Weathering the Storms

Oh how I cannot stand Texas weather, especially in the spring. Virginia was so much nicer. It seemed to be more even keel, kind of laid back, like my husband. Texas weather is so explosive and unpredictable. A little like me I suppose. You never know what the weather in Texas is going to say.

It's spring time in Texas and the storms are here. I feel like I have to constantly keep one eye on the Weather Channel, weather.com, or my trusty radar channel. I love channel 96. All radar, all the time!

Last night was a doosey.

It was really loud very suddenly at about 3:15 am and it woke both of us up. Bright lightning that must have been very close by because the thunder was so incredibly loud and quick. We could hear the wind and it sounded very violent.

We turned on the radar for a little while (did I mention how much I love channel 96?), then it went to static so we turned it off as I was feeling okay that it wasn't going to be any more than just that... loud and windy.

Then I heard something.

I asked Mike and he heard it, too.

I went to the back door, and sure enough, it was the sirens. Mike went to put in his contacts and we stood outside the kids rooms for a while (with me in a panic) and watched out the front windows. Thankfully, and praise be to God that the sirens went off fairly quickly.

I turned back on the radar to see if it was on again and it was. Apparently something had developed just east of us that caused the sirens.

Anyways, the kids miraculously slept through it, until N had to go to the bathroom at 5-something. I was a little worked up and took a while to wind back down to go back to sleep, but I think I did get back to sleep.

A local school district is closed today because of power being out at several schools and the administration building. I saw lots of downed tree branches (big ones) and at least one large tree split between our house and the day-care.

I have such a fear of these storms. I don't know if it just comes from a lifetime of living with it and seeing the effects of them, or if it's something deeper. My heart is racing right now just thinking and typing about it.

And my biggest fear is just what happened last night. But that the sirens would be going before any thunder woke us up and I wouldn't be able to get to S & N in time. I just really get freaked out at the thought of a night-time tornado. I guess it's time to pull out that weather radio I got for Mother's Day last year (yes, I got a weather radio for Mother's Day... let's not dwell on it) and set it up beside my bed every night.

Any house we have lived in, I have immediately located our safe room. In this house, it is the bathroom between the kids' rooms. The tub/toilet are a separate interior room with no glass. I have it stocked with my weather radio, flashlights, snacks, and water in the cabinets. I have a plan (surprising? no? I didn't think so.) where we get them in the tub along with me and some blankets. Mike won't fit in it with us, so he is to lay down flat right beside it if it's serious. Ideally, the dogs will be in there with us and I know for sure Gus will be hiding behind the toilet - that's where he always is during thunderstorms. But as I think through my plan, I need to make provisions to have shoes close by. But I digress.

I've thought an awful lot about this, can you tell? It borders on being an obsession.

I even made a point to ask one of our office manager type people where our safe place was in our office last week when we were under a t-watch all day. She looked at me like I had 3 heads. My dear friend Cristel took care of me that day and was on-call to let me know if she heard any sirens.

I try to make fun of my neurosis about this. Because it really is a little comical.

But it really does scare the living day-lights out of me.

BTW - where does the phrase "scare the living day-lights out of (someone)" come from? That really makes no sense whatsoever if you think about it.