Facebook turned out to be a wonderful thing yesterday! It kept many
ferret owners and shelters in touch with one another round the clock
while a history making weather system clobbered the Southeast part of
the country. I eased my nerves by sending updates, frivilous photos and
vids by the hour all day on the social site filled with many people
whom I sure were uninterested. I couldn't help myself from sharing my
antics because it made me feel better to feel "connected" and not
alone. I saw, at the same time, that miraculously, my ferret friends
came out okay and that was comforting to see throughout the day and
night.

This system was historical in many ways. To give you an idea of why it
was so amazingly different than others, imagine that instead of a mass
storm or line of storms, a map that was spotted like a leopard with
tornado filled super cells throughout the land of Dixie. Instead of one
storm system front or a double front blazing through your area, imagine
one hitting you after another only an hour or so apart. One supercell
after another passing over you from dawn to midnight. Many people had
no cover to take after the first front or tornado that wiped out their
homes and had to face two, three, sometimes six more cells thereafter.

Another unique thing about the system was that you were not safe even
if you weren't in the path of a tornado. These cells contained wind
sheers over 50 mph, and many over 100 mph (which is more than a small
tornado). Wind sheers last longer. The destruction is as bad and
sometimes more so than a tornado. So, just because a tornado didn't
occur in an area, does not mean they are necessarily "okay".

Dixie Alley actually experiences more tornado's than the misnamed
tornado alley in the Midwest. But even we have never seen such a
bizarre, unrelenting system such as this.

While I took cover downstairs with a menagerie of confused animals
(several times over), I came to find that my ferrets thought this
was one huge social gathering. I thought animals were supposed to
"know/sense" these things and display strange behaviors in response to
impending natural disasters. Nope. Not mine. The yawns, stretches, and
frequent litter box visits went on just as always. The only difference
was their joy in seeing other animals about the room. So, I took their
advice, shrugged and decided to let it go as it may. It was out of my
control. I took out the clippers and q-tips and we enjoyed a typical
grooming day together. For a time, my attention was on whether I was
too close to a quick or not. The times downstairs were the only times
I relaxed and forgot about what was happening outside ... other than
joining the rednecks and hillbillies outside between storms and going,
"yep" with them.

It'd be nice if those of you that were in the path of this immense
system that marched through the middle of the country clear to the
Atlantic chimed in and let us know that they are okay.

Wolfy

[Posted in FML 7047]