slow soaking rain

which is a good thing.....around 80 and wet at 10:30 Saturday morning.....ribs in the crock-pot, with the ceiling fan on, kitchen window open, door to the rest of the house shut....a little cider vinegar, a little Kikkoman sweet-and-sour sauce, and some Southern Home Hot BBQ sauce on the ribs for 8 hours on "low"......we'll see how that comes out....probably have hash-browns and butter beans with that.....Braves are at the Reds this weekend....stayed up late 'cause it took 10 innings last night, so I got going maybe 20 minutes late this morning, and it was already raining, so I missed my newspaper walk....still raining, but should be able to get some kind of walk done later I suppose.....ate a bowl of grapes a bit ago, California Grown, it said on the bag.....

walked through downtown

instead of my regular park walk....nothing much going on over there, except they have things torn up by Copeland's Hardware, doing sewer and sidewalk work....and I guess they are going to pave and paint for a proper parking lot there when it's done.....it was just a bunch of uneven old concrete, looked like where a gas station might have been at one time.....it was pretty hot already in the morning, but since then some clouds have been coming and going, so the afternoon hasn't been too bad....

so far

this morning it's not too hot, some overcast and breeze again....but this afternoon it's going to get up around 100, they predict.....I still have two flour tortillas, I might make quesadillas for lunch....with pimento cheese? Had my last slice of pumpernickel this morning, toasted with a poached egg on it....so now I've got wheat berry for bread.....that makes good toast too....two years ago, I was on the road with the Jeep and U-Haul rig these last days of July.....

another cool morning

more rain in the night, and it's staying cloudy and breezy so far today.....went to the grocery store and found some good deals....catfish tonight I think, with bbq beans and hash-browns? Got grapes, and little green apples....butter beans.....anyway, this is making me hungry, so I'll go eat lunch now.....

cooler morning

was raining when I went to sleep....still damp and cloudy after breakfast when I went on the newspaper walk, so when I got back to the house I set the paper aside and just went out and cut the grass front and back while it was still more or less comfortable ......got some library books yesterday....and a couple of things at the drugstore, where they were cheaper than Wal*Mart actually.....tomorrow is grocery day, and I still have dinners left over from last time....I think it was Sunday that was so hot I didn't feel like dinner......even though I was in the cool house....how does that work?

full moon on monday

dogs were barking and sirens sounding at midnight....full moons are always busy for dispatchers....the clouds were gone by then, but the storm that went through was mostly just heat lightning, with hardly any rain....not enough to cool things off much anyway.....

I was looking for four things

at Wal*Mart, but only found one thing at a bargain price.....but they do now have those Sony gadgets in stock for around $150 that play Bluray and upconvert your old DVD's somehow, and stream stuff off the Internet .....looks like you need to buy another HDMI cable, plus an Ethernet cable to reach from the AT&T thing to your TV setup.....and then you can get YouTube and Netflix and I don't know what else into your HDTV and sound system....but I don't really need one, I don't think.....I don't need it $150 worth anyway.....going to be another hot day.....yesterday the heat tied a record set in 1952.....I was here in 1952!

nope, not cooler today

in fact Wunderground says that the heat index reading at Laurens airport is 120.....I'm not even going to open the front door and go out on the porch to see what that's like.....

blown save/woodpeckers

It was around 11 before the Marlins-Braves game ended with the Braves getting beat in the bottom of the 9th.....and this morning, a woodpecker started pounding on the living room wall.....stupid birds.....a few weeks ago on my park walk I heard this noise and looked up and a woodpecker was pecking away on the metal hood of a street lamp.....woodpeckers are one of the few birds I've seen get hit by cars, while they are flying....once had one fly straight into the grill of the car.....anyway, some nice wind this morning so I could get in the walking, and can leave the windows open for right now.....triple digit heat yesterday, might be a little cooler today....I should go over to Wal*Mart today or tomorrow for a couple of things.....think I'll put it off another day....

electric bill

came this morning.....it gets read around the 18th each month, so for a week of June and three weeks of July it was $53.....not too bad considering the heat wave, which continues today, by the way, and on through the weekend....taco night was yesterday, so today will be cold supper.....chicken, beans, salad.....watched old movies until late last night, but it was still hot outside after ten, so I didn't open the windows when I went to bed.....there's baseball on tonight if I can't find more movies, or some good rock show on that Palladia thing....well, I think I'll eat a peach....

a little cold supper

chilled fried chicken, cold bbq beans, small salad with roasted pepper and garlic dressing.....and later I watched the game with that Strasbourg rookie pitching phenom, which was interesting and went on late enough to keep me awake so I slept better.... if you see what I mean....today at one the Padres-Braves is on SportsSouth.....the weather officials are saying to "stay in an air-conditioned room" this afternoon, so I can do that and watch the game.....

high noon in Dixie

heat index 104F.....it's a around 85 in the house, with a couple of windows open and a bit of a breeze going through.....later I'll turn on the air, I guess.....turned it on around 2:30 yesterday, something like that. Went grocery shopping, got a cut up cold fried chicken for $5....and a bag of salad, some more peaches, and stuff to make chicken soft tacos.....frijoles, olives, etc....this kind of weather you don't really need a heavy hot meal in the evening....finished off the chili-dogs, so lunch this week will be something like grilled swiss pumpernickel sandwich, with a fried spam option.....

reading Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, page 175

It was as if fireworks had been let off in the room. Not indoor fireworks, strange crawling things that sputter and smell bad; nor even the kind of fireworks you set off in your back yard; but the kind of industrial-strength fireworks that get fired up high enough to cause a potential menace to the air-ways; the kind of fireworks that end a day at Disney World, or that give the fire marshals headaches at Pink Floyd concerts. It was a moment of pure magic.

starting Wednesday

and going through Sunday, they are predicting triple digit heat index in the Upstate.....another heat-wave, in other words.....not too bad here this morning, got my walking done earlier.....quiet Summer days....I think even the barking dogs are on vacation, or just too hot to bark.....it looks like they are getting the pharmacy school a couple of blocks away geared up to start classes in August....it looks really nice from the street anyway, rolled out turf, got flowers going and stuff....hope it doesn't end up a boondoggle.....they are wanting 400 students at a time? Seems like a lot of pharmacists for around here.....the new high school is starting in August too....but they ran out of money, so they couldn't build a new football stadium for our State Champion Clinton Red Devils.....I think they might keep playing games at the old campus? It's only a mile or so away from the new campus......

very nice

just back from walking around the park, everything fresh from the rain last night.....not too hot yet....haven't run the AC for a couple of days, probably won't have to today either....but later in the week it will be high 90's again, and I'll need to turn it on or melt late afternoon....the city meter reader is out walking around, so we'll soon see the damage for the last four weeks or so, electric-bill-wise.......sat out on the front porch until about ten last night, soaking up the coolness.....the Greenville paper had an article about porch parties....some lady had written a book, hankering after the old days pre-AC when there was social life in the evenings on the front porch in Southern towns.....made me think of the endless rows of tract housing in SoCal where people would open the garage door and sit on lawn chairs drinking beer with a boom-box on.....

thought I'd watch the Braves

but it's a rain delay in Atlanta....a little rain just blew through here....6 mph wind from the south, warm and moist, so it doesn't cool you off much....

toad in a black hole

I got dark pumpernickel this week, so toad in a hole with thin slices of bacon spam for Sunday breakfast....I got some kind of generic pancake syrup that was real cheap, not maple at all I don't think.....it has molasses in it, along with other strange things.....I watched the Rays beat the Yankees yesterday in the evening.....kept watching once the Rays got ahead, because I love it when the damn Yankees loose. Never have liked them, too much arrogance.....it's staying cloudy this morning so far, with 50% chance of rain this afternoon....so I've got windows open, and some breeze.....

cloudburst

didn't last all that long, but is good for "rain cooling".....like watering the town down with a big hose or something.....smells nice too, the rain......

cooler for walking

this morning.....and I went and got some Bacon Spam and some cash from the check-out robot....cash to buy the newspaper in the morning.....Bacon Spam for spam and eggs with grits and gravy....that will be my Sunday breakfast for supper trip.....Saturday dinner is looking like pork steak with hash browns and peas....and gravy.....I buy these little packets that you mix with water to make white gravy.....it's really good, and actually doesn't contain too much evil crap....they are usually 99 cents, but I got two-for-one last time I bought it.....last night I had salsa salmon, salsa hash browns, and mixed veggies.....trying to use up the frozen hash browns that have been in there for a while.....being very frugal with the groceries as I try to come out even at the end of the fiscal month, the 3rd Wednesday, when SS deposit shows up.....looking for some rain this afternoon if we're lucky......that will cool things off some, and can't make things much more humid, given the 97% already.....

storm went by

so we got some cooling late in the day....news about Uncle Carl doesn't sound too good, if his kidneys are going......

Friday

took a nap after lunch.....warm and muggy, with just enough breeze to keep it from being hot right now.....will be hot enough by late afternoon, I bet.....

if you don't like them peaches

you're missing something really good....people around town by the side of the road selling peaches off their trees.....boy are they sweet....the peaches.....got the grass cutting done this morning, by 10....aided by a breeze to help dry off the sweat.....if folks don't want to see a fat old man working with no shirt on, they can look the other way....actually, the street is pretty much deserted in the morning, people don't come out for their walks until 8 or 9 at night usually....then you'll see tandem bikes and baby buggies and all kinds of things...kids being pulled in wagons, etc....last night I had a piece of salmon with salsa, and sweet peas and mac&cheese....several options for this evening......

nothing much

going on.....it was good to see the Big A on TV last night....it was dark here, not there.....got rain-cooled before going to bed, slept pretty well.....went grocery shopping, got some salmon at a decent price, already seasoned......got some Livingston Cellars Rhine Wine, to put in the fridge...it was $2 off for the jug, and in this weather cold wine at lunch and dinner sounds good....lunch is going to be chili dogs this week...the Sonic ads with the foot-long chili dogs overwhelmed me.....it's $2.99 for one of those, and I got 8 wieners and 8 buns and a can of Texas Pete chili sauce for $2.67.....maybe tomorrow I'll think about yard-work, cutting the weeds...if it's cool a little in the morning....

Halo Dog

Stumbled across something about the menu for tonight's All-Star Game at the Big A.....included is a bacon wrapped street dog, like I used to get at the Swap Meet.....but it looks like a foot-long in the picture, even more radical than what I remember....it's all loaded down with salsa, etc....I wonder if they still sell those tequila margarita slurpees like they had back in the 70's.....

rain for a week?

Ended up having three severe weather episodes Monday.....windy deluges with thunder....and the same pattern is expected through next Monday looks like.....well, it's cooler anyway....didn't have to run the AC yesterday.....overcast and fairly cool outside right now, so I'm going to go walk around the park.....

starting to rain

but it doesn't look like much on the radar, probably won't last long...but it will be good for cooling the day.....found some things at the library this morning....always look for books that couldn't be made into movies....unless they were really bizarre movies, I guess....walked the park before going to the library, it was overcast and cool then, before nine.....watched the Spain match yesterday...the octopus must know that time isn't linear....

very pleasant Sunday morning

comfortable out on the front porch, with a "north-east flow" in effect, bringing cooler dryer breezes to the Upstate.....yesterday when I went for a drive, I noticed that the interstate looked like an LA freeway....tons of traffic....I guess it's the vacation driving season.....and that route takes you to the beach eventually, maybe that's where everybody was going.....with oil on the Gulf Coast, the Charleston Grand Strand area is having above average crowds this Summer....

just a drizzle

last night, the storms went in other directions.....but pretty cool this morning, with clouds and breeze....went driving out through the woods, went over the river to Cross Anchor and then turned left on the 49 towards Laurens, crossed the river again, and eventually turned left onto the 108 to carry me back to Clinton. I'm glad my Jeep is old enough to have a wind-wing, because it's pleasant to drive through the countryside with the wind blowing in like that......good morning for it.....

some rain on the way?

got up around 100 again before it started cooling off a bit with clouds coming from the west, and I guess there's likely to be one of those quick moving thunder and rain events in a few hours....and then over the weekend there should be a cooler air-mass in place, with some relief from the heat.....I used some of the chicken to make a sweet-and-sour stir fry for a little light supper, with veggies from the freezer, and peanuts....the bean sprouts in the fridge looked funny, so I threw them out.....had a chicken salad half sandwich and some slaw for lunch....didn't drive anywhere today.....

some overcast, some breeze

went for the park walk and worked up a sweat, with the heat index at 84....saw in the paper that there is now a Papas and Beer in Greenville.....used to see lots of bumper stickers for those on the cars at the swapmeet....it's on Haywood, where there is also going to be Trader Joe's.....and there's a new Apple Store around there.....but I never get up to Greenville, too much like a city.....the chicken cooked up tasty, and there's plenty of it.....

went over to Laurens

to Wal*Mart......the head-thing on my weed-eater broke, and they did have some replacement heads, but none of them looked right....I'll have to do further research on that....I did get some weather-stripping for the storm door, since one edge on that has been messed up all along....and I got more Blue Goo and a Fruit-of the-Loom 3X white pocket tee for $5.50, so I can look all cool in an oversized shirt.....and I wanted more Miracle Whip Light for cole slaw.....the large jar was $1.97, and the small jar was $2.50? I've got the chicken slow-cooking.....not too hot so far, but they say it will end up hotter than yesterday by the afternoon.....watched "Tank Girl" last night on Retroplex.....a real classic......

groceries

I wandered around in the store trying to find anything interesting.....didn't find much inspiration....did get a whole chicken @$.79/lb.........and a box of cornbread stuffing....I'll stuff the chicken and put it in the crock pot, and that should make several meals.....you can open the kitchen window, turn on the ceiling fan, and close the kitchen door to the rest of the house, and not heat the place up much.....it's getting hot enough....

a little light supper

it's pretty warm, and I didn't get out to buy any food, so I just used what I could find in the fridge to make machaca e papa frita......with that sort of strange Southern Home salsa on it all....just a small plate....with a glass of wine.....I might go ahead and turn on the air, since it's getting up around 90 in the house....it's cooler in the parlor, because there is no western window there, but where I sit and watch the news in the living room, it is getting warm from the lowering sun....and there isn't much breeze right now .......

tired myself out

by ten in the morning....it was still 72 outside around 9, so I went and trimmed up out front, and swept......and then took a shower and then stood under a fast ceiling fan....that works, more or less.....so I don't know what's cooking today, I still have leftovers, but I had some last night, so maybe I'll find something at Wilson's.....they have small cuts of meat, suitable for frugal single people, instead of "bonus packs", where you get a good price per pound if you buy enough for a small army.....now the weather pundits are saying it will be "close to one hundred" tomorrow.....it looks like it's even worse in the north-east, like New York City....it showed on the news that up there the city had put kitchen sinks out on the sidewalks, calling them "hydration stations".....

enjoy it while you can

is what the weatherman is saying.....fairly cool today, but by Wednesday "high 90's" are predicted.....strange sort of semi-holiday, the Monday after a Sunday 4th.....some stores are closed.....some places seem to take a vacation after the 4th for a week or even longer.....the whole family goes to the beach? I think the Hickory Hills BBQ does something like that....

lots of fireworks

last night, so I didn't even try to get to sleep until after eleven, when it had pretty much quieted down....probably be more tonight.....staying cool again this morning, lovely weather.....DISH has also started carrying EPIX, so last night I saw a really good Rolling Stones movie.....no commercials....but I read somewhere they were going to stop carrying the Weather Channel.....have to check that out...they have CCTV-News now, 24 hour ChiCom broadcasting....that has strange commercials.....

today is July 3rd

so I've owned this house for two years now.....very pleasant this morning, actually in the 60's on my newspaper walk. The house on the corner that had a sign up all week about selling BBQ and hash on the 3rd didn't have that sign up today, and there was no smoke coming out of the smoker behind the hedge.....maybe the guy changed his mind, or went to the beach or something.....oh well, I've got plenty of eats on hand for the weekend without the hash.....

nice

70's again this morning, with a couple of windows open in the living room there's a breeze going through, so I don't even have the ceiling fan on .....the "deep moisture" has been pushed south by drier northern air, so it's cooler and not nearly as humid as June was.....should be similar weather on through the holiday weekend.....which is a three-dayer for some people I guess, public workers anyway.....

2 bucks a month

is what the DISH went up for the start of the fiscal year.....and I thought, oh well.....but I had forgotten that they usually add something when they boost the price.....one thing I found after dinner today is MTV Live way up above Encore, and below the tennis channels.....cool enough this time around, a Stone Temple Pilots concert, and now Kings of Leon coming on.....

73F, cloudy

the cooling trend continues, thank goodness....so I was able to get out and take care of the back yard this morning, in relative comfort.....the chicken enchiladas came out pretty good, going to be plenty of leftovers from that batch, frijoles too.....so July is here, I should check the bank online and see if they posted CD earnings for the quarter.....they should go up a little bit, though this punish-the-thrifty-reward-the-profligate interest set-up sucks....the Fed should set up a dual-rate system, where savers get a higher interest rate, and borrowers get what they deserve.....anyway, enough fiscal bitterness.....at least I'm not as broke as the government.....