Friday, March 18, 2011

It Must Be Spring

Today marks the first day of Spring Break for the schools here.  For us, that means a practice run of what summer will be like.  Five grandkids ranging in age from nineteen months to eight years will be taking up all-day residence in my small house for six days.  I'm praying it doesn't rain.  Let me rephrase that.  I'm praying it doesn't snow.  (I need to cover all possibilites.)

In Kansas, any kind of weather is a possiblity. We can go from balmy seventy degrees one week, to snow and ice the next, and then back to thunderstorms and hail.  And once the first tornado watch is announced, we know it's time to keep an eye to the sky, along with an ear for the warning sirens.

Every Monday at noon, except when the weather is cloudy and might appear threatening to some, the tornado sirens are tested.  We know it. We're quite accustomed to it.  But when the sirens go off in the middle of the afternoon on a Thursday (last week), it's time to check outside.  That's what I did, only to discover a beautiful blue sky with nary a cloud.  The TV was running the warning message, but when I checked the radar online, the entire center of the country was cloudless.  I posted on Facebook, of course.  What else?  Someone answered that it was some special weather day and the sirens were a test.  Obviously this was my punishment for not watching or listening to local news.

From east to west and north to south, we've all dealt with some really bad weather this winter, so let's all hope Mother Nature sends us a kinder and gentler spring and summer.

6 comments:

Leigh Duncan said...

I'm all in favor of gentle weather! We've had one of the coldest winters here in Central Florida. Last summer, our town re-landscaped the downtown area and planted 29 Christmas palms. The cold killed every one of them. I know we'll be wishing for some of that cold air in the summer, though.

Estella said...

We have had a LOT of rain in the past couple of months.

Linda Warren said...

It was 82 degrees in Texas today. Can you say summer? Geez. Everything is turning green, but it's hot. There's not a change in the forecast and we need rain.

Ah, the weather.

Linda

linda s said...

I offer three inches of rain for every ten degrees of heat you can send our way. Straight trade. 82degrees. I am so jealous in my boggy back yard.

Pamela Stone said...

Hi Linda S. I'll take you up on that. 20 degrees coming your way. LOL. Texas is unusually dry this spring. We could use 6 inches of rain or it's going to be a long dry summer.

Gillian Layne said...

I live in SE Kansas. Yesterday, warm and sunny, today, cold, wet and severe thunderstorms. Spring! :)