Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Let's Do The Twist...er...

Sunday afternoon, sitting around with your family and enjoying some good food...not so much.

We were all together...huddled in the bathroom.

Yep, the five of us plus TacoHamster, PenelopeParakeet and ChiliDog, crammed into the kid's smelly bathroom. Me sitting in something wet...that for my mental health we are going to call water...

We had been under a tornado watch for hours when the WeatherGuy pointed out that a tornado was headed in our general direction. The kids gathered blankets and pets and we continued to watch the WeatherGuy to determine if retreat was really necessary.

How about a big yes.

It occurred to me that because our house is so out of the way that no one would know to come dig us out if we were actually hit. I called my Dad and asked him to call us back in 30 minutes...if we didn't answer he was going to call someone to come help us. I was still on the phone with him when it started.

The wind went from 0 to 60 in a matter of a single breath. We ran to the bathroom, slammed the door shut and pulled the blankets over us. The wind was howling and then the power went out. In a matter of minutes it was over and we were fine.

I found our little battery operated TV/radio and was stunned when the batteries actually still worked. I don't know about you but I don't generally have 12 C batteries lying around. I found our WeatherGuy just in time to hear him mention that a tornado had touched down in our area.

There were a few tree limbs down and our gate (about 8 feet wide and extremely heavy) had twisted to the point that the hinges tore from the post. That was the extent of the damage...we were very lucky. I didn't realize how lucky until later.

Between storms I rode up to check the barn and the horse, both fine. I decided to ride on up the road to check the old house and one of the other fields. It only took a moment to figure out exactly where the tornado had been. Had I walked out my back door into the woods 25 yards I would have been standing in its path.

Today I am adding some things to my grocery list, things to help us be more prepared for the next storm…batteries, something to nuke their bathroom with, and some GasX for ChiliDog…don’t want to survive a tornado only to succumb to methane poisoning.

6 comments:

Leigh of Tales from Bloggeritaville said...

so glad all is well with you all. We had it bad here in central Al but nothing like south of here. Terrible. You were so lucky. I am glad God was with you.

Sandy said...

I am so glad that the tornado missed you. This has just been a terribly weird weather season this year.

Stay safe and try and find some other items that might use the same size battery...lol.

Aimee said...

glad you guys are okay! When I first read that you were hunkered together in the bathroom my first thoughts were, OMG stomach flu! Sad! lol

That's because I'm in California. lol

Trixie Twatwaffle said...

I am so glad you are OK.

Here I email you every time there are bad storms in your neck of the woods, and the one time I don't - there's actually a giant thing that comes close!!

And yes, that WAS water on the floor.

For the Love... said...

Leigh-Thanks...we were lucky.

Sandy-LOL!

Aimee-too funny!

Margaret-Well you may get another chance tomorrow...storms expected to fire back up tomorrow and friday. Thanks for the H2O...

Dominic Benton said...

Great sshare