I just saw this post. As has been discussed on this Forum before, my entire horse farm in SC KY was destroyed by an EF3 tornado direct hit on December 11, 2021. Miraculously, my bird dog, Beau, and I were inside the house at time and we both survived. And I had two horses put up in the barn that night, and they both survived.
Unlike you, Phil, I had made no special provisions to safeguard my “cool stuff” (to use Phil’s term….) that night, despite the tornado warnings. All my guns were in two safes in my ground floor shop. In a lesson learned from a gun dealer friend, every gun was in a silicone sock. The safes were tossed about in the storm, and we had to recover them by hoisting them out of the rubble with a skid steer. Once they were upright, I was able to open both safes with their combos, and every gun emerged unscathed with nary a scratch!
Moreover, all of my fly rods and my prized KY bourbon collection had been in the basement storm cellar (don’t ask why I wasn’t…..) and they survived intact!
Some have called it a miracle. It certainly was, but I prefer to think of it as God’s direction as to how I should be spending my retirement years! Hunt, fish, and enjoy a fine bourbon as the sun goes down…..
I’m a blessed man.
Dave