The Lawnmower Saga - Part Two

Finally got up the energy to mow yesterday. No, it doesn't take a lot of energy to ride on a riding lawnmower, but it does take some to go around the yard picking up big branches and the ever loving trash that continuously blows and sticks in my yard. So with that done, I turned my attention to the lawnmower. Back tire... flat. Grabbed my handy air pump for just such an occasion. Then I checked a front tire. Flat. I can't do anything about the the front tires. So I heaved a sigh, shut the garage door and came back inside and did NOT mow yesterday.

Yes... the lawnmower saga has DEFINITELY started.

Storms came through again yesterday evening. They prepared us for high winds, softball size hail and tornadoes. I live by a tornado siren and before the storm even got here, that thing started going off. Granted, there were very high winds coming from this storm along with very big hail. We got heavy rain. No wind AT ALL. No hail. Lots of lightening. By the time this storm got to Tarrant County, the tornado threat was all but gone. And I have to question the reasoning on using the tornado sirens. Here's why:

If you notice, I use the term "tornado siren". Because that's what it is. For 39 years, those things would blow if we had a tornado on the way. Now, all of a sudden, this area commonly known as the Metroplex, is using the tornado sirens to warn of severe storms as well. It's become more of a "it's about to let loose so if you're outside, you best get your butt inside" kind of thing. I think this changed a few years ago when there were a lot of people at May Fest in downtown Fort Worth and a hail storm came by and whacked a lot of people on the head. For purposes such as this, I totally agree on the City of Fort Worth blaring those things to get people out of some potentially life threatening weather. But I've been conditioned to believe when those sirens go off, it's never a good thing. That this won't be your usual heavy rain and lightening event. And like I said up there... the tornado warning had been long canceled by the time our sirens started blaring. Any time I hear those sirens, I go into panic mode and start having an anxiety attack and I'm running around with pillows wondering if I'm going to be safe in my hall closet. I think last night cured me of that. As I'm watching the weather on the TV, I can clearly see that the threat of large hail was comfortably south of where my house lives and again, I must stress, the tornado warning was canceled. What that tells me and my neighbors is that just 'cause those sirens go off, doesn't mean it's going to be that bad. Which, in my opinion, is a bad, bad thing. Because that means that if I won't be in a hurry to take shelter next time the TORNADO sirens go off, no one else will either.

Here's some tornado footage for you, appropriately accompanied by the Empire Strikes Back theme, which is funny because I can remember playing this when I was a band nerd.