snow...and weather in general

(1990, the main channel, lake of the ozarks, mo)

I am distracted by snow days, still.  Even though today we only had 3-4 inches of the powdery stuff - schools were closed and I want to go out and play. 

This goes hand in hand with my bigger distraction - weather in general.  As a kid living in the Ozarks, watching the weather (not the weather channel) was a big deal.  You only had to be 12 to drive a boat - and after a rigorous test, Dad set my brother and I free to roam about the lake in the boat, all day, just as long as we "watched the weather."

You began to notice details...flies are biting, it's going to rain. The leaves also curl up, showing their "white" sides just before a rain as well.  We could tell time by how many hand widths the sun was above the tree line. 

Once, when we were unruly teenagers, we didn't pay close enough attention to an incoming storm.  We were docked at Ozark BBQ, a waterfront restaurant, enjoying onion rings and pie...(hmm, I wonder why that sounded so good...ha) and looked out the window to see a big dark cloud rolling down the main channel, towards us.  To get home, we would have to head into the storm, so we opted for Plan B...going to our friends trailer on the lake, which was in the opposite direction.  

We flew in that boat, with the storm getting closer and closer.  (You can tell these things by the rain line on the water)  We made it to the trailer, tied up the boat and ran up for shelter...and promptly fell asleep...without calling home first to tell Dad that we were safe.  

Oops. Grounded.

Today , my obsession with weather continues...love the weather channel, got a weather band radio for my birthday...which I have used, mind you, in 2 different storms, (thunder and ice), in the last year, while on the road. It is good.