It's usually the rumble that will wake me. Then the flash of lightning will flicker through the curtains, lighting up the room. A crack of thunder will shake the house.
The wind whips, leaves and small limbs hitting the roof and the side of the house. I turn off our sound machine to see if that sound is hard rain or the wind.
People joke about tornadoes and trailers -- heck, I used to joke about it -- but it's really not funny when you live in one and bad weather's upon you.
On stormy nights I lie in bed playing and replaying my plan of action if a tornado were to hit. We live at the bottom of a pretty big hill, so I'd like to think we might be safe in our little valley, but we all know tornadoes are unpredictable. And we kind of live in a tornado alley. Several have hit our general area in the past couple of years.
Fortunately, my dad lives about 100 yards up the hill from us in a sturdy brick house with a basement. (Little pig, little pig, let me in!) We've evacuated up there twice, once right in the middle of a pretty serious storm. I tried to temper my fear so the kids wouldn't get scared. It must have worked because they thought it was just a party up in Papa Bill's basement.
There are bad storms on the radar for tonight and I know I'm not going to rest well. So that's just another reason to work harder to get out of this trailer.
Mixed Bag
12 years ago
Posts
4 comments:
I think each part of the country has their bad weather issues and fear-inducing paranoia. Here in NJ, the nor'easters and some hurricanes that make their way up can render our area useless for days, causing deadly flooding and accidents.
In IA, I'll have to worry about tornadoes too.
Super.
Thinking of you tonight and hoping that you'll all be safe.
When we first married, and lived in a single wide in an open field, I would wake up during storms and put clothes on. The man at my address would ask why. My answer "they are not gonna find me naked and dead in this field." I am glad we are in a house now.
Thinking of you - hope you survived. If you need a break for a few days you can escape to the Texas side of tornado alley. The house is brick and there's plenty o' room in my closet for you to join our "tornado parties."
We used to evacuate to the sheriff's department A LOT. I never thought much of it as a kid; it was sort of like a middle-of-the-night party. Hopefully your kids feel the same way. :-)
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