You don't think of semething like this happening at this time of year.

Seems that tornado/severe weather season has an early start this year.  I hope that this isn't a harbinger of things to come; if it was this bad now, I wonder what the approaching spring will be like!

It's only February; however, we've already had several rounds of severe weather.  We've already had several snowstorms, an ice storm or two; now you can add tornadoes to the mix.  On the 10th of this month, just last week, we had an unusually strong upper level low that traversed across the area, spawning supercell thunderstorms that contained damaging winds, extremely heavy, flooding rains, very large hail, and even tornadoes.

One of those said tornadoes hit where I live.  Durn thing went right down my street.  It made mincemeat out of our house (we're now staying with relatives who had been spared); there's no telling when repairs will begin or will be completed.  Thank God none of us were killed; but it sure made for some frayed nerves!!

We were playing a game of backgammon in the kitchen, me and my wife, Carla, and the twins (Cooper and Caylen, six) were sitting on the floor, playing with the cat, when Coop looked out the window and noted that the sky was quickly turning an ugly grey-black-green hue.  He said, "I think a tornado's comin'!"; it wasn't long after that when the sirens began their wailsong, causing us to scurry to our shelter. 

It was just in time too; just after we'd shut the door, there was a loud roar, a heavy burst of wind, and a deafening "whoosh" and a horrible thud.  It was scary!!  We sat there, huddled together, praying to God to spare us from getting sucked away by the tornadic winds.

It ended as quickly as it began.  About a half hour later, the "all-clear" was given.  We crawled out of the shelter like bears emerging from a cave; we were shocked to see our house lying in ruins, and our van wrapped around our neighbor's tree.  It was as though the twister had picked it up and tied it in a bow.  It was really something to see!

We immediately called our insurance company, to tell them that we'd just been through a tornado, and that our house got pulverized.  Then we called the Red Cross, who were on site within a half hour.  They got us food, blankets, and clothes, and they said they'd take care of us as long as it was needed.  They made us forget of our troubles--at least, for a little while.

Now we're at my sister's house; she was more than happy to accomodate us.  It may not be our home, but we have a place to stay, and all of us survived the tornado.  It could have easily been a lot worse; for that, we are eternally grateful.

*End.*