Thursday, May 15, 2008


ARMAGEDDON
better known as Texas Thunder/Tornado Storms

I don't mean to sound like a complete baby but I am. If you hate whiners, fair warning, leave now and go read something funny or intellectually funny, or have a glass of wine. Here in Central Texas we are into our second night of severe weather like nothing I'm used to. I love a good downpour with thunder and lightning....California style. You know, where you sit on your covered patio with a beverage and watch the light show, or you bake cookies and have some cocoa as you bundle up by a fire. Cause in California it never rains between May and October period. That means it's usually chili out. Here in Texas, heavy, continuous rain turns your home into a friggin' sauna, because it rains like this when it's already hot and humid.

Last night I was enjoying a nice rain until my whole place lit up like Christmas. I could see a light show on the three sides of my apartment that have windows, and the whole place shook from the thunder. It blew the rain so hard against my windows, I thought they where going to blow in. During one of the burst of thunder and lightning, the power went out, and I saw my PC monitor flash brightly. When the power came back on, I rebooted, then turned off my PC. Then I got the TV working again because the all three remote has to be re-set and you have to push several buttons at once. I finally decide to go to bed at around eleven and watch TV, because all the local station had live, continuous weather reports.

All of a sudden, at around one in the morning, I hear an air raid blaring from my TV with a man's deep voice telling me to go to a safe place and take cover. Holy mother of all things Sacred!! I thought it was the end of the world for me and other cry babies.


OK, I know the drill, because if anything, I'm always prepared. In CA I had an emergency duffel bag with food, water, flashlights, blah, blah at work in case of an earthquake (which I'm not afraid of). So, with my heart racing, I pull the mattress pad and cover off my bed and drag it into my walk-in closet. My safe place...interior room with no windows.
I threw some clothes on, something that won't wrinkle or crumble too badly. Because really? I don't want to be one of the lucky survivors who gets interviewed by the local media, amidst the rubble and ruins in her nightgown. I always feel so sorry for them. I find my battery operated lantern, bottled water and my stash.
I turn my TV volume up full blast because if I'm awake, my gardening neighbor isn't sleeping either I have to hear the weather report as I die from within the bunker, my safe place. I didn't sleep a wink all night. I was so hot that I left the bunker to turn the air conditioning temp lower. Right around six, I heard the loud blaring of the siren again, the man said a tornado was likely to touch down in my 'hood within the next fifteen minutes. From the safety of my bunker, I called my daughter to make sure she was awake too to let her know because the storm was heading her way after it wiped me out. Of course, I did live to tell about it. But then tonight rolled around and it was the same scenario. The bad part was my good friends Cortney and Briana where getting the brunt of it. As I type this, we still have tornado warnings, but the storm seems to be calmer than last night. I'm staying up until it's gone because there's nothing like falling asleep when your about to die.

I made a pot of coffee to see me through til morning. If I do say so my self, I'm a real trooper. Don't you think?

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Poor Grandma J. I am glad you survived and I'm so happy that you found solice in my blog when the world was crashing down! Be safe!

heartshapedhedges said...

I told you not to move to that place! Glad you stayed safe....does your middle child have an underground bunker?

BTW, we have had a tad bit of rain this week. Hardly rain, just heavy drizzle.

I noticed your "bingo" jar is the tiniest jar ever made....If I were a teen, and I needed money, I would know not to bother with that fake stash jar and would look for another stash-hideaway, because I know you keep more money than that for bingo.

The Traveling Yogi said...

Welcome to central Texas and spring time weather! Glad you have a safe room and were prepared and glad you are safe. We made it through last night as well, but I was just like you and had to call my parents (on my cell phone of course) after the first round of storms passed to make sure they were ok, too. We have a two story, so the kids ended up on our floor. And let me tell you, there is nothing like a possible tornado headed your way to make you run faster on a treadmill. Trust me.

Mx said...

prolly what NASA had in mind when they invented 'Memory Foam'
(knew they were gona need a little sumpin sumpin ta save Grandma j's fine yankee a%$)

so so so glad that tornado missed ya. :) hugs!

Anonymous said...

I grew up in So. Cal. so earthquakes to me aren't that scary. On the other hand - three years in Ky and Tn have given me a healthy fear of thunder storms and tornadoes.

While we're waiting to find out where God will be moving us the first question out of my oldest is "do they have tornadoes" when we talk about a new area.

Glad you survived and that you had Cortney's blog to give you comfort in your time of need!

*Oh, and whenever I have to do word verification I try to "read" the letters, I'm not sure why, but this one is "hnylue". I read it as hineyloo with a second glance giving me honeyloo. Both are equally disturbing to me.

M said...

LIONS and TIGERS and TORNADOES, OH MY! I'm with you....I have lived through the San Fernando, North Ridge and Loma Prieda big ones and nothing scares me more than a tornado siren. Glad you had a closet to stay safe. It was 100 degrees here today...I melting...I rode my bike to work...but it nothing was said about ride your bike home so I had BIG Foot pick me up :)

have a restful night!

BOSSY said...

Scary! Scary scary scaryscaryscary.

Jason, as himself said...

How did I not know that you live in Tornado Country? I thought you lived near your daughter, with some heart shaped hedges of your very own.

Anonymous said...

So glad you made it through to blog about it!!

Loved the closet stash.


Stay safe :)



Peace
#2

foolery said...

Just FINALLY making it here to read this, Grandma J. So glad you are safe. I'm with you -- not the least bit worried about earthquakes but terrified of the thought of being in a tornado. And actually, up here in the great north valley of California, we have more "almosts" with tornadoes than with earthquakes.

You are prepared, and that's half of the battle. Hunker down!