[2Jedismom]

WIND ADVISORY IN EFFECT
UNTIL 6 PM CST THIS AFTERNOON
Urgent - Weather Message National Weather Service Tulsa OK 941 AM CST Mon Feb 19 2007


... Wind Advisory In Effect Until 6 PM CST This Afternoon...

The National Weather Service In Tulsa Has Issued A Wind Advisory... Which Is In Effect Until 6 PM CST This Afternoon For The Following Counties...

In Arkansas... Benton... Carroll... Washington... Madison... Crawford... Franklin... Sebastian.

In Oklahoma... Pushmataha... Choctaw... Osage... Washington... Nowata... Craig... Ottawa... Pawnee... Tulsa... Rogers... Mayes... Delaware... Creek... Okfuskee... Okmulgee... Wagoner... Cherokee... Adair... Muskogee... Mcintosh... Sequoyah... Pittsburg... Haskell... Latimer... Le Flore.

Strong Southerly Winds Are Expected Across Much Of Eastern Oklahoma And Northwest Arkansas Through This Afternoon. Wind Gusts To Around 40 Mph Will Be Possible. The Winds Are Expected To Diminish By Early Evening As The Pressure Gradient Weakens Across The Region.

Burning Of Trash And Debris Is Not Advised Today. Fires Will Tend To Rapidly Spread Today.

A Wind Advisory Means That Wind Gusts Of 40 Mph Are Expected. Winds This Strong Can Make Driving Difficult... Especially For High Profile Vehicles. Use Extra Caution.

[2Jedismom]

We got "Grapes of Wrath" from Blockbuster and watched it last night.

I tell you, when Tommy Joad is talking about his ma attacking that peddler, I just roared and knew right then I was truly an Oklahoman! You remember? She had an axe in one hand and live chicken in the other. She meant to attack him with the axe, but got confused and beat him up with the live chicken! Tom said "When she got done, all she had was a couple of chicken legs."

I laughed so hard.

[2Jedismom]

Here's a story, so get a cup of coffee or something...

My grandmother was an Oklahoman. Her family was from a small town called Jennings in the early 1900s. It's tiny, even now. Anyway, her mom and dad got the flu and died within days of each other. Left all the kids orphaned. The neighbors and various other folks came and took the kids in, separating them. It was years...many many years till they saw each other again. My grandmother was old when she finally found the baby again.

Anyway, they buried her parents in an old country cemetery outside of Jennings. I think my grandmother was 12. (They also buried the doctor, who died of the flu too.) My grandmother used to describe standing there in the cemetery while they buried her parents, looking out over the Oklahoma hills. Three years later, my grandmother married my grandfather who came from Muskogee.

A few months before Steve and I moved to Oklahoma (and nearly a quarter of a century after my grandmother's death), I drove up here with my mom. I drove my mom to Jennings and we looked for the cemetery. We found it, a couple of miles out of town...a lonesome but well-kept country cemetery. There's no record of my great-grandparents...the courthouse burned with the records and there's no headstones. My mom and I stood in that tiny cemetery and could see for miles...hills and hills of Oklahoma. So beautiful.

A few months later, we were here. Moved here.

I was telling my mom just now that we'd watched the Grapes of Wrath last night and she said that my grandmother always said that her mother looked just like "Ma".