SAVE MONEY - BUY BUTTER

The best time to stock up on butter and other baking supplies is around Thanksgiving and Easter.  Butter has really gone up in price so now is the time to buy.  The cheapest Hill Spirit has found is $2.50 for a box of four sticks.  Found some on sale for $2 a box and planning on buying 30 boxes in the next few days.  Hopefully, that will be all that is needed until next Thanksgiving. 

You can save a lot of money buying butter on sale.  How do you store it?  You can freeze it for up to a year or you can can it.  Freezing doesn't take any more steps than having a freezer.  Canning is a bit more involved.  

Here is a link:  
HOW TO CAN BUTTER

GARY MICHAEL STRINGER - OBITUARY

Name:

Gary Michael Stringer

Dates:
Birth date: May 29, 1951
Death date: April 2, 2015

Obituary:
Gary Michael Stringer, 63 of Elkmont, Alabama died on Thursday, April 2, 2015, at Athens-Limestone Hospital.
Born Tuesday, May 29, 1951 in Athens, Alabama. He lived all his life in Limestone County and enjoyed talking and visiting.
 
Surviving are his wife: Barbara Malone Stringer of Elkmont, AL, son, David Hardin of Toney, AL, daughters, Lucy & Jay Sledge of Toney, AL, Emily & Cecil Davis of Athens, AL, Patricia Bolden of Toney, AL and Joann Bolden of Flintville, TN, ten grandchildren, two great-grandchildren and several nieces and nephews.

Funeral services will be at 2:00 PM on Monday, April 6, 2015, at Ardmore Chapel Funeral Home, Ardmore, Alabama with Bro. Ralph Riddle officiating. Burial will be in Gatlin Cemetery, Ardmore, AL.
 
The family will receive friends from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM on Sunday, April 5, 2015, at Ardmore Chapel Funeral Home, Ardmore, Alabama.

PAUL SHAW - OBITUARY

Name:
Paul Shaw

Dates:
Birth date: September 2, 1940
Death date: April 2, 2015

Obituary:
Paul Shaw, 74 of Elkmont, Alabama died on Thursday, April 2, 2015, at his home.
Born Monday, September 2, 1940 in Lewisburg, Tennessee, he was the son of the late Robert F. Shaw and the late Gracie Moffitt Shaw. He was a member of Boyd's Chapel Methodist Church and the UAW. He loved to tinker with small engines and lawn mowers. He was preceded in death by his parents, a son: Steve Holt, and a sister: Linda Coe.
 
Surviving are his wife of 36 years: Alma Ruth Young Shaw of Elkmont, AL, son, Kevin (Teresa) Shaw of Nashville, TN, daughter-in-law: June Holt of Elkmont, AL, brother, Gene (Mary) Conrad of Tacoma, WA, grandson: Geoffrey Holt of Elkmont, AL.

Funeral services will be at 5:00 PM on Saturday, April 4, 2015, at Ardmore Chapel Funeral Home, Ardmore, Alabama with Bro. Doug Colwell and Steven Wight officiating. Burial will be in Hasting Cemetery, Ardmore, AL.
The family will receive friends from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM on Saturday, April 4, 2015, at Ardmore Chapel Funeral Home, Ardmore, Alabama.

DON'T FORGET TO GIVE THE GIFT OF LIFE

Everyone please remember the Health South Blood Drive that we are having Saturday to honor our Sweet Baby Raegan at Elkmont High School from 10-6 p.m. We will also shaved ice, baked good and also band bracelets to support Raegan. Theresa Mims will be selling chances on two beautiful Alabama and Auburn door wreaths. Please come out and help this young family as they are going this very difficult time.

TORNADOES IN ELKMONT?

Elkmont has been very blessed. Tornadoes seem to go over or around but haven't hit the Hilltop. The only one (F1) to put down in the Elkmont city limits (blue box) was March 1982 since records have been kept starting 1951. We are in one of the safer parts of the county.

Link to this tornado path map; great if you are looking for a place to live in Limestone County.

 

From what Hill Spirit has been reading, similar weather factors (warm gulf and big cold fronts)  

have appeared that look alot like April of 2011.

You remember those crazy days.  No power, no gas, no cell phones, no ATM and nothing was open.  People were driving here from Huntsville looking for stuff.

Hill Spirit wants the folks of Elkmont to be ready if tornadoes appear in Limestone County later this month into the whole month of map.  There will be series of posts to help you get ready, just in case....

Here is the first one of how to get ready, One Month Before The Tornado.

LINK to Elkmont Storm Shelter Post

WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR ELKMONT

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR ELKMONT

FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY... 
A STRONG COLD FRONT IS STILL ON SCHEDULE TO PUSH SOUTHEASTWARD ACROSS THE AREA LATE FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND FRIDAY EVENING.  THERE WILL BE WIDESPREAD SEVERE THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY PRECEDING THE FRONT. 

A FEW SUPERCELLS MAY DEVELOP AHEAD OF THE FRONT EARLY FRIDAY AFTERNOON ACROSS NORTHWEST ALABAMA. THIS ACTIVITY WILL POSE A RISK OF TORNADOES, SIGNIFICANT DAMAGING WINDS AND VERY LARGE HAIL. 

STORMS WILL ORGANIZE INTO AN INTENSE SQUALL LINE BY LATE AFTERNOON AND PUSH RAPIDLY
SOUTHEASTWARD THROUGH THE EVENING...WITH THE PRIMARY THREATS SHIFTING TO DAMAGING WIND AND LARGE HAIL.

ALTHOUGH DRY AND COOLER WEATHER IS EXPECTED THIS WEEKEND, MOISTURE WILL RETURN TO THE REGION BY MONDAY MORNING WITH A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS DURING THE PERIOD FROM MONDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY.

ELKMONT GIRLS KICK THEIR WAY TO A WIN

Elkmont girls won 3-1 their first game of the season earlier this week by beating Tanner. Kaitlin Smith had several saves as goalie. Our goals were scored by Elizabeth Salgado, Claudia Allen, & Ashton Turner. They played their hearts out!

The boys game with Muscle Shoals was cancelled due to thunderstorms in the area. 

Both teams will be playing at East Limestone, April 2. The boys will have an early afternoon match at 2 pm. The girls team will kickoff at 4 pm.

ELKMONT GOLFERS LOVE BIRDIES

Both boys and girls golf season opened up with win against Clements High School. However, the boys failed short today against Ardmore while the girls pulled out another win. 

Ladies Stats: nine holes
Elkmont - team total of 119
Callie Wales  56   Adriel McMahan 63
Callie Wales had the lowest score for girls from both teams. 

Ardmore  - team total of 123
Player 1 -  58                   Player 2 - 65

Mens Stats: nine holes
Elkmont - team total of 221

Ardmore - team total of 219
Player 1 - 51,  Player 2 - 50, Player 3 - 56,
Player 4 - 67, Player 5 - 62

Their next match is this Thursday, against East Limestone.

Red Devils Golf Team

Colby Holt, Peyton McCowen, Alex Richardson, Cody Clark, Jonathan Williams, and Carson Hogan

Lady Devils Golf Team

Callie Wales and Adriel McMahan

ONE MONTH BEFORE THE TORNADO

This spring is setting up to have a very active tornado season for people in the Southeast.  Comparisons to April 2011 are being made.  We have folk among us who didn't live here at that time or were in high school and don't know what to expect.  To help us here in Elkmont be prepared, we are going to walk through what to do and how to be ready.  Hill Spirit can't predict the weather so the catchy title of this post is just that, an attention generating headline.  This series of posts will help you prepare and give you the steps you need to do.  Things that take longer to do will be in the beginning set of posts.

WHAT TO DO ONE MONTH BEFORE....

 
1.  Have you updated and checked your house insurance?
*many of us haven't looked at our policies in years; does it reflect what your house is really worth?  Get out those policies or call your insurance agent and make sure you have house replacement coverage.  If you are a renter, you might want to consider renter's insurance.  Just because you don't own a home, doesn't mean your belongings aren't valuable.

You need to document what you own.  You can take pictures or you can make a video of what is in your home.  Be sure to pay special attention to those unique things like a comic book collection, antique guns, etc. 

2.  Collect documents
* You need birth certificates, insurance cards, social security cards, contact lists of friends, doctors, credit cards, prescriptions, wills, living wills, power of attorney, etc. Anything and everything that is important for you to establish your identity, conduct business and manage your affairs.  You need to scan these and put those images on a thumb drive. Start collecting this weekend.

3.  What about pictures?
During the tornadoes of 2011, so many pictures were lost; so many memories blown away.  Hill Spirit remembers the rain of documents and pictures from the Phil Campbell tornado that came down in Elkmont.  Don't let this happen to you.  You won't be able to take much with you so scan everything you hold dear and put them on a thumb drive too.  You won't be able to get every scrapbook and picture off the wall so prepare for the possibility that you may lose them forever. Scan those pictures.

Yes, these things are big projects and that's why they are listed first.  You have the time if you make time.  If you don't, the only thing you might have left is regret.

Look for the next post on Monday, 3 Weeks Before the Tornado.

LUNAR ECLIPSE "BLOOD MOON" COMING

Occurring in the early hours of the morning on April 4, the show will turn the Moon a deep shade of orange across the skies of Alabama. A lunar eclipse is a fairly rare treat.

It's called a blood moon, and this one is the third in a series of four consecutive total eclipses.
 
North America will be able to see a blood moon one more time this fall. The moon takes on this color during the eclipse as it passes through the Earth's shadow, which is the color of a desert sunset.

The four blood moons have and will occur in roughly six-month intervals on the following dates: April 15, 2014; October 8, 2014; April 4, 2015, and September 28, 2015.

For gazing geeks, NASA has set up a live web chat to answer questions about the eclipse around 3:00 am, April 4.  The heavenly curtain rises on the lunar review around 3:31 a.m, when the moon starts to slide into Earth's shadow.  It should turn into a blood moon -- a coppery red -- about an hour later and stay that way for a few hours.

Event	Time in Elkmont*	Visible in Elkmont
Penumbral Eclipse begins	Apr 4 at 3:31 AM	Yes
Partial Eclipse begins	Apr 4 at 4:34 AM	Yes
Full Eclipse begins	Apr 4 at 5:39 AM	Yes
Maximum Eclipse	Apr 4 at 6:21 AM	Yes
Full Eclipse ends	Apr 4 at 7:02 AM	No, below horizon
Partial Eclipse ends	Apr 4 at 8:07 AM	No, below horizon
Penumbral Eclipse ends	Apr 4 at 9:10 AM	No, below horizon

* The Moon is below the horizon in Elkmont some of the time, so that part of the eclipse is not visible.