this post is dedicated to all the lovely people in Washington... A glimpse at life in Texas: Here we are at the beginning of May, and we have already been having off and on days of 80-90 degree, 50-100% humidity weather for about a month now. What a relief that this year the average highs so far have been lower!! The animals are bustling with Spring; there is a Mockingbird nest on my porch and a road runner that comes to visit me regularly. Out in the utility shed at work Shane handled a snake the other day and he and the guy he works with have already come across two or three black widow spiders. We here at home are not exempt from these little critters, either. Why, just the other day I killed a brown recluse spider in my kitchen, and the little baby scorpions are starting to come out and waddle across the tiles (for those of you unaware, these are the two most deadly spiders in America). Of course it rains a lot this time of year, so we've been enjoying heavy thundershowers a few times a week...and with these sometimes come lovely tornado watches. This means that the conditions are favorable for tornados, and one could form at any time. Aweek ago I took Shane into work and as I was leaving they issued a tornado watch for the town of Van, about five miles west of Teen Mania. As I was driving the 10 miles the opposite direction to Lindale, unaware that the storm was following me. I made my way to Wal-Mart anyway because I've heard it was one of the safest places to be in a tornado. I thought, "I'll just take my time shopping and wait until the storm has past, just in case." Walking from my car to the entrance, I could feel the air changing. Half of the employees were outside either nervously watching the storm progress or hurriedly moving soda machines inside the store. I was a little nervous, too, so I called Shane to see if everything was okay where he was. He said they had just locked down the administration building and everyone was gathering in the hallway. I said a prayer and decided to go about some shopping and get my mind off of it. Within minutes I heard the sirens. A calm, but firm voice came over the intercom, "Attention Wal-Mart associates and costumers. Due to inclimate weather we are asking you to move to the center of the store for your own safety. Do not panic. This is a code black..." Navy blue uniforms ushered everyone into the center isle of the store, the strategically placed the pillow isle. We all sat holding our pillows in case we needed to sheild from any debri. The skylights darkened and hail beat against the metal ceiling. We heard about a five-minute touchdown that happened 20 miles west, and shortly after it was announced that there were rotating clouds over the main road we were just off of. Obviously, the storm passed safely and we're all fine. I have to tell you, I'm a little panicky about the weather and spiders; I honestly could care less about the scorpions - at least if one stung me I wouldn't have to go to the hospital as I would if say a brown recluse or black widow got me. I've got my eye out for any more brown recluses and considering calling the Orkin Man because I'm 80-90% sure that I have already found 2 others in the house in addition to the one that I am sure was one that I killed the other day. Despite all this, I love living here...I just thought I would share with you the quirks and trials of my life right now in the Spring of East Texas.  *edit* Strong T-storms and tornado warnings forecasted for all this week...pray for us
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