Holy moly that was crazy last night!
I knew it was going to be yucky again, thunderstorms, etc. You could smell it in the air. But wow, it got a little bit nutty. I was sitting outside with my neighbor chatting when all of a sudden the rain just started coming down hard. Then the sirens start going off. Now, someone correct me, cuz I could be wrong –
Tornado Watch – Weather is perfect for a tornado
Tornado Warning – One has been spotted
They only set off the sirens for an actual warning. I’m telling the kids, go go go! (down to the laundry room) and Kat, my sensitive scared of her own shadow child, starts FREAKING! She was crying and screaming. And it was not fun. I get us down to the laundry room, which is where our lease says to go, sit down up against the wall and our neighbor said, Heather, you don’t want to sit there. I thought, duh – outside wall. So, we get back up and sit in the hallway with everyone else. Katiana proceeded to carry on. I asked her if she wanted to call daddy? she said yes. Daddy wasn’t answering. So she called grandma. My mom got on the phone with me and said, Heather, she doesn’t even know what a tornado is. Who is scaring her? I was like, I swear, nobody! I think it’s the authoritative tone that said, go go go! Move it! LOL I don’t use my emergency voice often. No, it’s not a screaming voice, it’s my you better listen to me voice. Pato called right after I hung up with my mom and I said the sirens are going off. He said why? I said, I don’t know why would the tornado sirens be going off in June? A tornado? Bueno, honey. LOL
We got the all clear to go back home, so we came down here where I proceeded to finally get our emergency bags ready. I’ve now got my laptop back in it’s bag with my bamboo tablet and my external. I’ll just leave it in the bag, take the external out to back up my computer, but I think I’m going to leave it in there just in case. I really need to zip up all my files and put them online somewhere too. My pictures that is. Then I got a bag ready with diapers and a change of clothes for each of the kids, Pato, and myself. Then I grabbed my camera, charger for that, and phone charger and threw that in the diaper bag, just in case. Oh you should have seen my kids. LOL Katiana has her own bag packed with her webkinz because she doesn’t want them to blow away. And Jordan had a bag packed with his laptop, charger, his and Kat’s gameboys, and a pillow. LOL I’m sure there were some YuGiOh cards put in there for an emergency too. You never know when you might HAVE to duel. In all this packing excitement, Alyce went and got one of her dolls and was carrying it around. If the rest of them were getting stuff, she was going to take her toys too. LOL
Then Pato calls me and tells me that it is raining so hard he can’t see anything. He pulled under a bridge to wait it out. He said, what do I do if a tornado comes? I said, get out of the car and lie flat in a ditch. He said, there are no ditches. Dude, your screwed. ROFL I said, get somewhere lower than the rest of the ground and lay down flat on your stomach. Do you not have tornados in Mexico???
He and my Windstar made it home in one piece. Not blown off of the road to Kansas. When he got home it was still raining pretty hard. I was on the porch waiting for him while my children were dancing in the rain. Seriously soaked by the time they were done.
And I thought this morning, for my own good, along with anybody else who needs a refresher course in severe weather in the midwest (or anywhere else tornados are abundant) I’d look up the what to do just in case info.
This site here had tornado safety tips – Tornado Safety Online FAQ
And I was right about the difference between the warning and the watch – except the warning also could be that Doppler radar shows there is thunderstorm circulation which can spawn a tornado.
And for Pato to read next time –
In a car or truck: Vehicles are extremely dangerous in a tornado. If the tornado is visible, far away, and the traffic is light, you may be able to drive out of its path by moving at right angles to the tornado. Otherwise, park the car as quickly and safely as possible — out of the traffic lanes. [It is safer to get the car out of mud later if necessary than to cause a crash.] Get out and seek shelter in a sturdy building. If in the open country, run to low ground away from any cars (which may roll over on you). Lie flat and face-down, protecting the back of your head with your arms. Avoid seeking shelter under bridges, which can create deadly traffic hazards while offering little protection against flying debris.
While we were in the hallway, one of my neighbors told me that after the tornado went through and devastated Parkersburg, IA, they now have a huge invasion of frogs. Yes, frogs. I asked if locusts were soon to follow? I was half joking and half not. After watching all of this devastation occur over and over again, I am starting wonder if we aren’t living in the beginning of the times that Revelations describes? Just a thought that pops in my head – wars and rumors of wars, famine, pestilence, earthquakes, etc etc etc. I think everyone has tried to predict the end of the world since the beginning of the world. Trying hard to read the signs and compare them to what is going on.
Not meaning to start a debate on religion, just getting my thoughts out as usual.
Have a wonderful day!
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( Jordan noticed before I did on the news. He said, mom! There’s that guy I took a picture with. I looked and saw he’d passed away. so sad. Here’s the picture of Jordan and Tim in January at a John McCain rally.
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