An Unexpected Storm Watch

 I'm keeping a private blog with two dear friends, where we do book clubs together and right now, we are also counting 1000 things we are thankful for.  Thought some of you might like to read this one...  (the numbers are the counting thing, to 1000 - as you can see, we have only just begun a few weeks ago...)

37-45) Stormy day - but mostly over now and no big storms (well, not BAD ones) we knew there were thunder storms headed our way, that had made ugly stuff in Mississippi and Arkansas, but it seemed to be fizzling on the 'severe' aspect of things.  Then, suddenly, at about 11:00 this morning, they put us on watch. (#37 - much as I hate it, I DO appreciate - am THANKFUL for - the warning system)  So, instruments went in the closet, shoes were found, just realized now, we TOTALLY forgot about Jackets...  anyway, all the precautions were taken - well most of them.  But, I had to take my student home, get groceries and take Em to a Chiropractor appointment.  The main squall line was not due here till around 2:30 or 3:00 - so I called the Chiropractor to see if we could move her appointment up a bit.  They said no, Dr was out till 2:30, and the schedule was packed.  But a few minutes later, they called back and said there was a cancellation (#38) and we could come at 2:15, so she could get her traction and see the Dr. as soon as he got back from the dentist, at 2:30.   So we raced out the door, dropped off my student, and grabbed groceries - of course with a storm on the way, the grocery store was not your typical 'early afternoon quiet' - there were lines, and I knew we only had about 20 minutes to get to the Chiro's office.  But we managed to get to the car with more than enough time to get there, in fact we got there early.  (#39) and then the Dr called and said his Dentist appointment had gone bad and he was not coming in for the afternoon - too much pain.  We could do the traction, but she would not get adjusted.   They didn't even charge me for the traction (#40) and we got home WELL before the storms arrived (#41) (I do NOT like leaving the kids home by themselves on days like this - I even considered taking them all WITH me, but didn't feel that was the safest route to go!).  There were several warnings NEAR here, that really put me on edge, the storm was approaching from the same direction, and on the same path as the big ones did two years ago (though, honestly, they ALWAYS come from that direction - well, almost always) though it was clearly less 'organized' and less severe than that day.  There were reports of a funnel cloud sighting about 30 miles from here.  THAT made me nervous.  But I couldn't turn the TV on to see what the damages were, because Tommy freaks out, and because we had everything unplugged due to the lightening.  Then we went on warning.  It was a 45 minute long one!!  (usually they are about 20-30 minutes) We crammed ourselves into the shelter, pets and all, and started sitting it out.  They ended it early (#42) at about 4:30, and we came out, nothing had happened.  A few trees were down, way down in the FAR south part of Huntsville, other than that, not much took place.  (#43)  We are all safe (#44) And we can re-schedule the TaeKwonDo testing that was supposed to happen to next Wednesday, and skip Pathfinders, so we have a quiet evening ahead of us (#45) (other than prep for the garage sale, tomorrow, but I'm not going to stress about it, what will get done will get done, and what doesn't won't.)