We had some REALLY bad weather here in East Tennessee last night (lots of tornados)... my wife told me not to worry because she had taken my Alembics to the basement for safe-keeping!!!

isn't the basement the first place to flood?  ;-)
 
Graeme

Folks from Alabama all the way to West Virginia were dealing with tornadoes yesterday afternoon/evening.  
 
Basement is where it's at when those bad boys roll through town.

I live in Birmingham, AL and the damage is just horrible. My wife thought I was crazy putting my basses in the bathroom with her and the dogs, but they are kids too!

Glad you and your family are safe Brent.... I know that there are already close to 300 confirmed deaths and the pictures make it look like somebody started dropping bombs on Birmingham and Tuscaloosa.

Thanks for the kind words, Toby. www.al.com has a lot of pictures of the devastation. At one point around 6pm Central, we had metal siding and roofing falling in our yard. We learned shortly after that it was debris from Tuscaloosa. Very scary. My neighbor found a 5 x 8 picture frame of someone's daughter in their front yard this morning. Things like that give me the chills.

My sincere Concerns & Prayers for all of you in the effected areas .
 
 Wolf

I was living in Birmingham when the 1998 F5 hit.  Some friends knew that I used to do construction work and asked me to go out to the hardest hit area to try and do some patch work on the houses that were left standing.  Let me assure you that the pictures from the scene in NO way conveyed the TOTAL devastation that I witnessed.  It was very humbling to stand in one house where everyone survived and look across the yard to where another house once stood and know that 2 people were not so fortunate.

We're only about an hour from St. Louis.  We experienced some golf ball size hail from the same cell that destroyed Lambert airport, but thankfully no real damage.  My sympathies go out to those who have experienced hardships.

My prayers go out to everyone affected. I hadn't realised just how bad this has been for you all. If I had, I certainly wouldn't have tried to be funny in my earlier post.
 
Graeme

Thank God you or your Alembics were not hurt! It's great that your wife understands the importance of your babies!

I second what Jacko said (from another Scottish member)
Hope things start to improve .
The whole world seems to be dying at the moment!!!

After a tornado touched down on the other side of the mountain from us (Middletown MD), my wife reminded my to call the insurance agent and add my Alembic to the bass policy. You would think after waiting all these years for one I would not need reminding.
Prayers all around for those affected by the latest round of Mother's fury.

I see on your profile that you have a current band, Edward; check with your insurer - most home-owner's policies will not cover an instrument if it ever leaves the the house for pay.  You may need an ax-specific policy (people around the board say good things about Heritage, IIRC).
 
Peter

Thanks for the heads up, Peter. I never thought of it in that light. Sadly, I started in '86 and only in the last few years have I even held insurance on my basses. Back then it was more about just finding a flop and some food, usually at a GF's place, and my Fender P and Peavey amp stayed in the van. While this is my first Alembic partnership (I would never dane to use the word 'owned'), I have several vintage Leo Fender era G&L's (SR# B000833 is getting a re-fret) and they are impossible to replace.