Storms

It has been a stormy start to the summer here in Kansas. Yeah, I know this is Kansas, so you might be asking yourself why I am even posting about storms in Kansas. For those that know me well, you know that I am a storm chaser at heart. I haven't actually gone out to chase since I've had kids, but I always get a little excited when the National Weather Service is predicting a severe weather outbreak. No, I don't want to see homes damaged or lives taken, but I guess I love the thrill of "the hunt" and I love watching a good storm roll through. I remember when we were kids, Dad would take us out on "storm watch". He was a police officer, so that was one duty of his job. It was always exciting, but I don't remember ever being in any kind of danger. I remember spending time in the basement under the stairs, but always wanting to peek out the basement windows to see. I also remember running and playing outside in hail and how cool it was. Do you think I would ever let my kids play out in hail? NO WAY! Ok, maybe when it was done coming down! But especially not in the hail that parts of Kansas got the other day. There were many small towns just miles from us that got baseball and grapefruit sized hail. Cars, homes and buildings were damaged. A friend of mine was actually driving in the stuff and had to sit and "wait it out" while the car she was in was getting "shot at" (in her words) by this huge hail. Windows were being broken out as she sat there on the turnpike with nowhere to go. Yesterday was an exciting day for some and scary for others. We were under a HIGH risk for severe weather and a tornado outbreak was expected. When I got home from work I began preparing for the worst, because a HIGH risk is never good. I packed a bag of snacks and drinks and books/toys to entertain the kids in case we had to go to the basement. Morgan helped by getting out her favorite blankets. She was also nice enough to carry my camera and lenses downstairs and put them in a safe place. We were lucky enough to only experience a thunderstorm warning. We had high winds, rain and lots of thunder and lightening. It was exciting to watch. Yep, I was sitting in my chair, next to the window, watching it all. And the girls were up there with me. OK, not the best place to be, but my dad never put me in danger and I would never put my girls in danger. I don't want them to be scared of storms. I want them to respect the weather and be prepared. I have to admit, I sometimes feel a little cheated when we don't get the "high risk" they talk about, but I don't ever want to experience a tornado or devastation first hand. Wouldn't it be nice to see the wonder of weather without the loss of life or property? Yeah, crazy, I know, but a wish I have always had. We didn't get by completely without loss last night. A strike of lightening knocked out our power for about 2 1/2 hours so the girls got to experience what it was like to play by candlelight.I think it freaked Morgan out a little bit, or at least she said it did. But, partly I think she said she was scared because she didn't want to go to bed. I let her sit out on the front porch with me after the strong stuff was past. There was still some rain, thunder and lightening. She would shake when the lightening would strike and say she was scared, but then you could see a little smile on her face. I wonder if she too, was a little excited.