It looks like tornado alley has moved to the east of us.  For my entire lifetime, it came up right through the middle of Oklahoma and carved a path of death and destruction every spring and summer.

But last year there weren’t many of them in the state.  No bad ones this year either.  Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, Tennessee and South Carolina seemed to get most of it.  I feel sorry for them.  Tornados are awful.  You don’t know where they are going to hit exactly.

Before doppler, my mom was the early warning system.  The minute the skies didn’t look right to her,  we were going to the cellar.

The maddest I ever saw my mom was once when we were all under ground and she looked around for my dad--who was nowhere to be found.  He was in the house killing flies with a fly-swatter.  They lit on things when the weather got muggy and day my dad thought it was an excellent opportunity to reduce their population.

My dad was never afraid of anything.  He came from wild-west stock.  Tornados were just a momentary irritation to him.  He would stand outside the cellar with my uncle Cleo and watch the clouds.  I don’t remember either one of them coming down into the cellar with the rest of us.