Danger, Will Robinson

I am now the proud owner of an NOAA Weather Alert Radio. I have it programmed to broadcast alerts for the county that I live in. This was prompted by a tornado warning last week. It was not for our county, but it was for a county about an hour or so north of here. I decided that we need to be aware of severe weather warnings should they happen in the middle of the night, or when the power is out - or when the power is on but the satellite TV is out. There seems to be a lot more severe weather here - or at least threats of severe weather - than anywhere I have lived before. In the spring and summer, anyway.

So now, happily, my radio, which I have set up in the kitchen, will sound an alarm and switch to voice broadcast whenever one of sixty-some odd alerts occurs in my county, including but not limited to: Biological Hazard Warning, Civil Danger Warning, Earthquake Warning, Hurricane Warning, Volcano Warning, Tsunami Warning, and my personal favorite, Iceburg Warning.

When Doomsday comes, I will be one of the first to know. Whether or not I will be any better prepared for it is another question.