Fun with tornadoes

One of the benefits of living in Oklahoma is seeing beautiful sunsets and witnessing incredible bouts of weather. Last night we had some excitement after a tornado hit the El Reno airport, destroying a hangar and tossing some planes around like toys. As tornadoes go, this one was a gem: it was a cyclonic tornado, which means it spun backwards, a very rare phenomenon.

El Reno is only about 10 miles west of us, and when the sirens started going off, Sport ran into his bedroom like a shot, grabbed his beloved teddy bear and his OU football (autographed by the 2005 team and Coach Bob Stoops), and a favorite GI Joe. He was ready to head to the shelter. Although he was less than 2 years old, he still remembers the night of May 3, 1999, when an F5 tornado hit central Oklahoma. That evening, we got him and his brother up out of bed, grabbed our little mutt and raced to the storm shelter at a nearby church. When the dark clouds gather, he'd rather play it safe than be sorry.

LegoGuy, on the other hand, is less fearful of storms and tends to view them with a scientific eye. He's a lot like me: we love to watch the lightning displays and sit on the front porch watching the driving rain and exchanging weird weather facts. After storms, he will often hop on his bike and ride through the puddles, a huge grin splitting his face. “I could never get bored with rain!” he once said.

We ended up staying put. The weather system weakened, turning into a heavy downpour mixed with hail, and we all breathed a sigh of relief. I didn't relish the thought of spending the next hour in a dark church basement with crying children and barking dogs.

I get enough of that at home.