Springtime Preparedness

Living in Missouri has brought on a new meaning of April Showers. We have recently purchased a NOAA Weather radio to keep us informed of weather warnings, watches, and advisories. On April 1st, we had our first experience using this new radio. It is plugged in and goes off if an alert is issued for our area. Rhyetta and I were working on our chicken coop outside when it went off. It told us oncoming severe thunderstorms. We cleaned up our tools and things outside and headed inside. It went off several more times, which prompted me to invite the family into our laundry room (it is the room on the inner-most part of the house) to practice being safe when we are advised to do so. As this alert prompted us to "Stay away from windows (due to high winds and possible hail), and take shelter inside promptly due to the severe thunderstorms (heading our way)." We were in the laundry room for a time and decided to venture out to the living room because the warning was downgraded to a watch. Well... we went to the living room to watch the storm blow past. Dark clouds darkened the sky and room. Then almost instantaneously the heavy rain and strong wind started (you couldn't see outside the wind and rain were so strong). We headed back to the laundry room to seek safety. Welcome to Springtime in Missouri!

The other day while I was at work, more Spring storms started to blow through our area. Rhyetta reported the following to me when I got home from work: They, Rhyetta and the kiddos, were doing their afternoon activities, when Rhyetta looked outside and noticed the chicks got out of their temporary pen. Rhyetta noticed dark, ominous clouds rolling in fast. Rhyetta knew a storm was coming and put the chickens into their newly built coop. With the help of Kian and Abby, this chore was done. Our dog, Storm, was moved to shelter and started tidying up the yard. While Rhyetta, Kian, and Abby were cleaning up the yard (and watching the chicks peck at the first snake of the season in our yard), the phone rang and the weather radio went off at the same time. Ella, who knew the routine when the radio went off, went into our room to listen to the weather radio. She shouted out warnings to her mom and siblings still outside, "Stay away from the windows!""Severe Thunderstorm Warning!""Damaging Winds!""Seek Shelter Immediately" On her own, Ella grabbed the weather radio and brought it into the laundry room and plugged it back into the wall (it has batteries in it as well so it can be unplugged and still work). She also went and grabbed our battery-free flashlight/radio and brought it into the laundry room.

Nothing happened, but who says that preparing your kids for emergencies doesn't pay off? I know that Ella will make sure that Rhyetta, Kian, Abby, and Felicity are safe with the weather radio, and flashlight if an emergency happens.