Yesterday afternoon around two o’clock the weather suddenly turned violent. The sky grew dark –very, very dark– and Murphy was beside himself panting and shaking with fear.
It was the second time that day he’d worked himself into such a state. But this time was even worse than the first.
The first time was earlier that morning when a thunderstorm rolled through just after I’d gotten in the shower. My dog who hates baths was suddenly standing on his haunches desperately pawing at the shower door for me to let him in. (And the second I opened the door to grab a towel to dry off he dashed right inside. Never thought of playing thunder noises to coax him into the shower!)
Anyway…with such a wacko start to the day I should have known it was going to be one of those days. You know the kind. Completely out of the ordinary.
So there I am around two p.m. sitting at my computer working. Yes, I could see the storms coming our way. Yes, I saw the sky growing darker. Yes, I was aware it had been raining off and on.
Then started the lighting.
But even before that Murph was going bananas. In a normal thunderstorm he’ll quiver under my desk or behind my chair, but he was desperate to get into my lap and shaking with such force I stopped to make sure he wasn’t on the verge of having a seizure or a heart attack.
He definitely suffers from thunderstorm phobia but I have never seen him act that spooked.
Suddenly, everything went still outside. And the sky took on a weird tint.
I ran to the TV. Regular programming had been interrupted and the local news people were covering the bad weather –bad weather with possible tornado activity. Our county was under a watch, but a county just south of us was under a warning as Doppler radar had indicated circulation.
Something told me to get the laundry room ready. I ran to make sure I had a flashlight and radio as well as the cats’ carriers. No sooner did I have everything in place than I heard something I’ve only heard one other time in the two and a half years we’ve lived here: the tornado sirens.
I dashed back to the TV where the weather people were saying if you live in these areas take cover immediately. High winds and a possible rotation had been spotted and were moving right across where we lived!
Frantically, I herded Mr. Meow and Murphy into the laundry room then raced around the house desperately calling for Tabby to come to me. The winds were lashing the rain against our windows and it was so dark it might as well have been six o’clock at night instead of half past two in the afternoon.
Just as I was beginning to fear I’d never find Tab, she came out of her hiding spot. I swooped her up and sprinted down the stairs to the safety of the laundry room, where we spent the next 15 minutes huddled together waiting out the bad weather.
Luckily, we were fine. That I know of no tornados touched down near us.
But it was another reminder that it’s a good idea to pay attention when pets act weird because lots of times they know things we don’t.
I’m convinced Murph knew danger loomed nearby. If things had gone differently yesterday, the fact we’d sought shelter in the laundry room when we did could have spared our lives.