Oklahoma Life Insurance Policy

About a week before Ryder was born we had some bad tornadoes come through the area. As we watched the news, Trent was panicked about what to do with his highly pregnant wife. Our neighbor to the west has a storm shelter but I refused to go unless I could take all THREE of my dogs. Trent ordered me to put on some sensible shoes and get my ass to the shelter - dogless. Trent has lived in Oklahoma his entire life and this was only the second time he has gone to a storm cellar. I didn't think this was the right time to be stubborn and argue. I guess being a soon-to-be dad makes you more cautious.

It was scary at the time, but when we came above ground we found that there was no damage in our area. We were lucky. One tornado touched down 5 miles northwest of us, the other about 5 miles southwest. Later as we drove around and saw the damage, I was amazed at the devastation. I had never seen the path of a tornado in real life, and it was much worse than it looks on TV. It is beyond horrible.

It was at that point that we decided with a baby on the way, a storm cellar of our own was something we had to have. They are a little pricey, but not when you think that it could potentially save the life of your entire family. $2500 seems like a very reasonable life insurance policy.

They installed it yesterday, and I hope everyone in Minnesota who thinks I am insane for living here is breathing a small sign of relief.

 The structure itself is made of concrete. It is 6 feet high, 6 feet wide, and 8 feet long.

It sits about 4 feet below ground, so about 2 feet are above the dirt.

You can see on the left that it has a sloped front, that is where the door is.

 Frontal view. The door needs to be painted.

There are about 4 steps to get down inside, then just a big concrete box. We will put some lawn chairs and a lantern in there for maximum comfort. This is one thing I hope we bought that we never have to use!