Well, I'm sitting here in the recently renovated "fort" (a.k.a. Mommy and Daddy's walk-in closet) watching the weather reports. As I write from inside the bunker, a tornado has apparently been reported in the small town of Clermont, which is only about 3 or 4 miles from our house. And there have been reports of winds up to 80 mph. For those of you in Indiana, keep your heads down. It may be headed your way, if it hasn't arrived already. (This picture I borrowed from the "Free Republic" folks captures the situation faced by me and my little junior grunts.)
Whenever these kinds of weather systems come through, I nonchalantly suggest to the boys, "Hey, why don't we build a fort in Mommy and Daddy's closet?" To which they are always enthusiastically amenable. So, as I write, they are spread out on the pillows and blankets, with their flashlights and snacks close at hand. We've got the Cars movie playing on the portable DVD player (until the electricity goes out). In the meantime, we're ready for anything. (Hopefully, when we come out, we'll find out who's ahead in Florida.) Signing off from inside the bunker... :) 
UPDATE: And just as quickly, the adventure's over. The storms have moved on toward those of you in Ohio. We've been given the all-clear. We're coming out. What year is it? Is the presidential campaign still going on? (Oh, of course it is. It never stops.) Now, I just have to convince the boys that they can't sleep in the closet all night. That, and I'll be picking up Wheat Thins for weeks to come. It was fun while it lasted.
We hunkered too. Mom was still at work, but the boys, the dogs(3), the webkinz(2) and I traipsed down to the basement. I sat with the panting dogs, the webkinz were tucked in a box under a basket and the boys played pop-a-shot.
OK, so maybe we didn't hunker down, but at least we were in the basement. It was nasty, but it was quick. I'm not sure if I've ever seen such a thin, long line of storms.
Oh well, off to bed...for the boys at least.
Posted by: DJ | January 29, 2008 at 08:32 PM
How funny DJ! Will, Zack, 2 dogs, 2 cats and 3 webkinz in OUR closet. Unfortunately for me, but to the rest of the clan's benefit, I had just had an avalanche of sweaters. Zack said to me after we came out "Mom I'm really glad you said 'Stupid dog! Get off my cashmere sweater'. I knew you weren't worried about the storm when you said that. It made me feel better." I was glad he thought I wasn't afraid, even though I was a little this time. Jim enjoyed the stories from balmy North Carolina.
Posted by: Mandy Leech | January 29, 2008 at 09:32 PM
At least the webkinz were safe.
Posted by: Mandy Leech | January 29, 2008 at 09:33 PM
I reluctantly took my flashlight, cell phone and blanket into the bathroom asking Jesus to protect me and then waiting a resonable amount of time until I forged ahead with the laundry which was never really stopped (the show must go on).
It was really nice to get a call from Dad making sure I was OK.
Posted by: Beth Cullison | January 30, 2008 at 08:59 AM
Beth, your dad is awesome...I would feel better if he called ME to see if I was okay!
Posted by: Mandy Leech | February 02, 2008 at 08:58 PM