7 Days

Since the last time I managed to post anything here.

Froggy, you must be slipping.  You haven't reminded me once.  :)

Last Thursday, there was a really bad storm.  It was pretty much totally unexpected and it was actually starting to become tornadic at one point.

There was almost no warning.  It was lunchtime and I had thought about going out for lunch but decided to stay in and I'm glad I did.  We had rain chances but nothing bad was expected.  The first hint was when my cell phone started making the Alert sound - it is very loud and very shrill.  The entire screen said "TORNADO WARNING. TORNADO IN THE AREA."  It wasn't raining or anything, I turned the radio on and they were doing the normal mid-afternoon show.  I thought that the cell service provider must have had a problem and sent out a bad message by mistake.  And that's when the Tornado Sirens started sounding.  When they go off, it's best to pay attention and take cover.  The boss was in his office but had heard my phone alert so he was coming up the hallway to see what the noise was, when the sirens started.  He ran back towards his office for his phone and I was already in the area we decided is the safest spot - the bathroom which is on a north outside wall but the center of the building is a glassed-in atrium and the glass makes it a very unsafe spot.  Bill called me at that point, he was at home and was watching the noon news.  They were on the storm warning by that point and they were calling out the exact area of Tulsa I work in as being in the firing line of a rotating cloud.  He was telling me what the news said and I was telling the Boss.  Then the cloud started to move more south and not southeast, and the rotation stopped.  At that point, they cancelled the tornado warning but were still putting out a lot of warnings in the direction the cloud was moving because of the fact the cloud had shown rotation already.

The Boss opened the garage door to check the sky and by that time,the cloud was right there.  It was well east of us and we were safe, but it was still pretty scary to look at.  These pictures were taken with my cell phone and make it look a lot lighter than it actually was.

No, these are not "Hey Y'all Redneck Last Word pictures!

After the cloud had moved a little further south, that's when the real storm hit.  The one that was behind the rotation.  The rain was very sudden and very, very heavy.  The wind was even worse.  There were trees ripped out of the ground all over Tulsa and the surrounding areas, trees that were broken into pieces, limbs thrown everywhere.  It was a very, very severe storm.  I've seen rain forced sideways by wind before, but not like this.  Of course, Otter was at J's house and that particular town was right in the direction the cloud and storm were headed next.  They were aware of the weather and stayed inside, ready to take cover.  J's house was ok, but there were two incidents that were confirmed to be the work of a small tornado in the general area.

When I got home, which took a while because of several street lights that were out and also because of debris in the road in some spots, we still had power but we also had limbs down in the back yard.  But  there was one place in particular, a church in south Tulsa that literally had a wall ripped off just because of the wind.  Bill's dad had a tree limb down in their back yard - but they don't have any trees.  It was split off of a neighbor's tree, then the wind carried it over the fence and into their yard.  It was not a small limb, either.  Parts of the Tulsa area and surrounding area just had power restored today, Monday.  Bill cut up the limbs from our tree Saturday and also helped his dad with the one in his yard.  Most of it is now in our woodpile, Bill thinks we got about 1/3 of a rick out of it.

Yesterday, Sunday, Bill mowed the yard.  I was standing beside the rock garden when a grasshopper bounced by me.  And landed right in the center of a zigzag spider's web on the trellis!  I had not even seen the web, it was so well camoflauged in the honeysuckle.  Pretty much as soon as the grasshopper landed, the spider was on it.  She moved like lightning and had the grasshopper wrapped completely in silk in just a couple of seconds.  It was amazing to watch her.  Then she moved it to another spot in the web and then a few hours later when I was walking around the yard with the beagle I checked on the spider and she was happily consuming the grasshopper's innards which were probably liquified by that point.  I hope she stays around.  She's probably not quite quarter sized yet, and they can get much bigger.  She can stay in our trellis and eat all the bugs she wants!

Teeeiiiiirrrrred!

(Texasspeak:  Tired)

I am pretty well exhausted.

Tuesday night sleep was pretty bad.  Having had what was discovered to be an F1 tornado forming over/going over my house kind of made sure of that!

Then Wednesday was Otter's 3rd of 4 dental appointments, which went well.  She didn't get sick this time, the dentist had a newer type of happy gas that worked better for her.  It still took a couple of hours, more or less, for the appointment itself but she recovered much quicker.  She spent a couple of hours on our couch with a blanket and then was able to eat a late lunch with us.  After I took her home, she spent a couple more hours resting and then felt well enough to go run an errand.  She has one more appointment which is in a couple of weeks.

After I took her home, I bought groceries.  The store wasn't very crowded, but I was pretty tired and it took me a while.

When I got home, I parked on the couch with the idea of not moving until it was time to go to bed.  But of course that plan changed when Otter called because her car wouldn't start!

Last summer, it acted up a couple of times and Bill thought it might be a problem with the starter ignition.  Then it started acting right and we forgot about it.  But it's done it a couple of times lately for Otter, so we are probably going to have to see about fixing it.

Last night I think I was in bed before 9:30.  I did manage to sleep last night but I was still tired when I woke up and I'm really tired tonight.

But I keep thinking of the fact that we had a very near brush with a tornado and then I realize that being tired is probably not all that bad at all!  Not when I consider the alternative.

Close. Way Too Close.

Last night, Tuesday, April 26, 2016, we unexpectedly had to play this.  We got over 15 spaces!

Including the one about circulation - and it sprouted right over our house.

It was an ugly night.

But let me start at the beginning.

We knew a few days ago that the conditions were going to be right for bad stuff on Tuesday afternoon, evening and night.  The forecast kept changing and by Tuesday morning, it looked like we would probably not have the bad stuff but still could get thunderstorms, hail and wind with a much slighter chance of bad stuff.  We had a thunderstorm with hail midday.  Then the sun came out and that is actually bad, because warm air was not a good thing to have.

About 7:30 or so, it was a little rainy and it was windy but not bad.  About 9:00, it was obvious that we were probably going to get some storms out of the system that was rapidly moving in from the west.  There had been a few rotating areas, but the one spot that could possibly cause us concern was going to far north to bother us at home or Otter at her apartment although we expected that she could get a harder storm because the southern edge of the storm track was going to be pretty close to her.  Shortly before 10:00, I texted her with that information since I had the tv on and was watching it.

Almost immediately, we heard the worst sound possible:  the sirens going off.  We went to the laundry room (our safe spot) and I called Otter.  I told her to head down to their basement immediately.  She said the sirens in her area were not sounding but she got her shoes on, grabbed her purse and her radio, locked her door and started heading down.  She texted me as soon as she got downstairs and said that their sirens had started almost as soon as she had locked her door.

From then until 10:30, we texted back and forth with updates and the reports kept getting worse and worse.  The storm in her area was tracking north enough that it looked like her area would be safe.  She stayed in the basement with most of the other residents in her building until it was safely past them.  But by then, another "pop up" had happened and it was heading our direction.  It had produced at least one small tornado but it didn't stay.  However, the track was still coming towards us and we were waiting to run back to the laundry room if we needed to.  We weren't sure if we were going to get hit or not.  The wind was pretty strong at that point.  But it suddenly increased and it sounded odd - somewhat like the train sound associated with tornados but not exactly.  At that point, I commented to Bill that I did not like the sound of the wind and at that time the reporters started calling out street names and they were right where we live.  We hotfooted it back to the laundry room - and Maggie went right along with us.  We had taken her back every time we went to the laundry room, but animals frequently seem to sense things like that - maybe they hear them.  When she started heading to the laundry room pretty much ahead of us and on her own, we knew that something bad was happening.  The sound of the wind increased and it was very loud.  That was probably when it was sprouting.  It blew past us in a matter of a few minutes; it did actually develop into a tornado and it touched down probably less than a mile from our house.  I had been texting with Otter because she had heard the same reports we did and she knew we were in the firing line at that point.  When it passed us, I let her know that we were safe.  It was around 11:00 p.m. then.

Otter stayed in their basement for a while, there were a few dogs that were also their with their owners and they did what they always do - she's a magnet for them.  She was playing with a chihuahua that lives in the 1-bedroom that was originally her apartment before she and former roommate moved to the 2-bedroom unit.  Let's just say that she is very much my father's granddaughter!  She went back upstairs after a little while and let me know.

We were both exhausted by that point, but also Thankful.  It was after 11:30 before I managed to get to bed.  Bill was up for a couple more hours, he knew he wasn't going to be able to sleep.  I was awake until well after midnight.  It was so hard to get up at 6:15 this morning when my alarm went off.

Otter had her 3rd of 4 dental appointments today, otherwise I think I would have just turned the alarm off and gone back to sleep.

But we are safe and their were no injuries associated with any of the storms.  There were several small tornados, in Tulsa as well as assorted surrounding areas.

Sunday Ketchup

I haven't done a Catch Up post in a while.  I think it's overdue.  So, here goes:

The situation with Bill's employer actually was over 2 years, now that I've had time to think about things.  It was pretty bad, but once we realized that her was eligible for the contract buy-out we realized just how crushingly bad it was.  Once we found out that he was eligible, there was no question in our minds that he was taking it.  We just weren't sure what day he was going to pick to be his last day.  His last official day was Friday, and on Thursday he received official notification that his job was one that was going to be eliminated as part of the cost-cutting efforts effective July 1 so he would have been out of a job anyway even if he had stayed.  Just further proof to us that it was God's care and provision.  About 2 dozen people had taken the buy-our as of last Friday, anyone who is eligible can still opt to take it if their jobs are also on the chopping block.

At some point, Bill will need to find another job.  But we will be able to stretch the timeline for that out for a while if we have to.  He spent last week trying to catch up on pachinko machine restoration and cleanings for some of his customers.  The calls and emails wanting restorations and cleaning just keep coming.  More proof that God is still watching over us!

Last Wednesday, there was really bad weather.  It was rainy early in the day, although the forecast was for last afternoon/early evening but the rain had stopped by the time it was supposed to start.  I went to the grocery store, I was just getting back in the car at 5:00 and the news report was on as I started the car.  The reporter stated that we were "in the clear" as far as any potential bad stuff.  About 7:00, the first of what turned out to be 4 separate tornados sprouted.  The first one was west of Tulsa and it went through the northern part of the city/county limits.  There were no deaths, but there were a lot of injuries and a great deal of damage.  The storm continued on east and it took the twister with it.  The next target was a small town north/northeast of Tulsa called Owasso.  Again, damage and injuries but no deaths.  The tornado dissolved but then the storm kept going east and 2 more sprouted.  The next targets were the smaller towns of Claremore and Catoosa.  Widespread damage but again, no deaths were reported.  (None of those are the area we live in.)  We joke about the forecasters, but this time it was no joke.  They just missed it and they missed it BIG.

Otter turned 24 on Thursday!  We got her a small birthday cake, I took it (and ice cream!) to her apartment Wednesday afternoon so that she would have it on her actual birthday.  J was there, so he put it in the fridge for her and I told him to remind her that on your birthday it is perfectly acceptable to have cake for breakfast!  She apparently listened, because she texted me that she had cake AND ICE CREAM for her breakfast on Thursday.  :)  We met J & Otter at a Mexican place for dinner on Thursday, it was really nice.

Maggie was dragging her rear again last week, so I made an appointment with the vet for her on Friday.  That was actually the only time they could see her other than Thursday, and I had already arranged the day off as a vacation day - originally Bill had planned to make Thursday the 31st his last day but then he found out that his insurance premium would be covered for April if he made the 1st his last day.  Anyway, on Thursday morning Maggie had a slight accident.  It looked like she was just not able to make it outside but she tried.  I cleaned up after her and then I realized that she'd had "potty problems" outside and that evening she was acting like she wasn't feeling too good.  I called the vet and let them know and they scheduled an exam for her.  Friday, I took her for a short walk about an hour before the vet appointment.  She was having really bad "potty problems" then and she had a blade of grass sticking out her her behind parts!  She was happy to get in the car but not happy to get to the vet's office, but she was even more unhappy when she realized that she was being taken back to the room to get her "rear alignment!"  The vet came back in with her after that, he said that her glands were actually not very full and that it looked like they had emptied on their own.  He said that sometimes happens and that she probably had a slight intestinal infection.  He gave her an antibiotic liquid dose (which she didn't particularly like) and then sent home a few days worth of antibiotic pills for me to give her twice per day.  She also got her nails trimmed while she was there.  She responded pretty quickly to the medication, although she did figure out that there was a pill hidden in the bread bite she got this morning - she spit it out at me!

OK, I think I'm caught up for now!

Wheeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's been one long, never-ending merry-go-round ride since Friday afternoon.

It started with a phone call from Bill as I was on the way home from work.  He wanted to tell me that he'd been in a car accident.  Talk about scaring me!  He wasn't hurt.  It was his work vehicle.  He stopped for a traffic in front of him which was stopped for a red light.  But apparently, the driver behind him didn't get the memo and he ran into Bill's work vehicle.  There was hardly any damage, but because it was his employer's vehicle it had to be called in to the police and a representative from his work had to come out.  Even though he felt fine, I told him to go get checked out and that was also the policy of his employer so they sent him to the clinic they use.  He had to wait a while.  A very long time, actually.  They said he was fine and he felt fine, so they released him to go on home.

Otter was at our house at the time, she was doing laundry and was still here when I got home.  She walked Maggie Moo with me, which delighted the somewhat silly & smelly beagle.  She stayed longer than she intended to, in case Bill turned out to be hurt and I had to go get him - she would have given me a ride to get his car and then I would have gotten him.  That turned out to be unnecessary.

Saturday was busy, we went to a local art show/sale/street fair in Tulsa.  Actually, two that were both happening at the same time.  It was a lot of fun, but it was very warm and crowded.  We didn't buy anything, unless you want to count the 2 Dr. Peppers we drank!  But it was a lot of fun and we enjoyed the day.  We were both pretty tired when we got home, however the aforementioned smelly beagle  needed a walk so I got her out the door for a short jaunt.  I took a nice, long nap after the walk and then got in the shower - and spent the rest of the afternoon parked on the couch with Billyboy watching the rest of the movies on the 100 Sci-Fi "classics" Otter gave him for Christmas - some of them were real "winners," too.  (Otter - he loved the gift and has had more fun watching them.)

Last night was the really wild part of the weekend.  We had a tornado watch in the late afternoon/evening and there were thunderstorms headed our way - but we didn't expect anything too bad.  At 11:30 p.m., I woke up because I heard something.  I didn't really know what it was, but it was not THE siren.  However, it was probably the LAST FEW SECONDS OF THE SIREN.  I turned the tv on and they were talking about my small town, but not right where we live.  The possible tornado had sprouted well east/northeast of us and was continuing on away from us.  We were in the middle of a really bad thunderstorm and still had quite a bit of it on the way, but nothing else bad was expected for us.  I considered texting Otter, but I didn't because a)  it was already on the other side of us/her, b) nothing else besides the thunderstorm was in our forecast and c) she has been known to sleep through the tornado sirens before and I didn't want to wake her up and disturb her in case she was still asleep.  I didn't check my cell phone for texts for her, but I should have.  When I got up this morning and turned it on, I had a text from her at 11:22 last night telling me that they were already in the basement, in case I was wondering.  I texted her back telling her why I didn't text her last night, and that they did the right thing.  She called me later, apparently not that many people actually went to the shelter - which is really dumb!  But it was the middle of the night and it is possible that not everyone heard it - the storm was L.O.U.D.

The storm did sprout something, but it might have "just" been high wind and not actually tornadic.  There is damage but it's all east/northeast of us. We got a lot of rain and very little sleep,  It was so hard to get up this morning.

But we had to get the garage finished up.  We started it a few weeks ago, then it was rainy then it was Mother's Day (and still rainy!) but today we had a dry day forecast.  Bill got the rest of the machines organized and took several out to the shed.  He took some misc. boxes out there as well and brought some boxes from the shed that have pachinko parts and they are on the shelves in the garage now.  I got my tree trimming tool and took care of a bunch of limblets on the three front trees and the tree on the side of the garage.  I got a little crochet done, sitting on the front porch while Bill was running machines back to the shed - that was a one-person job.

Then, the final fun event of the weekend was accomplished.  I bathed the beagle!  The beagle was not amused.  But she doesn't stink anymore.  She did smell like a wet dog for a while, but that is still better than she smelled before.  :)

Otters, Lions, Lambs

Otter is 23 today!

Bill took the car back to her today, I met him at her apartment so he could get home. But first, I took her a small cake!  3 or 4 bites, but she was happy to get it.  I also took her and Roomie a radio.  It's am/fm/weather and is both electric and battery operated.  I put batteries in it and set it to the best Tulsa station for weather reports.  They are keeping it in a specific, easy to grab spot in case they need to run down to the basement or we have any storms at all - which do happen here, in Tornado Alley!

March came in like a lamb this year.  It seems to be going out like one as well.  After all, the lion hit last week and was on the high end of EF2, nearly a 3.  I sincerely hope that we don't get anything else, but as I said before - this is Tornado Alley, after all.

At least it's not Monday any longer.  :)

Broken Glass(es)

My glasses broke yesterday.  It was very strange.  I was sitting down on the couch, watching tv.  (STAR TREK, of course!) and they fell off my face.  In 2 separate pieces!  Shortly before that happened, I'd heard a cracking sound but I was standing in the kitchen at the time and I thought it was something Billyboy was working on out in the garage - he was casting parts.  But apparently what I heard was my glasses breaking.  They broke on the nose piece, but more to the right side and very close to the part that holds the lenses.  It was about 4:15 or so.  Bill was able to glue them together, but it took "super" super glue and about 15 minutes of him holding the 2 pieces in place.  Then he was still not sure it would hold, so he used a small piece of painter's tape.  I was able to put them back on, but I wasn't able to adjust them when they slid or take them off for any reason because they were so fragile.  It was too late to go get another pair, I knew I'd need to get my eyes examined because it's been 2 years.  I wore my now uncomfortable glasses until bedtime, I left them in the bathroom on the counter so that I didn't have to fold them up.  This morning, I got dressed, got my dentures in and brushed my hair all before I put them on - my hair looked like it, too!

The eye doctor we use is in the mall, right next to Lenscrafters.  I called them yesterday and they didn't have any open appointments but they take walk-ins.  They told me that if I could get there early I would have a good chance of being seen and maybe not have to wait too long.  They opened at 10:00 and I got to the mall about 10 minutes before that.  The mall was full of early morning walkers, so I joined them and got a little exercise.  At 9:59, I went upstairs to the eye doctor - the escalators were not turned on yet!  They said they could see me about 10:45, so I walked next door to Lenscrafters and found a pair.  I was back in about 5 minutes and they were able to see me right then, so I didn't have to wait until 10:45.  I did not have to get my eyes dilated.  There is a new procedure where they can take a very detailed photograph of the retina and it does not involve dilation.  I chose that as soon as it was offered.  I had a very detailed exam, my retinas look good and there are no signs of the cataracts growing although I have had a couple of times when I've been aware of the right one because of a slight glare occasionally.  He said that's normal and that if it's grown at all, it's very hard to tell.  My prescription is nearly the same, if the glasses hadn't broken I would have been ok to still wear them.  I went back to Lenscrafters and when I gave the tech my prescription, she said that the glasses might be heavier than I wanted and she suggested I pick a different pair.  I looked around and found another pair that I actually like better, they are metal and are smaller than the ones that broke.  The old ones took several days because they had to be sent off to another lab for a non-glare application.  I asked the doctor about that and he said that if I don't do much night driving I really won't need it.  So I skipped it this time, and my new glasses were ready in a couple of hours.  I went back to work and then picked them up after work.  I can tell a difference in the prescription, but it's not much.

Wednesday's tornado has been rated at an EF2.  It was very high on the scale for a 2, and was nearly a 3.  It was still very bad, but it could have been so much worse.

We have a meeting next week with the associate minster at the church we've been attending.  We have a few questions, mostly since we've been away from the Methodist church for a few years.  We'll still attend there this Sunday.  Sometime after that, and after the meeting, we'll decide.

Now I'm going to park myself on the couch and get a glass of wine in a little while.  I need to rest my eyes and I have a very slight eye-strain headache.

Weather Recap Mostly

First things first:

On what would have been his 83rd birthday, we remember Leonard Nimoy with utmost love, admiration and immense respect as well as our thanks for his sharing of his gift with us.  LLAP.

I wanted to go into a little more detail about last night's weather.  The forecast called for possible thunderstorms late afternoon into the night but the forecasters were all saying the same thing:  that the main threat would be high winds and hail and that the chance of any tornado forming was slim to none.  Obviously, they got that part of it wrong.  Otter was supposed to work from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 but her shift got changed and she wound up working noon to 5:00.  It was a cloudy and cool day until mid-afternoon, when the sun came out.  Which was actually not a good thing, because warm could make any storms intensify.  When I left work at 3:30, it was clouding up quite a bit.  Otter actually got off work a little after 4:00, she was getting what could have been a migraine so her boss let her go a little early.  So she was home well before the bad stuff started, but Roomie was still at work.

I'm not sure what time it actually was, but I think it was before 5:00 p.m. or somewhere around it because I got home around 4:00 and we ate dinner as soon as I got home.  I was working in my craft room and Bill was watching a movie in the living room.  I heard thunder when I got home and it was cloudy but nothing else at that point.  I had the radio on when I was crafting and the reports suddenly changed from watching the weather for "later possibilities" to "indications are a tornado is forming west of Tulsa" and they started the serious discussion.  I told Bill and he turned off the movie, we switched the tv to the local stations and it was a little scary.  It always is scary when the warnings include areas that are very close to us!  I was texting with Otter and she had her tv on.  She was still dealing with her headache but it wasn't as bad as they can get.  Roomie had not made it home yet, but was on her way.  When the reports changed, we told her to get ready to head to the basement - her apartment complex is one of the few in this area that actually has basements, the basement serves two purposes:  the laundry rooms and storm shelters.  She got dressed, got her shoes on, grabbed her purse and cell phone and shortly after that we heard the sirens.  She went down to the shelter and said that most other residents did as well, except for a few (males) she described as "redneck idiots" who were standing outside in hopes of actually seeing a tornado!

The sirens sound for a couple of minutes and then they shut off.  A lot of people think that means "all clear" but it doesn't.  Otter thought it did, Roomie was there by that time and they went back upstairs to their apartment.  We told them to go back downstairs, and the did.  The tornado track was originally going to go north/northeast of us/Otter but the storm itself was on a track to go right over the area Otter lives in.  The tornado destroyed a trailer park in Sand Springs, which is on the west side of Tulsa (and not where we live) and it was bad.  One person died there and there were several injuries.  Lots of homes have been destroyed.  But the tornado dissolved before it actually got the the Tulsa area, although the storm itself went through downtown Tulsa and at one point the weather forecasters thought that it was about to re-form while it was still over Tulsa.  The storm shifted more south and went right through Tulsa and it was pretty big so most parts of Tulsa were affected by rain, hail and strong wind.  That storm went on east of Tulsa.  I don't know if the size of the tornado has been determined yet, but even a small one can do damage.

There was a children's gymnastics studio somewhere in the Sand Springs area, classes were ongoing and it was full of children.  The tornado struck it as well, it took the roof off and destroyed the building.  But they'd had enough warning and the owner was able to get all the children and parents into the basement.  No lives lost and no injuries there, thankfully.  It was one of the first places that the first responders were able to get to, each child was carried out individually by firemen and anybody that was able to - they were barefoot and one of the main dangers after a tornado is broken glass and debris on the ground.  All safe and accounted for there.

Otter and Roomie eventually were able to go back up to their apartment, and Otter texted me about 8:30 that she was going to take a nighttime allergy pill to help her sleep since her head still hurt although it was a little better.

There were a couple more storms following the first ones, I took these pictures before it got dark last night. They are all taken from my back deck and descriptions are below the pictures:

Looking south from  my deck, the clouds were very low.

I turned around and took this picture to the east, that's our chimney visible.

Over the roof of the house.

To the west.  Visible is what's left of the woodpile and that is the dining room window.

Back to the east again, that's the shed that is full to the brim with pachinko machines.  What looks like a window on the side is actually a mirror that Bill put there a few years ago.

These clouds were the edge of the storm that had gone through Tulsa and was heading east rapidly.

The next storm system came through from the south/southwest and we got a lot of rain out of it.  Possibly some hail, we couldn't tell for sure but it might have hailed.  The rain barrels have both overflowed again, the rain gutters couldn't handle the amount of water coming down and it was very windy.  Also very noisy, there was a lot of thunder and some of the lightning was beautiful.  It rained pretty much all night and it was still barely sprinkly this morning.  Bill checked the trees and we didn't lose any limbs this time.  I'm surprised at that actually.  No sign of hail damage on the cars so if we did get any hail, it wasn't much.  It was pretty bad in some spots.  Some people are still without power and it might not be restored until Saturday.

This is pretty early in Tornado Season.  I sincerely hope that it is not an indicator of the rest of the Season.  It was bad.  But it could have been so much worse.

One thing we discovered:  the girls (Otter and Roomie) don't have a radio.  We're going to buy them a battery operated radio.  I've seen some that are electric with a battery option, that is probably what we'll get them along with extra batteries.  Nobody in the basement with them had a radio or any way of known when it was safe again.  If they have to go through this again, they'll take it with them to the basement.

Tornadic Storms in Tulsa Area. We are ok. **EDITED**

There is a little town west of Tulsa called Sand Springs.  It is not where we live, but I wanted to mention it because they have had a tornado go through and there is a lot of damage.  Injuries, but not major.  No deaths, but there are still a lot of people who have lost homes.  Please pray for them, as well as for the emergency workers who are trying to help them.

It's been a rough evening.  We were in the firing line for the thunderstorms that sprouted the tornados (there have been a few) but the tornados themselves went north and northeast of us.  The north track took them over into the areas east of Tulsa and there are still people who are in the track of at least one tornado.  It's 7:02 p.m. on Wednesday, March 25, 2015 as I type this.

We are now getting the thunderstorms but the tornadic chances are just about gone, at least for us.

But other parts of the state are in danger, specifically the Moore/Oklahoma City area.

Please pray.

(EDIT:  There was one death in Sand Springs after all)