Monday, March 13, 2006

Twister Night, 2006

A gathering in the clouds over Oklahoma and Kansas on March 12, 2006, led to a gathering of another kind in St. Louis suburbia.


St. Louis' inaugural Funnel-Fest happened yesterday, as the first real storms of the season spawned an impromptu weather-watching party. The crew of Bill's Garage decided that there is safety in numbers - and getting blown away is something best enjoyed with company, so we converged to watch the weather channel and fritter away a Sunday afternoon.

The turkey fryer was bubbling away, rendering spicy fried "cumulo-chicken"* that rivaled even my Mom's finest work. "Mashed-mobile-home" potatoes** were the side item of the day, along with "hail-acious" green bean casserole, "barometric" broccoli cheese casserole, and a dessert of severely sumptuous "squall-berry" shortcake.***


It was "stratus-faction guaranteed" with a Red Bull and vodka drink we called "The F-4."****

Doppler Dave and Hurricane Emily break away from television coverage to share a "meteorological moment."

The storms turned out to be quite deadly, killing nine across Missouri. This post in no way minimizes the danger of the storms, or the lives lost. We just tried to keep a sense of humor through a pretty bad night.



*Stop me if this is sounding cheesy.
**Never mind, don't stop me now, I'm on a roll. (Get it? Mobile home... on a roll? Not funny? Pretty insensitive? Yeah I thought so, too)
***Yeah, that's what I said. You can't fix stupid, and I am.
****Okay, that's it. I'm going to throw myself onto my sword to spare you further pain.

13 comments:

Lee Ann said...

That feast looks like it was fabulous. I am glad you made it through the storm all right. Ummm...the chicken looks sooo good.

And yes, you were on a roll (or maybe a little butter was)

Mona Buonanotte said...

What, no funnel cake?

No Tropicana Twister drink?

No Tornados of Beef?

Duuuuuude.

Chris Cope said...

Meanwhile it was pissing down snow up here in Minnesota. I celebrated by drinking Irish stout.

Of course, I do that every night...

Paula said...

Dave this was the first of many "Twister parties". We've been known to gather at a moments notice for a good storm....

Amandarama said...

I'm glad to hear you are alright and make the best of it (that chicken looks good!). I was actually wondering if you'd been affected by the storms.

Amandarama said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
phoenix said...

LMAO @ Mona and you!!

At least it wasn't a "hurricane" party or you would have had such delicacies as Floodgate Fritters and Crushed Pinapple Upside-down Cake :P

Glad you are ok!!

(yes, you can groan now)

Anonymous said...

MMMmmmmm fried chicken. And hey, the bird is adorable too!

V said...

I thought rule one of tornado safety was "1. Distance yourself from vats of boiling oil."??

CP said...

Doppler Dave?? *L* Ha! I love it.

Yeah, I'm with Mona! Where's the funnel cloud cake?

You know, you have to maintain a sense of humor. When we were getting the crap kicked out of us two years ago in Florida *Jeanne, Ivan, Frances and Charley* laughter was a part of maintaining your sanity. People spraypainted funny signs on their wooden boards covering their homes. It doesn't minimize the tragedy of those who didn't survive the storm or who lost everything. It just helps you to stay focused on what's important without getting so deep in a funk that you can't think straight.

Just hope I wouldn't share a funnel cloud with that deep fryer! I mean, every man likes to get blown with a little oil on him, but that would be ridiculously painful! *snorts*

CP.

StringMan said...

Sounds like a terrific way to take what is a terrifying topic and turn it into a textbook twister-trailing good time. You midwesterners don't miss a trick!

... said...

I wish I had your imagination for party ideas...

Weary Hag said...

So that party, Dave ... that's pretty much the same as bracing yourself in a doorway in the middle of the house somewhere, right?

Adorable young lady in the picture witcha.