Tornado Shelter

My baby brother and his trickster wife!

I just spent a wonderful week with family in Kansas.  My youngest nephew graduated from H.S. and Dave and I went down to help celebrate.  We stayed with my baby brother and his saint of a wife, my mom and her husband were there too.  To say we are a loud obnoxious family is something of an understatement.  I always feel sorry for my sister in law, Lisa, when we are all together invading her house.

An Alaskan dinner in Kansas: King Crab, deep fried halibut, and salmon two ways.

We were in Kansas during prime tornado weather.  While we were in graduation a tornado tore through Wichita Kansas only 2 hours East of us, and the Oklahoma tornado was just a day later.  So I want to say that I totally understand the gravity and danger of a tornado.  I grew up spending nights ready to head down to the cellar, or in the cellar because of a tornado.  But my husband did not, and we just couldn't resist pulling this prank on him.

Dave with my brother's horses dogs.

In Kansas, every town has a tornado siren.  In the town I grew up in, it went off every day at noon, then if ever there was a tornado sighting.  In the town my brother now lives in the siren goes of every Saturday at noon.  When I found this out I had a plan.  I told my sister in law and my mom when the siren goes off we need to act like it is a tornado and tell Dave to head to the cellar, we had Thursday and Friday without a siren so he wouldn't know this was a  usual event.  On Saturday, we were sitting around the kitchen table playing cards.  At 12:00 the siren went off. My sister in law heard it and, with panic in her face and voice, yelled "Tornado Siren, everyone downstairs!"
She jumped out of her seat and headed to the cellar, Dave on her heels.  We jumped up, but stayed in the kitchen laughing.  When they got downstairs she yelled, "Get under the steps."  Dave replied that he had never done this before and turned to me, but I wasn't there.
"Quick, get under the steps." Lisa yelled.
But Dave wouldn't go without me.  So Lisa told him it was a joke.  He came upstairs and we all laughed.  Dave had even grabbed his glass of water on the way down in case we were stuck in the cellar a long time and needed water!  Funny how quickly your mind can think of things like that.

My beautiful niece

So, while we all thought it was the funniest thing ever because we had lived through tornado watches before and Dave hadn't, I did learn something.  My husband really does have my back.  He wouldn't go under the stairs without me.  However, I do know that I really need to be ready for a payback, because it will come, and it will be a good one.  I only hope I can be as good a sport about it as he was.

Dave and my other niece at the graduation party

My nephew, the graduate

An my sister in law?  I don't feel quite so sorry for her around my family because I know she can dish it out with the best of them.

My sister in law and my nephew.

May 23, 2013    Daylight 19 hours, 39 minutes, 17 seconds   Temp. H 64/ L 43ºF