How to get the adrenaline pumping

[49greg]

I'm in the prairie area of the Central US, Iowa to be precise, in Tornado alley to be not so precise.

Last night heavy weather went through, as is usual for spring (even if it is way early this year), lots of T-storms, hail, winds, etc. Lots of "Honey, should we spend the night in the basement, there's Tornado warnings near by .... we're under a T-watch," from the light of my life. Today it's wet and windy. The Tornados did touch down, but in Missouri.

Today is also the first of the month, and at ten AM on the first our tornado sirens are tested. So here I am, sitting on the couch, laptop on my lap, feet up, cat curled up next to me, forgetting what day it is, what time it is, reading a thread about exclamation points. And then our tornado siren goes off. It's about a hundred yards from the house. Its LOUD!

Yikes, I jumped, the cat jumped, my heart is still hammering, my hands are still quivering. Heck of a wake up.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

I'm in the prairie area of the Central US, Iowa to be precise, in Tornado alley to be not so precise.

Last night heavy weather went through, as is usual for spring (even if it is way early this year), lots of T-storms, hail, winds, etc. Lots of "Honey, should we spend the night in the basement, there's Tornado warnings near by .... we're under a T-watch," from the light of my life. Today it's wet and windy. The Tornados did touch down, but in Missouri.

Today is also the first of the month, and at ten AM on the first our tornado sirens are tested. So here I am, sitting on the couch, laptop on my lap, feet up, cat curled up next to me, forgetting what day it is, what time it is, reading a thread about exclamation points. And then our tornado siren goes off. It's about a hundred yards from the house. Its LOUD!

Yikes, I jumped, the cat jumped, my heart is still hammering, my hands are still quivering. Heck of a wake up.

Tornadoes definitely get your attention! Glad that's all it got from you.

 

[Handley_Page]

Good Luck!

 

[NotWise]

Yikes, I jumped, the cat jumped, my heart is still hammering, my hands are still quivering. Heck of a wake up.

When I was growing up we had civil defense sirens, which I guess were intended to give you time to kiss your ass goodbye before you got nuked. They were tested at noon every Friday. During the Cuban missile crisis they had the forethought to *not* run the usual test. That probably avoided a panic.

 

[LIVINRFANTASIES]

Denny

Well now Greg, we are across two rivers from you in another cornpatch. South of us and north of us were tornados. At least one killed up north.
We went to bed around 10:30 PM and covered our heads..... and asses. We heard high winds, rain, and thunderboomers that shook the house. In less than an hour it all quit., or I fell asleep!
Today central Illinois is still here and we've had winds that are making the pine trees outside the window dance.

We recently left hurricane alley and were relieved to be back home. Then a nearby friend reminded me of all the small tornados that have passed this area. At my very mature age I've watched tornadoes pass close, driven an eighteen wheeler around and thru where one hit nearer Shitcargo, had my rig on nine wheels as others cleared the cornfields.
The scary part is there is one of those loud warning sirens about a mile north of us that makes me pee a little.
Still, we've never actually been in a tornado. Just the very edge of one and too close to some hurricanes.
It's nice to have weather to talk about instead of politics, religeon and sex.

 

[Handley_Page]

When I was growing up we had civil defense sirens, which I guess were intended to give you time to kiss your ass goodbye before you got nuked. They were tested at noon every Friday.

During the 60s, we had lots of that sort of thing. 3am on a cold winters night is not a popular time to have an Exercise.

 

[Hypoxia]

We visited Chena Hot Springs resort near the Arctic Circle in Alaska for a week one November to view auroras. Occupancy was low; ours was the only occupied room in one multi-story building. We peered out the windows till 4am, watching the glowing sky. We crawled naked into bed.

At 7am, the fire alarm sounded. Loudly. We jumped up. What to do!? Run nude out into the snow? Then the alarm stopped. We called the front desk. "Oh, so sorry! We had to test the alarm and we forgot anyone was in that building! Everything is okay." We returned to bed and fitful sleep.

At 8am, the fire alarm sounded again, and cut off after ten seconds. We called the front desk again. We were fatigue-blitzed and most unhappy. They agreed to comp us the room for the night and promised not to hit the alarm again. Fortunately, they kept that promise. Unfortunately, they food-poisoned us a couple nights later, but that's another story.

SYNOPSIS: Naked. Freezing and snowy outside. Evacuation alarm. Oh fuck...

 

[Haulover]

I'm not familiar with tornado alarms. The first time I went to your neck o' the woods (Iowa - I rode RAGBRAI) - there were tornado sirens on the first day.

My wife and I were frantically looking for the nearest basement.

The local Iowans were strolling around as if nothing was happening 'cept for that annoying racket.