Not a Practice Evacuation

All weekend the weather forecasters had predicted rain so when it finally clouded up and thunder was heard Sunday evening, I left Mike, Laura and Emily down at the pond feeding the fish and I started doing my chicken evening chores.  By the time I finished, Mike was up at the shed and said Lois had called to tell us Bond County had just issued a storm warning and strongly suggested people move to their basements.

So while Mike and I were deciding whether we really wanted to move to the basement in the new house because it has a lot of windows, Buddy, the golden retriever, started to have his usual rain meltdown.  Emily felt sorry for him and insisted that we put him in the basement of the house in the new dog room.  So that decided us.  We were evacuating to the new house

Here is how it went-

- Emily drove across the street to get a gate so we could lock Buddy and Little Girl in the dog room.  It currently has no door.
- I closed the shed garage doors and told Laura we were moving to the house.
- Laura asked if there was anything to eat as no one had had dinner.
- I thawed black bean dip and threw crackers in a bag.  I also rinsed the strawberries we forgot to eat the other day and put them in a bag.  We lost electricity for a moment while I was doing this.
- Emily came back and set up the dog room.
- Mike moved Buddy and Little Girl to the new house.
- Laura took the food, a deck of cards, an iPhone cord, her and my iPhone, her slippers and her dog over to the new house.
- Mike and Laura moved items that might blow from outside the house either inside the garage or inside the house.  One of the items they moved was the brick layers ladder.
- I went out and locked the chickens and ducks in the chicken coop.  I had a bit of a hard time as it was very windy by this point.
- Emily came back to the shed and found a leash for Mabel and headed over to the new house.  I also made her take my bottle of wine.
- I carried Pebbles (in her bed) and the wine glasses over to the house.  I tucked my slippers in my pocket.  At the last minute I threw in two flashlights in case we lost electricity at the new house.
- Emily and Mabel were the last ones to the new house.  As she came in, Emily said we had to get a better evacuation plan.

Little Girl and Buddy in the dog room.  They wouldn't stay put unless someone was sitting with them.
Emily had a horrible time getting Buddy in the house, down the stairs and in the dog room.
By the time the storm was over and we were moving back to the shed, Buddy didn't want to leave the house.  

Everyone was safe and dry and warm in the basement during the storm.