Storm Chaser or Storm Racer?

Sometimes it would be nice to be graduating highschool again. Let me stress the sometimes part though. I was never big on the socializing side of school -- or the competitiveness, but I did like the learning part. I wish my guidance counselor would have been more helpful in showing me the diversity of careers out there. If I had known, I certainly would not have chosen to attend a Christian liberal arts college to study teaching. In the end I quit. I concluded teaching wasn't for me. Go figure! Now all I do is teach and train and I enjoy it (most of the time) yet too!

I remember watching a documentary many years ago on storm chasers, and one not that long ago on high risk photography. I do really enjoy doing family portraits as well as nature shots, but the whole idea of chasing twisters ( I loved that movie Twister with Helen Hunt), getting lightning shots, or photographing the polar bears in Churchill, MB really appeals to my wild side. I must have somewhat of a wild side. After all, I survived two years of tree planting in Northern Ontario -- deet allergy and all. Now those are some seriously bad pictures that will never make it on my blog. I was so swollen from the black fly bites and the deet that I almost didn't have eyes.

Unfortunately (or maybe I should say fortunately), I never knew such a thing as storm chasing existed. Instead, I am enjoying being a storm racer. Will I get the laundry off the lines before the next thunderstorm hits? Today I won the race, but last week was not so good. Either way, all the loads ended up in the dryer, as this weeks loads hadn't had time to dry yet. So much for conserving energy. I just used up a pile of my own energy too, racing against the billowing clouds -- of course it had to be with a camera in hand. No wonder it was a race!


I didn't think to take a picture until the laundry was half off, but I think it's still pretty clear why it becomes a race. I'm just glad all the socks and undies weren't on there yet!



In the end we didn't get any rain, but my friend just up the road west of us called in a frenzy because she had just spotted the lower end of a funnel cloud. She is another camera wielding mom, but like any good mother, she sent her kids to the basement first and then called me to mourn the fact that she didn't get a picture because she had to get the kids to safety. I promptly sent mine to the basement too and then trotted out to the middle of the lawn to see what I could see. Nothin'!! Oh well, maybe next time!