Peace of Mind for 2009!

If you have never experienced the sounds of a TORNADO Siren going off in the dead of the night, let me just tell you it is the scariest thing you will ever hear. Combine that with the fact that your husband (your rock and safety blanket) is not home to "protect you" and you have two sweet babies sleeping in their beds, oblivious to what a tornado can actually do. I have lived in some scary areas of the world (the middle east, hurricane alley in Pensacola, break ins in Naples, Italy) but NOTHING is worse than realizing you have (literally) seconds to save your own life when those sirens go off. What's worse: not having a storm shelter in your home to protect you. So after having gone through a few scares this past spring and fall, we decided to give ourselves some peace of mind and have a storm shelter (aka hidey hole) installed in our garage.

It's quite neat actually. It is flat to the ground so it can actually be constructed in your garage and under your cars for added protection.

The working crew was here yesterday and within 4 hours we were able to have peace of mind for the remainder of our stay. Good for Scott when he's deployed and having to hear my fearful calls from miles away helpless to do anything, and good for me to know that I can do SOMETHING when those sirens do go off.

In this picture, you will see the beginning of the construction!


Then comes the "digger". It digs about 4 1/2 feet down. It was cool to see the various levels of clay, mud and dirt soil.


Almost complete!



Here comes the shelter aka Hidey Hole! This is a 6-8 person shelter. You shoudl have seen the size for the 4-6 person. Just a tad bit too tight for me! (and I could not even imagine having to keep the boys down there for "up to two hours" if a storm were to actually hit us directly)



Easy does it! Perfect fit!


Flat to the ground. Perfect! The boys can still play in the garage on rainy and snowy days and the cars can park over top of them.


Peace of Mind. Ahhhhh!