Frazz by Jef Mallett for July 12, 2021

“There’s nothing like a good tornado.”

“There’s nothing like a sharp stick in the eye, either.”

“Good” is in the ear of the behearer. Or the eye of the beholder. Or something.

A tornado is like a southern divorce: somebody is going to lose a trailer.

Thunderstorms can be really bad, too. They can start fires and scare the dickens out of dogs.

How about tournedos of beef?

You can (… well I can, at least) still appreciate (even admire) the incredible power and “beauty” in a thunderstorm (especially the lightning) and in a tornado while “respecting” its potential for destruction.

A good one is the one that doesn’t hurt anybody.

That lightning is pretty close!

I suspect this won’t be appreciated by the folks flooded out by the storms in Southeastern Michigan the last couple of weeks;

The best thing to do in a thunderstorm is to spend the peak of it in bed with someone you love and desire, who loves and desires you, with all the windows open. It’s the ions, baby!

You say tornado, I say…..

Thunder storms in CO, sitting on the big front porch of the house on Quincy St. Still have very vivid memories of that even after more than 50 years!

Hubby loved thunderstorms; until he got hit by lightning – twice. We now call him Sparky and he is NOT allowed outside when it rains.

When it was threatening rain, my Father would say, “I hope this keeps up.” Why? “‘Cause then it won’t come down.”

Tornados suck.

Good tornados are over there. Bad tornados are coming here.

As a kid I actually saw a tornado form and saw the funnel drop down. My folks got me away from the window before it could touch. It was pretty far away – but much of the southeast is pretty flat. The purple clouds were pretty menacing. Not sure I could imagine a “good” tornado.

I have always enjoyed a good thunderstorm and like to watch hail, as long as I am inside. I was at work once and a tornado touched down, but while some buildings were damaged, no one was injured. I still enjoy them. My dogs learn early to ignore them as they get much attention when they first are exposed. Ideally there will be thunder and no rain, so we can go for a nice walk and learn to ignore thunder. Most dogs who live with people who are afraid of storms become afraid also.

About 20+ years ago my girlfriend and I were on my apt. balcony watching a thunderstorm and, when the lighting flashed followed by the immediate clap of thunder, we could feel the charge of electricity around us and the brief sound of the charge (like static) as well. That was the end of that watch party.

I remember Frazz laughing when he saw a sprinkler go off while jogging with Miss Plainwell in the rain(also, did that couple in the aforementioned strip not look like a older Frazz and Miss Plainwell).

When we lived in Overland Park KS in the 1960s a tornado came quiet close to our area. Our young son called them Tormatoes. Had to get down in a crawl space under the house once. Hail was also dangerous when it was over quarter size. Put dents in out 1970 140 Volvo station wagon before my wife was able to get under a bridge overpass.

Tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, wildfires & floods are all of nature.

They become disasters only when they collide with human civilization.

I love a rainy night. I love a rainy night. I love to hear the thunder, Watch the lightnin’ when it lights up the skies. You know it makes me feel good. -by Eddie Rabbitt & David Malloy

Been hanging out with Pastis again, I see.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57Tam4SW1b8

“There is beauty in the bellow of a blast;

There is grandeur in the growling of a gale;

There is eloquent outpouring

When the lion is a-roaring,

And the tiger is a-lashing of his tail.”

- The Mikado

I see what you did, clever

A good tornado is one that carries you across Nonestica, over the Deadly Desert, and straight into the Emerald City.