Crazy things happen...

...when Kevin is out of town!

OK, so many of our remember that in June '06 when Kevin was out of town someone backed into my car while it was parked in front of the Swanson's house. It turned into a big ordeal because the person who did it wouldn't admit to it. Anyway, I finally got my car fixed just last weekend (THANKS JASON!!!). Some of you also remember the opossum story. What a night! If you need a refresher, you can read about here.

Well, Kevin left yesterday afternoon with four other men to go camping. Actually, they say they are going to "Conquer Texas." Basically, they drive 5 1/2 hours to south Texas to Guadalupe Peak. Get a little sleep, then hike the tallest mountain in Texas. The hike itself takes about 6-7 hours (I think). Aaron and Kevin did this a few years ago, but this year they wanted to take more people. So, they packed up Lance's truck and off they went.

OK, so that's where Kevin went, here is what happened when he left. The talk has been of possible severe storms for the last three days or so. They just kept saying that the conditions are perfect for large hail, damaging winds and tornadoes. In Texas the media loves a good storm story, they talk about these things for hours when they happen. As an athletic trainer I have to be fully aware of the storms. It is my responsibility to cancel or postpone games of practices of there in inclimate weather. Well, we had a game at 4pm and a game at 6pm, the game at 4pm was completed before any storm got close. At 5:30pm the storm was in Mineral Wells, I'd say that's about 100 miles west of us. I went to the 6pm game (I didn't have to stay) and told the coaches the situation. By the time I got to the 6pm game I heard the storm was in Ft. Worth, about 50 miles from us. I told the coaches that this storm was coming. If they heard any thunder or saw any lightening they were to take cover and call the game immediately. Then I went home. The skies were cloudy, but not real ugly. I got home turned on the news and there it was...in DALLAS!

The thought of baseball sized hail (that had been reported in Ft. Worth) hitting my newly repaired car just made me ill. However, I am in the middle of a home improvement project (of which I will share with you when it is finished) that had completely taken over my garage. I hurried to get all the stuff from the garage into various locations of my house. As I was doing this I heard one of the warning sirens! I called the baseball coach and said "I am in Garland, 15 minutes from you, and our sirens just went off to take cover, you should probably call the game." I am running back and forth from the garage to the house, Maggie thought we were playing a game as she was following me every step of the way, the siren stopped. I got all the stuff inside. Then (you are going to think I am crazy) but I sat down to eat dinner. Now, before you laugh at me, let me explain. I had heard that there were high winds and possible hail, I was in a safe place in my house, not near any windows. I have been through one other real bad storm and I just stayed away from the windows and everything was fine. We have satellite TV so it went out and I went to find a radio station with the weather. Well, I found one and it was in the middle of a warning and it said "There has been a tornado spotted in Garland, headed north east toward Rockwall. If you are in these locations you need to take cover in a basement, storm shelter or safe place in your home..." AHH!

So, I called Kevin and said "They just said that there is a tornado in Garland headed toward Rockwall. I am supposed to take shelter, should I just take all the animals into the laundry room?" "Yep, take a radio with you." So off I went.

Abigail was already in the laundry room, like a good cat she actually uses the bed we have for her. Angelica was in the hallway so I scooped her up and threw her in there. When there are storms Maggie freaks out and just follows us wherever we go, so she was on my heals. I grabbed a blanket and went into the laundry room. Maggie wouldn't come in because she is scared of Angelica, and Angelica ran out of the room. I ran after her yelling "Angelica, you get back here, you need to listen to your mother right now!" (How embarrassing that I talked to my cat like a human). I grabbed her and went back. Maggie still would not come and again (talking to my pets) I said "Maggie, I hate to do this, but..." Then I closed the door with her in the hallway. I heard her about 30 seconds later, opened the door and she ran in. So there we sat, my two cats and my dog, in the laundry room waiting for the storm to pass.
Side note: I can't tell you how happy I am that we enlarged the laundry room. There was plenty of room for all of us. The thoughts ran through my head of what it would have been like in the old laundry room...ugh!

Can I just say that if our animals are ever in the same room it's because Maggie is chasing Abigail and Angelica is hissing at Maggie. But today they sat there and didn't bother each other...thank God. While we were huddled in there Priscilla called to check on us, I guess to make sure that this poor California girl knew what to do! :) She was huddled in the tub with Ethan and a mattress over the top of them.

All this to say the storm did no damage to our house. I am SO thankful for that. There were reports of 80 MPH winds about a mile from my house, but they missed us. At Priscilla's parents house tress were falling everywhere on people's cars and homes, there was quite a bit if damage there...they live about three miles away.

I guess I should just be prepared for something crazy to happen the next time Kevin leaves, you would think I had learned by now!