Michelle, We have had misty, drizzly stuff several days this week but it all has added up to only about a half-inch. Today there is mist in the air blowing sideways but it isn't even reaching the ground. Thackerville must have had a good hard rain a few miles south of us on Thursday night, though, because the casino's EMS Fire Brigade (medics who double as firefighters) was paged out to rescue a woman from a ditch in front of the fire station (of all places!) and her vehicle was rapidly filling with water. So, we hardly had puddles at all and they had a ditch full.....but a lot of that was probably runoff from the casino's miles of concrete parking lots. Still, believe it or not, enough moisture has fallen in Jan.-Mar. here in Love County, that we have gone from a drought index in the upper 600s which is very, very bad to the lower 500s, which is bad but not terribly bad. In fact, the U. S. Drought Monitor just dropped us from a D-2 (severe) drought to a D-1 (moderate drought) last week. If we get 3 or 4 more inches of rain in the next month or so (probably wishful thinking on my part), we'll drop to D-0, which means only "Abnormally Dry". It is a slow and steady improvement. To REALLY end a drought and put water back in the ponds and creeks, though, we need a couple of good heavy downpours where 4 to 8" of rain falls in just a few hours. Until the ponds fill up, the ranchers and the cattle are still going to be hurting. All my life I've heard the saying "It takes a flood to end a drought", but it didn't really mean much to me until I moved here. Owie, It is OK that you didn't reply and I am glad y'all are OK. I figured if you knew a storm was approaching you'd be busy either seeking shelter, checking out radar or trying to secure the greenhouse and the children (though not in that order, of course). I'm surprised you could hear the siren, but it is good to know you might get a little advanced warning that way. It is terrible that the weather radios don't work there. Now that I know that, I'll pay special attention to the weather headed your way and post it if I see something severe rolling towards you. So often (and don't blame me for this) the storms we are having here head right for your part of the state after they leave us. I always try to post tornado warnings online if I see them in time because a lot of us, including me, are in such remote areas that there are no sirens close enough to hear. Usually, the weather radio alerts me, although I am usually downstairs and it is upstairs, but sometimes the local county dispatcher puts out the warning on the fire radio even before my weather radio goes off. The other night, when rotation was observed in the sky at Thackerville, they ran their sirens for about 30 minutes. Good heavens! I bet some people went down into their cellars just to get away (hopefully) from the sound of the sirens going on and on and on. I believe the school and one of the churches in Thackerville have underground basements they use as community tornado shelters too. In the tornado shelter, I was a technology fool. I had my laptop with the radar on and could receive it there (thanks to wireless technology) until I had to close the door because rain was coming inside, I had a weather radio, the fire radio so I could listen to the Emergency Operations Center, the firefighters and police and the storm spotters, and I was texting several people back and forth because some of them were out on the highway in the path of the storm and I was trying to help them get out of its way. My husband was watching the radar at DFW Airport and texting me or calling me to tell me what he was seeing. It must have been REALLY boring in the old days when you had to take yourself and your lantern or flashlight into the shelter and just sit there! My fingers were flying! Everyone did get out of the path of the storm, even our friend who was driving west on Hwy 82 from Sherman to Gainesville at the same time the tornado and hail were traveling east on Hwy 82 from Gainesville to Sherman! I even ran back inside in between bands of rain to check the TV radar and listen to the Channel 12 meteorologist, Steve LaNore, and storm chaser Doug Drace. Every time I did that, though, I saw enough to make me run back to the cellar (it's only about 20 feet from the back door). I was smart, though. On one trip back to the cellar, I grabbed a Dr. Pepper and on another trip back I grabbed some Chips Ahoy Cookies. Just because tornadic rotation was observed in the sky multiple places around us was no reason to go without a soda and cookies! LOL The wind is fierce here today but I can't complain. No ice, no snow, no damage and certainly no flooding like they're facing from the OTHER Red River near Fargo. Best of all, it warms up tomorrow, although I think we have a couple more cold fronts coming in the next week, though hopefully they won't be as cold as this one. Dawn

great article, just incase folks dont read it here is a clip from it "Will the heat from the fireplace harm the plasma TV? There are a few precautions to take before hanging a plasma screen TV over your fireplace. First, take a thermometer and tape it to the wall above the mantel, in the place where the plasma TV will reside. Then build a fire, and let it roar awhile. Now, check the thermometer. If the temperature is above 90 degrees F, then the area is receiving too much heat -- either escaping from the front of the fireplace and rising up the face, or radiating through the chimney to warm the outside wall -- for a plasma TV to hang there without receiving some modicum of residual damage. It would not be advisable to run the plasma for a long period of time while its environment is this hot. Though the Plasma TV has its own cooling system, the surrounding heat will force the Plasma display to work harder to cool itself, thus shortening the overall lifespan of the unit over time. A Plasma TV may still be run for short periods of time without harming the unit (even with the environment heat at 90 degrees F or above). If the plasma display is not turned on while a fire burn in the fireplace, then the unit will not be harmed at all even though the temperature surrounding the unit may be warm. Of course, this might not be an option for people living in places where winter lasts seemingly forever, and fires are an everyday fact of life. In such cases, you should be advised to monitor the amount of heat your plasma display is exposed to while it is running."

That's really sweet and a great idea... I know my SIL knits sweaters for kids (a basic pattern is provided and it can be knit out of scraps of yarn for a multi-color sweater, or you can do it all in one color, or whatever) and her church sends them off where they're needed, so there are all kinds of opportunities. A great project for a group or an individual. I guess we just need to open our eyes and look around! Thanks for reminding me that there are others with much more pressing needs than my "wants."

This program is of interest to anyone who is researching their own family. One can pick up pointers and techniques, many of which I found that my wife and I were already using. It is very much like being a dectective on a "cold case". The only problem I have is my envy of their having an almost unlimited travel budget and for hiring very highly trained technicans and their diagnostic equipment. The thrill of discovery is enjoyable and enlightening. If your ancestors were here when this country was being founded, you'll very liklely find a connection to Early US history. For example, my wife found that her ancestors were involved with the building of the Erie Canal; I found that I had a g-g-granfather who had served under Andrew Jackson and was later a Captain in the Black Hawk War. One of his sons was in the Mexican war, and before that, 4 brotheres were in the American Revolutionaey War with Britian.