A bad tornado hit not very far from me in November 2013. I ignored the sirens because they go off constantly. I continued enjoying a leisurely hot bath. At some point I realized I really ought to get dressed, just in case. We weren't hit, but I knew lots of others who were -- I knew someone who, along with her child, had to be pulled from the wreckage of her house. I was editor of the then-daily paper here back then, and my fotog was in Chicago, so I sent my non-journalist husband to Washington (nearby small town, where I actually lived previously) to shoot pictures and videos. Washington was hit much worse than Pekin was. Long story short, I now respond to sirens by going to the basement.