Storms and the Septic Tank

You know we were very lucky the past two years in regards to stormy weather. We did not have very many watches or warnings but it's certainly catching up with us this year! Earlier this week after listening to the weather reports that these storms were not going to be as severe and not looking like we would experience tornadic activity I was feeling a little less worried.

My fear of storms started way back in 1972. I had just gotten married to Kent (the father of my children) and we had moved to Waco for him to continue college. Remember...I grew up on a ranch far from any large city. One night we were having heavy thunderstorms and around midnight this loud continuous noise started that sounded kind of like a fire alarm and just about scared the "you know whaty" out of both of us. I thought we were having an air raid! I didn't know a soul in town and they only thing I could think of was to dial the operator and ask what was going on. I had no idea they had siren systems for tornadoes! Something about that eerie sound imprinted my brain and I have a lasting fear of tornadoes.

I passed this right on to my children when they were younger. When they watched TV it was often not cartoons but the Weather Channel. Sometimes I would come home from work late after they had gone to bed to find notes (of which are my most prized possessions) on my pillow of the weather forecast.

After Jason and Amanda (two of my three children) were born we had moved to Brownwood TX and lived there when the big tornado hit Wichita Falls in the late 70's. That same night we experienced very stormy weather as well and were under a tornado warning. In Brownwood at that time the police and sherrif's department hit the streets with loud speakers warning everyone to take cover. Kent was outside looking at the clouds while I was in the house with the kids. He came in calling my name to come hear the roar of the storm...I yelled at him our location and he opened the door to the hall linen closet where I was with 2 year old Jason wearing Kent's motorcycle helmet and breastfeeding 3 month old Amanda to keep her calm during the storm. I had taken all the pictures off the walls (in case of flying glass) and had no intention of going outside! Kent never mentions this occassion and I think he probably considered committing me for intensive therapy at the time.

When we moved out here...I am now married to JR ...we lived for several years in a 8 X 30 travel trailer. JR worked in Florida and was gone all during the week. If we had a tornado warning I would load up the kids and the dogs and we would go to DFW airport to underground parking. You would be surprized how many other people are there with kids and dogs hiding out from storms. The kids thought I was crazy and JR was just disgusted....but what can I say?

JR should have known better his house was blown to "Kingdom Come" in the Wichita Falls tornado where he lived with his wife and kids in the 70's. He was out of town at the time working but his wife and kids barely escaped to their neighbor's storm cellar.

Another memorable storm and then I will get back to the present...

When my youngest daughter, Jenna, was in high school. We had just gotten home from a basketball tournament. Our dog, Sebastian, had just had a leg amputated from an injury and was recuperating in our store room. Jenna went out to feed him and ran screaming back to the house. By the way she was behaving I thought she had opened the door to the store room and found human bodies hacked to death by an ax murderer!

It was not quite that bad ...but Sebastian had chewed his stitches and blood was shooting out of an artery about 2 feet in the air and there was blood everywhere. Jenna loves animals and had many pets so she was just hysterical about the dog. I grabbed towels and sat Jenna down to apply pressure to the artery while I ran to the house for more towels and the phone. It started raining while I was making arrangements to meet the vet at his office. Jenna and I had to get the dog on a blanket where we could lift him into the truck while still applying pressure to stop the bleeding. I quickly let our two house dogs into the house without closing the door to the utility room where they stay most of the time...

We raced to Decatur to the vet office and the vet was already waiting for us. After assessing the condition of the dog he called another doctor to come to assist him in emergency surgery. He hooked up Sebastain to the donor dog they keep at the clinic for blood transfusions, stablized his condition, and sent us home to wait for his call when they finished with the surgery.

On the way home the weather warnings were broadcast on the radio and of course we were in a severe thunderstorm warning. I asked Jenna if she would go with me to the neighbor's to help me put up and feed their four horses which was a time consuming job. We got that done in record time and got home a few minutes before the storm hit. As I walked through the back door I discovered that I had forgotten to close the utility room door on the dogs and they had tracked mud through the house that would rival a herd of cattle. I took a look at Jenna in her basketball sweats and my Martha Stewart garden clogs and then myself in my pajamas and rubber boots wondering what the vets were probably thinking....!

Then...all of a sudden the hail and wind started...huge hail...the size of baseballs or larger. The hail beat the house and cars while the wind was ripping apart the trees. Very scary and we both thought we were about to be blown away....!

By the way...Sebastian survived the surgery and is alive and well today...we just call him "Our Six-Million Dollar Dog"!

Now back to last Thursday...I should have known better...my Murphy's Law life stepped right in and the special weather reports were indicating a minimum of 80 mile an hour winds with large hail (no less than tennis ball size) and possible rotation heading directly for us in just a matter of minutes. Our house is just not very safe for taking shelter in a storm...we don't have any inside rooms or closets... everything has an outside wall ... so I usually leave and go to a neighbor's house where I feel a little safer. My daughter and granddaughter were here and after hearing the weather reports we decided to run! But my life is never easy...

After living out here for 15 years...for the first time we were having our septic tank pumped out. Wouldn't you know they arrived just a few minutes before the approaching storm! I ran outside to let JR know a storm was on the way and that Jenna and I might leave. You know men...they aren't worried at all...

So in the midst of a tornado warning for Wise county, Jenna, the baby, and I left them sucking out the septic tank. Jenna asked a little while later if I should call and check on JR since we hadn't heard from him. We had a good laugh thinking that he and the septic guys could have been blown away in a cloud of rotating sewage....!