Why I’m Heading to the Basement Now
Posted on October 26, 2010 Posted by John Scalzi 27 Comments
See, the red line you see is a bunch of potentially tornado-producing clouds. And that little crosshair directly in front of it is where I live. That image is from about five minutes ago. So down to the basement go I.
Catch you all in a bit. If I’m not blown to Oz.
Yeah, in the red line in that picture is directly on top of my alma mater.
Stay safe!
Keep your head down, boss. It’ll pass quickly.
I’m curious how the new puppy handles storms, but I can wait for a report.
Oh dear! Good luck in the basement.
Shields! SHIELDS! Am I the only geek having Star Trek VI flashbacks?
with 5 acres? I’d hope you’d have an entire underground bunker network at this point.
Stay safe.
Keep an eye on Toto . . . er, Daisy, and watch out for wicked witches!
And if you do get blown to Oz, we still expect regular updates, with pictures.
hope you and your family stay safe!
@midnightblooms: Christine O’Donnell’s visiting Ohio today?
Yeah. They blew through here (Indy) with a lot of bluster but no serious damage. Really. It was just a damn fun storm to watch. But, yeah. It’s worth a trip to the basement. They could be pretty bad in your area if they pick up any steam.
Oz is to the west of you, and already had those storms. You’ll be blown to Columbus.
Take care.
Would you ever build a bunker? Not in a survivalist-nut way (or maybe, actually), but a comfortable-yet-impregnable living room for when the zombies arrive in 2012?
Trapped in the basement with dog, cats and possible stray people? Sounds fun!
Please don’t get blown away.
Darn — with all the awesome landscape photos you take around the Scalzi Compound, I was hoping for some excellent funnel cloud shots…
Kidding! Glad to see the Whatwitters that you’re all safe down there.
A real Midwesterner would have stood out on the porch until he saw a funnel!
Everyone at my office had to go hide in the bathrooms for about 15 minutes due to a lack of basement. Kind of an awkward place to spend lunch…
Eek. I so prefer earthquakes — no warning, and over quickly — I lived in Arkansas for a year and the prospect of tornadoes scared the bejesus out of me.
It’s just to where I am in Kentucky. I’m in a poorly built building full of windows. :-(
I think we had that storm yesterday…
We got hammered up here in Toledo, but there doesn’t seem to be any major damage.
I got to spend an hour and a half inside an airless underground middle school locker room with about 150 seventh and eighth grade students. And one toilet stall.
There are times when I love being a teacher. Today was not one of them.
I got to get the kids out of bed when the sirens went off here in IN. We spent a lovely hour and a half in the basement. Well, not lovely, exactly. But I ran back up and got goldfish crackers and apple cider and the Cressida Cowell novel we’re currently reading aloud.
So it was a mostly pleasant hour and a half with sleepy kids in the basement.
Which is why I’m never ever moving to a house WITHOUT a basement. If we’d had to spend that time in a hall closet, someone would have emerged dead, or at least maimed!
@Deirdre – I am SO with you! Years ago, when we first married and my husband had house fever very badly, he would insist that we should ditch our apartment and buy a trailer so we could “build equity” and eventually sell it for a downpayment on a house.
Then we got 2 tornadoes in one day. He shut up and waited for the house.
Our basement is 3/4 finished, so the TV and the desktop computers live down there. Makes it so much easier to get everyone downstairs when the sirens go off – we only need to grab the dog!
Missy@24: “…buy a trailer so we could ‘build equity'”
I’ve lived in mobile homes for over twenty years and I’ve never heard of such a thing. I’d love to hear how that works! Most mobile homes depreciate like automobiles, and as far as I know rich people like Jay Leno don’t collect vintage trailers.
Oh man, one thing i don’t miss from living in the midwest…
good luck.
Mostly blowing and raining for about 30 minutes, then tapered down to an average rain shower. Apparently taking down your tree was enough for the storm gods and they left northeastern Ohio in peace.
I have to admit it, Adam @ 16 is right, we don’t head down until a funnel is spotted.