Tempest

Thanks to my Mom for her very heart-felt and sweet reminder about getting in the bathtub and pulling a mattress over my head in case of a tornado. I had images of a) herniating a disc trying to drag the mattress off the bed, and b) getting the three dogs in the bathtub with me. I did actually resort to that maneuver once many years ago while living in a ricky-ticky duplex in Columbia. Except not with the dogs.

But apparently we were briefly under a tornado warning around the time I was driving home from lunch and writing my other post. I tried calling Jon on his cell a few minutes ago and got his voice mail. I wanted to make sure everything was okay at his house in Windsor. I imagine he’s off doing his civic duty as a Windsor Town Council member — reports are that the Council building was hit by the tornado and there was a great deal of damage all through the area — he sure picked an exciting time to become an elected official.

Baby, it’s green outside

Late-breaking news … already had reported tornadoes in Windsor, several rounds of hail here along with downpours of rain, and another cell — reportedly showing rotation — due to arrive here in about half an hour. It’s like being back in Missouri — the sky to the south is a sickly green and hanging very low. I’d head to the basement with the radio, canteen, and army blankets, but I don’t have a basement. It’s also really, really quiet. I’m excited. I know, I know — but I was the one who always wanted to run outside to see the baddest, wildest storms.

I called Carol to make sure she was keeping an eye on the weather, and she was up to her chin in re-routing buses. It sounded like a command post in the background.

Here’s a webcam shot from my neighborhood, taken at 12:20 (about 40 minutes ago).

I just took these shots at 1:00. Starting to hear thunder now … it’s making the dogs bark.