Riding out the Storm

[Ann Kendig]

Last night was one loooong night.   I checked the weather and saw there were thunderstorms heading our way...again.  Ugh, I hate storms!!!  I admit it, I'm a big baby when it comes to storms, always have been.  I thought this year I would be safer from the big, bad storms.  We have no basement where we live and I have been pushing DH to move so we could have a little bigger house, a nice sized yard for the doods AND you guessed it, a basement!!   We had some land in the country and decided not to build on it, so we sold it.  That process started last November.  Then we put our house up for sale, got a contract on it pretty quickly and then the sale fell through.  *sigh*  

I was really hoping to be moved, or close to it, before tornado season.  Last year, in October, an F2 tornado hit Cridersville, a town a little over 8 miles down the road from us.  No one was hurt badly.  This year at the end of April a F2 tornado hit Celina, the town I lived in before I moved here.  It destroyed the Aldi's I used to shop in.  : (   Again, no serious injuries, thank goodness!!  I go through Celina often on the way to visit my mother so I was able to drive around and see the damage done.  I AM READY TO MOVE NOW!!

 

Whenever these bad storms hit my DH is very seldom at home and I have to ride it out alone with Sheba and Duke.  This time we had an additional passanger to ride out the storm with us, our new foster dog, Molly.  DH works days usually but he had a meeting to go to so he adjusted his hours so he would work through the evening.  Yep, we were alone again.  

 

About 7 pm things started to get a little scary.  I grabbed the leashes and hooked them to the dogs collars.  Sheba and Duke laid around and snoozed but Molly followed me everywhere.  She didn't care for the thunder much.  A tornado warning was issued and the sirens were blaring.   (I thought the warning was only till 7:30 but I was wrong, it was until 8pm a whole hour!)   In April, when the tornado hit Celina, there were tornado warnings here but it didn't look as bad outside so I didn't worry as much.  About 7:30 it started getting dark very quickly!  I started pulling all kinds of junk out of the closet and throwing it in the hallway.  I looked out the window that faced west and all at once I was slammed with some very strong winds!  (I can see why they tell you to stay away from windows during bad weather..duh.)  I shut the window, grabbed the dogs and off to the closet we went.  Sheba and Duke entered quickly and laid down, no problem.  Molly did not want to go in the closet.  There wasn't much room to maneuver so I had to push this 90 lb. dood into the closet.  All the while my DH and I are sending texts back and forth.   This photo was taken with my cell phone just before I climbed in...

So, here I  am in a teeny, tiny, hot closet with 3 panting doods. I am holding a sleeping bag over our heads but trying not to make an already very uncomfortable situation more unbearable by smothering us in the hot closet. I could hear rain and possibly some hail hitting the metal furnace vent thing that exits through the roof.  The wind was blowing pretty hard.  I am also hearing from the TV (that I have cranked up), "If you wait to take cover it may be to late" and that the storm was really bad between certain mile markers off I 75.  I feet a bit better as it is about 5 mile markers away from us. Meanwhile, I got a text from DH telling me he loved me.  : ) 

About 8 pm we climbed out of the closet, except for Molly who couldn't understand why I was making her do all these crazy things.  After some prompting she came out and we all went into the kitchen so the dogs could get a nice long drink of water.  I texted my hubby that we were OK and the storm was to hit his area around 8:38.  He texted back that they were getting some rain and some strong winds.  The worst part of the storm was more south of where he was.  

Thankfully, we were fine and the storm passed over without any damage or injuries.   Whew!   Something like this really gets me thinking about how prepared I am for bad weather.  I'm going to make up a survival kit and I'm taking it to the house I hope to move into soon....WITH A BASEMENT!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Sue, Lola, Pongo & Hubby]

whew. Good thing you're alright...sounds like you did all the right things. We don't get too many tornadoes here in Ontario (about 12 or so/year)...but when they do come, it's soooo scary!!! Luckily we have a great basement...and it seems that every time we DO have a warning, DH is gone on a work trip or something...so it's just Lola and I (and she HATES the basement), so I can sympathize with what you went through last night. I'm just glad everyone's alright!

[Leslie and Halas]

I'm glad you guys are all OK.  As we've seen recently, tornado warnings are nothing to mess with.

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

oh gosh, im glad your all ok. and that you had the dogs to keep you company!

[Ann Kendig]

Thanks for all the well wishes everyone!  Tornados, earthquakes, hurricanes etc...all of the natural disasters are terrible things.  I hope all of you remain safe from the weather occurrences/earthquakes that plague your particular area of the country...and world!  Listing to the news and seeing the devastation in Joplin is heartbreaking.  

I just checked the weather for our area today...Scattered thunderstorms, strong to perhaps severe, storms may produce large hail and strong winds.  That is the forecast for today and tonight.  Tomorrow looks like it will be even worse as they have the day highlighted in red with *SEVERE WEATHER*.  Looks like we will have to fend for ourselves as hubby will be at work.  I'm glad he has good strong walls surrounding him at work.

DORIS---I'm coming over to your house to live for the next few days AND you are going to be in the basement with us and not gawking at the storms!!!  

[Clifford, Cloud, Jake..and Kim]

I'm glad everyone made it through the storm safe and sound.  I'm not sure how you all fit in the closet - maybe it's a good thing Mike wasn't home because there doesnt' look like there would be room for three doods and two adults.  Hope you are storm free for a while now.

[Smita, Ollie and Juno]

Wow!Scary story. Glad you're safe.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

PS I would definitely need a porta=potty! I would be so scared.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Ooh, I may live where earthquakes are, but tornadoes scare the heck out of me!  I am with you - get a basement.

[Linda, Webber and Seda]

Wow.  What a scary story! We were under tornado watch for an hour tonight in NC but the storm passed to the North of where I live.  It always makes me nervous, as we have had some recent deaths close by from tornados this year.  What in the world is going on with all these terrible storms!  Glad you guys are OK.  We don't have basements here, and it is beginning to look like we need them.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I'm glad you and the doodles are safe. I really miss having a basement, too!