Indiana Gets Taste of Florida this Week and Florida is Swamped with Rain & Flying Turkeys

You have heard of it raining dogs and cats, but even BJ Prangley is amazed by it raining turkeys in the Jacksonville and St. Augustine areas today. The Prangley family pet did not move much from this mat throughout the day as the relentless rain pounded the area with one to three inches of rain!

What a day! First off....I just have no idea how stay at home Moms pull it off for not a few weeks, but years! I got up today and have been busy ever since. I have barely had time to brush my teeth but don't worry I did and so did Lauren. I just wanted to say I appreciate all stay at home Moms and Dads and even though my situation is temporary and challenging its rewards are far greater than I ever realized.

Being here, helping with homework, driving kids to practices and extra-cirrucular activities, cooking dinner, and doing a lot of things I have missed out on during the evenings has been a real wake-up call. I did not know what I was missing. How did my wife pull it off alone all these years in the evenings after a full day of work? I think she really is Super Woman! I do not think my kids will let me go back to work at this point, but I told them we will just all enjoy this time together while we can. It has just been nice to take a step back and see life from a different perspective and it has been a great experience for me, no matter how much air I am gasping for.

There have been plenty of funny moments. I did get to see how my family responds to big storms and it was quite interesting. I did not have to run into work yesterday during some vicious storms for the first time since the mid-1990s. My family did receive an "A" but they did do a little bit too much worrying. I taught them to stay calm....calm....and used my calm television voice and it seemed to work which made me feel great. We had 55 mph wind gusts and a shelf cloud rip through our neighborhood but everybody stayed safe and sound and they would not let me near the windows with all the lightning and I was not allowed to leave their side. So we had a TV with Live Doppler radar on and I did a continuous update for my family and explained what to look for on radar. I did not worry about anybody missing their Wheel of Fortune or going over on commercials and it was refreshing! They gave me an education on just what is going through a typical familys mind during these storm events. This could help me immensely in the future that is for sure! What I have learned over the past two weeks is that running a marathon is great but being there for your family and managing the household from the crack of dawn until the kids are asleep is a much bigger accomplishment. Now I have not looked at many weather models today, not with all the cooking, cleaning, vacuuming, and other errands going on but I will find a way and am doing the best I can. Thanks for your patience.

I am going to go run my five miles and pump some iron and then I will be back to talk about the big nor'easter impacting Florida which in essence will help build a huge high pressure in the Midwest bringing some of Lafayette's nicest weather of the entire Spring. I will be back to track temperatures in the Midwest. Could the models be underdoing daytime highs? Absolutely! Also, who could see close to 10 inches of rain here in Florida! We are not just talking gully washers but enought to bring the turkeys out of the woods and trees! The turkeys are out here in St. Johns County in the middle of our neighborhood roads! GOBBLE, GOBBLE! My wife tried to snap a picture but the turkeys were too quick, especially after they heard the Prangley peanut gallery in the mini-van scream with delight after seeing them. The wind was also picking up and the turkeys were having trouble getting off the ground to find shelter in their tree nests! This was quite a sight and there is something about Florida. I will never forget getting calls about flying frogs before my first weathercast ever back in 1995! Now this! The excitement is just beginning.

We already have 2.5 inches at the Prangley house in St. Johns. We are just getting started with flooding and beach erosion looking to be problems throughout much of the week! I will be back....for now it is time to run like a wild nor'easter and a Dayton Tornado.....at this point I will probably look more like one of those turkeys I ran into but at least I never, ever give up, no matter what! I will check back soon. In the meantime watch out for flying turkeys, which is better than flying trees!