Coffee and a Cloudy Day

The last day of April is forecast to go out with a fanfare–a roll of thunder and heavenly lighting–lightning, that is. Right now, the sky is simply cloudy. But, the coffee is especially good this morning. Is there something about rain being in the forecast that enhances the taste of coffee?  Robins are busy outside […]

The Calm After the Storm

The Calm After the Storm

Yesterday was the calm after an exceedingly stormy night. In checking with my friends in Oklahoma, I found that a tornado had roared through mighty close to my childhood home and not far from my mother’s home at Etta. It had torn up a boat marina on Tenkiller Lake and destroyed the homes of several […]

Part II of the Peggs Tornado

This is the second and final installment of my May 5, 1985 Daily Press article about the tornado which destroyed Peggs, Oklahoma on May 2, 1920. In 1920, Walter Neel lived with his parents, brothers and sisters on the Gid Morgan farm, two and a fourth miles southeast of Peggs. The storm went a mile […]

The Tornado That Destroyed a Town

Since it is the 98  year anniversary of the Peggs tornado, and although I re-published it last year at this time, I do so again today. For a time, I wrote feature stories for The Tahlequah Daily Press. On May 5, 1985, The Press published an article I wrote about the tornado that destroyed Peggs, […]

An Angry Sky Over Our Heads

An Angry Sky Over Our Heads

My brother, niece, and I spent the weekend at our parents’ and grandparents’ home in Oklahoma. My brother, whose home was now Minnesota, longed to hear a good old Oklahoma thunderstorm and be lulled to sleep by the patter of raindrops on the roof. Since rain was in the forecast, I told him this was entirely […]

Winds of Change: Conclusion

Winds of Change: Conclusion

This is the second and final installment of my May 5, 1985 Daily Press article about the tornado which destroyed Peggs, Oklahoma on May 2, 1920. In 1920, Walter Neel lived with his parents, brothers and sisters on the Gid Morgan farm, two and a fourth miles southeast of Peggs. The storm went a mile […]