Life On The Planet

Tornadoes for Kids

Twenty minutes until the storm hits. Time enough to study tornadoes. (Call me coastal, but give me a good, old hurricane, any day!)

FEMA for Kids

Weather Wiz Kids

Tornado Brain Teasers

Weather.Gov

Lightening is starting! Gotta go! Hey! Toto! Where'd you go, buddy? Toto?? Aunty Em??

Objectus Interruptus

A large, black, moving object was spotted over my house yesterday...

and in a related story, internet service has finally been restored.

In Which I Whine About the Weather

Low tonight, 38 degrees.

Wind chill, 33.

Possible snow showers.

It's the middle April.

Ugh!

The Mighty Mississip'

Y'all may have heard that the Mississippi River is flooding. Rain and snow melt have swollen the river until it spreads from levee to levee. Being the science and weather hounds that we are, and always being ready for a field trip, we hopped into the mini-van and hooked up with Aussie Kim and her crew to check it out.

First we drove over the river to the Arkansas side.

The weather didn't look good. (It's been raining since we got back from vacation, but that's another post.)

Now, when I say we drove over to the Arkansas side, what I really mean is Aussie Kim's Man-of-the-House drove over to the other side. Kim and I were freezing everyone out, hanging our heads out of the windows and snapping photos like a couple of loons. The man has patience. Here is a photo taken well before the bridge. There should not be water there.

We drove to the levee on the Arkansas side. Aussie Kim said there was a board walk and park you could go to within the levee. We saw the signs for the park...

but we couldn't get to it. The sign says, "No Off Road Vehicles In The Park!" The bad news - this was the road...

The good news - apparently the catfish were biting. I wonder if the Off Road Vehicle ban included boats.

We drove back to the Mississippi side of the river and rode the levee toward the spot we visited last August. We couldn't quite make it there.

If you follow the road down and take the curve through the trees, you should come to a beach.

Now, some of you may not have ever seen a levee before. They are large (usually) earthen barriers that run the length of both sides of the river. Most of them are wide enough to drive on. In Mississippi, they come with livestock.

I wish I'd gotten a picture of the mules.

Is Wool the New Green?

Go and read this article on Global Cooling, and tell me what you think.

Should we invest in sheep and learn to knit scarves? Stockpile firewood? I figure extra insulation will work, regardless of who's right in this argument. Given the certainty of modern science, it's probably better to hedge your bets.

I should have called this post, "Why I teach science as theory." I wish these guys could make up their minds.

Julia, the Weather Hound

Shortly after we moved to THE PLACE THAT HAS TORNADOES, I taught my children what to do in case one hit. A couple of days later the sirens sounded, the hail hit the roof and the children dashed into the hallway with the dog in tow. She learned the hallway lesson oh, so well.

From that day on, whenever it storms Julia hustles into the hall and sounds the alarm. Tornado sirens, who needs 'em. We've got Julia. Unfortunately, she has associated all loud storms with *the hall*. Last night, during a rather severe thunderstorm, Julia went from room to room waking people up, barking and pacing nervously. She didn't settle down until The C.F.O. got up and walked into the hall with her. She finally passed out from all of the excitement, and we got some sleep.

So, friends and family, don't worry about me living with tornadoes. We are prepared. I may be sleeping in the hallway with a dog, but I'm perfectly safe, doggone it.

Let it sneaux!

Tonight's forecast:

BRISK. A CHANCE OF RAIN IN THE EVENING. A CHANCE OF
SNOW LATE IN THE EVENING...THEN A CHANCE OF FLURRIES AFTER
MIDNIGHT (from NOAA).

The rejoicing has begun! Snow is still a novelty to us. I hope the kiddos get to see at least a couple of flakes. Let it sneaux! Let it sneaux! Let it sneaux!

The Cold Front Cometh

A Walk With Butterfly and Salamander

Fall is creeping up on us. Last year it arrived with a trumpet blast, cooling down Labor Day weekend. This year the heat is hanging on and the trees are fighting tooth and nail to keep their leaves.

We are finally starting to feel the change in the weather. (According to my favorite site in the whole, wide web, Weather.com, the high Wednesday should be in the fifties!) It's cooling in the evenings now, and so, yesterday afternoon, the kiddos and I went for a walk. We followed a hilly loop in our neighborhood, the kids on their scooters, with me following behind picking up leaves. The temperature was a dry and breezy 76 and the sky was blue. I kept hearing one of my favorite hymns in my head. 

"For the beauty of the earth, For the glory of the skies..."

The day was absolutely perfect. Of course, the best part of the walk was when we headed home. It's downhill.