Welcome to Tornado Land

Of course the first tornado of the season had to come when Charles was at work, and not at home protecting me. I had been "in town" yesterday, indulging myself by walking around Target and lamenting about all the things I couldn't buy. I did splurge $.89 on a pack of baby hangers. What a treat. Anyway, after visiting Charles at good old Sears, we looked at the black clouds and decided I should probably head home and let the dog out before she crapped all over the basement in fear of the storm. I think it started pouring as soon as the garage door closed behind me. Then the lights started going off and on like some bad horror movie, and I watched out the back door as the trees nearly touched the ground and the hail pelted Maggie's little house. Did I mention the dog is afraid of storms? Usually she follows me EVERYWHERE, but she started pacing the house, whining, and trying to get into the garage. Why, I have no clue. Figured I'd try to read for awhile, by flashlight if necessary, while Maggie edged herself further and further under the bed with the cats. It's hard to read though when every 10 seconds you're looking out the window for that black funnel cloud to come roaring through. I decided to prepare myself by getting the cat carriers out of the basement and putting them in the bedroom with the animals and myself. Now, I must admit, I've been thinking a lot over the past few weeks about how we would get all the cats into the tornado shelter if the sirens did go off, I just never imagined that I'd have to do it alone. I had told Charles that he would grab 2, and I'd grab 2, and we'd throw them in their carriers. He promptly told me to screw the cats, which I then told him to screw himself. That's like saying, screw the baby, she'll be fine in her crib while we hide out in the shelter. No way. So I prepared myself by making sure all the cats were locked in the room with me, and decided to turn on the tv to check out the weather warnings. I must say, we did not lose the picture when the dog sneezed. The dish worked despite the weather. Unfortunately the first thing I saw was a tornado warning for Pottawatomie county (where we live). Shit, do we not have a siren? Oh, there it is. I stuffed all the cats into the cages, after slithering on my belly to yank them out from under the bed (I'm pregnant, remember, and that kinda hurt)and tried to carry both cages down the hall. I gave up and ran up and down the stairs with cages in my arms and deposited them in the shelter. I think they all need to go on diets, they're freakin heavy. Settled myself and the dog on the beanbag and waited. The strange thing about Kansas tornados, for anyone that has never experienced them, is that once the sirens stop going off, the storm just disappears. No rain, no hail, no wind, some sun. Like nothing ever happened. I must say though, I'm glad nothing happened, because I would have been pissed if we lost our house after only 3 weeks.