Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

We are Jemima and Easter Yeggs.  Lieutenant Yeggs wants his son to write these reports to keep in touch when we are out having our adventures, and Rev C.S.L., my Dad, doesn’t mind an update either.

I am writing this report a little bit each day.  I will submit the report after I return, which is silly since I can just go by and talk.  Then again, my Dad always has people in his office and the lieutenant just got saddled with every detective in the police department and he is trying to learn his team as much as what is different in the way they do their job and the way homicide does things.  It’s kind of like texts.  You send one and it always gets there, but then do they ever read it?  But hey!  You don’t have to call ahead for an appointment.

So, a week ago, I said we were leaving right after we got back from church.  Well, Aunt Pink had a lunch arranged, and then we left.

As we were in the Turtle with Easy driving west on the Interstate highway, Home Wrecker (Dr. Ellie) asked B.B. (Mary Sheltie Jones) what the itinerary was.

B.B. said, “I thought we would take the same route as last year’s Spring Break.  We expect Colorado snow, but not a lot.  We might see some severe storms when we take the southern sweep.  If Michael is okay with it, we might stay at his farm on the way home.  I don’t think he has been there since he lost his parents and it might be traumatic, but Zuzka and Tommie Tat have worked with the lawyers there and work has begun on the farm becoming a recreation area for the mission and Lily the Pink employees.  Zuzka said the farmhouse is renovated and has bunk beds in a few rooms.”

Easy asked, “Are we staying at your aunt’s house in Steamboat Springs again?”

B.B. growled, “Very funny.  That con-artist was hard to catch, and I don’t think any of the charges stuck.  There should not be feet of snow, but I found a town that is not so expensive that might get a foot of snow, if we are lucky.  We can have the youngsters set up the equipment and cameras and monitor everything.  We’ll spend two days if I guessed right.  If it is going to barely miss us, we might move to another town for more accumulation.  I have all that worked out.  No mountain cabins or lodges, but not fleabag hotels either.  Then depending on where the front develops, we can adjust our return trip into potential severe weather territory.  Low chance of a tornado, but maybe thunderstorms with possible small hail.  The rain a week ago washed a lot of the snow away in the lower elevations.  Small to no chance of flooding.”

Home Wrecker nodded, “Thorough report as usual.  We have one newbie.”

Fireball said, “That’s me!”

Home Wrecker said, “I think we would have figured that out, Fireball.  That’s My Boy (Michael) has been on a hurricane watch and we chased a couple of tornadoes on that trip.  No Joe (Joseph) has experience.  We have the four core team members together, other than short day trips, not that often since last summer.  And this will be the longest that Stinker has been separated from Stormie.”

I groaned, “Don’t remind me!  I miss her already.  But she is staying with Lauren and Sammie.  Jochebed will nurse her.  And as Jochebed jokes about it, once Stormie has experienced chocolate milk, she may not want my supply anymore.”

Home Wrecker said, “I know that is one of Jochebed’s favorite jokes, but it is in poor taste.  Then again, maybe it does taste a little different.”

I snickered, “And if she wants, she has enough of my milk to last some of the time.  It stays fresh in the fridge for four days, six months in the freezer, but I did not give her enough to last the entire time.  I’ll have to use the breast pump on the trip, even if we have to throw the milk out.  I don’t want the supply to dry up.”

B.B. asked, “Will you have to do that on the road?”

I shrugged, “I don’t know, B.B. I am on one side of the wire cage, unless you have a camera pointed at me at the time, I can discretely do my thing without your sensitive, virgin eyes ever seeing it.”

B.B. huffed, “I’m not a virgin, I have just never seen someone breast feeding.  Everyone around Lily the Pink is discrete, but we are kind of cramped and I do have cameras up front but mostly for facial reactions and conversations.  Just remember the cameras are on when you need to do that.”

I sighed, “Roger, Wilco, over and out.  I will comply if that kind of thing comes up.”

Easy said, “You do realize you just said the same thing over and over.”

I asked, “How did I do that?”

Easy said, “Roger means ‘I heard you, out.’  Meaning nothing more needs to be said.  Wilco literally means ‘will comply.’  But the entire message is ‘I heard you.  I will comply with what you said.  Out.’  The ‘over’ is unnecessary, because the implied ‘out’ from either the Roger or the Wilco ends the conversation.  And saying ‘out’ after you say ‘over’ is kind of rude.  Over means ‘I am done, your turn,’ but then ‘out’ means ‘conversation over.’  Understand?”

I mused, “Hmmm.  Let me see.  Wilco.”  There was a moment of silence before everyone in the back of the Turtle started laughing.

I asked, “Where did you get all that stuff, Mr. Dictionary?”

Easy shrugged, never letting his eyes leave the highway, “I have a friend in some engineering classes who had been in the army who told me that, but he also said the air force pilots would say what you said all the time, and it upset their army counterparts.  It was wasted chatter on the radio.  The more you say, the easier it is for the enemy to listen and figure out what you are doing.”

I shrugged, “Roger.”

Home Wrecker spoke up, “And Stinker, Mr. Dictionary is a Sunday school code name.  Stick to Easy.”

I asked, “When are you going to change his code name?  He got the code name because he’s the only guy you ever tried to take to bed and failed, thus ‘far from easy.’  You are married with a baby on the way.  Haven’t you moved on?”

Home Wrecker huffed, “Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned.  If I had the chance, I would be all over him.”

B.B. and Fireball doubled over laughing.

Fireball asked, “If we are going to a hotel tonight, what are the sleeping arrangements?”

Home Wrecker asked, “What do you think, Fireball?”

Fireball said, “We have three couples and a pregnant lady.  I think each couple should get a room, and you can have a room by yourself.”

Home Wrecker moaned, “Fireball!  We have discussed this in our girl talks.  Bold, unvarnished statements about naughty behavior is something that you might think, but you do not say it out loud.”

Fireball sighed, “Okay.  But I wasn’t thinking about that stuff.  I was thinking that Michael and I could sleep in separate beds and talk.”

Michael moaned, “And not get any sleep.”

Home Wrecker said, “Michael and I will have one room.  And you will go to the room that pulls the short straw.”

I laughed, “No, Fireball, you are in our room.  We can have more girl talks.”

B.B. asked, “Girl talks.  Girl Talks?  Have you been having girl talks and I wasn’t invited?”

I replied, “Okay, B.B., Fireball can stay in your room.”

B.B. growled, “We discussed this.  I will be working late each night reviewing video feeds and piecing together episodes for our series on educating middle schoolers.  There is no way that I have time to take care of Arabella.”

I sighed, “And she wonders why she doesn’t get invited to the girl talks.”

Fireball added, “Taking care of Arabella!!!!  And I am not a burden.  I liven the room!  Aunt Jemima and I are going to have fun.”

I laughed, “You got it, kiddo!”

B.B. asked, with a concerned tone in her voice, “Joseph, I’m fun sometimes, aren’t I?”

No Joe replied, as seriously as he could muster, “Of course you are, dear.”

Arabella added, “Fun, maybe, but without a baby bump, you might not be doing it right.”

Home Wrecker tried to hold it in, but she lost it.

Joseph said, “Home Wrecker, in your condition, just let it out.  You don’t want any undue stress at this stage.  You are in your last trimester.”

Home Wrecker laughed, “And on cue, the baby is kicking.  Thank you, No Joe.”

B.B. muttered, “I want to know what that’s like.”

Home Wrecker said, “You will know what a baby kicking is like once you and No Joe figure out what you are doing wrong.”

B.B. blushed, “Did I say that out loud?!”

That night, there were the first few flakes fluttering as Arabella and Michael set up the equipment.  Michael had not been on a winter chase, and everything was new with Arabella.  They were laughing and having a good time, but they were also asking a lot of questions.  They spent the time until bedtime making measurements and recording the data in their notebooks.

The next morning, they emptied their collection vessels and waited for the snow to melt.  They calculated about six inches of snow per inch of water.  Home Wrecker talked about how Colorado snow is usually light and fluffy, but this was great snowball snow.  We weren’t at the highest elevation, and it was very late winter.  In fact, in meteorological terms, it was already Spring.  So, the air had extra moisture and the snow was heavier than it normally would be in this environment.  She said that California snow was a lot denser.

With the idea placed in their heads, Michael and Arabella had a snowball fight, joined by Pastor Joseph, and they made snow angels.  That night, it was supposed to get a lot colder.  I set up a soap solution.  When Arabella asked what I was doing, I simply said that she would have to wait to find out.  The next morning, we went out onto the balcony and made frozen soap bubbles, that is after Michael joined us.  They were God’s little snow globes.  The weather was perfect at first, but as the sun came up a little higher, two things became a problem.  It got to be too warm, even though it was still below freezing, and the wind picked up, breaking the bubbles.

While I had the kids making frozen soap bubbles, Home Wrecker and B.B. focused on the weather prediction models.  It was Tuesday morning, and we needed to set up where we might see some storms forming.  Then, Easy looked for the best route to get there and be at the right place.  B.B. then made the hotel reservations and we were off to western Oklahoma, staying in the panhandle.  We would then recalculate and either go to northeast Texas or eastern Oklahoma on Wednesday.

We did not see any storms develop until Thursday and we were in the right place to get a good time lapse of the storm as it formed.  Just a small thunderstorm, but the photography was perfect.  We reviewed the photographs that night to point out what they saw.

But Friday, we went into chase mode.  Easy got us into the perfect position to follow a storm.  Michael was on the radar screens, with Home Wrecker looking over his shoulder.  The calls of “That’s My Boy” were happy, proud Mommie moments.

We thought we would drive south of the developing storm, just to see what might happen.  Michael said, “Mom?  Is that a hook echo?”

Home Wrecker hummed a bit as she watched the screen refresh a couple of times.  “That’s my boy!  Easy, north on highways 99 and 11.  We just passed old highway 11 on the right.  No more turn off points except for driveways for several miles.  Michael, keep Easy informed as to what his escape options are.  If we see a funnel, he’ll follow it as close as possible as long as there are escape options.”

Then Easy spotted our prey.  “Funnel at Ten o’clock.  Stinker, call it in.”

I contacted the local 9-1-1 operator.  “T.R.U.S.T. Storm Chase Two.  Funnel cloud north of Winona.  We are on highways 99 and 11, headed north, north of the old highway 11 turnoff to the right.  Funnel cloud headed…”  Home Wrecker said “east northeast.”  I said, “Debris is mostly vegetation.  No immediate danger to structures.  We have a visual confirmation of a tornado.  Not very well organized at the moment.”

Easy said, “Out running it is too risky.  Turning around and we lose the chase.  I’m pulling onto the shoulder.  Turtle mode.”  Easy pulled over and softly said, “Now!”  I deployed anchors and shields.  Arabella yelped with excitement.

After the rumble from the tornado passed in front of us, we retracted the shields and anchors.

Home Wrecker said, “The computer says that there is a house up ahead on the right.  Stinker, do you have a visual?”

I said, “It looks like the tornado is no longer a tornado, unless Michael gets confirmation of airborne debris on his radar, I cannot see anything touching the ground.  It’s like the tornado saw the house and lifted over it.  Now the house is obscuring my view.”

Michael said, “With each pass of the Doppler, the debris signature is fading, I’m thinking it is small tree limbs that are swirling around.  I do not think we have an active tornado anymore, but it could reform.”

Easy reached over and turned on the external speakers.  “People from the house.  We are storm chasers.  Please go back in your home.  The powerline has come down.  There is an electrocution hazard in your front yard.  You will be safe in the house.  Stay inside until the power company has neutralized the hazard.  I repeat; you will be safe in the house.  Your power cannot be restored until the line is back on the pole and one pole is broken.  We will stay here until first responders can get here.”

The people waved and went back inside.

The 9-1-1 dispatch said, “I got that.  I have relayed your location to the sheriff’s office.  We have someone calling the power company.  But did you say something about a Turtle?”

Easy said, “We’re the Turtle team from T.R.U.S.T. in the big city of Tracy.  Why?”

The dispatcher said, “I talked to a guy named Easy last year.  In the flood, I volunteered to help the people in the next state.  You had rescued a little boy.  Nine-one-one seldom hears what happens next.  Do you know?”

Easy replied, “Well, I’m Easy, and rather than tell you what happened next, I’d like to introduce you to the adopted son of our professor in charge of storm chasing.  Michael, say something, we’re on speaker phone.”

Michael said, “Hi! I’m Michael Rowe Casey.  I was just Michael Rowe last Spring.  Thank you for your help in trying to save my birth parents.  You did all you could do, but now my Mom let me run the radar on this storm chase.  My girlfriend, Arabella, and I are learning what storm chasing is all about, and B.B. is going to turn this trip into a television special.”

The dispatcher said, “Yeah, I remember the weird names: Easy, B.B., and Stinker.  So, Michael, you are alright?  And you have a girlfriend already.  You move fast.”

Michael laughed, “She moves fast.  She is into animals, and she takes care of my goats.”

Arabella said, “Hey!  I’m right here for your information.  And I take care of the goats, but Michael makes goat cheese.”

The dispatcher laughed, “Those were your goats?!  The day after you were rescued, we got calls about goats getting into everything and causing trouble.  The waters hadn’t even come down yet.  And I was gone before people knew whose goats they were.  I’m getting another call, but thanks for the update.”

Who knows.  The other call might have been from the people in the house, telling the dispatcher that there was a weird looking turtle in the front yard that talked to them.

Credits

You can contact some organizations that will give you the gear to collect rainfall totals and snow totals. For the promise of collecting and turning in the data, you get the gear, along with instructions for free or a minimal fee.

I found these two videos on how to make frozen soap bubbles, but note, one of the videos is from Ontario, Canada and the last from Arkansas.  Others exist on various platforms. It’s got to be cold for this to work.

And here is Charles Peek from northern Arkansas.  As his jacket will advertise, he is the prime storm chaser for a television station dedicated to the weather. But above storm chasing, he is a photographer.  While his information is detailed, his success is less than the other video due to only a few degrees warmer and wind.  As he mentions, a little earlier in the day with the temperature just 6-8 degrees colder, and the time for the soap bubble to freeze is less, meaning less time for the wind to pop the bubble. But Charles Peek’s photos of frozen soap bubbles on his website are the reason I thought of adding this to a storm chase. Something that might get a couple of thirteen-year-olds interested in what they were doing.