The Weather Radio

 

Ah…spring in the country.

Blue skies, green grass and the singing of birds!

And the incessant buzzing of the weather radio.

I have a love/hate relationship with this vital piece of our homestead.

I obviously love it because it has the potential to save our lives.  When you live beyond the sidewalks there are no tornado sirens to warn you of impending bad weather.

We can’t depend on the local TV station – because there isn’t one. And even if there was – satellite TV is the first to go when the clouds roll in.

Not that they would be able to tell us if we were in the path of the storm. Even our GPS has no idea where we are. When we turn on our gravel road it tells us “Driving on (then a pause as if confused) road.”

Our cell phones are useless. Our cell service is spotty even in good weather.

We really depend on that weather radio.

So, why do I hate such an important and useful tool?

You would not be asking that question if you had ever been awakened from a deep sleep with the incessant beeping of a weather radio.

Seriously. It’s enough to cause a heart attack. Or bladder issues.

And when you are in active weather pattern like we have been for the last ten days – it goes off night after night after night.

We get so sleep deprived, I want to unplug the thing, kiss my husband and say “If we don’t make it through the night, I’ll see you in glory, honey!”

It would be bad enough if it was just storms that directly affected us. But the weather radio covers a large listening area and many of the storms are well north, or south, or east or west of us. Then, when you finally settle back to sleep, it goes off again to tell you that same area has a flash flood warning.

You would think in this day and age someone would create a personal weather radio. One that said, “Hit the basement, Melinda! The tornado is about ten minutes out!”

Or, “Wake up! You have 15 minutes to get the chickens in before the torrential rainfall begins!”

Or. “Better cover your tender plants, it’s gonna freeze tonight!”

Surely, with our GPS capabilities this could be a thing!

Oh wait, GPS doesn’t even know where we are.

Scratch that idea.

And there it goes again – the incessant weather radio alarm informing me of our daily afternoon storm. Better get this posted – I’m about to lose internet.

Ahh…spring in the country!