz” was fine however six of his broodmares had serious injuries. One with a stifle muscle cut clear to the bone.  One hit so hard in the head her nasal cavity was crushed and swelling; her left eye was also seriously injured.  Our 30 day old colt out of Ms. Cooseeker and sired by Doubley Impress was gone (later found dead).

We left the ranch, walking north to help our neighbors.  Many lost their homes and barns. Three lost their lives.  Our deepest sympathy goes out to the respective families who lost their loved ones.  At approximately 0430 hours 30 May 2004 J.C. and I tried to get some sleep.  At 0600 hours we were up and assessing the damage during daylight. It was then we really seen the horrors of the storm.  Tractors moved but not damaged.  The trees looked like toothpicks and pop cycle sticks commingled together with tin and other objects embedded within.  Over 80% of our fence lines were either damaged or destroyed.  All horses and cattle were now accounted for.  We started doctoring the horses and getting secured areas set up to keep the livestock in.  So much debris was down. Boards with nails and other sharp objects were scattered in all directions. Two neighbors from the south had their barns destroyed and some of their building materials were in our pastures as well.

Help started to arrive.  Our Methodist Church Family along with friends and neighbors came by with chain saws, skid loaders and a backhoe to assist.   The Mennonite Community brought their Sky Track and Bobcat clearing areas and cutting tree limbs that were broken but still hanging in the trees. The Jehovah Witnesses Community out of Cameron, MO arrived to help. Methodist Church members from St. Joe, MO were here helping. The work was very dangerous and thankfully no one was hurt during the clean up.  The Alta Vista Baptist Church along with many volunteers from the community set up breakfast, lunch and supper running the food line twelve hours straight for many days during the clean up process.  There were people here that I had never met before working hard to help dig us out.  God Bless them all!

Our hay fields are probably destroyed due to the debris in the undergrowth.  This year our fields had the best undergrowth I have ever seen.  It is this undergrowth that the flying tin and boards with nails and other objects that have embedded within and so hard to detect until it is too late.  Other neighbors who have attempted to mow their hay have literally torn up their equipment due to the debris in the undergrowth.  We continue to walk our fields finding all sorts of objects such as shredded tin, barn boards with nails, glass, implement parts, wire, etc.

I will close by saying I feel blessed in that J.C. and I survived the storm and were not injured. With all the destruction to our house, barns, garages, trees, fence lines and loss of property, I never shed a tear.  However, burying my thirty day old colt was not so easy.  My last words to him were when it is my turn to cross over the great divide; we will then ride in the wind together forever.

God Bless to all,
John A. Oaks