Living in Kansas, one gets rather used to all sorts of severe weather. Thunder-snow and ice storms in the winter, heat advisories and 100+ degree temps in the summer. And, of course, tornadoes.
Since my son and I are home all day, we’re pretty used to the tornado drill around here: they happen on the first Wednesday of the month. When the sirens start, we hurry to the basement where I’ve got a box containing shoes, jackets, flashlights, spare batteries, drinking water, canned goods and a portable radio. I tune into the local TV channel to make sure it’s just a drill, and once the alarm sounds the “all clear” signal we head back to our homeschool lessons.
It’s all pretty mundane, to be honest, and I rather like it that way. I don’t panic, so my son doesn’t, either. We simply view it as part of school day once a month, and it affords us many opportunities to discuss other weather phenomenon.
But if there’s one thing I can’t stand it’s when the tornado siren goes off and I can’t find information anywhere. Like this morning, when the alarm pierced the air for a solid 5 minutes but not one single local TV station was running a weather alert. Nor was the Weather Channel. Nor were any of the online weather sites.
Was it a real sighting? A false alarm? An unscheduled test of the tornado siren system? I have no idea and no way to find out. But I do know that while we hunkered in our basement safe room my cats chowed down on the tuna salad I’d been making for lunch then ripped into the package of shrimp I’d set in the sink to defrost.
If I didn’t know better, I’d swear the two of them were behind the whole false alarm thing.
Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007, 11:54 am | 
My Venomous Life | 
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October 2, 2007 at 2:11 pm
You can call the police station.
If it’s dark and stormy outside you can call 911… if it all looks clear and nothing out of the ordinary – call the regular number.
Once they get enough calls they’ll call the local radio stations to tell everyone it’s a false alarm. (used to happen to us every once in a while in the Midwest – there are no sirens out here on the Northeast coast that I can see)
October 2, 2007 at 3:04 pm
I bet they were behind it, the little scamps. We never take the monthly drills seriously. We should, we have a similar record of storms and tornadoes here in Minnesota that you do there in Kansas.
October 2, 2007 at 4:10 pm
Teresa,
I’m going to disagree with you here. Dark and stormy is not a reason to call 911. You call 911 when there is an emergency in progress or a crime is being committed. Granted, the cats’ conspiracy to pilfer the household seafood was a cunning plan, but I doubt that they could have been charged.
Disclaimer: I’ve been through all of the natural disasters (the firestorm really sucked), live in hurricane and tornado country, am married to a cop, and have 2 cats.
October 2, 2007 at 4:25 pm
Wow! You’re serious about tornadoes! I wish I had a basement. I meant to have one built in our house, but I was so pregnant I forgot.
And the cats don’t go with you to the basement? I’m going to call PETA.
My mother-in-law was a child in war time England. For the record, I’m about to say something kind about her. Or at least not nasty. They got so tired of going into their bomb shelter when the air raid warnings went off that they quit going. However, the dog was certain that they always needed to rush to the bomb shelter, so he would pester them until he was carried (his legs were too short for the ladder). I thought your story was going to be about the cats insisting on going exploring in the basement.
October 2, 2007 at 6:48 pm
First Tuesday at 10am here. We call it the Tuesday alarm. I actually had just gone out the door when the alarm first went off. I was going to Hollywood video to rent fantastic four and 1408. I picked up premonition and the number 23 as well. Then I went to WalMart to buy the platinum edition of Jungle Book.
I think the village has the button somewhere where it’s easy to hit it. Like in the drawer where the lady that’s been working there forever puts her large purse, or on the counter next to the Staples Easy button. Just like that commercial where the guy sits on the easy button and inkjet cartridges start raining down on the office… It goes off and stops right away, but it happens often enough…
October 4, 2007 at 7:45 am
This cracked me up, Anne!
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October 2, 2007 at 4:54 pm