It's been pretty exciting around our house lately. If you call tornado warnings and a police chase exciting. Maybe we just need a life.
The excitement began over a week ago when a funnel cloud was spotted and the sirens went off in our neighborhood. We were watching the weather reports which said the cloud was in South Grand Prairie, so we didn't rush around gathering flashlights and pillows for our closet retreat. The tornado never touched down and all was well. Still, there's an ominous sound to a tornado siren.
Then, we were again watching the news and saw a police chase taking place on an interstate close to our home. It really peaked our interest when the speeding truck took an exit very close to our home and sped along Carrier Parkway with the police in hot pursuit. The Speed Demon came to a stop at the intersection of Carrier and Roy Orr Blvd., at which time he abandoned the truck and took off on foot. We could hear the sirens and the helicopters hovering overhead. We watched on TV as the police wrestled the man to the ground, handcuffed him, and carted him off to jail. We never bothered to find out why the Nascar Wanna-be was running from police.
Our last encounter with sirens was Friday when a tornado was actually spotted in NW Grand Prairie. Our home couldn't get any more NW than it is. Again, the horrible sound of tornado sirens alerted us to the danger of an approaching menace. Robin stocked our closet with flashlights and bottled water, and we were ready to grab pillows and make a mad dash to the closet. I made sure that Robin understood to grab my feet if I started rising, reminding him this was a storm, not the rapture. First, we glanced outside at the sky and didn't feel that we were in harm's way. We even escaped the softball size hail that plummeted many parts of the metroplex. We truly feel blessed and fortunate.
Allison and Ron called to check on us. They hadn't missed the hail and all had gone to closets for shelter. Since all of Ron's family are motorcycle riders, they donned their helmets for safety. A tornado did considerable damage not far from them in Haltom City. Fortunately, all my kids were safe and only their vehicles suffered some hail damage. At least three tornadoes were verified.
Alas, storms are in the forecast again for tomorrow. My ear will be tuned to the tornado siren a few blocks away. It's long been said that our area is over-due for a killer tornado. The last one of that magnitude was in 1957. I lived in Irving at the time and remember my parents and the neighbors staring at the sky toward Dallas. That tornado stayed on the ground for over 30 minutes and caused a lot of destruction. I was so young then and didn't know what a tornado was. I guessed, since they were looking at the sky, that it must be some kind of airplance. Little did I know that a tornado, along with snakes, would end up being a lifelong fear of mine.
Bring on the insects and rodents. I can handle them. Tornadoes and snakes are a different story.
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4 comments:
I do not miss those stormy nights in North Texas when you put the fear of God in our hearts that surely a tornado would rip off our roof and carry us all to Oz...if we were that lucky. And, I don't miss hearing the Doomsday prediction of "we're due for a killer tornado..." I wonder what terror I'm transferring to my kids!
I'm glad you have stayed safe.
I hope I haven't scarred you for life. Donna asked me if my kids knew what a tornado was when they were young. I said yes, they saw me freak a number of times. My only excuse is that I was terrified for your safety and mine. Love you!
wow it sounds like an intresting few weeks for you! i only get scared when a tornado is extremly close. My parents had to pull me inside because i was outside monitoring the sky and hale. =)
Snakes and tornados i can handle.
ROACHES ARE A DIFFERENT STORY!
Candy, roaches won't hurt you. They are just ugly and crunchy.
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