At the time it was at level 14, so they recommended we do some tests, and try to do our best to keep her away from any chipped paint. It was another four months until she was checked again, and we thought we had done so much better, but her level was up to 22. The health department had to come investigate.

Needless to say, our new home is covered in lead, and given our financial situation, this being my source of income and our home, we’re in a peculiar situation. We’ve got a lot of surfaces to treat, and her levels will take some time to go down. The building owner never informed us, and by law they’re not responsible for fixing any of it, but even so we’re not holding it against them.

I always think of this very thing. BTK, for example, was caught because of metadata found in a Word document he mailed into the police on a floppy disk.

Stay near your car in case the storm changes directions. Tornados in the US typically go NE to NNE, but are very unpredictable and chasers have lost their lives because they have gone in abnormal directions in a heartbeat.

If you directly in the path of the storm and had to take shelter, especially with others: In the event of destroyed property and potential injury or fatality, call emergency services first and then try to help out.

Keep a lot of snacks handy because you’ll be driving a bunch.