Hy-Vee

I remember the first time I went into a Hy-Vee store

    Hy-Vee is an Iowa based food store chain.  They do have a store in Sycamore now, but mainly they are in Iowa.

    Nice store, but lately I notice they have a lot more house labels and not as many name brands to choose from.

    But I digress.

    I thought of that tonight when the sky turned black and the weather alarm toned...again. And again. 

    But, I still digress.

    Emily was attending Drake in DesMoines.  Jackie, Julia  and I had gone out to visit her.  

    It was hot.  I remember that.  We had gone out to dinner or shopping when all hell started to break loose.

    Thunder, lightning, traffic lights out and the radio was blaring " TORNADO WARNING.  SEEK SHELTER NOW"

    The wind was picking up and we were in a car.  I had no idea where to go.  We pulled into a parking lot of a building that was some kind of shelter, but no one seemed to be there.  On the next corner there was a Hy-Vee.

    I parked, and we ran into the store.  The girls went to use a bathroom but came out because a lady was on her knees loudly praying to God to spare us all from doom, death, and destruction.  

     Inside the store they were making everyone go to the back and into their giant cooler, which served as a storm shelter.

    I don't know how long we stayed in there.  It could have been 5 minutes or 50 minutes.

    After a while we left and took Emily back to her apartment.  It was not night, but it was very dark.

    We were shaken, but safe.  Traffic was a bit weird as there were no working stop and go lights.

    When we drove home the later, we could not stop at any of the rest areas because there were downed trees and no power.  The storms seemed to follow 80 across Iowa.

    We had a radio on and the DesMoines station was announcing potential tornadoes behind us, and the uprooted trees we saw told us there were tornadoes ahead of us.

    I don't like storms.  Typical thunderstorms are ok, but the potential for tornado storms always send me into panic mode.

    These days the storms seem stronger.  When Emily lost her house several years ago, it was  destroyed by an EF 4 tornado, one of the  strongest storms. 

    That's why when that alert sounds, I get a little ... make that a lot.... nervous.  

    Mother Nature can be a fickle being sometimes.

Peace and Love

Before the storm

Blue sky!!