It was a twister!

If you heard about a tornado touching down in Madison, I am happy to report that everyone here is safe and sound. Our two households had very different tornado experiences, however.

At the Goeddel's, I'm told Noel woke everyone up and took them to the basement around midnight. The dachshunds were apparently riled up, as well as everyone else pretty frightened, since they had the notorious 'freight train' tornado sounds outside, wind gusts and tree debris flying around. After the coast seemed clear (literally since they are right on the lake), they went back upstairs, only to go back down when it seemed dangerous again.

Over here, I had just fallen asleep and was woken up by my cell phone reporting a tornado warning. I heard the tornado siren shortly after but decided, with my blinds closed, that it didn't seem that bad and I'd stay safe under the covers upstairs. Mabel didn't wake up at all and Franny just peeked to see why I was disturbing her slumber when I sat up to read the weather report on my phone. I could tell it was lightning and very windy but it seemed ok to ride it out in bed.

So this morning came and other than being a little sad that my petunias were little worse for wear, I forgot completely about the storm and went about my morning. I called Beth at 8am to tell her about the great new grocery store where I went to get donuts for customers and after patiently listening to me talk about the smoothie bar there, she said they were in the process of cleaning up some pretty serious damage. Their dock blew loose, branches were everywhere, a boat was overturned, etc. I went by after work to pick up the dachshunds and their neighborhood is indeed very damaged. Trees everywhere, power lines down, and that was all after 10 hours of clean-up.

So in conclusion, it was a close one but everyone is safe with no damage to their house other than a ripped window screen. My dogs and I are reevaluating our disaster preparedness and plan to take the next tornado warning a little more seriously. Or at least remember it happened the next morning and call to check on our loved ones.

It was lovely to see all of Beth and Noel's neighbors, including their 72yr old neighbor Dennis, all helping each other clean up debris and laughing while chatting about how helpful and nice the city workers were. This town is so great!

Here are some pics of the dogs along with some photos of the damage I pulled from the web, all within a few surrounding blocks of the Goeddels' house.

 These girls have experience going to the basement in STL and they took the storm seriously!

I took this when Franny woke up and looked at my phone while I was reading the weather reports. REALLY glad we weren't hurt because this would've be a very embarrassing photo! "What were you doing during the tornado? Oh you know, whining about mosquitoes on FB and taking selflies with a puppy."

 Storm? What storm?