I was just dozing off again from my early morning trip to the little girl's room when I was rolled out of bed

by the loudest boom I have ever experienced! I jumped (yeah,right) out of bed and went to the kitchen window to see what was going on and there was a huge mushroom cloud above the refinery,which is 3/4 of a mile from my house! DH had gone to take DGD to school and I knew he would be heading back to town to get his morning breakfast burrito about that time.I was afraid he was in front of the refinery when this happened but luckily he hadn't gotten that far down the road yet.I called him two times and he didn't answer,more reason to worry,then he called me to see if I was OK.It was really scary,I tell ya! He came home and we left the house thinking

we would come back in a short time.I didn't even take time to put on makeup or anything and my hair was a mess.After we got to town they told everyone they couldn't go back to

their homes.So I went to Wal-Mart and had my hair shampooed and cut (which I needed badly and had been putting off) and bought makeup so I wouldn't scare anyone,and went to eat lunch.It is 5:23 and we have been home about half an hour.The fire is contained and under control and hopefully we will have a peaceful night.My 2 little Chihuahuas were

in their crates and had been there since 8:30 last night! They were really glad to get out!LOL they were both good little girls though and held it until they went outside.

This could have been a lot worse than it was but due to the holiday the refinery was on a limited crew.Only 4 injuries and one of those was a lady driving down the service road in front of the refinery when the explosion happened.She was injured when her vehicle was hit by debris from the blast. All were treated and released except one man who had 3rd. degree burns on his leg and was flown to Lubbock burn center.His condition is satisfactory at this time.My cousin's DH was at work there when this happened and had just stepped out of the lab where he works when it happened.It knocked him to the ground but he is OK.As I said,it could have been a lot worse.

Here is a link that might be useful: Refinery Explosion