by AnnaLivia » Wed Nov 16, 2005 2:19 am
note to self: do not stay at holiday inns with banned, even if she's buying the drinks.<br><br>that first snow i mentioned? school delays for tomorrow are already being scrolled across the bottom of the TV right now, the kids' dad just told me. yup, winter has arrived in iowa.<br><br>i'll tell you my tornado story:<br><br>we had one go right over the top of the duplex we lived in back in '96 (i think was the year). i'd been in the basement doing laundry and cleaning for quite a while, so didn't know the weather had changed. came up carrying a basket of clothes, and YIKES. flipped on the TV to hear them saying "take cover NOW"! grabbed the kids, a jug of water, a blanket, the dog, and was on the way back downstairs when the kids started begging me to let them run outside and bring in the turtles from their yard pen. (we are keepers of two beautiful box turtles.) i thought it wasn't a good idea, but could see the sky from the doorway and the kids were real upset and pleading, so we ran out and got them on the double-quick, and ran downstairs.<br><br>within two minutes, it was right on top of us. a neighbor friend who didn't have a basement (i didn't know he was home, even) was outside KNOCKING on our back door! (are we like flipping polite in iowa, or what?!) i screamed for him to GET IN HERE! the basement windows blew in right after.<br><br>when it had passed we went back upstairs. there had been a shed in the side yard, which was now hanging upside-down in the only tree left standing out front. you could see from the scratches that it had bounced up the front of my old caravan on it's way, but didn't smash the windsheild. everything from inside the shed was strewn all over the place and smashed up.<br><br>and the turtle pen? a huge cedar tree had crashed right down smack in the middle of it.<br><br>you could almost hear the tree-spirits crying after that storm. i cried for them, too, and with gratitude that my kids were safe...the two-leggeds and the four-leggeds.<br><br>then we went and helped that neighbor guy pull a big limb back through the picture window, out of his living room. i told him not to worry about knocking next time. <p></p><i></i>