I spent most of yesterday cleaning the house and in the process royally strained my lower back. Thanks be for the person who invented microwavable heating pads, they are a lifesaver. With all the cleaning done and our house more presentable than before I tried to relax my back and see if I could get it into better shape. The only nice thing that happened is I am still at 190 pounds. It beats the hell out of what I was a year ago. FATASSED!!!!

It was not to be. For those of you who know I am a weather nut and when severe weather is anywhere around I can usually be found close by or glued to the computer watching the warnings and the NOAA Doppler Radars. Last night was no different as I knew a few days before that we were headed for an outbreak.

Shortly before 6 pm a large tornado that formed near Chetopa Kansas traveled east towards my hometown of Joplin but before it got there it made a right turn and headed southeast, slamming into Picher Oklahoma and traveling east into Missouri south of Joplin and north of Neosho. I was on the pone with my mother in Joplin when she heard the sirens go off. With all the advanced warnings a total of 16 people still got killed in this large and devastating tornado.

Picher was in the process of becoming a ghost town anyway because of the EPA Superfund status that it has from all the previous mining. This just makes it more bad for the poor souls living there.

I marked off work for tomorrow so I can get someone to look at our roof, the damage caused by the last several storms have left pieces of it in the yard, and to get this tree removed. It will also give me a good chance to rest my back today.

My thoughts are with the victims.