The Tornado Drill

We've been having tornado warnings off and on since four o'clock this
afternoon, so I decided to open the 2' x 4' hole in the floor up and take
the kitties down to the basement, one by one. What an effort it was!

First off I haven't gotten around to building stairs yet so I had to go down
in stages using the top of the crawlspace wall as the first step, then
jumping down to the floor from there. I moved a 55-gallon metal barrel
against the wall and put a chair next to it, to make three steep steps. Then
I stood on the barrel and started grabbing curious cats as they peeked into
the hole.

Tommy came down first, followed by Beatrice, Lily, Billy, Annabelle and
Buzzy. To a cat, they all yowled in voices I had not yet heard from any of
them. Was it fear of an approaching twister, or fear of being thrown into
the bowels of hell? I was too wrapped up in the process to pay attention to
what the wind was doing. Eli and Baby Eyes never came near the hole, and
Abelard is locked in the bathroom.

By the time I got the six curious ones down into the basement, the warning
was lifted, and I had worked myself into a lather that is not yet dry. I
dare not let Aby out of the bathroom until everyone is back upstairs and the
cover is back on the hole, as I can't be certain he will avoid falling into
the hole, nor that he could make all four required jumps without taking a
hard fall onto the concrete floor of the basement, if he decided to go down
voluntarily.

Anyhow, at least most of us had a practice run at taking cover, and next
time will be easier. I am betting that the kitties will want to spend more
time in the basement from now on, too.

Pat wrote:
We've been having tornado warnings off and on since four o'clock this
afternoon, so I decided to open the 2' x 4' hole in the floor up and take
the kitties down to the basement, one by one. What an effort it was!

First off I haven't gotten around to building stairs yet so I had to go down
in stages using the top of the crawlspace wall as the first step, then
jumping down to the floor from there. I moved a 55-gallon metal barrel
against the wall and put a chair next to it, to make three steep steps. Then
I stood on the barrel and started grabbing curious cats as they peeked into
the hole.

Tommy came down first, followed by Beatrice, Lily, Billy, Annabelle and
Buzzy. To a cat, they all yowled in voices I had not yet heard from any of
them. Was it fear of an approaching twister, or fear of being thrown into
the bowels of hell? I was too wrapped up in the process to pay attention to
what the wind was doing. Eli and Baby Eyes never came near the hole, and
Abelard is locked in the bathroom.

By the time I got the six curious ones down into the basement, the warning
was lifted, and I had worked myself into a lather that is not yet dry. I
dare not let Aby out of the bathroom until everyone is back upstairs and the
cover is back on the hole, as I can't be certain he will avoid falling into
the hole, nor that he could make all four required jumps without taking a
hard fall onto the concrete floor of the basement, if he decided to go down
voluntarily.

Anyhow, at least most of us had a practice run at taking cover, and next
time will be easier. I am betting that the kitties will want to spend more
time in the basement from now on, too.






Best wishes that you never have that emergenct. Perhaps you could find a suitable ladder to use unil you are able to build stairs. MLB

"MLB" wrote

| Best wishes that you never have that emergenct. Perhaps you could
| find a suitable ladder to use unil you are able to build stairs. MLB

A twister touched down 3 blocks from my house on May 2nd this year. It
ripped trees out of the ground all along my street including one right next
door. We get active tornadic activity in this area frequently, especially in
spring and fall, but can happen anytime. I remember a storm last January
that went on all night and I couldn't sleep.

On Sep 11, 11:35�pm, hopitus wrote:
On Sep 11, 8:15 pm, "Pat" wrote:





We've been having tornado warnings off and on since four o'clock this
afternoon, so I decided to open the 2' x 4' hole in the floor up and take
the kitties down to the basement, one by one. What an effort it was!

First off I haven't gotten around to building stairs yet so I had to go down
in stages using the top of the crawlspace wall as the first step, then
jumping down to the floor from there. I moved a 55-gallon metal barrel
against the wall and put a chair next to it, to make three steep steps. Then
I stood on the barrel and started grabbing curious cats as they peeked into
the hole.

Tommy came down first, followed by Beatrice, Lily, Billy, Annabelle and
Buzzy. To a cat, they all yowled in voices I had not yet heard from any of
them. Was it fear of an approaching twister, or fear of being thrown into
the bowels of hell? I was too wrapped up in the process to pay attention to
what the wind was doing. Eli and Baby Eyes never came near the hole, and
Abelard is locked in the bathroom.

By the time I got the six curious ones down into the basement, the warning
was lifted, and I had worked myself into a lather that is not yet dry. I
dare not let Aby out of the bathroom until everyone is back upstairs and the
cover is back on the hole, as I can't be certain he will avoid falling into
the hole, nor that he could make all four required jumps without taking a
hard fall onto the concrete floor of the basement, if he decided to go down
voluntarily.

Anyhow, at least most of us had a practice run at taking cover, and next
time will be easier. I am betting that the kitties will want to spend more
time in the basement from now on, too.

When hopitus knows nothing about something, I freely admit
it....knowing zilch
about tornadoes, I still think your "drill" sounds pretty efficient,
overall. My only
concern would be if a twister was very near (I have heard the sound,
once, when
living in Miami, where one tore up a commercial block one block away
from our
building....it sounds very much like a train!) that you might become
so worried/
excited about getting all the cats down there and safe below that with
those big
steps you might make a misstep and break something on the way down,
which
would mess everything up, so to speak. Food treats in a practice drill
may entice
your cats to quickly enter the below-ground safe room with you. I
*know* that
cool as I am re 'canes, I'd be pretty freaked at an approaching
twister.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

The good thing about tornadoes is that, if you're paying attention,
you do have
advance warning. We don't freak out about tornadoes anymore -- the new
dopplar
technology and the fleet of storm spotters nowadays pretty well
pinpoint the exact
location and path for you....still, I'm cautious. Best plan of action
here is, get the cats
in the carriers and round up a flashlight if it looks too close for
comfort. We go to the
interior bathroom. We have a storm cellar but it's just too creepy in
there.
But, yes, Pat, please *do* fix up a ladder until you can get something
more permanent
built. You don't want to break a leg!

Sherry

Sherry

"Pat"

"MLB"
| Best wishes that you never have that emergenct. Perhaps you could
| find a suitable ladder to use unil you are able to build stairs. MLB

That's a good idea. Hope that you never have to use it for the real thing.

A twister touched down 3 blocks from my house on May 2nd this year. It
ripped trees out of the ground all along my street including one right
next
door. We get active tornadic activity in this area frequently, especially
in
spring and fall, but can happen anytime. I remember a storm last January
that went on all night and I couldn't sleep.

Oh geez, those are so scary. I can't sleep if there are high winds either,
and we had a small tornado touch down near here a few weeks ago..in Seattle.
Purrs and prayers lovingly sent your way
Kyla

"Sherry" wrote
Pat, please *do* fix up a ladder until you can get something
more permanent built. You don't want to break a leg!

Working on it.

Annabelle is still down there and I can't find her!!

Abelard stood at the top of the hole and looked down for a long time,
turning his head this way and that. He seemed to be trying to gauge whether
or not he ought to try going down. I didn't offer to take him down. We'll do
that another time. Baby Eyes and Eli both went to the top of the hole and
checked it out, but were uninterested in going down.

As to breaking legs, I'm more worried that I'll mis-step on the living room
floor and fall through the hole. I need to devise some sort of low railing
around it or something. But maybe this is just my fear of heights talking...