Yeah, well, so much for the severe weather- at least in MY locale. So what there was a tornado touchdown an hour west of us here. So what there was hail covering the ground in Hamilton.....20 minutes from here. So what that we didn't get enough sun to stir things up in the atmosphere here. So what we got a bunch of piddly rain and a little puff of wind. So what they got hail back in my stomping grounds in Tennessee. It doesn't flippin' bother me one chunkin' iota.

Stoopidoggonefreekinbiskits.

This is the Thursday afternoon NWS forecast discussion for the severe potential for SW Ohio on Friday, April 22nd, 2005. The words "rotating, shear and veering" in the same sentence get me hot and sassy this time of year.....well anytime of year akshully. The highlighted text.... compliments of yours truly.

.SHORT TERM (TONIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT)...
SURFACE ANALYSIS SHOWS STATIONARY FRONT FROM NE KENTUCKY TO
SOUTHEAST INDIANA TO DEVELOPING SURFACE LOW OVER MISSOURI.
SATELLITE IMAGERY SHOWS OVC SKIES BEGINNING TO ERODE FROM THE
NORTH AND SOUTH OVER FA. KILN SHOWS PRECIP EXITING EASTERN FA.

NAM AND GFS IN GOOD AGREEMENT WITH TAKING UPPER LOW FROM THE
NORTHERN ROCKIES AND MERGING IT WITH A DIGGING UPPER TROF OVER THE
EASTERN CONUS. THIS WILL TAKE A DEEPENING SURFACE LOW CURRENTLY OVER
MISSOURI AND MOVE IT THROUGH INDIANA AND OHIO DURING FRIDAY AFTERNOON
AN EVENING. THE STATIONARY TO THE SOUTH AND EAST OF FA WILL MOVE
BACK NORTH AS A WARM FRONT LATE TONIGHT INTO FRIDAY
MORNING...BRINGING GOOD COVERAGE OF RW/TRW. FA WORKS INTO THE WARM
SECTOR AND WILL SEE ATMOSPHERE MIX OUT AM CLOUDS AND CREATE
MINIMAL TO MODERATE INSTABILITY OVER INDIANA AND OHIO. PROGGED
HODOGRAPHS SHOW SUPPORT FOR ORGANIZED AND ROTATING THUNDERSTORMS
WITH WIND SHEAR AROUND 15 M2/S2 AND RESPECTABLE VEERING WITH
HEIGHT. ANOTHER INTERESTING ASPECT OF THE NAM IS THAT IT SHOWS A
DRY LINE MOVING ACROSS THE SOUTHERN PART OF THE FORECAST AREA WITH
AN INVERTED TROF REFLECTED IN THE MSL. THIS WILL MOVE AHEAD OF
COLD FRONT...WHICH WILL WORK ACROSS OVERNIGHT. THE BIG QUESTION
WILL BE HOW MUCH SUNSHINE WILL WE GET TOMORROW? THE MORE WE
(OH/IN) GETS THE STRONGER THE STORMS WILL BE. WILL FOLLOW
SPC WITH A STAIR STEP APPROACH. THEY HAVE UPPED SWRN 1/3 OF FA
INTO MODERATE RISK WITH THE 18Z UPDATE. FOR THE ZONES WILL ADD
STRONG WORDING FOR FRIDAY PM. WILL ALSO UPDATE THE HWO. REMEMBER
IT WILL BE ALL ABOUT THE SUNSHINE/INSTABILITY FRIDAY AFT INTO EVE.

ONCE FRONT MOVES THROUGH THEN THE BOTTOM DROPS OUT WITH COLD RAIN
SHOWERS SATURDAY WITH A RAIN AND SNOW MIX SATURDAY NIGHT.
CONTEMPLATED A FREEZE OUTLOOK FOR SATURDAY NIGHT WITH TEMPS FALLING
CLOSE TO OR POSSIBLY BELOW FREEZING. HOWEVER, DID NOT WANT TO ADD
ANY CONFUSION TO THE POTENTIAL WEATHER ON FRIDAY. THUS WILL DEAL
WITH IT AFTER TOMORROWS EVENT.

TIPTON

For those of you who haven't been to Palmer's blog in a while, I suggest you go and inform yourself on the dastardly determination by his health sharing group. That is why I have included the Paypal icon to the right in case you might want to donate to their impending health care costs.

I am praying that there will be more than "something" out there and it will more than suffice in defraying the bills and allow for a dignified standard of life. Is that too much to ask?

Saw my father, stepmother and grandmother off today after they spent the weekend with us here. This really was a special time for me to have them here with us. I don't get to see them a lot and this is the first time my father has visited me since I graduated seminary in '95. It made me ache for more time with them. It made me cogently aware of choice and sacrifice. I did manage to relish the fleeting time though.

I am reminded tonight of the richness of journeying with and abiding with a people. Receiving the reports of some major healing God has done in one life and hearing the impassioned pleas for the same hope from another on behalf of her brother. Rejoicing and taking on another desperate situation. Soul-stories and life lines laid bare and trusting one another in the directions our lives are taking. It's sweet to see the communal submission we are growing into as we mature.

Onward, weeping, kneeling, wailing, imparting wise words, encouraging and girding up our collective loins as we continue to run this race. And what a joy it is to run it together. I have so many conscientious, servant-minded people whom I call my spiritual extended family that I can't even begin to count the joys of having so many brothers and sisters.



Footballs in trees
The Jaylord flees
Sisters on their knees

Brownies in the bowl
A young man in the fold
Cords tied to his soul

Joe's come back
To a party out back
Now what's to lack?

On this good night
With friends so tight
The Kingdom in sight.

Babes and Buses

.....not THOSE kinds of babes, now.

Thank God for the wee ones....the tots and toddlers, who never fail to come through when a certain mass transit professional has had a day of jaywalkers and joyriders test his patience. It doesn't matter what these little ones are doing, either being drug through the uptown by a parent's hand to who knows where or playing in the park on the stone animals or waiting by the crosswalk with the big people in tow for the signal to go.

They see me....well they see my bus.....okay, Hamilton Tours' bus.....and the world stops. Eyes go crazy-round, fingers point my way (not the usual other finger I get from those 18+ years their senior) and mouths go agape. It does not matter to the child if there are more important things like another bite of cheeseburger or crossing a busy intersection. This is a big white bus and it rules their world. At least for 6 or 7 seconds. Those fleeting windows into joy and amazement, no matter how vicarious and trivial, are welcome. At least I have made someone happy.

So what if they can't spell "bus."

My pops, stepmother and Granny Ruth- the gracious woman who took my sister and I in at age 13- are coming up to visit us this weekend. Been a long time coming and it'll be great and weird at the same time. Totally looking forward to it.