hanging out with our first tornado and such

That title drew you in, right?

I knew it would!

It is all truth, too.

{Check it out here if you don't believe me}

And while they were pretty much baby tornadoes, I think if it did this much damage to a house that is a block away from us, I think we can {marginally} accept the title of tornado-surviors.

 

 

 

 

source

No damage was done to our property, although we just recently had two {huuuuge} dead trees taken down in our backyard that would have possibly fallen on our neighbor's homes if they were still there.

It was ridiculously warm on Saturday, and the thought even passed through my mind, "It kind of feels like tornado weather."

Hardy har har.

It is November. 

You don't get tornados this late in the year.

The wind was so loud it woke me up.
Tyrel came into the room and told me to come look outside.

We opened the door but couldn't see much except this white blanket of death-rain.

The transformers on the power lines around our home started to explode, so it was time to close the door.

Except the wind was so strong we BOTH had to use all of our strength the get the door shut.

Our power went out, and the storm continued for another 5 minutes or so.

And then that was that.

Just like nothing happened.

We heard chainsaws all night long, so we figured a few trees fell down here or there.

But in all reality, they fell down everywhere, closing a few roads all-together.

The sirens didn't sound, and our weather radio didn't go off, so we had no idea what really happened until Sunday night, when we started peeing our pants a little as we watched the news.

Living in the Midwest, I have been in a bazillion tornado warnings.

They usually go something like this:

1. Wow. It is really warm out. And muggy. And I feel gross.

2. We are under a tornado watch? Pssshh. Let's keep playing by the river.

3. Hmm. The sky is green. Let's head home. We can play outside there.

4. Tornado warning? Time to get out the lawn chairs and watch the clouds twist above your house.

5. Well, now there is hail the size of a grapefruit. Maybe we will go inside and watch from our picture window.

You usually don't make it to the basement unless it is really nasty outside.

{And yes, we are all stupid South Dakotans, but I promise this is the pattern for most people in my town.}

But this was Tyrel's first time.

Tornado virgin no more!

We live not far from the airport, so we often hear planes flying over our house,

A few times, Tyrel would wake up concerned because there was a really heavy wind plus the noise of the plane.

"Is that a tornado?" he would ask me.

After this big microburst, a plane flew over and of course spooked Ty.

I comforted him, and we fell asleep to lullabies of trees being sawed in chunks.

But, to his credit, the next day we found out the truth.

One point for Tyrel.

{Even though it was still only a plane after the storm passed. Half-a-point for Vandy.}