Category Archives: Life

Emotion, Home, Life, Music, Texas

Ridin’ the Storm Out

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“Ridin’ the storm out, waitin’ for the thaw out…” 
– REO Speedwagon – 
It’s a beautiful, bright and sunny day in the Texas Panhandle. Not a cloud in the sky dampens the horizon. Yet, here I sit procrastinating. The storm of change is coming and I should be preparing for its onslaught, but I’m not. I’m in a state of fear and denial. I’m like the proverbial ostrich sticking its head in the sand. However, like the bird, my butt is sticking up in the air and I’m sure I’m about to take one for the team with no lube, if you know what I mean.  

My spousal unit tells me I don’t have to carry the burden alone for what’s going on at home. I’m cynical and jaded right now. I feel like I do.  I have to-do list after to-do list made up.  They grow longer by the day and there’s not enough hours to tackle even a portion of them. So I suppose that’s why it’s easier to sit and do nothing than to get off my ass and do “something.” But as the deadline for having all this stuff done grows near, the self-loathing for not having anything done sooner will grow to biblical proportions and I’ll be kicking myself in the hind-end that already took one. Double-whammy.

How does one prep for change when one doesn’t want things to change in many regards, but does in others? How does one know if they are doing the right thing or the wrong thing? How does one make decisions that alters their life, but also the lives of so many people around them for good, bad or indifferent and those people don’t have much say? It frustrates me on a level that’s almost unbearable. I don’t know if I’m doing the right thing and there’s at least one person I need help from that’s is unwilling to do so. It’s frustrating beyond the tolerable and I try to shove that fed-up part of me in the back of my mind, but it niggles at me from time to time and I just want to break like a squall line dumping rain across the plains.  (Long run-on sentence. Sorry.)

I wish I could say more as to what’s going on, but I’m not at liberty right now. Just know that my life is upside down and I don’t like the view. I’ve lost my rose-colored glasses. If I can just ride this storm of change out and wait for the thaw out, things will be okay. But right now, I’m feeling the outflow boundary, the winds kicking up and the rush of air blowing across my face. I see the lightning on the horizon and hear the distant rumbles of thunder. The storm is coming and as it hits I will just pray for the best. 

Okay… going to suck it up and get to work. Tally-Ho!

Health & Fitness, Home, Life, Stress

Waiting to Exhale

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I tried yoga once but took off for the mall halfway through class, as I had a sudden craving for a soft pretzel and world peace. 

~Terri Guillemets



In the past few weeks, I have been under a stress load that mechanical engineers would have a hard time finding a logical answer to the equation of “how is it  possible to hold that kind of load.” 

Life changing news has come about which I’m not at liberty to share at this time, I’m 100 pages into my first full-length novel and self-doubt and worry is running amok, my mother’s health is troublesome, my daughters are starting to take test runs from the nest and other things are going on between home and work that have me wondering if I’m made of elastic and what the ultimate breaking point is.  I think my stress load can be equated to the load per unit area or the force (F) applied per cross-sectional area (A) perpendicular to the force as shown in the equation below:
 
Now, the best part of this whole thing is I just probably sounded really smart here and I have to thank Engineersedge.com for their insight for the formula above. I could honestly try to figure it all out, but the left side of my brain, the analytic side, has a very hard time with math and physics. I’m a right-brained person overall and if I think about it at length, it gets complicated and I’d probably short circuit. I try not to think about it.  Darned analytics. Now I’m thinking about it. 

So back to yoga. 

It’s something not-so-new I’m working on. I’m seriously trying to decompress and work on some kind of Zen state I really want to achieve. I seriously doubt I will achieve that calm that surpasses my understanding; however, if I can reach a point where I can focus on the breath and the body and shut the world out for however long, I will have achieved something. Eh?

Now… back to downward dog… Which to tell you my mental state always makes me think, “Bad dog, good dog,” while I’m waiting to exhale… I gotta work on that. 
Authors, Books, Characters, Craft of Writing, Life

A Rose By Any Other Name…

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Each generation wants new symbols, new people, new names. They want to divorce themselves from their predecessors.
Jim Morrison 

A rose by any other name may still smell as sweet, but we call it a rose.
We spell it “r-o-s-e.”

This leads me to one of my biggest pet peeves that really shouldn’t be, but is.

Names.

Recently in the news, not that she is newsworthy, but that aside, Kim Kardashian and her spousal unit decided to name their unsuspecting child “North.” Seriously? That poor child is going to grow up with all sorts of complexes as it is and you have just laden it with the mother of them all – a crappy name.

One might think that I would be appalled because Frank Zappa named his kids Moon Unit or Dweezil. Not really. One would expect something like that from the outrageously creative Zappa. Jane or Harry would have been totally out of character for him.  But naming a child “North West” opens the doors to many, many years of childhood jokes that no amount of money can buy your way out of. (Let’s just start with “The Wicked Witch of the North West” and work our way from there…)

But North isn’t the only baby name that I find incredibly bad.  “Cricket” makes my top ten list as well as Rainbow Aurora, Blue Ivy, Kal-El Cage (Superman jokes anyone?), Pilot Inspektor Riesgraf Lee, Moxie Crimefighter Jillette (That’s Penn Jillette’s son. I swear I hope he becomes a cop.) There’s also kids named, Sailor and Seven and Daisy Boo.  One I find strangely cute, Apple – Gwen Paltrow’s daughter, and I hesitate putting it on the list. There are others of course, but North is pretty freakin’ horrible. 

But beyond that phenomena, is the “creative spelling” of names that drives me “Banzai Bat Crap Crazy.” I deal with a lot of people on a daily basis and the older I get, the weirder names and spellings have become. I don’t know why parents have to do this. Is it because they think it’s “cute”, “creative” or “original?” Is it because they want to be different? I don’t rightly know.  Poor “Maddisyn” (actual spelling of a kid’s name I saw in a local yearbook) hasn’t got a prayer of ANYONE ever spelling her name correctly … EVER. And take it from me, I have a fairly “normal” if not quite so common name and few people have a clue how to spell correctly, if at all. 

There is a scene in the book by Billie Letts, “Where the Heart Is” which was also made into a movie. (Excellent by the way…) There is discussion about the main character, Novalee, naming her child. She’s given the advice to name her child a good, sturdy name – a name that means something.  

I stand by that philosophy and I’m sure plenty of people will be ticked when they read this. When you name a child, their name SHOULD stand for something. It should hold it’s ground and be the pillar for that child. A name like “North” doesn’t do that. It’s shaky and opens the child to ridicule which is unnecessary. I’m not saying you have to go all 1950’s names, but really, at the end of the day, why do we want to set our kids up for misery? 
Actors, Life, Movies, Music

The Silver Reunion and 1988

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25 years ago (not to the day) I graduated from High School in the middle of BFE. I enjoyed school for the most part. I wasn’t part of any particular crowd – had friends in all the crowds which was a good, good thing. We had the jocks, the preps, the geeks / nerds, the stoners, the … wait… hang on… I feel like that scene in Ferris Beuller’s Day Off when Ed Rooney’s secretary Grace says, “Oh, he’s very popular Ed. The sportos, the motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, wastoids, dweebies, dickheads – they all adore him. They think he’s a righteous dude.”  But I digress…. 

This weekend is my 25th reunion weekend and I’m not going / didn’t go. 
Please don’t feel sorry for me. 
I don’t want to go.
Friday night was extended Beer 30 at a local bar, with a pre-bar before-hand. (Like really?)
There was a fund-raising walk early this morning, which I can’t do right now, Wonderland Park this afternoon (about 100 degrees out) and then dinner at the Wolflin House tonight. I’m sorry, but really none of that interests me. I don’t drink. I’d do the walk if I were able. I spent the day helping mom, which is MUCH more important than spending time at Wonderland, and Wolflin House was something like $30-$40 a head (I’m broke.)
But beyond that, I’d probably be bitching about the food and want to leave early anyway. Why? A lot of the people I really wanted to see couldn’t make the reunion. There may be a few here to see, but overall. I just don’t care. Is that just wrong of me? I don’t know. 

However, I have spent quite a bit of time thinking about some cool things about 1988. Here are my top three favorite movies and songs from 1988. 


Die Hard – Yeah. In 1988 I developed a major crush on Bruce Willis.  He was charming in “Moonlighting,” but this movie did it for me. I’ll probably be a lifelong fan. He’s better looking now, not a bad actor and I’ll forgive the divorce with Demi Moore. She’s flaky anyway. 

BIG – Released in 1988 as well, Tom Hanks pulled off a fun movie (I believe it was shot in one of my all time favorite stores, FAO Schwartz.)  My children enjoyed seeing it when they were younger as well. I dare say this movie is timeless.

Cocktail – With Tom Cruise before he went Bat Shit Crazy, what 80’s girl didn’t have a crush on him. As a side note… in ’89 I got into a shit ton of trouble by accidentally playing the Beach Boy’s “Kokomo” released from this soundtrack on the air. Wrong song for the wrong format. My bad. I’m truly sorry. 


Speaking of favorite tunes from ’88…

It was number 2 on the Billboard Top 100 from 1988, but it’s my favorite song from that year. INXS‘ “Need You Tonight.” Michael Hutchence had a voice to die for and I can remember wearing out two… count them TWO cassette tapes in my car.  A lot of Friday nights were spent cruising around town while listening to INXS’s album, “Kick.” While I love all of their work, it was possibly their best. 

Most people would guess this would be my number one pick from 1988. Surprise, it’s my number two. It fell on Billboard’s Top 100 at number 19. Def Leppard – “Pour Some Sugar on Me.” The other song that made the charts in ’88 was “Love Bites.”  Hysteria was released in 1987 and it was a monster album for the band. It’s not my favorite song on the album. That would actually be “Love and Affection.” However… on the flip side (album) of “Sugar”, the band re-recorded one of my all time faves – “I Wanna Be Your Hero.” Awesome stuff that is. 

The third pick is very, very hard from me because music fuels my soul. I was in radio at an early age and will probably always have some part in the industry. There were SO MANY good songs and groups that I could say all the rest of them, but I will do my best to pick one and only one for number three. I’m trying to pick from George Michael, Guns and Roses, Van Halen, Whitney Houston, Foreigner, Cher, Sting, Richard Marx, Debbie Gibson, Rick Astley… Wow… lots to choose from. 

However, this last spot will go to the Bangles – “Hazy Shade of Winter.” Billboard’s Top 100 logged them at number 35. However, there’s something about this song that haunts me. I scrolled up and down the list of songs and knew the words and melodies to almost all of them. I always came back to this one. 

“Hazy Shade of Winter” was written by Paul Simon of Simon and Garfunkel in 1966 so you know automatically you have a master of the craft of songwriting taking care of business. Combined with the feminine harmonics of the Bangles, it comes together beautifully. It has staying power and will outlive me, just on lyrics alone. 



A HAZY SHADE OF WINTER
Time, time, time
See what’s become of me
While I looked around for my possibilities
I was so hard to please
But look around
Leaves are brown
And the sky is a hazy shade of winter
Hear the Salvation Army band
Down by the riverside’s
Bound to be a better ride
Than what you’ve got planned
Carry your cup in your hand
And look around you
Leaves are brown, now
And the sky is a hazy shade of winter
Hang on to your hopes, my friend
That’s an easy thing to say
But if your hopes should pass away
Simply pretend
That you can build them again
Look around
The grass is high
The fields are ripe
It’s the springtime of my life
Seasons change with the scenery
Weaving time in a tapestry
Won’t you stop and remember me
At any convenient time?
Funny how my memory skips
Looking over manuscripts
Of unpublished rhyme
Drinking my vodka and lime
I look around
Leaves are brown
And the sky is a hazy shade of winter
Look around
Leaves are brown
There’s a patch of snow on the ground
Look around
Leaves are brown
There’s a patch of snow on the ground






Home, Life, Uncategorized

Gasping for Air

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For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: ‘If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?’ And whenever the answer has been ‘No’ for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
~Steve Jobs ~

When I was younger, I was impulsive – some would say rash, maybe thoughtless. I often made decisions by the seat of my pants and while some of that was sheer teenage rebellion, some of it was the deep seeded desire to do something “more”,  want something more, BE something “more.”  And the good Lord knows I got burned more than once. However, I learned through age and experience, grass isn’t always greener on the other side. It’s still grass and it may be growing over a septic tank. So I tempered that part of me, have learned to make sound decisions and as middle age has pretty much arrived, have found myself in a conundrum. 

Change – It’s rearing it’s ugly head and I’m oh-so-not ready for it. 

Empty nest syndrome is just around the corner; darling hubby’s job situation is about to make some really drastic changes affecting me and the kids and my elderly mother’s health is starting to decline – which also has a bearing on some other things going on. 

I feel out-of-control. And the more I try to control things the more out-of-control I feel.  I wasn’t anticipating on having my entire universe turned into scrambled eggs in one quick motion. I’m frankly, terrified. Too many changes are happening too quickly and decisions are going to start happening back to back to back and I’m honestly not prepared for them. 

Hopefully, the next six months will be much easier than my mind is preparing me for. However, while I’m generally an optimist, I’m also a realist. Like a fish out of water, I’m going to be gasping for air until I make it to a new tank.  

Health & Fitness, Illness, Life, Stress, Uncategorized

Why Yes… It IS in My Head

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“And then a throb hits you on the left side of the head so hard that your head bobs to the right…There’s no way that came from inside your head, you think. That’s no metaphysical crisis. 
God just punched you in the face.” 

There are approximately 13 million Americans who suffer from a painful neurological condition called migraines;  it’s more than 10% of the population or 1 in 4 households.

I am one of those Americans.

It’s believed that migraine headaches tend to run in families and there’s a 70% chance that a child of a parent with migraines will develop them at some point in their lifetime. Wow.  I can’t say that knowing that years ago would have made any difference (as my mother has them.)  It doesn’t change the fact I have them.  I can’t say that I would have even been “prepared” for them. 

What can prepare someone for a monstrous pressure in the base of their cranium / brain stem which steadily becomes the feeling of a ball peen hammer hitting you upside the head repeatedly while at the same time crushing your skull in a vice? This of course (for me) is accompanied by other symptoms I don’t feel the urge to discuss at this time. TMI. 

The sad thing is… many people think folks with migraines don’t have a serious problem, they’re faking it, it’s “just a headache”… Gads… I could go on and on.  Consider this.  Migraine attacks can cause strokes, comas, aneurysms or death.  Each and every time someone with chronic migraines HAS a migraine we actually wonder HOW BAD it’s going to be. I’ve ended up at the doctor’s office / hospital getting injections to knock my ass out because it was that bad. 

“ We once saw a documentary on migraines. One of the men interviewed used to fall on his knees and bang his head against the floor, over and over during attacks. This diverted the pain from deep inside his brain, where he couldn’t reach it, to a pain outside that he had control over.” 
I wish I could describe that pain, deep inside the brain.  I’ve said on more than one occasion to my husband and friends that it would hurt less to run my head through a concrete wall.  It’s true. 

But did you know there are migraines where there is NO pain? A couple of friends of mine at work have these silent migraines. They don’t have the headache, but they have other symptoms. They are just as debilitating. 

There are 10 or more different types of migraine and many people have a combination migraine that sets in – which is what makes diagnosis and treatment so hard.  I have a tri-graine: Abdominal, Basilar and Transformed / generally without aura.  In a good month, I will only have a few. In a bad month, I have had 25-31 days worth of headache-hell. And months stack up. Fortunately, I’ve been running on the low end of this for a few months. I’m grateful. For a while there, it was f-ugly.

I’m on day two of this particular migraine attack – triggered by nitrates and yet another weather system that moved in. (I swear I could be a meteorologist.)  I read a blog post the other day where a woman was on her 112th day. My God. 112 days of wanting to ram your head into a wall or beat it against the floor because the external pain is controllable. I so get it. I feel ya sister. 

“His headache was still sitting over his right eye as if it had been nailed there.” 

I have run the gambit on prescription drugs – lemme tell you, some of that stuff is like taking candy. Just doesn’t work worth a darn. And the kicker is… REBOUND migraines / headaches. For the love of all that is pure and holy in this world. You think you got it licked and it comes back meaner and badder than the original.  Tylenol 3 and the “cets” do that to me… Lorcet / Percocet / Darvocet… etc. That’s a big no-no. I’ve been through everything from Imitrex to Maxalt and Treximet (which is the only thing that works for me right now. Dare I say, “THANK YOU, TREXIMET.”)  I also take daily preventative drugs that work okay, but still doesn’t solve the problem. Of course, I’m assuming the problem can be solved.  I don’t know that is the case. But I can hope. 

I’m searching for options. I’m looking at acupuncture, massage, herbal remedies, nape piercings, and other alternative therapies with no decisions having been made yet. I’m tired of the drugs. I’m tired of the migraines. I’m tired of being sick and tired of being sick and  tired and all anyone seems to want to push are pills. 

However, with that said… I really am tired (migraines tend to do that) and I need to get some rest. I’ll let you know how things go at a later date and what decisions I’ve made.  I have a feeling it’s all going to be a process of trial and error that will fall under my blanket of “what doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.” 

Cheerio and ta-ta for now.

Source: MedlinePlus 
Family, Home, Life, Music, Organization, Scrapbooking

…The Time of Your Life

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“Yes. I would like some cheese with my whine. Now be a doll, pour me a glass and cut me a slice of sharp cheddar.” 

Last weekend, my youngest, darling daughter graduated high school. (Insert cheers and clapping here!)
After 13 years of schooling, she’s emancipated from the world of high school and all that entails. I’m proud of her, the young woman she’s become, and can’t wait to see what’s in store for her future.  (Oddly enough Greenday’s “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” is on right now.)

J graduated Friday night and then we had a graduation party Saturday night and an “impromptu” family reunion Sunday night.  Both parties at my little house. I went to work Monday morning thankful I didn’t have to have yet another party. I was “partied out.” I think I’m getting old.

With J’s graduation came “The Scrapbook.” OMG… It’s STILL. NOT. DONE.

It was SUPPOSED to be done by last Sunday. It’s not. Saturday (at party #1) I received more items people wanted in the scrapbook. I asked some of these folks for the items in the first part of May. (A month ago.)  I told them I needed them by like May 20th or so. I got them June 8th. I love my family.  But it’s not their fault it’s not done. That’s on me.

I don’t always procrastinate. I honestly thought “I had more time.” You see, I swore I wasn’t going to do this year what I did last year working on K’s book – a last minute decision with something I had ZERO experience doing. (J and I spent a total of 160 hours in two weeks to get it done.)  I promised myself I would start early. I did. I started in early May. So why it’s not done on time… I didn’t work as hard or as fast as I should have… I simply ran out of time / out of money? Heck. I’m not sure. It’s very close. I’m lacking (by my best calculations) 12 pages.

This weekend, I’m going to be finishing up “The Scrapbook,” a summation of J’s first 17 years of life and as she’s my youngest, my last… it’s hard to do. Maybe that’s the reality of why it’s not done. I’m just not ready for my baby to be “grown up.”

(Cue Music…)

Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road
Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go
So make the best of this test, and don’t ask why
It’s not a question, but a lesson learned in time

It’s something unpredictable, but in the end is right,
I hope you had the time of your life.

So take the photographs, and still frames in your mind
Hang it on a shelf in good health and good time
Tattoos of memories and dead skin on trial
For what it’s worth it was worth all the while

It’s something unpredictable, but in the end is right,
I hope you had the time of your life. 

It’s something unpredictable, but in the end is right,
I hope you had the time of your life. 

It’s something unpredictable, but in the end is right,
I hope you had the time of your life.

~Green Day~
Death, Emotion, History, Inspiration, Journal, Life, Non-Fiction, Writing

Deliverance

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Operation Overlord.

That was the code name for the allied invasion on France – one of the the largest amphibious military assaults in history. It began on June 6th and wasn’t an overnight victory. The battle lasted from June 1944 to August 1944, but in the end the Allies were liberated from Western Europe and Nazi Germany’s control.

It’s been almost 70 years ago since some 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on five different beaches on the heavily fortified coast of France’s Normandy region.  Just before the assault, the Allied forces conducted a huge deception campaign to mislead the Nazi forces about the intended invasion target. They called it Operation Bodyguard. Months of planning went into this. It worked.

President Dwight Eisenhower was only a U.S. Army General at the time of the Normandy Invasion, but Supreme Commander over the Allied Forces. Think about it. Wow. He rallied his troops and spoke with members of the 101st Airborne paratroopers before the planes and gliders left. (Great photo of this moment btw.)  Paratroopers dropped behind enemy lines during the night when their friends and fellow soldiers assaulted the beaches at dawn. Soldiers braved the pounding surf, crossed the beaches and moved over the seawalls to face the enemy.  Finally the beachhead was secured and they continued on. Men were wounded. Men lost their lives. All in the name of Freedom.

Freedom. Seven letters with a meaning more powerful than most other words known to man.

June 6th, 1944.

As the greatest generation becomes fewer in number and history books become filled with “more important” things, this and future generations don’t /won’t understand the breadth and depth of this date in history.

It’s a date that NEEDS to be remembered.

Without this combined military effort, the world would be a different place.

It was a day of deliverance.

Home, Life, Organization

No Pain, No Gain?

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I’m pretty sure that when whoever coined the phrase, “No pain, no gain,” they were referring to getting in shape. However, tonight I’m pretty sure that applies to cleaning house today for approximately 11 hours. 

My accomplishment – a deep clean on the kitchen and I’m not even done yet. 

I’d like to say this was just a moseying around the kitchen and doing some dishes, taking a break then playing around on Facebook. Not. So. Much. 

For whatever reason under the sun, no one had done dishes all week. I got pissed. And when I reach a certain level of pissed, I clean. I’ve been that way my entire adult life. 

So the dishes got done, the counters were all scrubbed down, the outside of the cabinets were all scrubbed down and then were taken care of with Old English Oil, the walls were scrubbed down… well… I think you get the picture. 

There is; however, one thing that vexed me beyond belief I was trying to take care of and didn’t manage – replacing the lightbulbs in the fridge. 

Son of a purple dragon. 

My darling hubby went out and bought me 3 new bulbs. Three. Because THREE of the four are out. 

I put one in. No workie. I checked the filaments. They’re all good. Perplexed, I tried the bulb in the socket in the freezer. No workie. I left that bulb there and went to pull the other burned out bulb (#3) from  the fridge side and found someone spilled something down the back of the fridge that has hardened like cement. 

For all that is holy… really? Can you not clean up the mess you spill? Is it that freakin’ difficult? 

I slammed the fridge door shut; I got out the parsley cleaner,  Windex (TM), Lysol (TM), etc… and started scrubbing the bathroom which too disgusted me. 

I’m sitting here writing now at 0101 because after the long, long day, I took a hot shower in the somewhat cleaner bathroom and I’m having to let my hair dry a bit before I get in bed. (Plus no other guild members are on Warcraft right now and that’s kind of a bummer.)

Why?

Unexpectedly, the fruits of my womb had my “other daughter from another mother” spend the night and I can’t run the hair dryer. That and if I wake darling hubby, I will probably regret it more than I do trying to move my back or legs at the moment. 

So yes. This is not my usual post. I’ll be back to my regularly scheduled programming a bit later. (After I get some sleep and finish cleaning the bathroom if I can actually move…tomorrow.) 
Death, Life, Social Media

Is There Hope in the Middle of Hell?

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“There are two big forces at work, external and internal. We have very little control over external forces such as tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, disasters, illness and pain. What really matters is the internal force. How do I respond to those disasters? Over that I have complete control.”

~ Leo F. Buscaglia ~

It looks like a scene from the middle of Afghanistan, Iraq or Iran – a bombed out warzone.  But instead of bombs, it was an EF4 tornado that ripped through the middle of America and desimated the lives of hundreds of people in Oklahoma. Entire housing blocks were razed, cars mangled beyond recognition and what remains are scraps of the lives of normal communities on what started out as a normal day.

Among the missing and the dead, children. These children went to school at Plaza Towers Elementary School; they laughed and ran and played on a playground that exists no more. Rescue workers worked through the night and are still working today to find those children who have not been located in the rubble.  I choose to believe there is hope for these children and their frantic parents.

People across the United States are pouring out their wallets, their closets and their homes to help those affected by this disaster. Facebook pages have been created to help people locate property that was dropped miles away from where they were originally housed. Photographs and documents that landed on the ground as so-called falling debris up to 100 miles away (at this point,) might look like detritus but are in fact irreplaceable artifacts or documents for somebody.   Facebook, Petfinder and other organizations are helping people find their furry babies and reunite them with their families.

Here are some of the community pages set up on Facebook at this time:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=o.477306085682757&type=1#!/MooreTornadoLostAndFound  -Moore Tornado Lost and Found

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=o.477306085682757&type=1 – Photos of Moore Oklahoma Tornado Pets Lost & Found

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=o.477306085682757&type=1#!/MooreTornadoRelief – Moore Tornado Relief

And here’s the link for Petfinder. http://www.petfinder.com/ 

There are many other pages on Facebook designated to help those in Moore, Oklahoma try to rebuild their lives. There are also many more organizations around the area and the country taking donations.

Everyone is talking about how so many have died or were injured.  It could have been worse. Much worse.  Moore has 36 sirens in their community. These sirens in Moore, Oklahoma saved many lives.  Residents had 16 minutes to find shelter. If you haven’t experienced the process, the sirens sound once the National Weather Service issues a tornado warning. They serve as a signal to turn on a television or radio to get more detailed information about the storm and instructions on how to seek shelter.  Most people that live in Tornado Alley know how it works. We are taught from a very young age what that sound is – what it means. 

I’ve lived in Tornado Alley, which encompasses 12 states, my entire life. As a child, the tornado drills in school prepared us for what “could” happen, but hasn’t occured here in Amarillo as long as I have been alive. I always assume when the sirens sound danger is moments away.  This is a danger I pray doesn’t happen any time soon.  And as the threat of more storms lay on the horizon, I pray none find their way to Moore, a town of 55,000 that has been decimated twice now by mother nature. I pray these survivors find peace and hope in the middle of hell.