The Peanut crew was snow-bound yesterday as schools and many activities shut down again in an unusually harsh winter. Wicked winter weather continues to set records around the globe.
From coast to coast, north and south, the United States mainland has been savaged by winter storms, including one that caused a 40-car pileup in Texas. Deaths have been recorded in many states, including Texas and Oklahoma, states which are both struggling to recover from record-setting winter weather in December.
If this year's U.S. severe winter storms sound familiar, they are. A look back at '07:
In Oklahoma, the freak storms made history as the National Weather Service issued almost two dozen tornado warnings. The state has not recorded a tornado in January since 1975. Although none touched down, the warnings and the severe thunderstorms were so dangerous that local TV stations provided non-stop weather coverage during prime time, pre-empting normal shows.
Northeast Oklahoma stayed under tornado watch until 5 a.m. today. Although radar picked up supercell formation and rotation in the sky, the storms didn't unleash their deadly funnels until just after they crossed state lines into Arkansas and Missouri.
The photo is courtesy of stormchaser Chris Wilburn and KTUL. This incredible night photo of a tornado was captured in Missouri.
It was a tense time for those in the storm strike zone. Here at I Found a Peanut headquarters, we spent the night camped in front of a TV, flashlight and emergency gear at hand and ready to head into the storm shelter.
We knew something was coming even before the tornado watch and warnings were issued. The weather whipped from below freezing temperatures to a sudden tropical feeling. The high here reached 71 degrees. However, missing from the mix was the usual "oppressive" feeling that comes in pre-tornadic buildups.
Rapidly-building weather systems like this are incredibly dangerous because they appear so suddenly. Other dangers: flooding and lightning. As thousands of lightning strikes hammered to earth, the storms also brought flooding. Emergency workers had to rescue people from flash-flooded areas.
It's not yet dawn, so we haven't had a chance to check for any possible damage from the high winds. Amazingly, the power stayed on. Parts of Oklahoma are still recovering from more than a week without power and heavy damage from the recent multi-million-dollar ice storm.
Tulsa has brought in outside contractors to help with downed limb clean-up from the ice storm. Officials fear that fallen trees and limbs, especially in country areas, will serve as dangerous fodder when the fire season begins.
Despite all that, Oklahoma was lucky last night. Our neighbors on our northeast borders weren't so lucky, nor were those in some sections of Wisconsin and Illinois. Although we're reeling from the one-two punch of historic ice storm and now spring-like supercell thunderstorms, we know that last night we managed to dodge a deadly bullet--this time.
Applause is due KOTV, KJRH, and KTUL, who all fielded stormchasters and spotters, and who worked throughout the entire night monitoring and reporting on the storms.
Why is this blog called "I Found a Peanut"? Look for life's richness & mystery as you travel--see "The Peanut Man", below. Taste life!
The Peanut Man
The morning is cool, a mist rising off the land. Just past dawn, still sleepy. But you're moving on down the road anyway.
There, under the trees, steam rising from the boiling pot, blending into the wisps of fog. The peanut man.
With the sun still barely tipping over the rounded earth, and the early morning cries of birds, the crossroads up ahead, you think: what did Robert Johnson first see when he met up with the devil? The fire glows hot as the peanut man smiles, chanting "hot boiled peanuts, fresh, sack 'em up. Hot boiled peanuts."
He hands you the sack, wet, hot, tempting with the fullness of hot boiled peanuts. You both smile, changing your money, fragile slip of paper, for what he has to offer: heat, a crunch, a taste like no other, the peanut, extraordinary food.
You hop back in your car. If you're smart, you find plenty of towels, paper or otherwise. Peanut bag goes in your lap, warming you.
Scoop out a hot boiled peanut. Here's where the juice begins, for real. If you know hot boiled peanuts, you don't crack open the peanut and transfer the meat to your mouth.
No, put the peanut in your mouth. Bite down. The warm, salty water, rich with the taste of peanut rushes across your tongue.
Lap your tongue around the peanut and shell. Suck. This is what life tastes like, meaty, salty, and warm, rich.
Remove peanut and shell, extract peanut. Toss shell somewhere. Return peanut, bare, naked, to your mouth. Taste it fully as you chew, the earthy taste of the simple peanut. Packed with protein, served with panache in that cradling shell, the peanut is about as good as it gets in the simple goodness of life.
If you've found a peanut, a whole bag of hot boiled peanuts, you've found food, warmth, sustenance, an entire culture, and something to muse about as you journey on.
Not to mention peanut shells to throw at your brother or buddy. Doesn't matter. The essence is the peanut, rich, rolling in the currents of history, from the Delta to the dawn of a new techno-millenium.
Brother Peanut is going along for the ride. And the peanut man, he'll always be out there, somewhere. No matter how long or hard the trip, suddenly, you round a curve, and there he is, smiling over his pot.
Think I'm doing a good job? I'd love some fresh tea, thanks!
