{"id":6964,"date":"2024-03-03T07:38:15","date_gmt":"2024-03-03T12:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=6964"},"modified":"2024-03-03T07:38:17","modified_gmt":"2024-03-03T12:38:17","slug":"singing-in-the-tornado","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2024\/03\/03\/singing-in-the-tornado\/","title":{"rendered":"Singing in the Tornado"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is another Sunday Story (and another dog story). No politics here, just a story of our life with five dogs!!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dog Rehab<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s been a long few weeks since our Lab had ACL knee surgery (Sad, Sad Boy<\/a>).  It\u2019s Atticus, the dog that\u2019s allergic to everything (his special food is salmon and sweet potatoes), the Lab with anxiety issues, the sweet boy who can lose his mind in the wrong sequence of events.  So it shouldn\u2019t be a surprise that his recovery is taking longer than possible.  Of course, his knee is infected, swelling up and keeping him up at night.  Of course, each week of infection stretches the time it will take to get him back to \u201cnormal\u201d (or at least normal for him) now deep into April.  And of course, his first antibiotic was so powerful, Jenn and I had to wear gloves to handle to pills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So he didn\u2019t eat for a few days (except for treats and carrots).  And, I\u2019m sure, the swelling was painful.  Even the heavy-handed menu of painkillers and anti-anxiety drugs didn\u2019t last the scheduled twelve hours.  It\u2019s Atticus; we get eight hours for eight pills at best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We moved him out of Jenn\u2019s office and into the family room.  At least he isn\u2019t so isolated, and we aren\u2019t either.  Oh, and if he\u2019s awake, he needs one of us around.  \u201cI don\u2019t feel right\u201d is his most popular whine, followed quickly by \u201cwhere are you?\u201d So Jenn and I take turns sleeping on the couch, being there for the two in-the-morning walk,  or  when the drugs wear off too soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So we\u2019re all tired.  Not just Atticus, Jenn and I; but the other four dogs.  Recovery is tough on them too.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Belly and Sleep<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

But Wednesday night, after Atticus ate for the first time in a week,  everyone went peacefully to sleep.  Well, after the 2:30 am walk.  Atticus had to go for the first time in days \u2013 no waiting for that.  At 5:00 the other dogs went out per their own schedule, and then we all were snoozing deeply again.  Maybe we\u2019d make it to 7:00?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The alert siren on my phone went off at 5:45.  I could hear Jenn\u2019s phone going off in the bedroom too:  TORNADO WARNING for Licking County.   And then the local siren, just down the street, started its mournful wail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now all the dogs were fired up \u2013 waking from a sound sleep to the phones and then the siren.\u00a0\u00a0But Lou, our rescue from Louisiana, has a special affinity for sirens.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s his \u201cCall of the Wild\u201d\u00a0\u00a0moment, when his inner wolf gains expression.\u00a0\u00a0Lou picked up the tune, howling at full volume.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s a hauntingly beautiful wail from the bottom of his soul.\u00a0\u00a0You can feel the ages of wolf-to-dog fall away: this is the canine primeval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well of course, our little one, CeCe, had to join in.  She\u2019s doesn\u2019t have an inner wolf, but she can sure bark the loudest in the pack.  Keelie, the mother dog of us all, worriedly watched her friends, and Buddy, our oldest dog, went to get under the bed. It’s too much noise for him.  Atticus drowsily opened one eye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tornado Scofflaw<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I turned on the TV, saw the local radar, and went to wake Jenn (yep, she can sleep though it all).  \u201cHoney, the radar says a tornado could be here in about five minutes \u2013 time to get up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now I\u2019m a notorious scofflaw when it comes to tornado warnings.  In fact, I\u2019m one of those track coaches\/officials who stands out in the field and watches the weather come in while all the kids go into the school for protection.  It\u2019s just a thing \u2013 I love weather, I\u2019ve camped through a tornado and watched the derecho tear down a forest around us.  But I do have a thing about tornadoes in the dark, and it wasn\u2019t dawn yet in this \u201cfreak\u201d (or climate changed) February storm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So Jenn was shocked and concerned when I said we needed to get to the bathrooms.  We live in a ranch-style house, no basement.  The two rooms in the center core of the house are the bathrooms, both backing up to an \u201cexterior wall\u201d that now is in the middle of our home.  And, the addition that put the wall in the middle, also put a \u201cdouble roof\u201d over both bathrooms, even more protection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But they aren\u2019t giant sized bathrooms, just regular-sized.  There\u2019s not enough room for Jenn and me, and five dogs.  Besides, Lou isn\u2019t sure what to do with an injured Atticus, and Atticus is intimidated, knowing he\u2019s sub-par with Lou.  Jenn took Atticus and Buddy (not happy to get out from under the bed) in one bathroom, I took Lou, Keelie and CeCe in the other.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Waiting for a Train<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We hung out for about twenty minutes.  The dogs kept looking at me, wondering what this new game was all about.  I was watching TV on my phone, trying to detect what was going to happen by examining the local radar.  It was easier in the old days with just green, orange, red and occasionally purple cloud splotches. Now there\u2019s digitally generated map of green and red slashes, showing wind shears in the atmosphere.   When the rectangles of color are side-by-side, it means that a tornado is likely.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So we sat, waiting for the power to go out, waiting for the sirens to stop, waiting for the freight train sound of an impending tornado strike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We got lucky.\u00a0\u00a0Friends only a few miles away actually were hit be a tornado; trees down, roofs shredded, power lines webbing the streets.\u00a0\u00a0But here, the urban camouflage passed us by, headed east towards Newark and the rest of the state.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s always odd to listen to the Columbus-based TV weather-people, so relieved when the storm passes urban Columbus by.\u00a0\u00a0Downtown\u2019s relief means someone east is now under the gun, with consequences just as serious.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cOh, the storm is out to Zanesville\u201d, isn\u2019t a relief if you live in Zanesville.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And we did get a late-morning nap, the dogs spread about the floor, Atticus in his crate, and Jenn and I in our \u201cchairs\u201d.  The storm front dropped the temperatures from May back to February.  Now we\u2019re warm besides the fire.  Maybe Lou\u2019s dreaming about that first wolf, the one that came in from the cold to a human camp just to get warm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Sunday Story Series<\/h4>\n\n\n\n