Wednesday night the neighbors came running to my house.  The siren had gone off.  Everyone watches the weather in Oklahoma and when you get a funnel close by, people start looking for cover. When the siren blows, you really start looking for cover.  I'm sure this won't be the last time.  The tornado season is just beginning.  My new house doesn't have a shelter, but the next door neighbor came over and invited me to come use his if I want to.   I won't move before May.

I had a really large safe room built into this house.  Everyone on the block knows they are welcome.  And they come.  So it turns into a party.  They bring their kids and their dogs.  And we crowd into a ten by six space and lock the door.

After five or ten minutes, it gets hot and humid.  That's when I leave and let everyone have more space.  I have big covered porches on the front--and the back--of my house.  I usually sit out there when we have a storm...and watch.  I love the rain.  And of course we had hail.  I used to be very afraid, but for some reason I'm not anymore.  It seems more interesting than frightening.  Of course Doppler Radar has made all the difference.  You can watch it on TV right up until it is a mile or two away from you.

It scared my neighbor's boxer dog.  He jumped the fence and came into my house with everyone else.  I don't know where his people were, but he seemed happy to be with us.  My dog Squig is a chicken-dog.  He is afraid of rain.  And thunder and lightening send him into the stratosphere.  He hunkered down in a corner and shook.  For an hour or two.  I feel sorry for him.

Psalms 147:7-8a  "Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God: Who covered the heavens with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who makes grass to grow..."

We'll take the rain here in Oklahoma any way we can get it.