Saturday Night In The Basement

Well, Saturday morning was an exciting and interesting adventure for Bunny and me.  Saturday night turned out to be an adventure for all of us.  It was the sort of adventure that we've come to be used to, but not the way we really planned on spending our Saturday night.

Around eight o'clock, we started getting interruptions in the television show we were watching about a storm that was approaching from the west.  This is a pretty common occurance, but one that we usually disregard and hope that we can get back to the show as quickly as possible.  However, we started getting more and more interruptions and soon realized that we were not going to find out who made the auditions in America's Got Talent.  As we watched it soon became evident that we were going to have to take cover in the basement.

That seems like a pretty simple thing to do.  However, when you share life with three diva greyhounds, it becomes a military operation.  We always keep a supply of water in the basement, and the dog food is stored there as well.  So, that wasn't an issue.  First, I carried down my laptop, nook, phone and blanket and left them on the couch.  Mr. Taleteller began shuttling three dog beds down as well as three leashes in case the worst case scenario occurred and we had to drag the girls into the coal shower with us.   We also brought down the weather radio and turned on the television so we could keep track of what was going on.

So, after seeing to creature comforts and basic necessities, it was time to bring the girls down and settle in to ride out the storm.  Blueberry has always been good at doing the back basement stairs.  As a puppy, she used to run up and down them for her own amusement until I'd tell her to knock it off.  So, Mr. Taleteller called her first.  Happy as a clam, Blue trotted right down the steps.  Next, he got Lilac.  She often goes to the basement on her own during the summer because it's cool and quiet.  Lately, though, I don't think she has the back end strength to make it back up.  Still, with coaxing, she was making her way down the stairs.  That is, until Blueberry decided to go barreling back up, nearly knocking Lilac and Mr. Taleteller around like bowling pins.  Of course, she turned around at the top and blew past them again on her way back down.  I went up and got a baby gate and handed it to Mr. Taleteller as he got Lilac safely down the stairs.

That left Bunny to come down.  I'll admit, we haven't practiced taking her down those steps a lot.  We usually do some practice with them on those steps for just such an occasion, but last year was a very mild storm season and we never had need for it, so it was just a bit forgotten.  I tried cajoling the little princess to at least come to the top of the steps, but she was more than a little leary of the whole idea.  The tornado sirens were going off and we'd sprung into action.  She knew something was up.  In true dog fashion, she put on the brakes of cooperation when it was really necessary, too.  I finally gave up on trying to lure her down of her own volition and just picked her up and carried her down to the basement with me.  Thank heaven that she's the tiny fifty pound one, even though she was a bit outraged that I took her down there against her will. 

After we all got to the basement, the girls took their time sniffing about and my husband and I settled in to keep track of the weather and watch it blow past.  Hearing that tornados had taken off the roof of a movie theatre in a town across the river and that people were being evacuated there due to a propane leak didn't really help to alleviate our concerns.   Sure enough, soon after we all got settled in, the electricity went out.  We lit the kerosene lamp and were thankful for battery operated radios.

The storm blustered past us in a short amount of time.  We were actually not hit too badly at all.  We stayed in the basement until after 11:00 to be sure there were no surprise storms popping up and then made our way back up the stairs.  This time, Lilac was the one carried, but she didn't seem to mind it.  She looked more like she expected it.  More and more, she seems to believe that Mr. Taleteller is her personal servant.  I'm surprised she didn't make us carry her up on a golden dias, but it's probably only because it didn't occur to her.