Batten Down The Hatches – The securing of property, especially the covering of it with protective sheeting, is called ‘battening down’. It has a nautical origin and ‘battening down’ of walkways and hatches was done on ships when bad weather was expected. The earliest known reference to this practice is in William Falconer’s An universal dictionary of the marine, 1769. – www.phrases.org.uk
Living in a RV requires attention to the weather. We could see on the radar a good-sized storm was heading this way so I went outside to lock things down. I collapsed the grill, folded up the lawn chairs and brought in the awning. We figured a good rain would be no problem.
The approaching storm turned ugly and a tornado was spotted a little south of our campground. Things were moving fast so we headed toward the restroom and dish washing building since it was made of cement blocks. As I walked by our neighbor he told me he had hooked his truck to his 5th wheel to help keep the trailer from blowing over. It sounded like a great idea but it was too late for us to do that so we scurried away.
The wind picked up and we stood in the doorway of the dish washing room watching a tent to see if it was going to go airborne. The tornado siren went off in town and everyone got a little anxious. We were able to track all the activities on Mary’s iPhone.
Eventually the warning was cancelled and all is well….and our RV is still vertical so we have a place to sleep tonight.
Click HERE to listen to the tornado siren
