It really is hard for me to believe that it is already May. It just does not seem possible, I mean just yesterday it was February, wasn’t it?
To catch up with what has been happening, you need to understand when it all started to go awry, and this was last post on it: If it weren’t for bad luck….
Since that post, I now have my laptop hooked up to one of my old 19″ monitors, so that I can use it, which kinda messes up that whole, just grab the laptop and go thing that it had going for it, but hey, it works this way. Still don’t have cellphone fixed, but, found out that if I take it in, they will put new cover on it! WOOT! I’ll get to that in the next week.
Finally, got some rain last night. Yes, I know, we had gotten our 30 drops, but then, in the afternoon/evening, the skies let loose. It was wonderful, fantastic, and coming down so fast that… much didn’t soak into the ground. Yards and streets were flooded. Oh well, at least it rained. I was thrilled. Didn’t get out camera to capture the awesome lightening that was going on, but I did get to enjoy it without worrying if shutter was open long enough to capture some photons, or if it was open too long, which would overexpose that same photons.
Okay, so, let’s catch up, now that you know it rained here, and no I am not making light of the storms that have been happening all over - for those that they are adversely affecting, my thoughts and prayers go out to you, and to those chasers that are following them - Godspeed and don’t forget to just enjoy Mother Nature, without all the gizmos and gadgets.
Here we go…
I posted about MiMi passing away in April, April 15th to be exact (I’m not looking forward to Friday), what I haven’t said, and it is NOT because I didn’t think it was important, is that my great-aunt also passed. My Aunt Norma, my Pappap’s sister, passed on April 27th. We are still trying to deal with that, and how it is effecting my Pap. :( Prayers for him, would be awesome, he is the last of that line.
I want to take the time here to say that corporations that don’t take care of their obligations, like paying their rent, greedy money-grubbing corporations, SUCK!! What on earth am I talking about? Well, let me tell ya our tale of woe.
Way back when, my family owned a “Mom and Pop” type grocery store, everything from extra hoses/belts for your car to groceries and fresh meat and produce. This was back before chain groceries stores moved into Miami. Then big chain store moved in and after 30 years, the store had to close.
Skip to present time, a time when apparently honesty is no longer a quality in people and doing business. You see, the company that rents our land (where the store used to be), is playing games. They keep subletting and not telling us, they refuse to answer their phones, oh, and let’s not forget, they haven’t paid rent in 3 months, are not keeping up the property according to Miami-Dade County code, AND, here is the biggie… have not paid the property taxes. Yes, per the antiquated contract (which we have been trying to get updated), they are supposed to pay the taxes. But they haven’t. Which means… if anyone cares to GIVE us money, that would be awesome, because on top of the economy which sucks, and stock plummeting which has made it harder, what little stock we had left, we had to sell, to come up with $20,000. Yes, you read that correctly.
So, that is what we have been dealing with down here, on top of all the normal crap… plus, trying to get some veggies going, which took longer than it should have because items I ordered, they were back-ordered and didn’t come in on time, making our own bread, butter, jams & jellies, candles (wow, do they smell so much better than store bought), slipcovers and more!
So, if any of my rich friends wants to just give out money, free and clear - call me. *laughs*
Would it be selfish to pray to win the lottery or powerball???
Mock Ham Salad a.k.a. Poor Man’s Ham Salad
Hopefully I will start getting images again soon, and make the blog a much happier place.
To leave you tonight, I’ll end with a recipe, a simple recipe for sure, but it really is oh so good, this is what my great and my great-great grandmother’s used to send with the ‘men-folk’ when they went down into the coal mines of Pennsylvania:
Mock Ham Salad a.k.a. Poor Man’s Ham Salad
1 lb chunk bologna (not beef)
6-7 sweet gherkins (with about 1-2 Tbsp juice reserved)
2-4 Tbsp (depending on your taste) salad dressing (Miracle Whip type)
Modern day - cut bologna into 1 inch pieces, cut gherkins in half, throw into large food processor and blend to puree (consistency of a spread). Add enough salad dressing to moisten and bind. I don’t like a lot of dressing, other members of family do, so they add more to theirs.
Blend all together, spread it thinly or thickly, depending on your liking, on bread, roll or crackers and enjoy.
I’ll try and grab some shots of the new self-watering containers that we put together for the veggies - they are really cool, but really ugly. *grins*
Thank you to everyone for thoughts about MiMi. Yes, she was my baby, no doubt about it. These last three months have been, well, a whirlwind of stuff going on.
I will post an update later tonight - but did want to send a quick thank you.
For your thoughts, for your words, for your… caring. It truly is and was appreciated, even if I did not get back to anyone while still trying to deal with her death. You’ll understand why after the update…
I’m back, still a little sporadic, will be trying to get some much need imaging time, and trying to pick up pieces from the last couple of months.
On a good note - we got about 30 drops of rain today! WOOT! Dropped over 10 degrees, which was awesome, because it has been damn hot here!
Take care, I’ll post later, and know that you are in my thoughts, my heart and always my prayers.
Yesterday quite a few states got hit hard by a line sweeping across the east, today, we were supposed to get some of it. Well, it pretty much fizzled out by the time it hit our area, and according to Jeff Gammons:
Pathetic wannabe squall line couldn’t event wet my lawn. Nothing more than a wind shift with sprinkles. Blah!
Well, as I said in note for video (on YouTube), it was over before it started - but, just for Jeff - here, on video - is the sound of our lawn getting wet! :D
Tried to upload this most of the day, but for whatever reason, it just would not load, so tried again tonight and worked great within 10 minutes.
Getting back to Jeff, yesterday he posted some visible satellite shots that had different features on it - why not go and take a look and see what features he picked out to talk about!
Tomorrow, my telescope tripod and gear will be going to their new home. To say that I am bummed, does not even describe it. It’s not like I’ve had the time in the last year or so to use it, but, it was here, if I did get the time. Now, I won’t have that luxury. Not to mention how hard I worked to get all the stuff for the tripod and mount, plus the extras to make it easier - and now will be gone.
Humbug!
On a bright note though - have had the windows open since this afternoon and plan on snuggling under a quilt as the cold air comes through. Oh… if only it would snow, that would perk me up!! :o)
Was taking my dogs out earlier tonight when I looked up at the moon, and there was a beautiful halo encircling it. So, after dogs finished their business, I ran and grabbed my camera, and out the back door I went, with no lights on.
By the time I got back outside, which was maybe all of 5 minutes (!), as I am standing there, getting the settings on the camera to what I want to try, I hear chewing. I look up and start peering into the dark, sure there is an almost full moon sitting right at zenith, with lovely light shining down, but it is still dark. Now, you have to understand, my backyard butts up to, well, nothing but woods. So, there are no lights. In the house I go, flip on the spotlights, even they don’t reach into the far recesses of my backyard, hook the leash back on to my big dog and out the backdoor we go. Again.
When we were outside earlier, she never alerted. But this time, she sniffed the air, walked off the porch, sniffed again, and stared straight into the darkness, then her hackles went up and she started a low growl. So, being the brave person that I am, back into the house we go, locked the deadbolt and switched off the lights, stowed camera away. *grins* Needless to say, I didn’t get the halo shot, but did search through my archives and brought you a shot that I took a couple of years ago instead.
You see, her reaction told me that it indeed was an animal in the yard somewhere, the four-legged kind of animal. That is all I wanted to know, to make sure it was not the two-legged kind, if you catch my drift. What kind of four-legged animal I didn’t want to find out, at least not tonight.
The last time I got surprised by a four-legged animal, I was out shooting astroimages with my telescope and about had a heart attack when I could see an animal sitting, watching me, maybe 15 feet from me. At that time, I had been out long enough that my eyes had adjusted to the dark, so it was very unnerving to say the least. Especially, when I flipped on the flashlights and the lanterns to see what it was.
There in my yard, sitting next to the magnolia tree, was a panther. Had I not been so startled, I probably would have grabbed the camera off the telescope and shot some images, but first instincts were to get it out of the yard and back into the woods. Not because I was afraid it would hurt me (okay, it could kill me and no one would have woken up to hear my screams), but because I didn’t want it to become used to people and coming close. The more I thought about it since that time, I can only guess, that because I had all the lights off, it was curious. I don’t know if that was it or not, but about 3 weeks later, while out walking in the same woods, during the day, we saw a panther running down one of the dirt roads that cuts through. The one in my yard wasn’t as big, so I like to think that maybe there are more.
While we are on the subject of full moons - this Friday, the 12th, go outside at sunset and watch as the moon comes up over the horizon, it will be a spectacular site to behold!
Yup, we are having a full moon, on a Friday and it will be a big moon. Hopefully, we won’t be socked in my clouds, that would really upset me, because I love looking at the moon. But, even if we are, all is not lost, because on January 10th, 2009 (right around the corner), we will have the biggest and closest full moon again, this time for 2009! Not too shabby.
Okay, back to the weather, we are supposed to actually get some weather again tomorrow. Today, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and the panhandle of Florida got it! There was a confirmed EF-0 tornado in Northwest Georgia and a handful of wind reports. Yesterday though, between tornadoes, hail and wind, the southeast was mighty busy. Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and North Carolina were all affected. Check out Dewdrop’s blog for more information, she always has the good stuff! :D
And speaking of Dewdrop, I have to say I am very proud of her for completing the NWS Jetstream quizzes. Kudos to you chica! :D And it is with you in mind, that I have sprinkled throughout this post, my merit certificates. I had completed the quizzes back in July, offline, and had found a couple of errors in answers. Well, I finally sent off note today to Dennis Cain, a.k.a. “Professor Weather”, with the National Weather Service in Fort Worth, Texas. He got them all fixed, extremely quickly too! WooHoo! So, I went online and took all the quizzes, which really didn’t take long at all, since I had already studied everything, and printed out all the lessons. No, I’m not trying to show up Dew, and she knows that, I just had more time on my hands to do them all then she did today. *grins* I’m sharing them with you, because, it is something that I had been wanting to accomplish, and with her push, I did. So thanks!
I had spoken before about this great resource back in June. Go, check it out and see how you do with the quizzes!
Well, what do you know, we got some weather that came through here in Highlands County today. Well, not just Highlands, quite a few places in Florida actually, a tornado was even reported! Yup, up in Osceola County, a tornado was reported as observed and some minor vehicle damage. As of this post, there has been 5 wind reports also.
I know here at my house the wind picked up, not too bad, I think the highest gust we had here was around 25. No limbs down, but a lot of the spanish moss is now all over the yard. The only thing that I was concerned about was when I took my dogs out, and the pine needles were flying off the trees. Those things hurt! It felt like someone was shooting needles at us. But, we survived.
I didn’t get any pictures, I did capture radar shot, and I did take some video. Now, I have to figure out how to get it from videocamera to here. *laughs* Yes, there are a lot of things that I know, but video, well, I am technically challenged as to how to work it. No, not the taking of the video, just what to do after I capture it. ;) Any advice would be great!
Not only did we have weather here today, but it is also the ending of the official hurricane season. Kind of like those animal crossing signs you see on roads, what I want to know is, how do hurricanes know that they are not supposed to form now? Think about it.
While driving down the road, at least here in Florida, you might see a panther crossing sign, or bear crossing and even gator crossing… and it usually gives so many miles for it. Example: panther crossing - next 15 miles. Now, I will admit that I think animals are a lot smarter than people give them credit for - BUT - I do not know of any that can read those signs and say.. oh.. this is where we have to cross. Nope, can’t cross over there, no sign.
So, back to the question, how do hurricanes know that they are not allowed to form from December 1st thru May 31st?
:D
Okay, before I get mail explaining things to me… I am joking!!
Those of us on the east coast, especially those that went through Hurricane Andrew, know that hurricanes can form anytime the right environments are present. Why especially this area? Well, after Andrew came through, we (along with entire Eastern seaboard) got a surprise in March of the following year, 1993. There were several names that it was called, but one that seemed appropriate was… a white hurricane. Some of the other names were, No-name Hurricane, Storm of the Century, SuperStorm ‘93, and (Great) Blizzard of 1993.
And speaking of hurricanes, what ever happened to the Neutercane? Don’t know that name, well, keep reading.
A neutercane is a small scale low pressure system that has both tropical and extratropical cyclone characteristics. The name neutercane was first coined back in the early 1970s by Robert Bundgaard, after he participated in a research flight. You can read more about neutercanes here: http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/A18.html.
The reason I bring it up is because of something I read on the page, in particular:
However, objections in the press to the term as possibly sexist led to NOAA management discouraging use of the term, and ordering Simpson to cease use of any further Government resources in conducting research on the phenomenon.
Please, someone, anyone, tell me how on earth, neutercane could possibly be called sexist? And how stupid can we be that because of that, Government funding of research was ceased. Are we really that simple-minded and idiotic?
Even now, it is hard for me to express just how stupid I think some decisions are, and some people too. Sad, very sad.
And on that note - I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Here at Scattered Branches Farm, okay, that really is not the name of our house, but it sounds good, right?, we had a wonderful time… I was getting over the flu, my grandfather was just getting out of the hospital, and one of my doggies was sick. :(
Let me tell ya, nothing like nothing going right, to really make you thankful that things weren’t worse! :-P
