Super Heroes in Western Nebraska

It is 7:25 pm. The sky outside is getting darker and darker. The Weather Channel desktop icon begins flashing yellow, then red. The wind that had been whipping the trees suddenly ceases to blow and the air becomes eerily calm. The birds stop chirping. The weather alert radio begins screeching. The woman grabs her laptop, cell phone, superhero cape, and uneaten dinner off the grill as she runs downstairs to the blaring of the tornado siren and the beating of the first hail stones. While desperately trying to remain calm (superheroes never panic and definitely don’t throw up), the woman begins to receive phone calls about storm damage. Her fingers fly across the keyboard

Tornado Season

Many of the postings I have done have a light, fun, and informative flavor, which is the whole purpose of this blog. However, summer storms can be quite serious and thus, this posting is meant to provide you with helpful and possibly life saving information.


Ready America is a national public service advertising (PSA) campaign designed to educate and empower Americans to prepare for and respond to emergencies including natural and man-made disasters. Their website, www.ready.gov/america/getakit/familyneeds.html , provides terrific information about emergency preparedness. I urge you to visit their site to create an emergency kit for your household. Ready America provides a detailed list of suggested items for your kit, some of which include:

Munchkins and Memories

I was reading the newspaper today and came across this headline: “Raabe, ‘Wizard of Oz’ Munchkin actor, dies at 94”. Do you know which Munchkin he was? He played the forensic pathologist. No, I am not confusing the “Wizard of Oz” with CSI or Dexter…. There really was a forensic pathologist in the movie. Mr. Meinhardt Raabe was the Munchkin official with the solemn yet profoundly jubilant duty of making the determination that the Wicked Witch of the East had passed on to wherever Wicked Witches go when they are squashed by flying houses. (It can’t be a good place!) It should be noted that Mr. Raabe was no run-of-the-mill pathologist, however. Holding the the official death certificate, his pronouncement was extremely detailed as he stated with authority,

“As coroner I

must aver,

I thoroughly examined her,
And she’s not only merely dead,
She’s really most sincerely dead!”

Do you remember the “magic” of this movie? I do.