I know it sounds off, but I think I may be a tornado magnet.

 Long time readers of this column know that at the end of May, I found myself just miles away from the tornado which hit and partially destroyed the community of Parkersburg, Iowa; I was so close that the winds from the outflow boundary of the storm nearly rolled the minivan I was driving at the time.

 Well, this past Friday, it happened again.

 I had the day off so Mandy, the boys and I went to Omaha for a quick trip to the Zoo, some quick shopping (though not as fast as I would like) and some lunch at the Old Market Spaghetti Works (always good).

 Well, it wass during the shopping portion of the expedition when we ran into some tornado trouble.

 Mandy and Austin were grabbing something quick from a store. Cameron and I were in the Food Court of the Oak View Mall when I called Derick Fabert to see how the weather was going to be for the drive home. He told me Omaha was under a storm warning for a storm which was producing winds up to 90 miles an hour. Just as he said that, Mall Security came over the loud speaker telling everyone to go to the storm shelter on the lowest floor of the mall. At this point I'm thinking "You gotta be kidding me". Before we headed for the Mall Storm Shelter, I looked out the doors of the Food Court. The sky was BLACK and the winds were howling. The early edge of the storm was striking! We got down into the shelter. I was waiting to see what was going to happen. Mandy was nearly having a panic attack. Cameron was just looking around and Austin was having the time of his life! Once the storm passed, we went outside. Gutters were overflowing from all the rain. Off to the East, the black clouds continued to move. We turned on KFAB Radio and listened to all the storm reports, Trees and power lines were down everywhere.

 Here's the thing; the National Weather Service in Omaha is just referring to this storm as a wind event; not a tornado. Do me a favor: go to KETV.COM (ABC station in Omaha) and near the bottom of their home page is a link which says "June 27th Storm Slide Show". Look at the pics of the storm and tell me it wasn't a tornado.

 As one of my friends said in an email; "The Allens sure know how to enjoy a day off."

 Quote Of The Day: "Do not wait for extraordinary circumstances to do good; try to use ordinary situations." Jean Paul Richter

 This Day In History: Theodore Roosevelt and his Rough Riders fought the battle of San Juan Hill in the Spanish-American War on this date, July 1st, 1898.

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