A time to snap a picture

You look out the window of your northeast Iowa home and see what -- unmistakably -- is a tornado heading for your kitchen. Do you (a) Head for cover or (b) Run to get the digital camera?

This is a picture making the rounds today. It is, of course, spectacular. You can read all about Lori Mehmen's newfound fame in the Mitchell County Press.

Wow!!

With the grandeur and fury of this coming at me, a person knows they should do (a) but how could they help but do (b)?

10 years ago things would be different, then my kids were minors and their protection was foremost, I would have herded them to the basement, but now with empty nest, I would head for the SLR.

Age has its prerogatives.

My brother's farm is a mile and three-quarters south of Orchard. He says there was remarkably little damage done by this twister, altho the caveat would be that most homes in Orchard need a coat of paint, so cosmetic damage wouldn't really stand out.

Thanks to this picture, I think everyone in town knows just how lucky they were. How often are we blessed to live in ignorance because no one sees these events or realizes how close they came to disaster?

As long as the media publishes photos like these -- there will be people snapping photos like these.

It’s better to be in the basement wishing you were outside taking pictures rather than outside taking pictures wishing you were in the basement.

That photo leaves me speechless. I would have run for cover.