Kansas - the Land of Oz

When the word ‘Kansas’ is mentioned to people who do not live there, or one of its surrounding states, one of two things probably come to mind. It would either be cowboys and Indians or the Wizard of Oz. I have heard people remark that was traveling through my state that they did not realize how beautiful it is. They thought it was just flat plains for miles and miles. That is probably because of how it is portrayed on western movies. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Kansas is actually very hilly in many places, and unless we are having a drought year, everything is a luscious green – not dried up tumble weeds blowing around.

Three times of year are especially beautiful times to visit us Kansans. The first would be in late June when the golden wheat fields are rippling in the wind. Our waves of grain are just as beautiful as the waves of water for those on our coastal shores. Another time of year is in August and September when the fields of sunflowers are in full bloom of golden yellow flowers. It is amazing how those flowers rotate their heads to smile at and follow the sun throughout the day while the stalks are green. However, when harvest time approaches for them, they are rather ugly because they are just a field of tall, brown, dried stalks. Along with wheat and sunflower fields, there is also the third cop in the fall of milo, which produces a beautiful grain head atop stalks that get redder the closer it is to harvest. These crops are partly what has given Kansas the nickname of ‘Land of ahhhhhhhhs.’

Because of the notorious movie of "Wizard of Oz", Kansas is well-known for its tornadoes. The past week has had many tornadoes forecasted and also touched down. We actually made preparation for heading to the cellar twice in about 5 days. The one tornado was spotted only about three miles from our little town. The other time it dissipated before it reached us. However, there was one that was in that same storm cell that started tracking a different path that hit two small towns about 60 miles from us, but only about ten miles from where two of our sons live. The one little town was hit rather hard. They lost a new welding shop, a newly reopened café, a trucking company, a dog kennel, the town water tower, and damage to homes and property. People in Kansas are used to the forecast of tornadoes and know how to take precautions, so luckily no one was hurt. Unfortunately, the dog kennel was not so lucky. The lady that owns it is my cousin, and I was informed she lost 60 some of her breeding dogs to death – not just missing.

I feel really bad for people who lose their homes due to tornadoes or any other natural disaster or fire. Equally as bad or maybe worse is when people lose a business because it is their livelihood and what puts bread and butter on their table. I guess that is one advantage to having an online business – nothing is physically damaged or destroyed unless it is your computer itself. Most of that information can be recovered though and you do not have the thousands and thousands of dollars lost like in a physical structure. One thing I did learn some time back when my computer went down was to print off a list of user names and passwords for online sites. Keeping that in a safe place can save myself the headache of retrieval later. Plus I was able to just use that information then on another computer while mine was in the shop.

Well, next time you hear Kansas mentioned, maybe you will think of something besides Dorothy and the Wicked Witch of the West. Maybe you can imagine the beautiful fields of crops we have from spring through fall. Kansas really is a beautiful state to live in or visit. Oh, here we go again….the pager just went off and we are in another tornado watch until 9:00pm tonight. Come on Toto – let’s make sure things are in order once again!

Author:
Linda Dougherty
Specializes in working with people to show them how to market effectively to earn money online.
http://www.internettowealth.com/