walked for a bell pepper

over to the Curb Mkt. and back.....four blocks or so at 93 heat index might have sweated off a pound maybe.....maybe not.....so I'll chop up the pepper and some leftover pork and saute that in olive oil with some chilipowder I suppose....and then simmer with the blackeye peas....and do biscuits in the toaster oven, that works real well for that.....closed the kitchen sink window and the bathroom window and set the thermostat to 85 and clicked it to Cool.....it might go on before supper...it's 80 inside right now....cooler under the ceiling fan in the living room....cool enough....

got some library books

and went into Fred's Discount and got a gallon of windshield wash and de-icer since that was almost empty in the Jeep.....back at the house the heat index at 10 in the morning is 86.....so I'm going to play it cool and not go walk the park right now.....I might try waiting until 9 at night for a walk, like some people do around the neighborhood.....got the grocery ads in the mail.....don't know what I want for meals this coming week, it's going to be hot for a while longer they say.....more salad, a steak, hamburgers? I've been wanting a hamburger......I read this morning that three new eateries are projected to open in Clinton....all three of them pizza places....we already have four or five pizza places I think.....where the fancy restaurant was at 120 Musgrove a family with the Pizza House in Laurens is going to open, with an outdoor area, sports TV, etc.....and the old Study Club is going to re-open as a Tony's Pizza and Subs, with an outdoor area, sports TV, etc....and some regional chain is thinking a building a new store across the highway from the Sonic Drive-In.....more fat food......good thing I can't afford to go out to eat......if any of them have a big greasy Italian sausage sub with peppers in it I would be tempted....

fell asleep

on the sofa after lunch, listening to the radio.....online radio.....it's warmed up here late afternoon, but it's just around 80 in the house, so I'm not running the AC yet.....Nick skyped a few minutes ago....things normal in SB sounds like.....he will teach 2 classes next year instead of 8, if I understood him correctly.....pretty much retired.....he said he is going down to Social Security some time soon to show them his retirement papers, and to sign up for Medicare.....did another porch rocking session....I'm counting that as exercise.....I did do my hour or so of walking today too, before it got too hot......

mild monday morning

going to be hot and muggy later in the day I suppose......been getting in some porch rocking action....finished my library books, but it can't be library monday because of the holiday.....so I'll do that tomorrow......the slow pork came out good, and the local sweet corn was excellent.....I've got enough of that for today too.....and then I think I'll cook some black-eyed peas with some of the pork for a supper Tuesday....I don't think I have any cornbread to go with that, but I do have biscuits.....

72 sunday morning

I thought briefly about getting some charcoal and lighter fluid and taking the Weber out of the shed and actually doing a barbecue.....but decided that was too much trouble, and messy besides....too much carbon emissions, etc.....I put some rub on the rib meat and have that in the fridge until later when I'll cook it in the iron skillet in the oven, with the lid on....that worked last time .....the Braves and the Reds went to like 11 innings I think it was last night, so I got to bed past my bed time.....Braves won.....online I read that Clinton graduation was Friday, so I guess school's out for Summer.....and Laurens is having Farmers Market, but it doesn't start until the first weekend in June I think it said somewhere.....I can't get excited about car races on television, so I won't watch any of that today......

$25 front porch rocker

back from driving around

had to run the windshield wipers and headlights.....just enough drizzle, or mist or something.....didn't see much going on....a couple of yard sales, but they didn't look interesting enough to stop and get out of the car.....I just like to drive through the woods a little bit sometimes.....smells nice going through in the rain......Earl over the back fence is out messing with something.....and I've decided it must be his pool stuff he's working on.....they have an above ground pool with a deck around part of it, and I bet it's almost the time of year to get that thing going.....the mail truck went by, but I didn't hear it stop here I don't think.....

a warm fog

blankets the morning in the quiet southern town......they aren't trying to do a Clinton Farmers Market this year.....didn't amount to much last year....but some people set up on an old parking lot where some business used to be on the highway a few blocks from here, and they have peaches, tomatoes, watermelon, corn, cantaloupe......sometimes boiled peanuts......strawberries right now.....I haven't read anything about them setting up at the Courthouse Square in Laurens this year either......I might go drive around some this morning, just to see what is going on.....probably nothing much.....I don't remember if they are having some kind of Memorial Day event in Clinton today or Monday......I don't think they had school yesterday, a four day weekend? School might even be out for the Summer, for all I know....or it will be pretty soon.....

downpour

with thunder and lightning for about two hours, and then the sun came out for a bit and I went walking over by the mill.....now it's clouds coming and going......it got so dark in the middle of the storm I turned lights on in the house....Clinton Public Safety reported at least six tree limbs over power lines last night with localized outages....my electricity stayed on....

thunder to the south

and on the radar it looks like one more line of storms headed this way.....last night the more intense cells missed Clinton, some other places had power lines and trees down, and large hail.....I walked for the paper this morning without getting wet, but it looks like I would get wet if I tried a walk around the park right now.......it was 63 early on, might get to 80's this afternoon.....

severe weather

getting here right now.....lots of west wind and thunderstorms with hail headed this way.....went to the Swingin' Medallions show and stayed until they did Double Shot around 8, and then went back to the house and sat on the front porch to listen to the second set.....which ended at 9 with that song again.....right as the wind started really kicking up....was a good evening for them.....they beat the rain, and I think there were only three trains going through the event.....senior year in high school was when Double Shot of my Baby's Love came out......I guess I'll need to close a couple of western windows....it's coming from that way.....this is the front that tore up the midwest getting here, but no tornado warning right now.....I saw some fireflys earlier, some of the first this year......

90F and clear

but the band isn't scheduled to start until 7, which around here means 7:30 maybe.....and off to the south and east there's some nasty looking stuff on the radar.....a squall line of thunderstorms which will get here when? Right now it's still in Alabama, but it could move all the way across Georgia to here in the next two or three hours.....wait and see.....

cool breeze

some high clouds....keeping it nice this morning, around 70F.....out walking I ran into this older neighbor who gets out walking sometimes.....he said that the old Red's is applying for a permit to be a lounge.....which means a liquor bar I guess.....the Baptists will fight that, I'm sure.....and he said a house a couple of blocks down had sold to pharmacy students, who were fixing it up pretty well.....it smells like a forest fire outside ......the neighbor thought 50 acres had burned somewhere near Spartanburg, where a plane had crashed.....I saw something like that on the news last night, but I thought that had happened on the side of a mountain in North Carolina.....well, the wind is from the West, could have been over towards those mountains and the smoke be carrying to here.....50% chance of thunderstorms this evening.....we'll see what happens with the festivities on the square late today.....the money for the bands they have during the warmer months comes from the motel room tax they put on all those places over on the interstate.....so people just passing through pay for a large part of parks improvements around here, and for things like local events in the little towns....works for me.....I'm going to have spaghetti and a salad for supper today, and I'm thinking a stuffed pepper and black-eyed peas for Friday......

around 80 degrees

nice breeze.....comfortable enough walking around the park a while ago....no mail, though we should be getting the City bill some time soon.....went to the store, and I've got country ribs and white corn for next Monday.....also got salad fixings.....got the local weekly paper.....what they are calling a mini heat wave continues, but I still haven't turned on the AC, just ceiling fans and been cool enough.....it should cool down some over the weekend with some wet weather predicted, but be mid-90's again on Memorial Day, 10 degrees above usual.....

I don't know if this works anymore

blogger keeps saying I'm not valid.....it took 45 minutes to get to this screen for some reason.....all I was going to say was that I cut the grass and took a shower, and got the usual Tuesday ads in the mail....this all probably isn't worth going on with anyway....it's just that it's become a habit...but if the fucking machine in the sky is going to be a hassle to deal with, I'll just pack it all in.....

some high clouds, haze

75 outside, WSW wind at 6 mph.....around 70 inside.....100% humidity.....never did have to turn on the AC yesterday, predicting mid-90's this afternoon.....might end up turning it on.....just had french bread pizza for supper Sunday.....watched a pirate movie from 1938, and then Masterpiece Theater.....and sat out on the porch some just after 10:30, nice out then.....read an article in the paper this morning about campgrounds that provide the tents and the food when you get there, so you don't have to pack so much in your car.....lots of variations on the theme....cabins, activities, etc....I don't know if I'll get up the gumption to do anything like that this year or not......there's plenty of camping around here to try looks like.......

sat on the front porch

for just a short while.....86 out there, cooler in the living room for sure.....had a cold rib-meat sandwich for lunch, on wheat toast with mayo....a few bbq flavor Fritos, glass of wine.....earlier I talked to Nick and Carol briefly about the reunion yesterday, passed along greetings, etc....for some reason I've read four novels recently that took place either in Newfoundland or Maine......and the characters would use the expression "When you see your folks, say me to them..." meaning "say hello to your folks from me" I guess.....anyway, the back home folks said hello to the West Coast folk, is what I'm getting at.....I said I would say them to y'all....Newfoundland sounds like a really hard place....so does Maine.....my neighbor at the Resort, Remi, said that his grandparents in Maine lived in a log cabin without running water or electricity, with an outhouse.....when he visited them as a child.....must have been in the 1950's.....

ceiling fan on in the morning

it's going to get hot today, in the 90's I suppose......I'll see if I have to turn on the AC by supper-time or not, haven't run it yet this year.....somebody mentioned yesterday that next weekend is Memorial Day....I hadn't realized that.....no wonder it's getting warm, Summer is almost here.....dead quiet Sunday morning in Clinton, as usual......I guess I can hear some birds chirping, a woodpecker pecking, and a train that sounds like it's in the distance at the moment.....now it sounds closer.......

family reunion

There were a couple dozen people there I think....I didn't actually count....there were graduations and proms and other things going on, so it wasn't as crowded as the last one in the Fall.....I got to talk with Aunt Addie and Aunt Doris a lot at the table .....Uncle Ed was sitting with us too, but he doesn't talk much because I don't think he hears what's being said very well......the ladies were telling us about their aunts and uncles, of that generation.....I don't remember all the names they came up with, but that's all written down somewhere I imagine.....there were only two kids there this time, Bree and Edson.....instead of the swarm that was there before.....there were pimento cheese sandwiches, chicken salad sandwiches, cole slaw, meatballs, mac-and-cheese, green beans, sort of a chicken stew, fried apples......other things I think....and pineapple casserole.....not a dessert, a hot dish.....plus a table of desserts.....sweet tea of course.....I had cheesecake with fresh strawberry and blackberry garnish for my dessert plate.....I was back home by 7, and found a baseball game on Fox HD.....Yankees and Mets.....now I'm going to watch some 10 o'clock news and then go to bed....

Hildegard von Bingen

a German mystic in the Middle Ages......Netflix has lots of interesting foreign movies.....this was in German with subtitles, but to my surprise I could still understand large portions of the German even though it's been decades since I've done anything with the language.....I guess that kind of thing will stick with you.....so what I do after supper is watch the local Ch.4 news, and then switch to BBC live from London through Roku and watch their headlines, and then switch to the Al Jazeera English feed to get the real facts about the Middle East and lots of other world news that you're not going to get from USA network television.....and then I watch maybe a foreign movie or film noire ......maybe stay up until the ten o'clock news out of Asheville, they have a good weather presentation......that was a tasty pork chop yesterday, done in an iron skillet with oregano and just a little curry powder.....and the wild rice, and corn done with just a little chili powder....this morning was poached egg on toast, OJ, black coffee......very nice morning weather wise.....shorts and tee-shirt for the sunrise walk.....

washed the Jeep

it needed it.....and checked the tire pressure....they needed it.....was cloudy on the first walk, warmer on the second walk, going to get in the 80's late in the day? Might be almost 90 for the reunion late Saturday.....the beef rib meat got tender enough, and I've got enough for maybe two more dinners, and a small piece I think I'll chop up to make a sandwich for lunch one day.....today, for variety, I'm planning on a pork chop, Uncle Ben's long grain and wild rice, and cut corn maybe ......tomorrow supper of course will be the down-home covered dish buffet in Ora.....that's always a trip.....not as many people expected this time as last time I don't think....but that's OK because like 50 people gets to be more or less chaos, as far as trying to talk to everybody some....I'm going to take great-grandpa's 1892 shotgun, grandma Tingle's eyeglasses, and the framed photo of the Tingle family from 1905....with great-grandpa in it, and great-great-grandpa, who was in the Confederate Army in it too.....

gasoline report

I went to Shell, poured a little Marvel Mystery Oil into the tank, and then topped it off with $40 worth of regular at $3.34 per......that's with the .35/gal. off with the Bi-Lo Bonus Card.....back at the house after the shopping trip to Laurens, I looked in the checkbook and the last time I had gassed up was 3/19.....this is 5/19.....don't put many miles on the old Jeep.....I really should take it over to the self-wash before I go to the Ora reunion Saturday afternoon....it's filthy, which ever way you slice it......ate an apple on the front porch after walking the mill park.....70, sunny, little breeze.....

strange

I had noticed that some TV channels were coming in better....without any pixal break-up....so I had more watchable channels.....so this morning out of curiosity I did a new channel search through auto-tuner.....and found five or six new stations coming in......from Columbia, Charlotte, and from regional repeaters.....so I can get news-casts from SC, NC, and GA.....about all the same news though.....part of it might be the low clouds, getting some skip for a better signal.....UNC said the other night that it has gone to "full power" in the region.....maybe they put up a new repeater tower somewhere that these channels subscribe to.....digital HD over-the-air has made old tech viable again in a way.....I need to go get gas this morning, and then go to Wal*Mart and look for two or three things.....pretty nice out this morning as the clouds are starting to burn off....I think I'll do some short ribs of beef in a slow oven this afternoon.....

changed overnight

from Fall weather to Summer weather.....the storm system moved to the North, and lots of warm air and sunshine moved in this morning.....went grocery shopping, and they had lots of deals going on so I spent more than usual, but I think I got enough meals to last two weeks, instead of one.....if it does work out like that, then it wasn't a bad trip I guess.....got the local paper to read, and then I'll walk the park and then eat lunch.....they had those french bread pizzas like we always used to get for half price, so maybe I'll treat myself to that for supper.....have to be careful though, lately seems like I burn the roof of my mouth every time I eat any pizza.....actually, it's been months since I ate any pizza.....

I hate it when that happens

Stormy weather continues.....maybe that's what made the power glitch long enough to trip my redundant breakers.....anyway, that always gets my attention .....sitting reading with the music on and the lights flicker on and off, and the stereo goes quiet.....first time it's happened since I got the Roku, so I wasn't sure how it dealt with an outage.....well, after the green lights on the router switch had stopped all their flickering, I turned on the tele to see where we were, and the box had defaulted back to the first Roku option, so all I had to do was click back over to Pandora and get the music back on......going to be that kind of day.....chilly wet outside, reading and radio inside.....

did get some walking done

around the park.....looked like a break in the weather on the radar, so I went out.....just a few seconds of drizzle was all I encountered.....haven't seen the mail yet today, didn't see the truck on my walk like I do sometimes.....I have two hotdogs left for two lunches, and then I'll go back to half a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch for a while.....with maybe a slice of some kind of lunch meat added.....I need to get OJ tomorrow, and bread......have to figure out some more before I go to the store......I can get gas at Shell while I'm over that way, down to 1/4 tank.....

lots of rain

it started yesterday evening, kept raining for hours, was still coming down when I went to bed, and also when I got up in the morning.....raining right now after breakfast, and more coming on the radar, so I'll miss my newspaper walk.....there's a storm system that's spinning around over the state, dragging moisture up from the south and then rubbing against some kind of front to the north and producing rain here.....and it keeps going around like that, in a counter-clockwise motion.....might drift to the north out of here by tomorrow.....and then get up into high 80's again by the weekend.....looking out the window, it's too much rain to walk in....so I'll drive over and get my newspaper now....

heard some thunder to the south

sitting out on the porch late in the afternoon.....been overcast all day.....need to turn the light on to read inside.....fell asleep some on the sofa after lunch.....that kind of day, when it seemed like it was starting to get dark all day long.....

monday morning

the trash truck is later than usual......cloudy, in the 50's, 50% chance of rain today and tomorrow......highs in the low 70's, below normal for this time of year......finished another library book last night instead of watching anything......finished off the can of 3 bean salad, still have some beets left.....used to make 3 bean salad with kidney beans, garbanzos, and cut green beans.....this stuff I bought had kidney beans, cut green beans, and wax beans.....which are like albino green beans? Going to buy more anyway, it's a good Summer idea for a veggie side.....I never really liked the garbanzos all that much anyway.....still have cold fried chicken left, and a can of chili-mac.....only $1.00.......and then it will be grocery day again.....the church across the street has a bake sale on Thursdays quite often....I'm thinking of looking there for a jam cake to take to the reunion on Saturday.....if they have the bake sale this week.....if some church lady bakes a jam cake.....we'll see what happens.....

was falling asleep

with a library book on the sofa, so I went to sit outside....and just about fell asleep leaning back in a chair on the porch.....72, clouds coming and going, breezy.......

thunderstorm last night

from 9:30 to almost 11 there was lots of thunder and lightning ......and wind and rain.....pretty localized on the radar, just Clinton and Joanna getting the brunt of it.....cleared off and mild this morning, things still damp on the early walk.....sitting on the front porch around 11 there was a light show going on as the front went on to the East.....so I was up a little later than usual, but slept pretty well.....french toast Sunday breakfast.....went through the Sunday paper......

a little later that same morning

ran the vacuum, mopped the kitchen floor, wiped down the bathroom.....also walked the park, and sat on the porch to eat my apple....has mostly cleared off and is fine out....ran the ceiling fan until the kitchen floor was dry.....nothing in the mail but something from AARP, which I tore up and threw away without opening.....I did get a Guitar Player the other day, and still have some things in it to read, plus plenty of library books on hand......the heat and moisture might build to a chance of thunderstorms this afternoon.....

64, light rain

just barely got a few drops on me during the newspaper walk.....looks like a bit more coming down right now.....the Thursday post came back up, so I guess Google has blogger fixed.....was the problem part of their war with Facebook? I read somewhere that fb and google were fighting for some reason....I can't figure that stuff out....I guess I should clean up around the house some, vacuum anyway.....I'll need to open the new can of coffee Sunday morning.....Saturday supper can be leftovers, the sausage vermicelli dish.....been watching movies from the 1950s.....the "Classic Drama" category on Netflix......also have episodes of Appearances, W.F.G., Hitchhiker's Guide, and Red Dwarf in the instant queue......and with six different PBS feeds on the airwaves I can usually find something commercial free to watch for a while before I go to bed.....they have shows about Carolina history that are interesting.....the other night I was watching one about the W.P.A. building highways during the Depression.....

blogger down

Google was having problems or something....it looks like the Thursday entry is gone, and you couldn't add anything for Friday when I checked earlier in the day....but it's up now looks like....so....what to report? 86 and muggy, around 80 in the house.....feels like 75 under the ceiling fan....at least that's what I read somewhere; take away five degrees when under the fan.....walked twice before ten, to stay in the cool of the day....on the park walk, the old Red's cafe where something has been going on lately had a notice in the window that they were applying for on premise consumption of beer, wine, and/or liquor......a bar just around the block? Or a cafe with beer, who knows.....they have a Direct TV dish at the side of the building now too....a sports bar? There's no real traffic on that street, across from the abandoned mill.....maybe they know what they are doing.....supper Thursday was olive oil-garlic vermicelli with sweet Italian sausage and onion ......tasty, filling, leftovers generated......garnished with parmesan-romono cheese.....oatmeal for Friday breakfast, lunch hot-dog with pimento cheese, chopped onion, sweet relish.....it was pretty warm on the front porch in the middle of the morning, so I opened the back door and sat on the kitchen steps to eat my apple, in the shadier part of the property in the morning.....finished one library book this afternoon.....Galore by Michael Crummey....recommended reading, if you want something fairly bizarre....magical realism......shortly I'll have fried chicken, mac-and-cheese, baked beans for Friday supper.....

a good degree of serenity on the front porch

the severe weather all stayed to the north last night, calm and mild on the early morning walk.....no long sleeve shirt needed even.....so I decided to take advantage of the relative coolness to cut the grass out front....but it was still fairly humid, so I worked up a sweat anyway, and came back in and took a quick shower.....anyway now the yard, front and back, looks pretty good....and the City came by late yesterday afternoon and mowed down the weeds at the empty house next door so the block all looks more or less neat.....quiet in the neighborhood, as usual, so one may achieve a good degree of serenity on the front porch.....(I didn't get any mail today....)

towards ten at night

on the front porch it's warm, muggy, distant thunder.....more film noire tonight, and they streamed the end of the Celtics-Heat online.....so no Lakers, no Celtics either.....had cold fried chicken, bread-and-butter, and beet-and-bean salad for supper....lunch was a hot dog with pimento cheese and relish......I'm going to use the last Italian sausage in angel hair pasta, maybe tomorrow.....Pasta Roni is a buck a box....."add meat to make a meal".....says that on the label....it's sort of sticky in the house too, I might run the ceiling fan in the bedroom for the first time this season, to get comfortable enough to sleep....slept well last night, except for the part with the storm making strange noises....the old house will creak and groan with the wind sometimes.....the place at the Resort was worse, the wind would blow right through the walls there.....and the tin roof would rattle.....

no UPS store

in Clinton, so I went over to Laurens to send back the Dish receiver.....I found the return box on my porch last night.....and then while I was out I went grocery shopping.....coffee has gone up since the last time I bought any.....I got a cold fried chicken for four bucks, that will make for several meals......it's good chilled, or you can microwave a couple of pieces and figure out a couple of sides for a hot supper......the tail end of some stormy weather was still going past when I walked for the newspaper, but it didn't rain on me, just dark clouds and windy.....wind and thunder woke me up around two in the morning I think it was.....by the time I got back and put the groceries away and ate my morning apple it was pretty warm for the park walk.....had cleared off mostly, so it was a little sweaty.....read the weekly Clinton paper.....articles about the city and county budgets.....things are getting worse before they get better....if they are going to get better....still, they don't tax me much.....but they don't have the money to fix the roads either.....108 from here to Ora has been closed for months because the bridge over Duncan Creek is deemed unsafe, and it's not in the budget to fix that......of course our little problems here are nothing compared to the problems along the Mississippi.....

almost time

for the evening news.....almost 90 degrees, and a severe thunderstorm watch in effect until 11 tonight.....fixed myself a grilled Italian sausage, beet-and-bean salad, and mac-and-cheese for supper....made a little list for the grocery store in the morning, trying to get organized....

house mostly closed up

the bathroom window open a bit, same for the window over the kitchen sink.....this way it will stay around 70 in the house all day, as it gets into the mid-80's outside by the evening....the walking this morning was pleasant, if you get it done early enough, you don't get too sweaty.....sweat is good for you anyway.....sunny on the front porch while I sat and ate my apple....I toss the core onto the lawn and pretty quick a bird will come down and start pecking at it.....after it's been pecked at enough, one of them will carry it off......the squirrels don't seem to interested in apple cores.....they are plenty fat anyway eating my pecans.....the city truck came by and picked up some chunks of my oak tree that had fallen in the street during that last storm, along with the mimosa I had put out there too.....maybe another such storm tonight....I just heard the mailbox rattle, so the ads should be here so I can look at what the grocery store has on special this week.....about time to buy coffee.....

doesn't look like rain

tonight, but something might come through again Tuesday night.....sitting out on the porch as it's starting to get dark the bats are coming out.....and that guy down the street with a fire-pit next to his deck must be out again.....vaguely smells like camping outside...... a train is going by sounds like......got the ceiling fan on in the living room, at the lowest speed.....going to read a library book for a while and then go to bed.....

trimmed and mowed out back

worked up a sweat doing that, but now it should be good until June maybe......70's and a breeze while I was out there, and you're in the shade half the time .....clipped some mimosa too, which had grown across the back steps......that stuff grows fast.....

library, walk

nice this morning, after the rain.....found something to read at the library.....and they renewed my card....guess I've been here long enough for that to happen.....it was good weather for walking around the park, tee shirt and jeans weather......might get up to mid 80's today, mid 70's being the norm for this part of May.....I went out on the porch and ate my apple before sitting down to read some.....I'll have the rest of the ham salad in a sandwich for lunch, and I have a sweet potato in the cupboard that I should do something with before I forget it's in there......

about time to go to bed

and it's pouring down in buckets with thunder and lightning.....maybe it will put me to sleep, listening to the rain come down......watched Alexander the Great from 1955, with Richard Burton.....another flick the movie robot picked for me.....out on the porch it's still warm, and the jasmine scent is heavy even in the rain.....lots of frogs making noise too.....

porch-sitting

in the middle of the afternoon, very pleasant outside.....nothing to read 'cause I finished my library books, but tomorrow is library Monday.....streaming the blues station from Suriname again, it's relaxing to me for some reason......it's 81 degrees out I think it said.....

hah...

got on Breakfast with the Beatles on a feed through Roku from a station in Rochester NY....it does have commercials....but it's free......It's a Sunday morning tradition for me, the Beatles.....had my french toast with ham for the breakfast part.....and am planning on trying the curried ham salad sandwich idea for lunch.....I found lots of curried ham salad recipes yesterday, in my constant quest for things to do with ham......supper will probably be a grilled sweet Italian sausage with leftover black beans and rice combo......but that's a ways off yet.....mostly sunny right now, light SW wind, some unsettled conditions somewhat likely as it heats up during the day.....shooting for the 80's......tomorrow I should attack the back lawn again, it's been two weeks.....I guess Netflix works like Pandora somehow.....in that the mysterious machine brain in the cloud takes note of something you played and then makes suggestions for more things like that.....it picked up somehow that I like old pirate movies, so it showed me a good one from 1952 last night, that I'd never seen before.....and the UNC PBS station does Brit Night on Sunday, like channel 15 in San Diego, so the latest crop of things like Waiting of God and what all come on fairly late in the evening.....watched the Kentucky Derby, but did not watch much of the 2.5 hours leading up to it.....guess a two minute show wouldn't have enough room for all the commercials......

wow, this is cool

I just linked my flickr to Roku so now my photos come up on the tele....

messing around

with the little TV antenna, I moved it about 2 feet....taped it in the window up at at the top, instead of having it stuck on top of the blind.....and I started getting a half-dozen more stations.....three from North Carolina public television, and a couple of channels I haven't figured out what they are yet exactly.....maybe some day I'll try getting the same antenna outside, or putting up an outside antenna.....since the switch to digital, almost all channels are now UHF, so you don't need those old big wide antennas, just the smaller UHF type, since the higher the frequency, the shorter the element......

the post for the back steps hand-rail

there's a squirrel sitting on top of it eating a pecan.....nicer looking weather today, might get back up to the 80's......had a grilled sweet Italian sausage with grits and an egg for supper yesterday.....something without ham in it......used the last of a loaf of wheat bread this morning for my poached egg on toast.....got another loaf just like it in the fridge......except the price was different, gone up 20 cents from what I was paying for months.....I'm going to have to buy coffee soon, wonder how much it's gone up....the guy at the gas station/quick mart where I get my newspaper said that he should be able to lower regular to $3.56 when his next tanker comes in today......I'm going to need gas sometime in the next couple of weeks maybe.....I can get .30 off per gallon with the points on my Bi-Lo card at Shell.....well, looks like it should be nice right now for the park walk.....

blues from Paramirabo

which is some city in Suriname.....called Blues Ears radio, 24/7 blues e-station.....sounds pretty cool so far.....playing on the stereo with the Roku box....

another cool morning

in the 40's early on.....clouds coming and going, some small chance of rain they say.....I did work cleaning up a bit around here.....tried to wipe up all the places where I must put my hand when I'm walking through the house, leaving smudges.....and I washed the living room window that I look out back through all the time.....first time I've done any window washing in this house.....the screen slides up and down, and the window is double sashed so you can wash the top part by pulling it down so you don't need a step-ladder for the outside......the blinds are usually down over most of the windows, so they don't need washing.....was up into the 50's for the park walk....and I ate my apple and sat on the porch for a while.....there are roofers over where the junior pastor lives down on Pitts.....that place looked liked it had last been roofed during the Depression, or some where in there......watched Becket last night, and am going to have a go at War and Peace tonight.....but that sucker is like three and a half hours long.....well, the pause button works......I've got one slice of salami left, so for lunch I'll have that on wheat toast with mustard, mayo, pickle slices....maybe some cheese too.....

didn't warm up

all that much today, 64 late afternoon.....sweatshirt on all day.....but it was all right for some porch-sitting just now.....grilled ham and cheese sandwich for lunch, and supper will be leftover black beans and rice microwaved.....maybe tomorrow I'll get organized enough to clean up around here a bit....wipe down some woodwork, mop the kitchen floor.....some day I should do something with the laundry porch.....I've just been throwing things back there that I didn't know what to do with and it's getting to be a mess.....there are still boxes back there I haven't really gone through since moving here.....probably some things could go out to the shed, or be thrown away....make a little more room to move around.....

north wind persists

was 50 in the kitchen this morning.....a couple of days ago it was 70 at breakfast.....37 on the early morning walk.....no clouds, bright sunshine, but that dang chilly breeze.....oh well, probably soon we'll have to be running the AC.....I put a new filter down the other day for when I do have to crank that thing on this year......found the 20X20 size for 4 bucks at Fred's Discount.....they were out of that size at both Bi-Lo and Wal*Mart, the last time I checked those places......

got really nice

by this time in the afternoon.....walking the park just before noon you still needed a long-sleeve shirt....well, I did anyway.....don't like getting cold at all.....did the grocery shopping before that....I did get a small can of green chili enchilada sauce, I figure if I put some of that in the grits and call the ham jamon that will be close enough for cinco day.....might get a small bottle of tequila.....I remembered the oatmeal......the strawberries didn't look that good, most of them were from Watsonville CA, and some from North Carolina.....maybe I'll keep an eye out along the highway for somebody with local berries.....punched "jj cale" into the Pandora, so cool music has been playing the last few hours on the stereo.....was playing along for a while with the new guitar.....I have fish still in the freezer that I really should use up tonight.....with some hash brown potatoes, and beet-and-bean salad? sounds good enough......

wind from the north today

so it's going to be about 10 degrees cooler than yesterday.....was cloudy when I got up this morning, but it's cleared off now.....the last part of the rainstorm went through around 4 in the morning I think.....didn't see much tree debris or other wind damage on my morning walk from that thunderstorm that was going on at bedtime last night......so I'm about to head over to the grocery store.....don't think I'll bother trying to make any special Cinco de Mayo food......it says in the paper that the local strawberry crop is ready early this year.....in the stores now.....maybe I'll look at strawberries if they have them out.....I've got to remember to get more oatmeal.....

severe thunderstorm warning for Clinton

yep, lightning and rain right here right now.....still warm and muggy......from what it says on the tele, it should be gone through in twenty minutes or so......just finished watching a samurai movie, and before that some "Keeping up Appearances" ......it's really coming down right now, think I'll go out on the porch and watch......fixed black beans and rice with ham for supper....tasty.....

late afternoon

I had to rub in some emu oil for my throbbing lower back after messing with that silly sewer snake earlier in the day....nothing like a silly sewer, I always say.....anyway, been listening to Robin Trower on mog for a couple of hours....plenty of R.T. out there, and he is one of my favorites.....just put some diced ham in olive oil and added a box of black beans and rice mix....should take about a half hour on a slow burner.....I need to think about groceries on Wednesday.....I need orange juice, oatmeal, butter.....have half a loaf of bread.....

had to spend money

I hate spending money.....the sewer line to the street was clogged up again, so I rented a sewer tape at True Value for five bucks for five hours.....got the 100' tape about 50' towards the street and couldn't get it to go any further, after about an hour of trying.....since that is right where the roots to the oak tree would be, I took the thing back to the hardware store and got the name of a local Clinton plumber who they said had the only good roto-rooting machine in town.....got back to the house and called him up, and he said he was only two blocks away and would be right there....sure enough, he drove up in a few minutes and cleared out the line in two passes.....$185, which is a bargain compared to the actual Roto-Rooter Company, which would have had to come from Greenwood and wanted $100 just to drive to the house, and $200 at least for cleaning a line from the house to the street......in theory, a new plastic line was run to the street in 2003, according to the disclosures....and roots shouldn't get into it? Who knows.....the plumber thought that maybe they got in at a joint where the line seemed to change angle to avoid the oak.....anyway, the only way to get things done is to have the right tools.....I'm going to try that stuff that says it kills roots.....other than that, another nice day here, mild, a little muggy, possible rain after midnight.....goofing around with the sewer, I skipped lunch, since I was on a mission....can't say that I miss it much, actually.....so now I'm running a small load in the washer, since now the water should drain OK......

curry in the creamed corn

kick it up a notch.....that and scalloped potatoes for supper.....watched the english language al jezaree feed for a little different slant on today's news.....and watched another Waiting for God, and a thing about making chicken tamales on a Diners Dives and Drive-in segment.....maybe I'll look for a movie shortly.....right now got a npr feed with people analyzing what the death of Ben Laden means to the nation.....sort of a history lesson.....

british comidy

searching Netflix, I found 22 episodes of "Waiting for God".....one of my favorites.....so I watched a couple of those last night.....59 and a little breeze on the early walk, looking at around 80 again in the afternoon.....yesterday it barely touched that, since some clouds came over and it stayed mostly in the 70's......it was still pleasant out on the front porch after 10 at night, still some folks out walking at that time, or riding bikes....the streets are well lit, at least in the immediate downtown area......about the right time now to go walk the park, before it gets much hotter.....I put some Harvard beets in with the three-bean salad for my veggie side last night....that worked...

english language feed

of the evening news from French television.....lots more stuff about Libya and the Middle East and how the workers of the world march on May Day than you'll get on network news generated state-side......

maydaymayday

french toast with ham for sunday breakfast......a little cooler this morning than yesterday at the same time, but should get up to around 80 again by the afternoon.....I think the local Clinton AM station carries espn nba playoff radio, but I'm not sure.....I was thinking of listening to the games today and sort of taking a nap stretched out on the sofa at the same time......we'll see if I get around to that or not.....didn't see much traffic out on my early walk, quiet Sunday morning.....things will get quieter in a couple of weeks when the College is out for the Summer.....