This city can count its blessings as the rain falls for several reasons. Last year it burned with fires both here, in Boise and other places across Idaho. The rain is much needed and a welcome sight, to me.

It’s really refreshing to smell the spring rains knowing it will nourish all the sprouting plants and grasses just below the soil surface.

 When I woke up at 6:30 this morning, I heard the pounding of the rain on my van roof (yes, I am still living in my van as the true epitome of the starving writer) with that all familiar sound like squirrels dancing above me pinging their little feet on the metal. I thought to myself, I wonder if Twin Falls will get as much rain as other parts of the country? Then I thought, there is a huge canyon three miles down the road that will swallow up about 150 feet of water, so it should be safe from flooding here. If there is a Noah incident, that is another story!

The second reason that this city is so blessed is just as I mentioned above, it is only getting a moderate amount of much needed rain. Other parts of the nation like Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennesee and Kentucky- to name a few- have rain downpours causing rivers to spill over and flood large areas. People are being displaced, hurt or dying in these weather catastrophes.

See more about these storms at one of my other blogs. http://themidnightwriter1.blogspot.com

I remember when the weather started increasing in intensity about ten years ago. It may have started sooner. This is just when I remember a marked difference.

Sometime in the 1990’s, my home state of Pennsylvania started having tornadoes on a regular basis. Then came the thunder winds that flatten everything as they fall from the sky at intense speeds and force, literally flattening everything in their path. I remember one particular storm where rides at Ligioneer Park just outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania were flattened and people were killed. The winds were at speeds in excess of one hundred miles per hour. That is greater than hurricane force! I’ll have to re-check the news for accuracy on this story when I get one of my famous “round tuits”. Otherwise, readers can check the search engines for this story.

Another massive storm series that I can recall happened in 1993, with the floods of ‘93, just following the blizzards of 1993. Pennsylvania came to a halt that winter, with the National Guard being called in on snowmobiles to take food to people stranded in their homes. Large military dumptrucks hauled snow to other states because there was no room to dump it on the roadsides.

I remember being bound inside my home with my five children for over a month, as 19 storms covered Tyrone, Pennsylvania with about 15 feet of snow! My son built an igloo in the back yard outside our sliding glass doors, as we dug our way out. The front of our house was covered in snow to just below the roof.

I can empathize with the people facing these weather catastrophes and I thank God I am not in the middle of one. I will keep the people in these states in my prayers as I pray for relief from the floods and tornadoes.

The Midnight Writer

blogging@mountainspiritproductions.org

Call me at 801-413-7482