Surviving an EF-4 tornado and a siren serenade.

It’s the day after the night from hell. While the western half of Texas was slammed with a blizzard that dropped 16 inches of snow, here in the Dallas area we had 11 twisters that touched down last night in the dark, serenaded by tornado sirens screaming from every direction. The biggest one was a mile-wide EF-4 (see photo below) that missed Howdygram headquarters by only a few goddamn blocks. No kidding, people, it’s enough to make you shit your pants. I will also include a video from YouTube.

Here’s a handy map that illustrates the path of the EF-4 Garland/Rowlett tornado — with a wind speed of 200 m.p.h. that was DANGEROUSLY CLOSE TO YOUR FAVORITE BLOGGER (i.e., me) — followed by a few pictures of storm damage from the Dallas Morning News’ website. The asterisk on the map indicates Howdygram headquarters; the red circles show the path of the tornado. There are 11 confirmed fatalities so far. Some people are still missing; I’m guessing they’re in Oz.

And if that’s not enough tsouris it’s STILL RAINING here, the temperature at 10 p.m. has dropped from the upper 70s to 41° ... and there’s a strong chance it will all change into an ICE STORM before sun-up Monday. Holy shit. I’m done with this.

---

I don’t know if you’re interested in this or not, but here’s a world map that pinpoints all of the Howdygram’s visitors during the last 24 hours. You can see for yourself that we’re a very popular blog, and there’s a good reason for that: I’m brilliant, cute and humble!

---

This will be a wild and crazy week around here. Our activities will include all of the following:

• Sam has to pester the pharmacist at Wal-Mart to fill both of my prescriptions for hydrocodone even though we think she’s convinced I’m an addict. (I’m NOT. I’m just a crabby senior citizen with chronic pain.)
• I have to contact Dr. M’s office to: 1) request a refill for my blood pressure medication; 2) find out if she’s set up a visiting nurse who makes house calls and tuna noodle casseroles; and 3) explain why I had to cancel my Tuesday appointment. (Mesquite’s senior citizen transit service was already booked solid for the week.)
• Call Top Mobility regarding the Prowler power scooter I ordered on Christmas Day. Mostly I want to know when it will ship and how do we set up a date and time for our ritzy “white glove delivery” so I can serve cookies.

• Sam has a dentist appointment Tuesday morning at the Sunnyvale Not O.K. Dental Corral to cement a permanent bridge. It’s a good thing, too ... his second temporary bridge fell out tonight at dinner. Enough already with all this cheesy dental work! I highly recommend dentures. Seriously.

---

And now it’s time for a snack, a movie and a nap in my favorite chair! Thank you for stopping by tonight and keep an eye out for low-flying tornadoes, okay?