Good Morning moderators, members and guests,

Hope everyone is keeping well and moving along nicely with your family history research.

Heartfelt thanks to my moderators Maxine, Gillian and Don for keeping Smith Chat running during this last few weeks, during my absence.
And of course to our other regular and faithful members who also never fail to post new & interesting stuff here at our Forums.

Well - after a bout of illness along with other committments that have taken up all of my time during these weeks, I'm glad to report that I'm now feeling much better, gradually catching up reading your new topics, messages and emails and hope soon to be back to full Admin duties again, both here at Smith Chat and the updating of the Smith List site.

A lovely sunny morning here in East Lancashire. Has Summer 2008 finally arrived?

But on reflection and a sad note... We do a lot of complaining about our weather conditions here in the UK. And during this present time of sorrow in the world because of natural disasters, it makes us realise just how fortunate we really are. The news coverage has been heart-rending and makes you feel so helpless. Love and prayers go out for those grieving families and individuals whose communities have been devastated because of the natural disasters in China, Burma and Southern US.

Don you will have to keep us informed to see if he finds anything out.

Hi Don & Maxine,

Yes - good luck with that Don and keep us informed.

Is what you call the mid-west - part of Southern US? or did I get that wrong about the location of the tornados? On our TV news they had described the area as some of the Southern USA states. Is that correct Don? must make sure I get my geography correct :ck-hrrmm:

Aaaah!! it makes more sense to me now That's a very good map depicting it. Thanks for that Don.

Have you ever experienced a Tornado - heck it must be terrifying. I remember seeing a film once where the people were rushing to underground shelters and clutching onto things so that they wouldn't be hurled away with the swirling winds. Even so, many couldn't hold on and were indeed hurled away. When I hear of tornados occurring, I always remember how it was depicted in that film. Devastation!

Carole

PS - off to bed now - 'night - might see you tomorrow some time

I’ve never been in an tornado but have experienced storms with high winds. Once I had a car damaged by hailstones that often occur with tornados. I’ve been in a few hurricanes. Hurricanes have the potential for a far wider area of damage whereas tornados occur with little warning and are normally confined to a small area. While living on Guam we road out a typhoon (hurricanes are in the western hemisphere, typhoons are in the Pacific Ocean west of the International Date Line, and cyclones are in the Indian Ocean).

I’ve heard of England and the Continent having severe winter storms. Are these of hurricane status?

On a lighter note, we can’t forget the tornado in the “Wizard of Oz”. Otherwise, how would Dorothy get to Oz?

All I can say is , well done don and welcome back Cas.
Good to see that all is well and your back on the rudder steering this happy ship on the sea of the past.
Love to all.
Daz
xxx

Hi Daz, Don & everyone,
flippin 'eck its taken me a while to get back to this thread, hasn't it!! Where has the time gone recently??!!

Maxine, sorry to hear that your ME has been giving you some jip just recently. Hope you're feeling better. I know you're on holiday this week - so hoping you're having a nice break. Look forward to hearing about it when you get back.

Daz - I'm not so sure about me "steering this happy ship" - you have all been doing this very well without much input from me during this last few weeks. So Thank you, all you wonderful moderators and top-status members!!

Don, really glad to hear that you got some new information at the recent OLLI Genealogy Club meeting about your Smiths. And as for the tornado in the Wizard of Oz!! No it wasn't Dorothy and Toto I was thinking about!! hehehe - the film with the tornado I remember was more of a "real-life" sort of story. Can't remember the name of the film - but I'm sure location was somewhere in south USA.

Getting ready to see Ben after school now - so off I go again!! Hope to chat with you all again over the weekend.

Luv
Carole
xxxx

Hi Cas , Don.
Was the film Cas about a team of storm chasers who had developed a means of measuring the speed of a tornado.
They release a load of sensors into the whirl. This also had the sub plot of husband and ex-wife getting back together again.
Love to all
Daz
xxx

PS. Maxine, Don and Gillian took turns on the tiller, the rest of us just kept the sheets tight.

Hi Daz

Oh now that film you describe definitely rings a bell. It might have been that one, but not really sure. The bit I remember is - there were 2 women and a child. They ran out to a shelter in the garden or yard with a lift up door. One woman and child went into it. The second woman who was the child's mother, almost didn't make it - the door was swung open and she was holding onto it as the tornado tried to swirl her away. Can't remember what happened after that - but now I think more about it - yep I think it was the film you describe.

Luv Cas
xxx