the power of the OZ

I’ve wanted to write a song about driving through Kansas and so I’ve been brainstorming recently. I was talking about it with someone and they suggested a spin-off on Dorothy and Toto, “I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore,” and such. Well that got me thinking about tornados and the symbolism of tornados and what sort of situation “Dorothy” might be in where she would wish for a tornado to come. What sort of situation? Say- pulled over on the side of the road with a dog going through her car (K-9 / Toto, you see where I’m going with this)?
Then I was cleaning out the final few untouched bookshelves in Nell’s house, and I found a bunch of children’s book. Interestingly I found three different “Alice in Wonderland” versions, three copies of “Jack and the Beanstalk”, and the money find was one full length copy of the original “Wizard of Oz.”
Needless to say I’ve been reading the Wizard of Oz, and it’s so much more than I expected. Wow! This book is at least as good as Lewis Carol’s “Alice in Wonderland.” I’ve been following the yellow brick road everywhere I go for the past few days, but that’s not the point. That’s not what strikes me to write this.
The crazy thing is that anyone watching the weather yesterday saw that there was a super intense jet stream that came straight through Alabama. It wasn’t a cold front of bad weather or anything, it was a jet stream. If you look at the satellite photos it literally looked like a wide lane of bad weather running right through Alabama. Wouldn’t you know, there were Tornado warnings in effect all day. Crazy huh? Anyone watching cable news would have seen it. All this brainstorming… better be careful.
I went outside last night and there were still tornado strength winds going strong. The fruit of all this is that I developed a new joy for strong winds the past few days. Standing out there, feeling the power of these invisible forces blow from invisible sources, wind simply amazes me. It is invisible, but you can feel it and see its effect on the things it blows. The sound of wind whipping through the trees has a strange calming effect to me now, despite the raw power. I got to thinking, finally, great kite weather! Except this wind would tear my kite to pieces.
This morning I woke up and saw that this is how all the leaves come down off the trees. I also came up with a new verse for the song, which is a warning for anyone driving through Kansas with something they aren’t supposed to have. Only Dorothy can bring on a tornado, so don’t count on it.

I also happened to find this on the Kansas State website:

KANSAS
WINTER WEATHER AWARENESS DAY
Wednesday November 15, 2006

The National Weather Service in cooperation with Kansas Emergency Management and county emergency management officials, will observe Winter Weather Awareness Day on Wednesday, November 15. Winter Weather Awareness Day is a day set aside each fall to prepare for the cold, snow, and ice expected during the winter season in Kansas. It is a day to promote safety preparedness for the potentially hazardous weather that winter brings each year.

Winter can mean rapidly changing weather that often catches people unprepared. Precipitation can begin as rain and quickly change to snow or freezing rain. As you travel, make sure to obtain the latest weather forecast and road conditions before you head out. Traveling even short distances in winter can mean dramatically different weather conditions.