Storms on the way... batten down the hatches

Hey, lookie there... a tornado watch for us Bemidji peoples. And it looks like the nastiest cell is headed straight for us. Joy.

As much as I like rain and general garden-variety thunderstorms, I have a special fear and loathing in my heart for severe storms and tornadoes. Especially when my truck is in the middle of an unprotected parking lot!

I think the actual mild fear of storms I've got is related to the fact that we had a real bad storm at home one July that knocked out our power for about three days and took down about 10 trees in our yard. None of them hit the house, but we used to have a huge tree out in the front yard, and the wind snapped off the top like a piece of broccoli. That tree is possibly the only reason why we still have a roof on our house; it blocked the strongest part of the wind. No one ever really confirmed that it was a tornado that did the damage. I think they actually blamed it on straightline winds, or a downdraft, or something like that. In any event, it destroyed a bunch of houses out in the developments outside of town, and wreaked havoc on everything in town. So... yeah, not a fan of storms. I'm not nearly as terrified of them as my sister is, though. I merely tend to run and hide a little faster than some people I know.