Weather wreaks havoc on sports

Josh Veatch - Sports correspondent

Gofer wood. Anybody know where I can find any? I wonder if any of the local lumber stores carry gofer wood. Next, we need a large field to begin construction, and some way to gather two of every animal.
Of course, I am referring to the Biblical story of Noah and the Ark he built before a massive flood that lasted 40 days and 40 nights and the ark was the only protection from the waters.
Recently, we may have not had 40 days and nights of rain, but it sure seems like it. Over about the past two weeks many locations around Marion County have picked up rainfall in double-digit amounts. The current forecast does not show much improvement.
However, many areas to our north and west have picked up even more and flooding in those areas is a major problem.
Another threat that has accompanied our excessive rainfall is severe weather. With nearly all of our recent rainstorms, there always seems to be the risk of high winds and/or large hail. Can’t we just have a regular thunderstorm anymore?
One morning as I was driving from my house to the farm, I was attempting to listen to the radio. I couldn’t get a full song in without hearing that familiarly annoying computerized voice telling us where the next warning has been issued by the National Weather Service. You know the voice. It always follows those hideous warning sirens that you cannot avoid. My drive is only half an hour long and I got to hear this at least eight times that morning.
This type of weather pattern wreaks total havoc on any type of outdoor sports schedule. I have lost count of how many games have been cancelled and need to be rescheduled. The question I now ask has changed from is the game cancelled, to the more realistic; the game is cancelled, right.
One week in particular that I can remember, the baseball team had four games scheduled, and weren’t able to get on the field that week until Friday. Now there are games stuck in the schedules on any free day, and we have to try to adjust on the fly and cover them.
As many of you know, I also farm. This lovely weather pattern that we are seemingly stuck in is thoroughly screwing up what little scheduling there is on a farm. There are certain things that have to be done on the farm during this particular time of the year. For many farmers around this area, corn planting is on their minds but their fields are in dire need of some sunshine and some wind (the normal kind, just breezes).
There are only so many “inside” jobs on the farm, especially this time of year when most of the work is supposed to be outside. Who can forget what happened one year ago this past weekend. Somewhere between 8 and 12 inches of rain fell in a very short time causing some of the worst flooding in this area, ever. Those floodwaters tried to literally wash Bradfordsville off the map, and deposited a mountain of debris all over Marion County.
Recently, I have begun to wonder what I am supposed to do. Both of my jobs are off schedule because of the rain, and I’m looking for some sense of normalcy.  Maybe I should go out and buy some stock in windshield wipers or ponchos.  I’m sure that those items are on the rise during this spell.
In closing, I would like to take time to mention all those people in Alabama that recently had everything destroyed by multiple tornadoes.
Over 200 casualties were reported in Alabama alone, and the survivors are left with the unenviable task of rebuilding after some of the strongest winds on the planet.  Recently the federal government declared Alabama a level one natural disaster, the same level that hurricane Katrina caused in New Orleans and the same level given after the terrorist attacks of 9/11.  
In Hackleburg, Ala., and Smithville, Miss., the National Weather Service has confirmed that EF-5 tornadoes touched down. An EF-5 tornado is the strongest on the Enhanced Fujita scale used to rank tornadoes by wind speed. Winds inside these particular twisters were in excess of 200 miles per hour. The Hackleburg tornado was on the ground for 25 miles and left a path of destruction 3/4 of a mile wide while the Smithville twister was down for nearly three miles with a 1/2-mile wide base. This marks the first day that two separate EF-5 twisters were confirmed since March 13, 1990 in Kansas. Three other EF-4’s were also reported in Alabama and Georgia on that same day. Please keep the families of those who lost loved ones in your thoughts and prayers.