I think Caroline must be part kitty cat as she can clearly sense the approaching storm. (The forecasters are predicting the Midwest equivalent of a category 3 hurricane type event of historic proportions moving through today and tomorrow.) David and I got to bed late and I knew we were going to get up early to get some things done before the storms move through. Caroline was awake around 2:30, 3:15 and 4:00 this morning. I wish I could say I was completely grace-filled in my response to the 4:00 wake-up when she brought an armload of stuffed animals into our room and sounded like she was ready to get up and play. I was not and I sternly told her that the clock had a 4 on it, not a 6 or 7 so it was not time to get up.
As it turns out, she wanted to get in bed with us – something she never asks to do. So she climbed in bed and the ensuing hour before we got up confirmed once again in my mind that co-sleeping or the family bed is not anywhere on my radar. 😯
We got up at 5:00 a.m. since the weather radio had gone off shortly before to inform us we were now under a very rare for us early morning Tornado Watch. I’m not fond of these watches when it is dark outside and you can’t see what is going on in the sky. So for the past five hours we have been preparing for the storm.
Even though today isn’t laundry day, my laundry is almost all done after starting it when we got up. We’ve checked all our preparations in case we lose our power. We still need to run the vacuum and do a few small things, but we’re as prepared as we can be. (It is bad enough to be without power. I don’t need to stare at junk on the floor by the light of Coleman LED lantern to make it worse.) In my ideal world we would have a whole house back-up generator but since we never intended on staying here very long, it was completely impractical to spend that kind of money.
So now we just wait. I’m hoping against hope we don’t lose our power, but I remember what it was like when the 1998 Southern Great Lakes Derecho went through and we lost our power for five days. Not fun. Hopefully this will be nothing like that.
I hope everyone else in the storm’s path is tucked in safely at home. As I’ve been typing this the wind has been steadily increasing and the leaves are starting to fly off the trees outside my window. We’ll be muddling through the rest of the day with a tired little girl who was rubbing her eyes by 9:00 this morning. If I’m not around the next few days, you’ll know why! 🙂
Seeking the Truth Can Be Risky
The storms rolled through Chicagoland this morning, and now the sun is shining. It wasn’t as bad as the weatherman predicted, but we’ll be dealing with the wind a bit longer.
I hope the storms are light for you in Michigan!
Lots of rain here too overnight, but it was easy on the storm side, thank God. Hope you are well, safe, and warm!
And guess what? I so relate on the family bed. NO THANK YOU. Just having my husband in the bed with me stretches my personal space issues 🙂
Hi Sallie,
Caroline could be detecting storms in her collarbone from when she broke it earlier this year. I broke my wrist last year, and for months afterward, I could tell you when rain or a storm was coming because my wrist hurt (for the first few storms, almost as bad as when I broke it). I asked the doctor about this and it’s not an old wives tale – it’s because after you break a bone, the pressure inside it changes and it’s more sensitive to pressure in the air.
Anyway, I hope you have a MUCH more restful sleep tonight. 🙂
So far we’ve been fortunate. The really bad line of storms went south of us. It’s really windy now, but so far we still have our power. Woo hoo!
Jen – That is a really interesting observation about Caroline’s collarbone. I’ll have to keep an eye on that over the next few months and see if she specifically mentions that.
Lost power for 14 days during the Ice Storm in Quebec back in the 90’s. Rough.
Hi Thomas,
Two weeks of no power in the winter would be very rough. Just a day or two is bad enough! I am guessing it impacted your thinking of weather events and being prepared for the rest of your life. We only lost power for five days with the massive derecho and it changed my thinking.
Sallie
Well, we were guests at my folks house in the Laurentians (an hour north of Mtl.). My folks built a log home (walls 10 ” thick) and had a stone fireplace in the parlor and a wood burning stove in the basement. My Dad was of the Great generation and grew up during the depression and the second WW. He was prepared, thank God. The cottage was on a forest road near a lake. When the storm came we spent the first 2/3 days listening to the forest collapse around us. It was 8 km. to the nearest town but the forest had fallen onto the road and was impassable. Some of the men got out their chain saws and started cutting through to the town. It wasn’t until day 7/ that we saw a police car carrying potable water. A difficult time.