Doro-thy!

Last Thursday night was just another in a series of "weather events" we've had here in Nashville.  There's been snow, ice, floods, searing heat, high winds, and yes, now a night of tornados.  I knew there was bad weather coming, and by dinnertime, the winds were howling and the rain was falling.  The weather had been colder than expected all day but warmed significantly at night.  My Thursday night shows kept getting interrupted for coverage of where "circulating thunderstorms" were building.  Emme and I went to bed around 9pm, and shortly thereafter, when the first siren sounded, Wes brought a sleeping Oliver down to our bed.  Wes got out shoes for both us, checked to make sure the flashlight had batteries, and unlocked the padlock on the outside of the door to our basement, our escape location in the event of an actual tornado.  We heard the siren go off probably every ten to thirty minutes for more than two hours, along with lots and lots of rain, wind, lightning and thunder.  Ollie and Emme slept soundly, Wes sat up watching television warnings, and I woke up every time the siren went off.  By midnight, the threat seemed to have passed.  Wes lugged Ollie back upstairs, and we all fell mercifully to sleep.  We heard one final loud boom of thunder shortly after Wes came to bed.  It reverberated so loudly that we both worried it was an actual tornado.  The night -- especially on top of a late homework night Monday and a late shift for Wes the night before -- left us all worn out, and no one, including Oliver, was up before 9am the next morning, having weathered, literally, our first serious encounter with tornado alley.

And what did I just see on the Sunday night news teaser -- updates on the threat for more tornadoes.  Welcome to the alley!