well maybe her inner voice has 20-20 hindsight, and likes to say I Told You SO.

Holy crap.

Lori Mehmen, who lives in the small farming town of Orchard in northeastern Iowa, looked out her front door and saw a funnel cloud bearing down — and evidently had the presence of mind to grab her digital camera and capture this shot before taking cover.

That's a hell of a photo (and I hope she got inside right away after!)

Wow, Tom. That's an incredible picture. Also? SCARY AS HELL.

documentation: 1, self-preservation:0

That pig is awesome!

That sure is Some Pig!

Yoinks! I can't imagine becoming so blase about tornados that you think "must catch that on camera!" when you see one instead of RUN AWAY, but then again I suppose people in other states have a similar feeling when we Californians are all "so did you feel that quake? I was in the shower and the shampoo fell on my toes, ha ha etc"

well maybe her inner voice has 20-20 hindsight, and likes to say I Told You SO.

Sox made me laugh. Isn't Oprah one of those people who describes herself as "evolving" when us less-evolved folks might just say we've changed our minds?

and evidently had the presence of mind to grab her digital camera and capture this shot before taking cover.

Speaking of inner voices. I'm not sure "presence of mind" is really the way to describe that thought process, cool pics or no.

I can't imagine becoming so blase about tornados that you think "must catch that on camera!"

According to my inlaws, "Grab the video camera!" is a common reaction to a tornado in Oklahoma. That's less so in Alabama, IME, even though the states are similarly stormy--I'm guessing because Alabama tends to have shorter sight lines, since it's hillier and more forested, so the tornado you can see is likely to be a lot closer.

Which doesn't explain THAT picture. I would've been screaming and running for my life. I mean, I lived 18+ years in Alabama without ever seeing a tornado, largely because during tornado warnings I was ducking and covering like a sensible person who wants a long life.

I'm still more scared of earthquakes than tornados, though, even after nearly a decade on the West Coast. I like my lethal disasters trackable on radar, thankyouverymuch.

Hivemind question:

My mother wants to go on a trip. Neither she nor my sister is very steady on her feet and Mother, who has congestive heart failure, gets winded very quickly. She likes history and scenery and her favorite place is Williamsburg. Neither of them like "weird food," which encompasses most of my favorite foods. She has suggested a New England and Canada cruise in the fall, in part to see leaves. Most of those start in New York or Boston and visit Boston, Maine and the Maritimes and are in ports all but one day. None of us have been on a cruise before.

My questions are:

How do you pick a cruise?

Is this the sort of thing a relatively feeble person can do?

If I'm in a small room with my mother and sister, will we all be alive after seven days or will the headlines read "Bloodbath on the High Seas?"

Is there internet access?

Do you have any alternative suggestions? (We have kicked around the idea of Charleston.)