Concern over tornadoes is just a way of life in our area. I found this online article about a unprecedented upcoming Tornado chasing effort in Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, Nebraska and the Texas panhandle. $10mil is the expected budget for such a huge endeavor.

The chase will run between May 10 and June 13th of this year….and we have a huge week long camping trip planned at Meade State Park right in the middle of it. The way my luck has been runnin’ maybe we ought to take out some extra insurance.

 BIGGEST TORNADO CHASING EFFORT EVER PLANNED

Though I was not directly affected by the Greensburg tornado, I realize that my family will never be the same since that weekend. I never returned to work (well except for one day) after that night. Our flooded basement was nothing in comparison with the devastation seen by those in Greensburg that night.  I remember sitting in front of the television and the internet while listening to the radio…worried about my daughter who traveled on her way to a State Forensics Meet, through Greensburg,  less than 45 minutes prior to the tornado swallowing the town. All night we visited on the cell phone, worried about the other storms in their path. Upon her return two days later, the little van carrying a frightened team dodged tornadoes and large hail off an on for 4 hours.

When I lived in Texas, I loved thunderstorms. I enjoyed the thunder and lightening. Don’t get me wrong, Texas has its share of tornadoes…but it seems that here in Kansas EVERY thunderstorm brings a tornado somewhere. An exaggeration? Yes…but it does feel as though I cannot enjoy thunder without worrying about tornadoes.

So $10 million does sound like a lot of money…but if I were on the voting committee to approve the funds…..I would ask to vote YES….TWICE!

These past few days (or has it been weeks?) I have been missing in action here at TSB, partly because of travel, but mostly because I am feeling a bit overwhelmed in several areas of my life at the moment. In order to forge forward through this mental fog touched with a bit of laziness, I thought I would post a couple of update photos (maybe that will put me in a more positive frame of mind…haha!).

My morning glories are beginning to show some movement, which is a good thing since it seems that I am not going to be able to train my roses to grow over my arbor.

The walkway in the backyard is beginning to take shape. Moving the rock from the old “patio” area under the tree has proved to be difficult and back-breaking. I think we have enough materials on hand to take the walkway to the alley behind the house. I am very disappointed that I do not have my concrete patio poured yet. This darn weather is making many projects drag out….and I just know that as soon as these storms stop, the temperatures will rise quicklly making the work even more difficult!



Currently, my tomatoes are back on the side porch with the last threat of golf ball sized hail. Fortunately, we did not get any…but you know that the reason we didn’t is because I DID move those tomatoes. If I had left them in place, the hail would have surely shown its face…haha!



My beans are beginnging to show some signs of growth, as is my basil…so maybe things will start happening around here. I really need to find some kind of mulch before the heat waves begin. I don’t want to put down grass clippings because we have so many weeds in our yard….and DH doesn’t know where the grass catcher is anyhow. We have had neighbors volunteer their clippings, but all of them use chemicals on their lawns…so that is not an option. I might have to just bite the bullet and purchase some straw.