It's spring in Missouri. Tulips are up and trees are flowering. Right now there's a powerful thunderstorm, but we have carried out one of the rituals of Midwest life, checking the Convective Outlook on various weather websites. Despite the fierce storm, all across the country tornado risk is 2% or less.

At the back of our house is a modern sun-room, and we're glad we have it, except that during a hard storm the noise of rain on the roof is extremely loud. Today's rain is so bad that I ate my breakfast at the computer in an interior room.