Weird, Funny and Maybe Scary Stories

I don’t want to be one of those weird, conspiracy theory people. I can hear you now saying . . too late! You already are one of those people but things have just been weird lately.

First, this isn’t lately and it’s funny. I’ve told it here before. My uncle had a Chihuahua. I can’t remember the whole story but I know Bandit had a pretty serious heart condition. I think he was supposed to be a breeding dog and that didn’t work out so he was kinda stuck in a cage and not given much attention. My aunt and uncle were so kind to all animals. I think their vet told them about Bandit and asked if they would take him. Of course, they gladly brought Bandit home. The vet told them that he probably wouldn’t live to be 5 years old because of his heart problem. I think he lived to be about 13 and only passed away a few months ago.

My uncle loves Yorkies and had one so Bandit was my aunt’s dog. Bandit wouldn’t give anyone else the time of day. He loved Dorothy. But, we were in Louisiana visiting and Bandit had always been a bit snippy with strangers so we never paid much attention to him but that one trip, Bandit became attached to Vince like glue! If Vince went to the bathroom, Bandit went with him. When Vince sat down to eat, Bandit sat under his chair. No one could believe Bandit was being so friendly with Vince. When we left to go home, we got in the car and Vince said “I want a Chihuahua.” A couple of times I’d see a Chihuahua for sale and Vince never would make a decision but he still kept saying he wanted a Chihuahua and . . then, Miss Rita showed up at our house and Vince had himself a Chihuaha.

Now . . the two weird stories. You know about the lightning strike the other night. There was that one thunder we heard way off in the distance, took the dogs out and then that loud thunder and the lightning strike happened and no more thunder. A reader posted about a family member who had been struck by lightning and that was the only lightning that entire day so maybe what happened here it isn’t as weird as it seems to me.

Next, yesterday Vince and I were in the front yard. I was showing him some things that were blooming and I was talking non-stop. He grabbed me on the arm and said “Is that the tornado sirens?” I listened and said Yes, but we don’t have bad weather predicted. The sirens kept sounding and we were standing in the yard debating about whether the sirens are tested on Wednesday or Thursday. They are tested on Wednesday and yesterday was Thursday! I said “I’d better go take the dogs out!” Vince went to get the trash can in. By the time I got downstairs, the weather alarm was going off. I hollered at Vince to come in because it was a warning, meaning a tornado has been spotted (I think that’s what it means). Vince opened the web page for the local news and they were reporting a tornado on the ground not far from us. Apparently there was damage at the next numbered street from me but it’s a long street so just because our numbers are consecutive, that doesn’t mean we’re real close. Then my phone was ringing and it was a neighbor who works in town was calling me. She said she had just heard there was a tornado over our houses. I told her apparently it came close but her house was fine and it had moved north of us. I heard that there were several houses damaged as well as some barns.

The sirens sounded probably 10 minutes before the weather radio went off. I think trained spotters were sending in pictures of the tornado so the county (or whomever controls the sirens) sounded the alarm. That was weird . . strange and weird!