Early in the morning

before I got to bed....the South Carolina game went into extra innings, before they beat UCLA and won the championship....that was a heck of a game, a pitching duel....after the game I went out on the front porch for a while and watched the midnight downpour and thunder storm.....it was still raining loudly when I went to sleep.....much cooler so far today, staying in the 70's in the morning, overcast.....nice to get some relief from the heat-wave.....so I walked and went grocery shopping....I'll have ribs, cole slaw, and chili beans for the 4th....I also am planning on chicken enchiladas, maybe even today.....and I want to check out the hash the guy down the street makes for the 4th, last time I bought hash, I made hash sandwiches on those cheap "slider" buns....ummm

it was the middle of the night

before the baseball game was over....it was a good one, the Gamecocks beating the Bruins with steady pitching and lots of lucky bounces.....maybe they can win again tonight.....on my newspaper walk I noticed that the guy at the corner of Elizabeth and Academy is cooking BBQ and hash on Saturday the 3rd.....maybe I'll buy some hash......I few minutes ago I got back from walking over to Wilson's Curb Market to get two bucks worth of hamburger.....already in the 8o's and humid at nine in the morning, so I worked up a sweat going those four blocks or so.....but I wanted some meat to use up another hamburger bun, plus I can make carne for tacos.....olive oil, clove of garlic, chopped onion, cilantro, oregano, chili powder, ground beef.....so I can have that this evening, and Wednesday do my regular senior shopping day at BiLo.....

quesadillas

and a hand-full of olives for lunch, with a glass of wine....lots of tortillas to use up.....there was some breeze early on, so I went and trimmed up out front, and started to do the backyard too, but came to the realization that I had already sweated gallons and was feeling pretty drained so I hung up the rest of the grass cutting and went in to take a cool shower.....later in the week the humidity should go down some, so I'll try again another morning.....

Sunday breakfast for supper

huevos rancheros, huevos rancheros.....I can hear you calling out to me.....sung to the tune of Nuevo Loredo, by the Sir Douglas Quintet....I saw them one time back around '67 or '68, in the same show as Blue Cheer and the Velvet Underground....that was a trip for sure....a dance hall show with black light and strobe lights and those acid blob projections on the walls.....anyway, white corn tortillas spread with warm frijoles and topped with eggs poached in salsa, garnished with shredded cheese and chopped scallion......'twas muy bueno.....

no more hamburger

I used it all up .....but I've still got lots of tortillas, etc...so I guess I'll buy some chicken and make tacos de pollo for a while.....it's plenty warm again today, but so far there is enough breeze going through the house that I'm getting by with the ceiling fans instead of running the AC....that will come later in the afternoon, if things run true to recent form....the people over the back fence set up a trampoline for their two year old grandson.....but he doesn't seem to get the hang of it exactly....he times his jumps wrong somehow, so instead of getting higher and higher, he cancels out the bounce about every third go around....it's funny listening them trying to instruct him how to keep going, until he just gets frustrated and climbs off the thing.....

Saturday

Last night it never did rain right here, but a cool front moved through the region, so that I could turn off the AC and open windows right as it was starting to get dark......you could hear thunder, but it missed Clinton, or the mill district anyway.....for dinner I had filet of beef tenderloin and asparagus.....this evening will be back to tacos, since I have a lot of that kind of stuff to use up.....this afternoon we'll see if USA can get by the knockout round.....as I understand it, there are no more draws....if it's even at the end of time, then there is a shoot-out with free kicks? Cool enough this morning to take the park walk, though it was pretty sweaty still.....Clemson and USC will play again to see who goes to the college world series, big sports news around here, sitting half-way between those two schools.....

"The hottest part of the Upstate

will be in southern Laurens County, where the heat index could hit 103...." well, that's where I live.....that's from this morning's paper.....I vacuumed the house instead of walking at nine in the morning when the old heat index was already 89F....a little exercise, anyway.....the tostada dinner was delicious, hadn't gone to the trouble of putting that all together in a while....no avocado involved though, they just aren't very good in the stores around here......the tortillas are from a Mission facility in North Carolina......so I've got lots of taco fixings and frijoles to eat up....good sub-tropical cuisine ......right now I'm going to eat an apple.....

iron skillet

porterhouse steak with a side of chili beans....that was last night, tonight will be a dinner sized tostada.....chili ground beef, frijoles, jack cheese, green onion, olives, lots of lettuce, salsa, a little sour cream.....and corn tortilla at the bottom.....I got the cheese, sour cream, and tortillas at WalMart this morning, because I forgot those things in BiLo yesterday....the old brain is going, that's all there is to it....in WalMart I did some air-conditioned walking while shopping.....they are actually cheaper on some things than BiLo.....I thought about going into the new Tractor Supply while I was over there, but I couldn't think of anything I needed for my tractor.....they have extended the dang heat wave for yet another week.....I don't open the windows at night, because it's still around 90 when I go to bed at 10 or so.....today I opened a few in the morning when I got up, because it was 72 outside, and still around 80 inside at 6:30 am......100% humidity outside, around 70% in the kitchen, according to the $3 clock, thermometer, humidity gauge on the wall....

finally

a goal the official couldn't find a way to disallow.....USA wins the group and goes through to the round of 16......so there will be more TV drama coming up......I made a hamburger for lunch, with onion and lettuce.....first time I've purchased a head of lettuce in ages, it usually rusts before I get halfway through using it.....but, besides hamburgers, I'm planning on tacos, so maybe I can use lots of lettuce.....heat wave unabated ......

woke up

with a sore back.....which isn't unusual, if I'd mowed the lawn the day before or something like that....but I didn't do much of anything Monday except sit and read, and play some guitar.....maybe that's the problem, sitting around too much in this hot sticky weather.....or maybe I "slept wrong" again.....how it's possible to screw up sleeping I don't know, but I manage sometimes to do just that.....anyway, limped around in the library and found something more to read for a while.....watched the end of the Mexico game.....Wednesday morning we'll see if USA can advance to the knock-out round......I'll go grocery shopping before the game, probably.....right now I've got my left leg up on a pillow on the coffee table, and it seems to be stretching out the bad spot to a degree.....

longest day

on the downside now....tomorrow will be 2 seconds shorter......I've finished my library books, so I guess I'll go there in the morning....played guitar a lot today, wasn't much else to do....too hot to even go out on the porch for very long.....my electric bill came....it was $13 higher than the previous month, since part of this heat wave was on it.....

went by the Allstate office

and paid homeowner's insurance for another year....also paid AT&T for July, which covers Dish and DSL.....and by Thursday I've got to pay $100 to Verizon for another year of plan.....it's only money......the hot weather continues.....

it says that

tomorrow is going to be one second longer than today was....so today was just about as long as it gets I guess.....turned on the air around three, and it was after nine before it was cool enough outside to turn it off and open some windows again.....but it's really nice out now....been sitting out on the front porch with a good breeze, watching the fireflys.....I don't know what happened to the bats, I haven't seen them lately......and there weren't any Juneteenth fireworks, like last year....some fireworks stands are set up, but maybe they aren't open yet....we have a new police chief this year.....and going strictly by the city code, you can't set off any "cracker or bomb which might shy a horse".......

couple of windows open

breeze going through the house, might not get as hot as they had been predicting ......don't know what's for dinner tonight.....maybe stir-fry shrimp, still some in the freezer.....and I have the veggies and bean sprouts and sweet-and-sour sauce for Chinese type stuff again.....almost Summer!

so far so good

the threat of record heat has not been realized yet....but it's only 11 in the morning....hasn't burned off yet, and there's some breeze....so I got my walking done and did some drugstore shopping....CVS has it's buy one get one free thing going on supplements, etc....and I also got some tough nail stuff while I was in there....a nylon armor to paint on your fingernails to keep from fraying and splitting....I got that for my picking hand nails, since I haven't used guitar picks much in a long time, so my fingernails take a beating.....lots of people interviewed in Guitar Player say they use some such product for finger-picking.....seems to work on the first session I tried this morning.....bottleneck "scritching" on the Catalina.....the strip steak and spinach green salad last night was really good.....I've had some trouble with Safari, and have tried various trouble-shooting...it says it can't find servers like Yahoo or Google? What the Hell's with that? I'd like to upgrade to Safari 5.0 or Chrome maybe, but I'd have to upgrade from Tiger also.....and that looks like $169 to get the package mailed for download....I'm kinda chokeing on that right now....we'll see, we'll see.......

dang

now the weather lady is saying the high is stalled and the heat wave will continue for another week, with record highs expected this weekend.....

well, the Lakers won

in a very hard fought contest, which is good.....and I don't know enough about futbol maybe to understand why the 3rd U.S. goal wasn't allowed in that Slovenia game....even the British commentator couldn't figure it out.....looked like a fair goal to me...oh well.....it was cooler this morning, cool enough to finish the yard-work before the World Cup came on....and now they are saying that this June heat wave should end by the middle of next week....it's been eleven degrees hotter than average for the last couple of weeks.....

pleasant enough early on

to get out and cut the grass....should be more comfortable today altogether, as the humidity has dropped off some.....nice in the house now, with a few windows open.....found some movies last night, so I stayed up later and could sleep through until daylight....will be up late tonight with the Lakers, and the end of basketball season....I'll make sweet-and-sour pork stir-fry with veggies for dinner, and I got another box of popcorn packets, so I'll have some for the game....

sweet white corn 20 cents an ear

I got some of that, and some spinach greens, some red grapes from around Bakersfield, a good price on strip steak.....and I did get stir-fry stuff....bag of frozen veggies plus some bean sprouts and chow-mien noodles, sweet-and-sour sauce....I couldn't find any plum sauce, and the manager had never heard of it.....one time that manager was checking because it got busy, and he didn't know what an artichoke was....I had to tell him how to spell it so he could get the code off the list.....tonight I'll have a piece of strip steak done with a clove of garlic in the iron skillet, cold deli macaroni salad, and some of the corn.....sort of a celebration meal, since my Social Security started showing up in my checking today....third Wednesday of the month .....that will work out OK with my utility billing cycle....today I spent $25 for a week of dinners......

cooler this morning

on my newspaper walk....rained in the night, some lingering cloud cover....but will be hot again by afternoon....going to the grocery store, thinking of stir-fry, haven't done that in a while....maybe look at salad bags.....stayed up watching the Lakers.....one more game!

somebody was thinking

when they built my house back in the 1930's.....the oak tree out front shades the living room in the morning, and the big pecans out back give shade from the afternoon sun....but in this global warming weather, I still have to turn on the AC before actual Summer....or I would melt sitting on the sofa.....high ceilings, ceiling fans, big crawl space....these things help I guess....actually, looking back at energy bills from last Summer months, running the AC isn't all that bad, money-wise....but sitting outside isn't really an option when the heat index is over 100....just not pleasant at all....

official advisory

stay in an air conditioned room.....well, OK.....my second walk today will be inside the grocery store....I'll just push a cart around and pretend I'm shopping....no mall around here for mall-walking.....I do need a couple of things, and some cash......

American Musical Supply

catalog, and a Guitar Player came in the mail this morning, along with two things trying to sell life insurance, and a musical Grandfather's Day card from Colton.....well, father's day, but it says Grandpa! on it.....tropical weather continues, thunderstorms and rain last night, sun and humid heat during the day....I did get my walking in, though the second walk got pretty sweaty....it's good for you, I guess....but they keep having things on the news that old folks should watch out for heat exhaustion.....they have a Fans for Seniors charity.....

the South in a sauna

is the way the weatherman put it last night....probably just going to stay in the house with the AC on, got sweat-soaked walking for the Sunday paper at 7:30 in the morning....if you Google "heat index" you can find out about the relationship between humidity, dew point, and temperature....there's even an online thing from the weather service so you can plug in the values and it will give you the heat index....it was still up around 100 after dark yesterday evening....so I didn't go out on the front porch to watch the fireflys, just observed them through a window....

local news

the big local news this weekend is that Tractor Supply is having it's grand opening in the old WalMart building......the name says it all.....the other thing I found out this morning has to do with my city utility bill, which is for power, water, sewer, and trash....I paid the bill 5/27 with Bill Pay through my bank, with the bill being due 6-8.....as of 6-10 the $57 still had not come out of my checking, so while I was out walking that day I stopped into the city office and asked if they had received my payment OK. The lady said they had credited my account on the 28th. The city banks with Carolina First, which is in the same building as the city offices, and the city lady called the bank and asked if my payment had gone through .....and the bank told her it had gone through on the 28th. This morning, 6-12, the money finally came out of my account, and I pulled up the image of the transaction, and it showed that Carolina First had not put the draft through until 6-10. What's with that? Oh well, it finally got paid....

World Cup

2006 was the World Cup when I was working at the swap meet? The people there got really excited about that, and about Mexico in particular.....so I watched the opening game this morning between Mexico and host South Africa.....looked to me like the official beat Mexico, but what do I know....well it ended in a tie anyway.....muggy again today here, but it wasn't too bad walking early.....Lakers lost.....so now it's a three game series, with home court to L.A. The other day the market had Franzia burgundy the same price per 5 litre as Vella burgundy, instead of a dollar something more as it usually is....so I got the Franzia, and I was reading the box to see if it was from Madera like Vella.....damned if it doesn't say in really small print "Product of Argentina"....I didn't know that......I think it has a more refined taste than the Vella, better polish.....

rain cooling

The heat index was up in the 90's when a thunderstorm came through right at dinner time again, and cooled things down into the 70's, so I could turn off the AC and open some windows....heat and thunderstorms are predicted for the next week solid.....heat in the 90's during the day providing the energy for the moisture to turn into thunderheads right around getting off work drive time, seems to be the way it works.....glad I never have to drive anywhere particular at any particular time......I think I have one bag of popcorn left for the basketball tonight....when the game is over around midnight ET it will have cooled off enough for sleeping, I imagine.....the bedroom ceiling fan is a good thing......

rain between walks

so the second walk was sort of like a steam bath....but now some wind is coming up, and it's got some air moving through the house.....yesterday I bought chili-dog fixings for lunches.....Texas Pete Chili Sauce...."for hot dogs and hamburgers"....that's what it says on the can....good stuff....tonight the Lakers are in Boston again.....will they prevail? I stayed up until around 10 last night, because it didn't even cool off until then....I just went out and sat on the front porch with a drink from 9 to 10, several neighbors out doing the same.....one house down across from the thrift store on the next block has a really nice looking screened in front porch, the people live out there a lot it seems.....chairs and tables and a porch swing......

rain got here

right after I ate some supper....so I could open the windows and let things cool off....I fixed cubed steak, lightly breaded, dusted with oregano....and cut corn....and hash browns..all smothered with my secret greaseless Cream Chili Gravy.....now it's time to watch the evening news.....

might take a nap

stayed up until midnight again watching the Lakers.....they won a tough one, see what happens Thursday ......did sort of a disorganized grocery trip this morning....couldn't think of meals to do....yesterday I didn't feel like cooking for some reason, so I drove across the tracks to KFC-Taco Bell, and got a livers meal. Do they have livers in California now too? For three bucks I got mashed potatoes and gravy, cole slaw,a biscuit, and a large pile of hot chicken livers.....the girl asked if I wanted the "senior drink" and I said OK.....looking at the ticket, a senior drink costs $0.00....OK....they give you the smaller cup, but it's all you can drink anyway....I got the sweet tea....it's up into middle 80's outside, but there's a squall line coming from the north-west on the radar, coming over the mountains....so I bet it cools off later if that slants the right way to hit here.....

no liquor or lotto

on an election day.....the ABC is closed, but you can still buy beer and wine....I don't quite get the logic of no lotto....the mill village polling place is right across the street at the church, but it doesn't look like much is going on over there.....I guess I could go vote even though I'm not in a political party.....but that seems strange to me, so I'm not going to do it....it would be like picking through a bunch of bad apples anyway, as far as I can tell from the tenor of the campaigning .....really nice today weather-wise, cool breeze, not too hot or humid....dealt with the front yard this morning while it was overcast, so that wasn't too bad sweat-wise.....I've still got some frozen shrimp to use up, so dinner will be something with shrimp....and Wednesday is shopping day once again....the weeks sure spin around faster the older you get.....in reading stuff about the quantum mechanics of the brain I saw one thing that had an explanation of why that happens.....space-time structure is actually altered by the repeated usage of the wormholes of the mind through the decades....something like that.....

humidity down

to 55%, instead of 90 something like it's been lately.....5 mph NE wind....delightful morning....walked, and then went to the library....if it's cool again Tuesday morning I should cut the grass out front then. Oatmeal for breakfast, with raisins and cream....well, "half-and-half".....for lunch, a grilled swiss and pimento cheese half-sandwich on rye....done with olive oil....and some olives and a pepper on the side....this evening I'll finish the roasted chicken from the cold deli, with something-or-other for sides, have to figure that out.....Tuesday is the primary election, but there are no local offices on the ballot....everyone was unopposed is what they say....and they don't have propositions and initiatives here like they do in California, so the voting tomorrow is strictly for party primaries, and I am "no-party".......

dang

been running the AC this afternoon....there's a 12 mph wind blowing, but it's a hot wind .....I went out on the front porch and it felt like a blow-drier in a damp bathroom.....not like a hot dry Santa Ana, but a warm breeze in 93% humidity.....but that will change later this evening as the front that did all that damage in the Midwest drags it's tail over the Upstate and brings colder drier air from the other direction....talked to Brian some on fb chat....he's been having a good time with friends in the New York area, flying back soon.....

EZ rice-and-gravy

I have some instant brown rice that's been in the cupboard for some time, and I had a packet of Southern Home country gravy mix, just add water.....so for one serving I put half a cup of rice, and half a cup of water, and half of the gravy packet in a sauce pan, brought it all to a boil while stirring, and simmered for five minutes.....and it worked! Came out about like the rice-and-gravy side they have in the meat-and-three buffets around here......so Sunday morning was french toast....whole grain rye in a batter of egg and mango-peach punch.....Sunday supper menu is corned-beef hash and eggs....I have popcorn to microwave for the Lakers game.....

active warning

severe weather.....western Laurens County through 3:15.....well maybe a thunderstorm will help cool down the 98F heat index.....getting towards 85 in the house, but sitting under a ceiling fan things aren't that bad....AC not activated. Had a grilled swiss flavored with oregano on whole grain rye for lunch....with Fritos and an Italian pepper.....I'm thinking about rice-and-gravy, cut corn, and a chicken leg quarter for supper .....I'm working through an EBT container of chicken from the cold deli....you know what EBT is.....cheap wholesome food approved for welfare purchase.....it's roasted already, and doesn't cost any more than the same weight raw, usually.....a good thing for the elderly person living alone....

Growing old

is like being increasingly penalized for a crime you haven't committed.....Teilhard de Chardin

Sat morning

walked early while it was still a little foggy....going to get hot today, around 90....I went to get gas in the Jeep, and over near the Shell station at the grocery store parking lot they had some old cars in a little show....there was one nice Studebaker Golden Hawk, the kind I would like to have....and the other old Studebaker there looked pretty much like the one we went out to California in back in 1955, or whatever year that was.....and then it sat in the weeds in the backyard on Ramona Drive for a long time....until those kids bought it and found a new drive-shaft for it somewhere, and got it running.....

watched the Lakers

last night, so didn't get to sleep until it was Friday already....so I took a nap after lunch today....it's about 85 outside, but staying at 80 inside with a couple of windows open, and a couple of ceiling fans running......might have to run the AC some around supper-time; or the rain out of Georgia might get here before that and cool things off instead......some clouds coming over right now....

Carolina Beach Music and Shag

http://www.outoftownersband.com/fr_home.cfm cut and paste this link to see the Out of Towners website.....they are playing over by the train tracks right now....I'm just listening from the front porch because it's still pretty sticky out, and it's more comfortable on the porch then walking over there.....if you look at their song list section, you can see a bunch of beach music and shag songs......it's a beach shirt band with horns.....

Thorsday

foggy and cool this morning, so I got the weeds cut on the back and sides......warming up now early in the afternoon....yesterday the AC ran for a while, around dinner time....it's set about at 80....it looks like it might be needed some today too....in the humidity, at 80 the "heat index" might be 10 or fifteen degrees higher....in the 90's.....rain came after a while and cooled things off, so I could turn off the machine and open the windows again before bedtime.....Lakers tonight!

lots thunder and lightning

last night between nine and ten or so, but not a whole lot more rain....today warm and muggy, working towards hot and muggy in the afternoon....I've walked twice, did the weekly grocery shopping, and washed the bathroom, and washed and mopped the kitchen....and already had lunch...corned beef and cheddar cheese with horseradish mustard and mayo on wheat nut bread...so now I've got the ceiling fan on in the kitchen, to help dry the floor....Thursday evening, before the Lakers game, I might go over and check out the "beach music" band....a genre of music from the low country 1950's they say....not California Surf Music, but shagging RnB I guess....I think I saw the same band last year, but I can't really remember much....

quantum mind

There is no observer separate from reality.

There is no separate reality from the observer.

The body is fundamentally made of information and energy and perceived as solid matter.

The mind and body are one and the same and are not divisible.

Biochemical reactions of the body are a product of awareness.

That perception of reality is a learned behavior.

That changing thoughts can and do change the body.

There is an underlying consciousness or intelligence that connects everyone.

Time is a human perception, not a reality.

[edit]

June first

got my walking done before it burned off, but still worked up a sweat, what with the 98% humidity.....no rain yet today, but still some chance of thunder showers in the afternoon....got some laundry going, and I could do some cleaning in the kitchen and bath....but I'll probably put that off to another day......and someday soon I should mow down the backyard again....maybe Thursday, if it's cool in the morning....I've got to spread out my few chores so I have something to do during the day, even if it only amounts to one hour of doing something.....like right now I claim to be doing laundry, but the machines will actually do the work, and I'll just put the stuff away afterwards....but I did something today!