Because We Take Our State Song Seriously Here, Folks

Oooook-lahoma, where the wind comes sweeping down the plain!

 

Oklahoma adopted the title song from Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical Oklahoma! as her state song in 1953, thanks to the marketing savvy of future Governor George, Nigh and we take it very seriously. I mean, look at the photos! That wasn't a tornado, people, those were just 70-100 mph straightline winds. Although it could have been a downburst (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downburst). Anyway, we're hardcore.

 

Last night Bird and I decided to head over to the mall to take care of some shopping that needed to get done, not thinking that the gathering clouds meant anything serious. We figured we'd get some rain and move on. We did not expect the monsoon/hurricane/breath of the gods that tore the fences of our neighborhood apart, knocked down trees, ripped the roof off of a nearby apartment complex, relocated every trampoline in east Norman, and gave Amy a new playhouse in her front yard. The storm looked unpleasant on the west side of Norman, but not nearly as ugly as it was on the east side. On our way home from the mall, we received a call from Amy letting us know that our fence was down and Bailey was going a bit crazy. One of our neighbors was trying to corral her, but she wasn't responding. The neighbor came back outside for another try and found her on our front porch, barking at her kitty sister to let her in. Daphne stubbornly refused. Our kind neighbor took our soaking wet dog to his garage until we got home.

 

When we approached the east side, we saw downed trees, downed power lines, downed donation huts, and downed fences. No trampoline was left unturned. Just about every fence in our neighborhood had at least one panel down. Our posts were snapped. We had a section of roof shingle from somewhere (we don't think our house) in our backyard. We heard about air conditioning units that were moved. We took a friend over to pick up his wife's car because a wayward trampoline had mauled his truck. 

 

Bailey was okay, but she has issues with relieving herself while on a leash, so this could be a rough few days on her bladder. She's spending today at Doggy Daycare with PaPa and Grandma and the farm dogs, so she'll probably be exhausted by the time she gets home :-) Bird found Daphne under the sink in her old hiding place, despite our childlocks on the cabinet doors. She was determined to be safe! We're just thankful our girls are safe--everything else can be cleaned up!