Hodgepodge-Welcome to May

Joyce gave us some questions this week. If you are here for the Z letter, it is the next post!

1. April showers bring May flowers or so the saying goes. Are you blooming where you're planted as we begin the month of May?

I keep thinking of my pastor saying you need to be planted in a church. I took a month off from ushering in March and had so many people contact me to find out if I was ok, it was heartwarming. I realized what I needed out of my attendance at church and have adjusted my schedule accordingly. And I continue to usher at my normal time and see all my regulars...who are very happy to see me too.

2. On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being no big deal, and 10 being full scale panic, rank your fear of spiders.

Maybe a 3? Big spiders are creepy but we normally just get little ones in the house. I'm horrible at killing them because I can never seem to squish them on the carpet with a shoe. I've gotten better in the last couple of years.

3. May is National Salad Month (who knew???)...besides lettuce, what are two must-have ingredients in your favorite salad?

Croutons and fat-free salad dressing.

4. I mentioned on my blog last week that my Daughter1 will be moving to Washington State after she is married. Of the following sites in the Northwest, which would you most like to see in person-Crater Lake (Oregon), Seattle (Washington), Vancouver (British Columbia), San Juan Islands (Washington), Mt. Rainer (Washington) Oregon Coast (Oregon), Mt. St. Helens (Washington), or Olympic National Park (Washington)

I've been to all of those except Mt. St. Helens which I don't really need to see. We've talked about retiring to the Pacific Northwest because of its beauty. I think I would rank them now as Olympic National Park, Oregon Coast and then San Juan Islands for my current visit list. I was in Seattle in the beginning of March.

5. This coming weekend marks the 140th running of the Kentucky Derby...when did you last race (literally or figuratively) to cross a finish line?

A literal finish line was in November when I walked in a 5K race. Figurative finish line is probably when I finished our income taxes.

6. What is something little you love?

Miniature Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

7. Would you say you are more of a visual, auditory, or kinesthetic learner? Elaborate.

Definitely visual. I need to see it written down in some form.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Here's my annual severe weather announcement. The people I work with are getting really good at knowing where tornado outbreaks are going to be. The Storm Prediction Center sets outlooks in the future. This past Friday they were talking about tornadoes on Sunday/Monday/Tuesday in the areas they occurred. In fact the Monday ones were almost all in the high risk area they identified. You MUST pay attention if you live in an area that gets a "Particularly Dangerous Storm" notification. They only use that for the big outbreaks. Unfortunately people still aren't taking shelter when they get these notices. Please, please, please, listen to the meteorologists. They are tasked with saving your lives. But only you can act on the information.

I highly recommend that you follow your local NWS office on twitter. Most offices are tweeting actively during severe weather. If you need help finding yours, let me know.