Last night was a bit scary. My honey wasn't home and we had a thunderstorm in my area. I usually sleep well at night but last night I was awoken from my sleep (which I love oh so much) by the bright flashing lights of lightening and the loud clapping of thunder. It took me a while to go back to sleep. As soon as I was dozing off I was again alarmed by the loud sounds of tornado sirens. Those things are freaking scary. Here I am half asleep and this loud siren goes off. Totally freaked out and alone I half-panicked. I did not know what the heck to do. I've never lived in a place that had these loud sirens going off in the middle of the night before. At first I didn't know what the heck the sound was.
I called my honey within seconds (after wiping the sleep out of my eyes that is) but got no answer. You see, he has been at a ski resort in Utah for the past few days. He's at a conference there and he has no cell phone signal in this remote area. Yeah, pretty crappy for me at 1:52am.
I had all these crazy scenarios in my head about what I should do. I looked out the window and saw that I was not the only person who couldn't sleep because of this annoying sound. I still wasn't sure what was going on. We don't have TV and there was no radio upstairs for me to try to figure out what had happened. I finally got some sense and checked the weather channel app on my phone and figured out that we were on a tornado watch. I breathed a sigh of relief because I finally knew what that crazy sound was. I mean, for all I knew it could've been an alien invasion (lol). Not long after feeling better I then started thinking about what I needed to do.
I knew if my husband was home I wouldn't need to think about this because he would just take care of everything. But he wasn't home and he couldn't be reached. Well he could but at the time, I didn't think to call his room. I thought about the dogs then I was reminded by Gideon's (our great dane) loud howling (trying to mimic the siren) that they were safe inside too. I was glad that the doggies were in the house because it would have been very challenging for me to go downstairs, much less go outside to bring them in. I know that's evil but I was scared. Ha!
I wondered about what precautions I needed to take since I hadn't been in a situation like this before. I googled "what to do in a tornado watch" and saw a few recommendations. They recommended going to the lowest level in the house but there was no way I was leaving my "safe at the time" bedroom. Based on other recs I spent the rest of the night sleeping on the floor, away from the window (between my bed and the wall). My goal was to get back on the bed eventually but I woke up this am by the sound of my alarm telling me it's time to start my day.
It was an interesting experience. I know I'm a punk but I've seen too many crazy tornado movies/stories in the past to not take certain precautions. LOL
 |
| Picture Credit |
Mrs. K
Hey Mrs K, I think you really need to start reading up on what to do in case of tornado/hurricane. Yeah, i know, curse those crappy movies for messing up our brains. Still, this is serious eh. I am suddenly so thankful of where I am living even though we are baking under those hot sun 90% of the time.
ReplyDeleteWhat a story. I would have been nervous too lady. It's hard when your partner is away. All the little things that make you feel safe and that you don't have to worry you about...you do when alone. I'm glad you talk some precaution. You don't have TV wow kudos to you. I'd love to learn more about that. I didn't have a television when I was single and living alone and it was a great year for me. We have TV now but not cable just for dvd's and the news. Have a good weekend!
ReplyDeleteyikes! i would have been scared to! i would def. read more about it esp. if it happens in your area. i don't think we've ever had a tornado watch here but i could be wrong. hope you get a good night rest today!
ReplyDeleteI would have been scared too. I am happy you googled about the precautions to take your mind off it a little bit.
ReplyDeleteI hope you rest better tonight. Don't worry your husband will be home soon and in the meantime God will take care of you :).
I used to live in Alabama and thunderstorms, flooding, tornado watches and warnings are really common. Get a weather radio that alerts you to what is going on in the area such as what certain alarms are sounding and why. Get to the smallest room on the lowest level of the house. Preferably a room with no windows and in the middle of the home such as a closet or something similar. If you have none and it is getting pretty bad, you may want to get into a bathtub with a mattress covering you (but this is when things get extreme.) Bad weather was so common when I was growing up that I pretty much slept through it all as I got older, but I learned so much about taking the right precautions just in case something drastic happened. I'm glad that you are okay and like a pp said, God will take care of you. :)
ReplyDeleteThat would be so terrible! Proud of you for toughing it out with no hubby. Reminds me of the time the fire alarm went off in the apartment complex. Sooooooo loud and scary at 5 in the morning.
ReplyDeleteScary! I hope you find more information in case this happens again. We live in area where Hurricanes are the problem. Oh, the drama they cause!
ReplyDeleteHugs and Mocha,
Stesha
I think you held it together pretty well! When we moved to TX I heard tornado sirens for the first time in the middle of the day. Turns out they test them every first Tuesday at noon. But it freaked me out the first time.
ReplyDeleteBloody hell, I wouldn't have a clue what to do if that happened to me? Are you new to the area by any chance? As soon as your hubby gets back I would get him to brief you on how to survive Tornados... let us know how you get on!
ReplyDeleteAnnie: LMBO. No we've been here for almost 3 years but I guess the first 2 years I was always on call working in the hospital and never at home so I didn't notice it.
ReplyDeleteTeresha: that must have been annoying hearing that sound so frequently. I could hardly think when it was going off.
Stesha: yah, I use to live in Florida (the hurricane capital too). Thankfully I haven't been in a really bad one.
Jamie: yah, it's a pretty scary feeling waking up to a loud siren and now knowing what's going on.
Whitney: I went to the FEMA website and they said the same thing you said. Thx for the info.
Toi: thanks. It is so good to have him back.
Faith: Thx girl
Monique: Yah we had cable but we weren't using it so we turned it off after the college football season. We have one Tv in our house and we only use it to watch rented movies. I guess we like it that way. We feel that there's so much more to do in this world than watch TV.
Redbabe: LOL
WHHHAAAAT! I would have been in serious full on panic mode (with some tears). Shameful, I know, Esp if I couldn't reach my husband. You did great! Hopefully there are none of that nonsense when you move.
ReplyDelete