Out of My Head

  THREE YEARS AGO       Early this morning about 4 o'clock our old, black Lab, Tracker, woke us up in a frenzy which about 30 minutes later we realized was due to an impending thunderstorm.  Within 30 minutes I was sleepily putting his sedatives in a strawberry pop tart (his favorite snack).  The thunder and lightning came with a fury and he paced and panted until Sue got out of bed and got on the couch before he would lay down and let the sedatives take effect.      We had an extra long winter down south and hardly any of our usual turbulent spring weather to date, although we are expecting it for the next 3 days.  Even though it's a way of life for us here in the south, today I am particularly mindful of this month and day 3 years ago.  April 15, 2011 was the day a tornado touched down in our town of Clinton, but spared the daycare where Sue worked as she watched the approaching tornado literally lift off the ground and pass over the church with no damage except for busted