So, did you have a nice weekend?

Mine was good. It ended with a tornado.

It's the heat of summer in Chicago, and that can only mean one thing...strong summer storms. It's been a while since we've gotten hit hard here in the south suburbs. The last rash of tornadoes was back a couple of years ago when Utica got hit, leaving six dead. While that particular cell missed us, another one came through Joliet and took off the roofs of some houses. We were discussing this last night over dinner while a particularly heavy storm came through and pounded us with rain. I mentioned to E that it had been a while since we had gotten any tornadic cells through our area, and I thought that was strange. Within the next five minutes, our sirens went off alerting us to trouble in the area. When E got up to look outside our sliding glass door to see if he could see anything, he quickly got the severity of the situation. He turned to me and said "it's here", and we both shot into motion to grab the cats and head for the basement. At that time, he was unable to see that it hadn't touched down by us, but it seemed to be only about a half mile away--at most. By the time we grabbed the cats and got ourselves settled in the basement, the tornado was starting to break up. We're all fine, and while we had a bit of a scare, our house (and ourselves and pets) are just fine.

All of that said, I feel compelled to remind everyone of the importance of keeping a storm or disaster kit handy in case you need it. Make sure you keep a kit including the following in a safe place in your house for when a storm hits:

1. a flashlight and extra batteries; a lantern using batteries will also work, as will candles but make sure you have waterproof matches or a lighter with them
2. a gallon of drinking water and a nonperishable snack or two
3. a radio that runs off of batteries or a crank, preferably one that has a weather band as well
4. a map of your area-this becomes really important when you're tracking a storm into your area, especially if you're not familiar with the surrounding towns
5. a charged cell phone and other personal belongings such as car keys, identification, cash or credit cards, etc.
6. extra supplies for children or pets, including pet food
7. prescription medicine

For those who are interested in hearing more about our tornado extravaganza, here's a link.