10:28 p.m. - 2003-05-17
Yet another freakin' tornado alert!
Just when you think it's safe to go back in the water...
This morning I was peacefully minding my business, digging around in the side garden, happy in the fact that it was a totally sunny day and I was finally doing some serious jungle-taming, when the tornado sirens went off.
For a second I thought it was a test. But the sirens only get tested on Wednesdays at noon.
Then I thought it was a joke. "It MUST be a joke!" I thought. "It's perfectly sunny!"
I went inside and put the radio on. No joke.
Bruce was taking a shower, and emerged after a couple of minutes looking wet and confused. I was dry and confused, and had the TV on. The weatherman was pointing all over the place, but mostly at Athens, which is quite a way from here. By this time the sky was starting to look ominous and a few raindrops were falling.
And then the weatherman suddenly announced that there was a tornadic rotation "West of the Parkway at Lily Road."
There is no "West of the Parkway at Lily Road." Lily Road only runs East of the Parkway. I know, because I live on the corner of it.
We waited a few minutes, hoping for a bolt of clarity, but none came. Meanwhile it was looking slightly more nasty outside. Why take a chance?
We bundled the cats and rabbits into carriers and brought them to the center of the house. All except Burma, who was already freaked out from the sirens and had firmly decided she would be just fine in the stairwell, thank you. Since I couldn't get hold of her and didn't want to get my arm bitten off I decided to let her have her way. The stairway is probably as safe as the kitchen, anyway.
We watched a bit of battery powered TV and finally the sirens stopped. And then went on again. And then off. And then on.
And finally off. We never saw a bit of rotation, and we never figured out what the "West of the Parkway at Lily Road" was about. Did I just spend some time in a parallel universe?
And you know what? It's storming now!!! Yes, we are having a thunderstorm! And I'm typing away at the computer!! The electric computer!! Screw it!! Live dangerously!!
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