Severe Weather Ahead for Missouri Landlords Tonight

Today as the first of many thunderstorms rolled through, I checked on my stump fire.  The barrel and the lid that I used to contain the fire were gone and I was a little worried that increasingly glowing-hot embers were going to start a forest & field fire, even with the rain.  I wondered briefly if I'd be able to blame it on lightning. 
Wow, was today intense or what?  Luckily, I had gone out to lower my gourd racks and housing before the winds arrived.  I have no idea yet what the speed was of those winds, but when I tried to open my front door, I couldn't because of the very strong vacuum.  I'm guessing our 80-100 mph winds, reminiscent of the tornado of May 2011 that settled over Licking and did untold amounts of damage.
As I watched my poles on my racks bend to & fro, I was reminded of why I go to the trouble to lower them.  It's better to be safe than sorry.  And tonight, we're under more threats of severe weather, specifically tornadoes --> http://forecast.weather.gov/showsigwx.php?warnzone=MOZ082&warncounty=MOC215&firewxzone=MOZ082&local_place1=&product1=Tornado+Watch#.Uz3pN1fdCkE

I managed to get the barrel and lid back around my stump fire before it caused any trouble and in anticipation of the severe weather tonight, I lowered my racks and housing a little further.

Weight added to the burn barrel - think it will stay put tonight?

Racks and housing lowered to half mast.

Middle and West racks lowered to half mast.

There's still time for you to go out before your martins get home and lower your housing.  Please consider doing so - a tornado could quickly wipe out your martin colony.
Stay safe tonight friends and maybe try Bow's approach (Bow is cool!)- protest the thunder and severe weather and maybe the worst of it will go away!