Blown away -- Mild winter to Wild Spring

I guess it's official. The Winter that wasn't is over. We had tornadoes across the middle of our country yesterday.

Tornadoes! In February?

All too often, the result of a mild winter is a wild spring -- and summer, and fall. I've seem tornadoes into November. But starting in February? Even in tornado alley, that's unprecedented.

And they came at night, roaring into and through the lives of the sleeping, turning night time into a time of horror and dread. How many people, old and young, are going to have PTSD at bedtime for the rest of their lives.

Tornadoes scare the hell out of me. Night time tornadoes, like these, are terrifying to think of. Way too many people had to live that terror -- and some of them did not survive it.

The big news is Branson Missouri, a town that made itself into something newsworthy. It's big claim to fame is that they can put on big shows with big stars. Fortunately -- let's all take a big sigh of relief -- it's not yet 'the season' and there were no celebrities to be displaced or disturbed or wakened. Thank God for that! Let no one, not even Mother Nature, disturb the stars.

In the meantime, Harveyville Kansas,  Harrisburg Illinois, Elizabethtown Kentucky are among the places digging out the dead and injured and just plain stuck. These are among the places trying to find where to even start digging out. These are among the places that may have had F-4 or F-5 twisters, and whose towns have been permanently marred.

But, Let us all be happy that Branson (where the storm was F-2) hasn't been destroyed and suffered relatively minor damage. The stars still have a place to play come summer.

Thank goodness everyone is not so blind as the media. Rescue efforts are underway and helping hands being extended to ALL the places and people in need. I'd like to especially commend Lowe's, who must keep a rescue team ready. They are already responding with donations and helping hands, to crossroad towns and small cities alike. Thank you.

And thank you to everyone who is doing what they can, if it's only a brief prayer between pouring cups of coffee or changing diapers.

It's going to be a long season. Keep ready, everyone. Don't be caught sleeping.

Prove it, groundhogs.

Another year, another day for the national joke. Will the groundhog see his shadow? Did the groundhog see his shadow? Is it only six more weeks until spring, or do we have six more weeks of winter?

Which groundhog should we believe? Punxsutawney  Phil saw his shadow; the local equivalent did not. Which is right, six weeks til spring, six weeks of winter? The debate, while good-natured, rages on.

Perhaps, just maybe, there is help. Perhaps there is an answer! I will look high and low, and in the most obvious places, and I will find the answer.

From Feb 2 until Mar 21 is between six and seven weeks. From Groundhog Day until the first day of spring is approximately six weeks!

Let's all take a deep breath of relief. We are free to believe both or neither groundhog. It remains winter for six more weeks, when it becomes spring according to the calendar!

Just like every year.

The Longest Month

We know that Nature and man too often disagree, and the month of February is a perfect example of that. February is the longest month. It encompasses the snows of December, the cold of January, the winds of March, the rains (which in February are frozen) of April. Only at the very end, and often only if we are lucky, do we get a hint of the flowers of May.
It is frustrating that our calendars tell us that we are nearly into spring, as we continue daily to battle the blues of a too-long winter. Only four weeks till warmth, the calendar says, as we chop our firewood or buy our fuel for the coldest blasts of the year.
Only three weeks, the calendar lies, until sunshine comes, and the warm, wet winds, as we once again add an extra layer of clothing to keep us warm as we scrape the ice off our windshields. Only two weeks, the calendar declares, until life becomes beautiful again, and we look out our windows at ice sculptures that glitter in the hard sunshine. (Hmm. Hard? And Sunshine? Maybe the calendar is not so wrong as we first thought.) One more week, swears that calendar of ours, one more week and we will be heading out of winter, as the blizzard roars.
After the blizzard, we walk outside, checking for dangers and damages, and what is that we see, just below the stalactites of water hanging from our eaves. It is a different blade of white, tinged with maybe purple, maybe yellow. A flower, not afraid to brave the cold and the snow. It breathes in the cold crisp air and sends sunshine deep into the earth

Maybe the calendar is not so wrong, we think, but then again, we know. These last four weeks - twenty-eight days - no matter who was counting or how, have taken a lot longer than the six hundred seventy two hours allotted to them by our measurements. It seems that we have spent all those hours battling the last blasts of winter.

February, the longest month, draws to a close.