Wednesday, May 6, 2009

More Tornado Warnings

Coker, Alabama

Weather: low 65 degrees, high 75 degrees, cloudy with heavy rain, tornado warnings

Anyone that knows Carolyn very well knows how nervous she gets when bad weather is in the area. Today was not a good day for her, at least for the morning. The bad weather started earlier than usual, with tornado watches and severe thunderstorm warnings being the norm, rather than the unusual. About 0845 hours, a tornado warning was announced and the warning sirens sounded. The picture does not convey the scene that we saw. It was darker with no sun shining, and the heavy rain was just starting. We went down to the WalMart Mall until the worse bad weather passed through. I don't know that the store would have been much protection if a tornado had hit it, but it had to be safer than the RV. More bad weather was forecast for the afternoon, but it was not as bad as we thought it might be. We're ready for some dry weather.

After I brought Carolyn home, I had to go to Tuscaloosa to help Terri with a task that took most of the middle of the day. If everything goes well, that will be the last time we will see that particular task. Late in the afternoon, I took Carolyn to Chili's for supper. When you're dodging tornadoes and taking care of things for your daughter, it doesn't leave much time for anything else.

Alabama is considered to be in the Bible Belt, and this area typifies those beliefs. This statement is not meant to be critical of anyone's beliefs. This state is one of the few left that does not have a state lottery (unless one was enacted without me hearing about it). Again, this is not meant to be critical. When we drove up to Jasper last week, we were amazed at the number of bingo halls that are available for people to use. We saw approximately 25 bingo halls, at least 90% of them were open, and the ones open were all busy. This was before noontime. It appeared most of the bingo halls were associated with churches or charities. The question that came to me was what makes bingo okay, but other types of gambling, such as a lottery, not okay? Keep in mind that I do not gamble at all, but the idea that certain groups controlling an activity makes it right seems a little bit off to me.

More later, be safe.

Today's Town - Brenham, Texas: Baseball Capitol Of Texas

Not all who wander are lost.

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