Thunder and Lightning
This being the third consecutive day of thunder and lightning late at night, Ruby the Dog is thoroughly tired of it. We're not all that thrilled by it either.
When the emergency alert came on the TV screen (in the middle of the Home Run Derby), I didn't think much of it, because it was announced for communities that were substantially south of us. I thought of tuning to channel 7 for some local weather, but -- of course! -- I couldn't tune with the set, because it was busy broadcasting emergency alert after emergency alert.
Technology to the rescue! I pulled out my cellphone, went to the Comcast Stream app, and was able to stream the channel 7 coverage of the storm. The forecasters were very excited, because there was a *lot* of storm.
Meanwhile, the tornado siren started going off. But I was watching the coverage and it still seemed like there was nothing near us other than a lot of rain.
Well, that was until they announced a sighting of a tornado at O'Hare, just a few miles south of us. Maybe. Hard to say.
At this point, we sent K to the basement with Ruby the Dog (Julie was already in the basement gaming). Gretchen and I continued to watch the coverage and the Home Run Derby until it was clear that the worst of the storm had passed south of us, at which point we summoned K back from the basement.
(I figured I could be in the stairwell on the way to the basement in seconds. Gretchen would take longer, but I was fairly convinced that, in the case of a tornado, she would be more likely to be standing on the front porch looking for the incoming funnel cloud. This is a hazard of living with a trained meteorologist.)
In any case, we're fine here. I am hoping the fence is no less fine than it was yesterday, which is not very fine, but still sufficient to keep Ruby the Dog in the yard.
We'll see in the morning, because it is still raining and I surely can't see tonight without getting very wet.
ETA: Gretchen, meanwhile, would *still* like to know where Helen Hunt got all of those clean white tank tops.
When the emergency alert came on the TV screen (in the middle of the Home Run Derby), I didn't think much of it, because it was announced for communities that were substantially south of us. I thought of tuning to channel 7 for some local weather, but -- of course! -- I couldn't tune with the set, because it was busy broadcasting emergency alert after emergency alert.
Technology to the rescue! I pulled out my cellphone, went to the Comcast Stream app, and was able to stream the channel 7 coverage of the storm. The forecasters were very excited, because there was a *lot* of storm.
Meanwhile, the tornado siren started going off. But I was watching the coverage and it still seemed like there was nothing near us other than a lot of rain.
Well, that was until they announced a sighting of a tornado at O'Hare, just a few miles south of us. Maybe. Hard to say.
At this point, we sent K to the basement with Ruby the Dog (Julie was already in the basement gaming). Gretchen and I continued to watch the coverage and the Home Run Derby until it was clear that the worst of the storm had passed south of us, at which point we summoned K back from the basement.
(I figured I could be in the stairwell on the way to the basement in seconds. Gretchen would take longer, but I was fairly convinced that, in the case of a tornado, she would be more likely to be standing on the front porch looking for the incoming funnel cloud. This is a hazard of living with a trained meteorologist.)
In any case, we're fine here. I am hoping the fence is no less fine than it was yesterday, which is not very fine, but still sufficient to keep Ruby the Dog in the yard.
We'll see in the morning, because it is still raining and I surely can't see tonight without getting very wet.
ETA: Gretchen, meanwhile, would *still* like to know where Helen Hunt got all of those clean white tank tops.