They keep coming, and we can't stop it

The damn tornadoes, that's what I'm talking about. Out in Oklahoma, throughout the whole region, they just keep coming.
And there's not a damned thing anyone can do to stop them, or avoid them, or do anything but stand by helplessly while Mother Nature runs her vacuum.
Afterwards, yes, we CAN, and should, and DO rush in to help. It's what we'd hope for, were we the victims.
And we could indeed be the victims, anywhere, any time, any one of us.

Tornadoes are less a regional phenomenon than some disasters. Hurricanes hit shorelines, floods occur near rivers, mudslides are usually in hill country (slide implying gravity), forest fires happen in forests.
Tornadoes, like earthquakes, can happen anywhere.
Therefore, they can happen to you.

Now, they do have preferred playgrounds, like the Great Plains for tornadoes and the San Andreas in California, but they can happen anywhere.

The one advantage in the Plains is that usually one can see (if one is looking) from miles away and hopefully take shelter before the twister gets to you.

Last night, because of heavy rains, many, many people could not see because of the heavy rains and the preternatural darkness of the storm. Many, many people are today still shaking, still fearful, and still looking for loved ones. I hope that everyone locates one another, and that losses stay low. I wish that no one would die in these horrific storms, but that has already happened, and there's nothing I can do to change it.

I wish I could.

I haven't had a close encounter with a twister, although members of my family have. Heck, I have a brother in Kansas. My sister played tag with one last spring.(She won.)A long time ago, one collapsed my grandfather's barn. Then there was the Thanksgiving tornado, mid 90s. I went outside because it was so hot and humid, and heard the trains about a mile away, cane inside and said, "It's still and sticky, and I heard a train. Think we should hide?"
A tornado took down a garage and damaged some trees approximately a mile away.

I still shake at the memory.
The Menace that roars out of the night.
Out of the nowhere.

I can't help you, Oklahoma. Not in the preventive, sheltering, protecting ways you are so in need of.
I wish I could.
I will do what I can to help afterwards, but it will never be enough. It can never be enough.
And there's always going to be guilt that I can be so grateful it wasn't me or mine, and I feel bad about that, too.

Because I know it could have been.
May someday be.
It's good to know you will understand, if that time ever comes.

But for now, I think we would all like to put this into the past.

We are trying to help do just that.

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.