Thunderation

I started this post last night, and finished it this morning, so it may seem a "little" fragmented!

Things were really rockin' & rollin' in my neck of the woods last night.  We had almost a continuous tornado warning for about 8 hours.  The rain was off & on, and at a couple of points we had some good-sized hail.  We had to go down into the basement a few times. 

My main concern in all of this were the baby bunnies Pepper discovered Tuesday evening.  I was outside with the girls, and Pepper walked under a tree and was sniffing at something.  I looked over and thought it was a bird's nest that had fallen out of a tree.  As I got near, I looked down and saw a couple of little-bitty baby bunnies in a little burrow!  I shooed Pepper away and let CH & YS know so they would watch her when she went out.  Ally had no interest at all.  She's pretty clueless.

I checked on the bunnies when I got home yesterday.  Mama bunny had covered up the burrow pretty well; if I didn't know it was there I wouldn't be able to tell.

When the boys were younger, when it stormed I would always "sing" this cheer to them:
Thun thun thun thunder...
Thunderation!  We're the (Small town!) delegation
When we fight with... determination we create a...sensation
(And then you repeat that until someone tells you to be quiet!)

When I was little, I was terrified of storms.  As a matter of fact, it wasn't until after I got married and CH went to an Army School that I put my big girl panties on and it didn't bother me.  The Rosary was my biggest comfort when it stormed at night.  I would lay in my bed and say the heck out of some Hail Mary's!  My parents didn't believe in any of us getting in bed with them.  I guess they figured that if they let one in, they'd have to let all of  us in.  The couple of times I remember getting my courage up to even go to their door, I was turned away with the reminder to say my Rosary. 

A few years ago, the high school football team opened their season at a high school that's about 3 hours away from us.  We could see the storm coming, but CH & I (and a few other idiots) thought it was just a little summer storm, and it would pass over.  The announcer told everybody to go to the school, but some of us decided to ride it out under the concrete bleachers.  BIG. MISTAKE.  People were praying, some were laughing, telling jokes, and some were singing gospel songs.  The wind blew, the lightening was intense, the thunder was loud, and the hail came down.  The lights went out and the wind started swirling.  At that point I thought, "we're okay unless it starts hailing."  About that time, down it came.  More Hail Mary's were prayed as I hid behind CH and was holding his hand as hard as I could.  All I could think about was CH's high school that got hit by a tornado, and that I didn't want to die under the bleachers of a high school stadium in a place I've never been before.  Obviously, we got out of there just fine, found MS (YS was spending the night at my parents' house & OS had just started college) and headed to the hotel.  I took a long, hot shower; the best shower I think I've ever had before in my life.

No school today because of downed trees blocking roads and power outages.  Our yard appears to be okay, the only casualty was the "stick tree" that broke off.  Our cars had minimal hail damage, or appeared to.  MS' car (that he had brought home a couple of weeks ago but decided to take back to school on Sunday) apparently has a branch through the window.   I saw mama bunny this morning near the burrow, so hopefully they're okay.  

I realize I'm rambling, but it was a crazy night.  How do you handle thunderstorms/tornado warnings?  Do they make you nervous, or do you love them?

19 comments:

  1. My heart goes out to everyone who these storms pounded on...

    I usually LOVE storms - love the smell of them, the energy - the wind... but these werent storms... these were CRAZY STORMS... there's a difference. A BIG difference. This just breaks my heart...

    Glad you all are OK... glad the rabbit family seems to be ok too :)

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  2. Glad to hear you made it through the storm. I was chatting with friends online while Idol was on--and one person kept missing performances due to weather alerts. Still waiting to hear from her this AM.

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  3. I am so glad that you are safe even if there is no school and trees are down. There were a lot of people who are missing and even worst! It got really scary down your end of the country. Continue to be safe.

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  4. It makes me very nervous. I worry so much about the big trees we have out back--don't want to see one through our house.

    My parents are camping in Gatlinberg this week. Last night made me very nervous.

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  5. Glad you (and hopefully the bunnies) were all right.

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  6. When Hurricane Katrina (I think) hit, my area of Florida had dozens of tornados. I freaked out. I don't know why, but these works of nature frighten me more than anything else. I took everyone into the closet...including the dogs...and prayed.

    Prayer gets me through...along with the tears.

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  7. so glad you guys are okay. weather can be down right scary. we've been through our share of hurricanes. not fun. ((hugs))

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  8. I hope the bunnies are ok!
    I don't mind thunderstorms too much..as long as I am inside.
    I do have weekly dreams of tornadoes though...scares the beejessus out of me.
    Glad you are all well!

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  9. I don't like thunderstorms either. Remember when we would make a game of it? When we heard the thunder, we'd run and get under our bed. Not sure what the point was, but it got us through the storm!

    So glad you all are ok. Let me know when you hear from OS.

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  10. I don't like them at all. Truly. It amps up my prayer life like crazy during the spring storms. I'm happy you are all okay and pray you don't have any more of them. Take care, girl!

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  11. I was thinking about you all!!!

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  12. Glad you all are okay and I'm really glad I wasn't in my camper last night in TN like I was last week!

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  13. So glad you are ok!! I hate them! I have always been afraid of them growing up without a basement was unsettling. What would we do without prayer??

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  14. Thankful that you are okay. Growing up in Illinois I remember the storms so well. They always scared me. Moving to California we have Santa Ana winds, I was always waiting for the rain or tornados to come. Please stay safe and I am keeping everyone in my prayers.

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  15. So glad you're okay...we had a tornado warning today but it never materialized, thankfully. We had a hurricaine come thru Maryland when we lived there...the wind was scary and my neighbors had a huge old tree fall across their porch and crush their car. We have huge trees behind our house here so I'm not a fan of big storms.

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  16. So glad you are safe; so devastating with these storms. We rarely get storms like this here in Southern California; got some great ones in Montana but not too many attached with tornado warnings. I like a good storm if there is not devastation associated with it. When I was young and we lived in Pennsylvania, my mom's mother (my grandmother, LOL) was deadly afraid of storms and didn't like to be by herself during one. My uncle lived with her. If he was at work and my mom heard a storm in the distance, we would have to go over there to wait out the storm with my grandmother. A lot of times we had to leave fun things to go. I was only seven at the time when we moved but it stuck enough in my mind that I wouldn't be afraid of storms nor would my kids if I ever had them. We used to make storm parties, LOL to the point I think we were dangerous out there sometimes in the lightening when we shouldn't have been. But like I said, only on those storms that are beautiful to watch but don't bring death and destruction in its paths.

    I would imagine it will take a few days to get everything righted with the damage caused by the storms in your area.

    betty

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  17. As many tornadoes as we've had here over the years (especially this year), you'd think I wouldn't be particularly nervous about them ... but I am. I have to "fight" with DH to get him to go down to the basement with me.

    I'm glad that you're ok ... the cars can be repaired (even though it's an aggravation).

    We have a bunny nest every spring in our yard. This year, they've built a nest in the fenced in area (where the dogs can go). We're having to take the dogs out the front on leashes because I fear they won't leave the nest alone.

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  18. I'm glad everyone is ok. Matt and I were worried last night.

    I have never really been afraid of storms, but I guess that is because I grew up in Kansas where tornadoes are a way of life. We don't have tornadoes here is Arizona but we do usually lose our power at least a couple of times a year during monsoon season. I hate losing power...apparently I think that serial killers come around during power outages. It is absolutely ridiculous but I can't help myself. :)

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  19. I'm glad you're all safe. We've been trying since Wednesday night to contact one of our sisters who lives and works with the Benedictine sisters in Cullman, Alabama. Apparently they are totally without power and phone service.

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