We had a relatively mild thunderstorm come through our area the other night.  I was sitting on my patio talking to a friend who had stopped to visit.  The storm and the situation reminded me of a particularly violent thunderstorm that I had experienced when I was just a young child.

I had a favorite stuffed bunny that I carried around with me every place I went.  It was a short-haired stuffed animal with a rubber face and you would have thought it was real, the way I carried it around.  I would even wrap it in a blanket like a live baby.

So, my brother and I are sitting in reclining lawn chairs on the big, screened-in front porch of my grandmother’s house, me holding my little bunny, wrapped tightly in a blanket. All of a sudden, there came a strike of lightning right across the road from the house and one very loud, booming crack of thunder.  It scared us so badly that we both jumped up, screamed and ran into the house. I, of course, dropped my little bunny and I remember I looked for that thing for at least two weeks and could not find it. I had given up hope and figured it was lost forever. Then, a couple of weeks later, as I was playing on the porch, I looked under the chair (for the umpteenth time) and there it was, where I had failed to see it before.  It was like a miracle to me and made me very happy indeed.

So, they are having more tornado outbreaks in the Midwest and southern plains.  I am so glad I don’t live there.  I have friends and family that live there and they have not yet been affected by these terrible storms.

I have a close friend whose family has been affected by the recent tornadoes in Iowa.  The town his son lives in was 75% wiped out this weekend by a killer storm.  People who he knew that had lived in their homes for 30 years or more lost everything.

Nature is a strange thing.  It can be so beautiful, peaceful and wonderful, then it turns around and becomes mean, violent and relentless.  I wish only the best to those who lost their homes.  But remember, things can be replaced, lives cannot.  No lives were lost where this friend’s relatives live, just belongings.  I know that you can’t ever get back the family pictures and memorabilia and that part hurts the most I guess.

I remember back when I was a young girl (and even as a teenager), how I would spend hours hiking through the woods near my home.  I would literally walk for miles and think nothing of it.  Nowadays, it is difficult for me to even walk a half mile.

In thinking back, as an adult now, I seem to think of all of the things that could have happened to me while I was out there wandering all alone.  I never ran into a bear, or a snake (and I did a lot of rock climbing in those days) or any rabid animals.  I guess I was very lucky indeed.  I did, however, when I was 16, run into a black panther just up the road from where I lived.  I thought it was the neighbor’s dog, so I whistled and called her name.  The cat turned around and looked at me (thank goodness I was on my bicycle).  I never rode so fast in my life!  My Grandmother said that my face was as white as a sheet.

I also remember riding my bicycle “around the block”, which consisted of a 5-6 mile ride.  I loved it!  I really miss the country life sometimes.

My friend, Theresa, has a beautiful Golden Retriever named Lacey.  Lacey, like her predecessor, Rebel, is a very unique dog.  She is playful and has beautiful eyes that look right into your heart.

She and Rebel are unique in that they both liked to ride the lawn mower, the snowmobiles and the three wheeler whenever they got the chance.

You see, Theresa’s husband, Terry had Rebel when Theresa and he met.  They got married and Rebel and Theresa became close.  He loved to ride the mower and three wheeler.  Not on the back, mind you, but right up front, so he could “drive”. Well, Rebel got old and passed on into that big doghouse in the sky. He is laid to rest out back under a pine tree.

So, Terry and Theresa got Lacey a few months after Rebel passed.  She took to the house as if she had been there before.  She did all the same things that Rebel had done with the machinery.  It was if Rebel was talking to her from dog heaven.  It made Theresa so happy that Lacey was so much like Rebel had been.  Here is a picture of Lacey and Theresa.  I miss them both, for they live very far away from me now.

Theresa and Lacey mowing the lawn

I am rooting for the Patriots in this year’s Superbowl.  I have made a bet with my husband.  If the Patriots win, he has to shampoo the carpets throughout the entire house and clean for one full month.  I deserve a vacation from the daily, mundane task of cleaning.  He has to do the dishes, vacuum the floors, mop and even clean the bathrooms for an entire month.

If the Giants win, I have to wait on him hand and foot for a month (like I don’t do that already!!).  The Patriots are favored this year.

GO PATRIOTS!!!