Spring Skies

http://www.farmersalmanac.com/

Spring sky - 04-06-2010.

We had just left Hanna City, after enjoying a day of watching our youngest grandson, when we saw this beautiful and rather scary sky. It is a reminder how Spring in the Midwest can turn quickly.

Our little guy's father had told us how a tornado had been spotted near Decatur yesterday and they had all gone to a shelter. Decatur, headquarters for my company, holds a couple of tornado memories for me.

The first: I had three people in the car with me, we had just left a meeting and were heading back home. We had left early because of weather predictions for bad storms. On a country road, rain and wind hit hard and at one point the car was sliding sideways from the force of the wind. I barely saw a driveway, turned in, we jumped out and banged on the door until a kindly farmer let us join him in his basement. Later, we learned we were in the middle of a tornado.

Another time, I had stopped at a friends home to see their new baby before heading home from Decatur. The little girl slept the entire time and I was heading out the door when she woke crying. As I picked her up, the town's tornado alert went off and we went to their basement. It stormed a bit, I loved up the sweet baby, and headed home. As I got to the spot where I would have been had I not stopped to love up baby, a tornado had done significant damage. I call her "my little life saver!"

According to the Farmers Almanac (doesn't every Midwesterner read this?), "The coming of April could mean potentially severe weather in the Midwest and East, with tornado activity across Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and western Kentucky." Not to diminish the FA predictions, but, that is a pretty fair description of any Spring in the Midwest.

Spring frost map.

The Farmers' Almanac has a good map of the "average or typical" last day of Spring frosts that you might want to check out if you are setting out plants. It is a gardener's frailty to want to get out in the yard and plant gardens and flowers as soon as the first warm weather arrives. Unless you enjoy endless covering and uncovering (plus, loosing some plants), I'd advise a little patience. If you do buy plant sets, place pots in a sunny location during the warm days and take back in during the nights.

May all your Spring storms be gentle, may all your rain be just enough, may the sun warm your back but not burn your nose, and may you take the time to simply enjoy the many Blessings of this grand land!