Tornadoes All Around

We've had quite a season of severe weather already. June 4 saw two EF1 tornadoes strike Ulysses, Dwight, and Valparaiso, and two EF1's hit Ceresco and surrounding areas. June 5th we were downstairs again for severe thunderstorms.

At midnight on Saturday, June 7, my weather alert radio went off indicating a severe thunderstorm was on its way. I was in my standard Bad Weather Mode (dressed, tornado box ready, etc) and sprawled on the couch. I alternated between all the local TV stations to track the storm. It looked like a bad one but I was going to wait until the wind started up before waking Mark and Cassie to head downstairs. Fortunately it JU-U-U-ST missed us, but I kept watching. I switched to Channel 7 and could tell from their map that it had become two tornadoes and I knew Millard (southwest Omaha) was getting pummeled. Even scarier, all of this was occurring between midnight and 3:00am.

Severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, flash floods, flooding. But through all these storms there had, thankfully, been no fatalities. Until Wednesday, June 11.

That night I finally became scared. The storms were running in a long band from central to south central Nebraska and maintained their strength, even growing stronger. Cassie and I were in the basement with continual tornado warnings for three hours. As soon as one would end, another warning would be initiated. We only had enough time to make a dash to the laundry room.

Cassie had no idea it was this bad. Even when I had her practice kneeling on the floor between the wall and the bed, and demonstrated how I'd kneel over her and keep her covered, and that I'd pull a 20" square pillow next to us, and pull the mattress on top of us, she was still having a grand time. She wanted to practice pulling over the mattress, and asked when I'd do all of this. I said we'd listen for loud wind and then we'd take cover; and when we heard a train sound that would be the storm going over us. She was so excited and couldn't wait for all of this to occur. She imagined that the people at Culver's were in the giant refrigerator and she was sorry to be missing that. In the meantime she continued to read to me.

Even Eli the cat sensed something was different about this storm. Usually I have to close the bedroom door to keep him in the room with us (he doesn't like all the noise between the weather alert radio, the TV, and the AM radio), but this time he was hunkered down next to me.

Finally at 9:30 the warnings ended for Lincoln and Lancaster County. We got up off the floor and sprawled on the bed while I watched the TV reports. Cassie fell right to sleep and stayed there until 11:00pm when Mark carried her upstairs for me. We got her undressed and into jammies and she went right back to sleep.

But the storm had ravaged eastern Nebraska and western Iowa, where at 6:30pm it turned into an EF3 tornado at Little Sioux Boy Scout Ranch near Little Sioux, Iowa. Four boys scouts attending a leadership camp were killed.

The previous weekend the parents were helping them plan their trip. The next weekend the parents were planning funerals.

Mom's Birthday

Mom's birthday is June 8, but we held her party on Saturday the 7th. I worked that weekend so poor Mom had to bake her own spice cake. Cassie and I picked up the choc mint ice cream, and Cassie chose Mom's birthday plates/cups/napkins (which explains why Mom had the Disney Princesses for her birthday theme).

We held the party at my aunt Betsy's condo after I got off work. She lives on the fourth floor and commented how she could look out her windows and see the Wednesday storms approaching in the southwest. She said it was a very dark wall cloud and that this was the first time she'd been afraid (and rightfully so, that storm spawned four tornadoes). So she was more than willing this time to head downstairs when the tornado sirens sounded. Apparently, I'm the only member of my family who heads to the basement when we have weather warnings. (Confession: I'd rather be outside with my camera gazing at the sky, judging for myself when to take cover, but I have to be a good role model for Cassie. Sigh.)

Our package for Mom was actually empty except for a color photo of her gift. We're giving her Ted Sorensen's new book, Counselor: A Life at the Edge of History. He's a Nebraska native who was chief speechwriter and special counsel to JFK. He's doing a book signing at Lee Booksellers on June 18. I'm getting an autographed copy for both Mom and me.

Everyone was in attendance at Mom's party, except my brother's 17yo daughter, Paige. After the festivities the guys turned on the Husker's baseball game, and we girls played "Tico's." Mom, Betsy, and I sat at the dining room table and Cassie was our waitress. But for a server, she's quite demanding. I was constantly admonished for having elbows on the table, and she thought we were asking for too many refills. She also informed us her name was "Annie" - our favorite waitress at Tico's.

The evening ended soon enough to get Cassie to bed at a relatively reasonable time, and before the next round of storms hit.

Book Display - D-Day, June 6, 1944

Here're the materials put on display to mark the 64th anniversary of D-Day:

The 101st Airborne at Normandy by Mark A. Bando

The Boys of Pointe du Hoc: Ronald Reagan, D-Day and the U.S. Army 2nd Ranger Battalion by Douglas Brinkley

Citizen Soldiers: The U.S. Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany June 7, 1944-May 7, 1945 by Stephen E. Ambrose

D-Day by Brigadier Peter Young

D-Day 1944 edited by Theodore A. Wilson

D-Day June 6, 1944: The Climatic Battle of World War II by Stephen E. Ambrose

D-Day: The Story of the Longest Day by Duncan Anderson

Dwight D. Eisenhower: Commander-In-Chief by Biography Channel, DVD

The First Men In: U.S. Paratroopers and the Fight to Save D-Day by Ed Ruggero (excellent!)

Fortitude: The D-Day Deception Campaign by Roger Hesketh

Hitler Slept Late: And Other Blunders that Cost Him the War by James P. Duffy

The Invasion Before Normandy: The Secret Battle of Slapton Sands by Edwin P. Hoyt

June 6, 1944: The Voices of D-Day by Gerald Astor

The Longest Day by Cornelius Ryan (of course this had to be included...)

The Man Who Never Was by Ewen Montagu (book was FASCINATING; movie was awful)

Overlord D-Day, June 6, 1944 by Max Hastings

Ten Days to D-Day: Citizens and Soldiers on the Eve of the Invasion by David Stafford

2nd Week of Tornadoes

The forecast for Wednesday, June 4, included severe weather. Unfortunately, Cassie and I had haircuts at 6:30. Mark was to have given her her supper, then I would be off work at 6pm, tear home and pick her up, and then fly to 70th & Van Dorn. Well, I can't exactly "fly" anymore since a little voice in the booster seat in the back inquires, "Mommy, are you speeding?" Or, "Ooooh Mommy! That light was yellow!"

Haircut nights usually take up the entire evening. By the time we finish our appointments we stop at Culver's at 70th & Pioneers for a quick supper for me and another supper for Cassie because she hadn't eaten enough at home. Once we're home I insist we wash her hair because you know you have to wash out all those little hairs that are still on your scalp from the haircut. (Or else you shed on your pillow. Ick.) Then after her bath add hair-drying time as well as two or three books, and suddenly the evening is gone.

At Culver's we watched the clouds come rolling in and this reminded Cassie of a previous trip to Culver's on north 27th street. She had asked then what we'd do if a tornado hit while we were at Culver's. I'd looked over at the children staffing the restaurant and knew they would have no idea what to do. I told Cassie I carry a flashlight in my purse during tornado season, and that if Culver's had a basement we would go there, or else we'd stand in the walk-in refrigerator until the tornado passed. She thought standing in a giant refrigerator would be fun.

In the meantime, the ominous clouds continued to build. We managed to finish our meal in record time and actually made it home, got her bathed and dressed again, hair dried, and were on our way to the basement when the first alarm sounded. The photo at right was taken out our backdoor.

By now, Cassie thinks these evenings spent taking cover in the basement are fun and is very disappointed when we don't have to go downstairs. This night she read all her library books to me for two hours. She's making great progress on meeting her Summer Reading requirements thanks to these storms.

Tornadoes and Severe Thunderstorms in Nebraska

The past two weeks have seen severe weather work its way through Nebraska. May 29, Black Thursday according to the Kearney Hub, saw tornadoes rip through the Kearney area spawning tornado warnings, severe thunderstorm warnings, and flash flood warnings for much of central, south central, and southeast Nebraska.

I usually view our weather with an eye toward where family and friends are located, and hoping they are doing okay. The Nebraska towns of Holdrege, Lexington, Hastings, Norfolk, Creighton, Crofton, Martell, Crete, Seward, Milford, Eagle, Bennett, and Omaha keep me interested.

So while I was concerned for the folks in Aurora and Kearney, I thought family and friends were safe. That is, until cousin John S. sent the following photo taken with his cell phone. Turns out he had a group of Lexington athletes with him at a tournament at Kearney Catholic High School while F1 and F2 tornadoes roared through town (though some argue that F3s were involved as well).

Cassie, Eli the cat, and I spent the evening in the basement bedroom. Initially Cassie was unhappy at my plans for she thought I was getting her ready for bed early. But I managed to get her bathed and dressed again in street clothes, socks, and shoes. Then we headed downstairs with important papers wrapped in plastic garbage bags (such as Cassie's adoption paperwork and our paperwork for Daughter #2), flashlights, weather alert radio, books, Cassie's Pooh blankie and stuffed bunny, my purse, cellphone and keys in my pockets, and my meds in my purse. A TV and ac/dc am/fm/cass/cd player were already downstairs.

We had a grand time that evening reading to each other, sorting my fabric onto new shelves (hint for quilters: cd storage units are PERFECT for holding fat quarters, charm packs, and jelly rolls), we did a couple loads of laundry, and Cassie thought it was fun to press the button on the weather alert radio when the alarm sounded. By the time the weather warnings had ended and we came back upstairs, it was passed Cassie's bedtime and I just tossed her into bed. Now she understood why she'd had her bath early.

I spent the rest of the night on the couch, dressed, napping in between weather alerts, ready to drag everyone downstairs again if necessary. The weather conditions didn't calm down until three or four in the morning. But with the weather alert radio at least I was always informed.

Too Freakin' Much To Do

I can't believe it's mid-June already, it should only be the beginning of May. I'm a month behind on blogging and have a long list of items I wanted to blog about. Sadly, that means I'm not able to comment in a timely fashion about events (read: bore you to death with details), nor was I able to participate in BlogLikeItsTheEndOfTheWorld so I can't tell you how I survived this year's zombie uprising (but I'll be there Feb 13, 2009). And several of you have written to inquire about my blog, so I know it's wa-a-y past time to write. So here's a summary of events since last we met.

May 3. Lincoln City Libraries Staff Association held a bowling event. After lots of trading back and forth, teams were finalized at the last minute. I was part of Support Services Strikesters, and hadn't done that poorly at bowling in years. Since we weren't going to win, I was hopeful we would take last place, but we were ranked in the middle somewhere. Drat!

May 15. Hartley School at the Zoo. I was working that Thursday night for a colleague so Deb H. was kind enough to take Cassie to the event for me. I added Deb to the list of people authorized to pick up Cassie from her after-school program, so Mark was able to go directly to his part-time night job. Free admittance to the zoo for the kids and their families, and a free ride on the train - can't beat that. It was actually an event to promote Math, but Deb tells me the math stations were pretty well ignored by the kids. After the zoo, they headed out to Village Inn for a late supper.

Memorial Weekend. I worked that weekend so Mark and Cassie headed up to Creighton without me on Saturday. I had the house to myself Saturday and Sunday night. Monday I finished my denim quilt! For the quilters among you here're the stats: 59"x83", blocks are 4" finished, 15 across, 21 down. Denim blocks were cut from my jeans as they wore out and Cassie's as she outgrew them. Backing is anti-pill fleece, folded over to form the binding as well. Tied with perle cotton.

Lincoln Public Schools ended Friday, May 30. Cassie enjoyed school but couldn't wait for it to end so she could call herself a First Grader. Here she is on the penultimate day of school. Now that it's summer, the neighborhood is filled with foul-mouthed, bratty kids roaming the streets at all hours of the day and night. No kidding. A small group of 'tweens stood arguing at the alley drive at 2am on a weeknight. I gotta move.