Trip takes on a new twist 'er something

I never would've picked high gardening season in the Northwest for a vacation away from home. Nonetheless I reconciled myself to missing the annual Tilth Edible Plant Sale. (And found a kind fellow gardener who is willing to stand in line and buy some tomato plants for me.) I will plant my beets and beans after my trip and hope for the best.

But today I learned that not only am I leaving my beloved patch of dirt just as it warms up (and dries out) enough to be receptive to seedlings. . . but I am also headed right to the eye of the storm! It's tornado season in the Midwest, one of my co-workers who grew up there advised me this morning. Yikes. We're not in Kansas any more, Toto.

Curious - and concerned - I checked out "tornado season" and learned that indeed it is no Hollywood invention designed simply to kick start Judy Garland's film career. It's real weather. And when is the peak of tornado season? May. And where are the tornados? More than anywhere in the world they are right in our American Midwest.

Anybody have an extra pair of ruby slippers I could borrow for a couple of weeks?