Tornado Nights

    Are so darn tiring ! I thought we did really good. We watched the weather news on the tv (which means your not about to have any good tv on) and we could see all evening the bad weather was staying to the west of us and traveling north east. In other words we are good. No need to have big worries. We could even go to sleep. At this age that is either in bed for a while or snoozing in the recliner. Wherever the sandman happens to visit.
    This night I woke up in bed hurting so bad in the hips I had to get up move around and get me some asthma meds in the machine while up. Hubby was in the recliner and I evidently snoozed back off in the recliner around 4:15 and he woke up about 4:30 to take his medicines. He watched the tv weather to kind of see what was going on. Looks like the tornado weather ginned back up..... it was just west of Shawnee and they said it would take about 1 hour to get here. He woke me up and I was in instant tornado mode. He went out and unlocked the gate in case we decided not to go to the cellar and just drive out of the way. Personally I would just rather go to the cellar it's here it's easier than worrying about which way the twisters are going!
    By the time he got back from opening the gate the news said we had 10 minutes. I had planned on calling a few friends around me to warn them but this happened so fast I didn't even have time. Out in the country we don't have sirens so something like this in the middle of the night we have to rely on others to make sure we don't get blown away.  I grabbed my medicine bag so I can breathe, undies and other clothing and stuffed into a bag I had ready with gallon size sliders full of toiletries and towels in the bottom of the bag. Grabbed the check books some water and my everyday carry I call a huge purse. We were out and gone in a flash it was almost to Meeker by the time we headed out into the truck. Even Heidi Ho new it was time to haul her tail and did everything she was supposed to and got in the cellar with us.
   As we were just walking in to the cellar Nikki called to tell us to run and but we didn't have any reception so had to wait until we came back out. She was so worried about us she was grumpy until I explained about no reception.
   This is the first time I had been in the cellar in a year or 2 thank goodness. That cellar leaks a little on the sides and through the door. The floor had a very light coating a mud on the bottom and naturally Heidi Ho had to go hide in the corner with the most mud. I don't call her a Pig Bull for nothing! LOL
   The three plastic chairs we had in there were naturally dirty but it was nice to have. The light we had installed is a life saver for sure! Hubby had taken some plastic shelves down there I no longer needed in the garage and it was nice to place our bags on them. I took inventory of some of the other things I have there and we are sitting pretty good for just in case.
   We came out of the rabbit hole and got back into the truck we left running for the headlights. Heidi didn't want to walk back to the house in the rain so we had a very muddy Heidi Ho butt, feet and tummy to deal with in the truck.
    Back at the house we just dropped anything muddy out in the garage went in a got comfy once again and snoozed until breakfast time. Man I tell you we are soooo useless today! Worn out and just can't get enough sleep can't get anything done ! Told hubby lets go get something to eat and get out of the house. It helped but we are still pretty tired. I thought we did really good getting enough sleep! I have had nights where I only got a couple of hours and done better than I am today. Sooo aggravating! 
   We didn't have any damage just got a whole lot of rain just not as much as west of us in the city. The roads were a mess and had lots of new ruts to watch out for. But we are all good! Just tired.
   God took care of our area really nice.
Love
Ranchmama

Rabbit Hole Funny

               

       

  (I don't know where the images come from but would like to thank them for doing such a good job!)

      Being in Tornado Alley everyone needs a place to run and hide when the weather get nasty I call it the rabbit hole.

      One of the things I talk about when it gets tornado season around here and sometimes in other states is being ready.....
On the Oklahoma television ads they call it being weather aware. That's just the way it is around here. I don't know about other states but in Oklahoma you watch the news and weather for all the bad stuff coming. You watch the sky and you know when it is time to run to the rabbit hole.

   Talking to a lady in Tennessee recently. Told her I thought that the south east quarter of the USA is going to be getting a lot more nasty weather than usual. I asked if she had a cellar. No is usually the answer. I asked if she had a tornado bag like many of us do in Oklahoma. Didn't have a clue what that was. I simply asked what would you do if a tornado came and you came out of a shelter and nothing was left. Totally wiped out. The answer .... I don't know I never thought about that is another normal answer. To kind of shake things up a little bit I ask them how long do you like to wear dirty underwear ? Well.. I, I, don't ! Of course you hear that one. LOL Then I ask if everything is blown away, even the local walmart or whatever stores, the government is going to come some day soon you hope and relocate you to a relatives house or a shelter.  What are you going to do for clean underwear for you your kids or whoever is living with you? What about a simple change of clean clothes? Maybe a hair brush or even toothpaste and brush. How many people are in your family? 4, 6 8 ? Just think none of you would have even one simple change of clothes or even a washrag to wash with. No meds, food or water.
   It is usually a eye opener. They then understand why a tornado bag. Sometimes they say they are going to go home an make one and I point out everyone needs one.
    All this is leading up to 

         I had this conversation with a 80 year old Aunt. She has a mentally slowed husband. They have a tornado safe room and I called to ask if she was already for any bad weather. She said she sure was! I asked what was in her room. She said some chairs. I asked not even a case of water? No nothing. After talking with her about the stuff above she got to thinking that she could put some stuff in there and it would be a good thing.
   Today I called and asked if she had her extra underwear packed.She said she sure did! She was at the store getting the throw away kind ! It took me a few minutes to catch on an I finally realized she was buying adult diapers / underpants to have extra ! We both laughed so hard about that. I told her I forgot about all that for older adults ! I guess you are for sure packed and ready then !
    We can never be ready enough. You just can't take all the important and precious stuff in a couple of bags for each person. All we can do is try to save our own hides and whoever is with us in the rabbit hole.
    If you have friends or relatives here in Oklahoma or in other states that don't usually even get bad weather this may be a good chat to have with them. Something about being without clean drawers seems to make people think about stuff ! LOL

Everyone keep safe in all these tornadoes, hail and extra water flowing everywhere.
Feel free to share this with anyone you feel like may need to hear it.

Love
Ranchmama