I’ve been fascinated by the weather ever since I got over my fear of thunderstorms last week. Just kidding—I think I was 11 or 12 when I recovered (my father and I got caught in a thunderstorm while on a walk—nothing like facing your fears and having it pour down your back, soak your shirt and puddle in your shoes). I was so fascinated; I went to Penn State and earned a BS in Meteorology. So I am an educated weather geek. (At Penn State, we called ourselves weather weenies—but I don’t think that’s PC anymore )

Unfortunately, forecasting the weather was not only boring (I want to chase tornados), I was bad at it—really bad. In order to chase tornados, you need to know where they’ll form and when, which brings us back to the whole forecasting snafu. But being concerned about the environment, I found a job in the environmental field doing air quality work and did use my degree for ten years (take that Mom!).

I’m still fascinated with storms and will watch thunderstorms advance over the fields behind our house. We live on a slight ridge, which I named Storm Watcher’s Ridge (aren’t you amazed by my creative talents?). When we bought our yellow Labrador Retriever puppy named Hazelnut and registered her with the AKC (American Kennel Club), I wrote Storm Watcher’s Ridge Kennel’s Hazelnut as her official AKC name. Snotty eh? We call her Hazel for short.

So weather degree plus glass equals Storm Glass. Simple right? (No don’t ask me why it took me sixteen paragraphs and 1,265 (so far) words to tell you—just nod politely, sip your drink and chalk it all up to crazy writers).

PS: I also love dogs—so I wrote a story for middle-grade readers (8-12 yrs old). Here’s a short summation: weather degree plus search and rescue dogs equals Storm Watcher. (No, it isn’t a book you can buy.…yet—I’m working on it).