gutter-washer

slept well with the sound of rain most of the night.....while I was fixin' breakfast it was really dumping down, but by 7:30 when I went out to go get the newspaper it had mostly moved off to the East, so I didn't get wet walking.....but half an hour after the storm the street drains were still gurgling with all the run-off......I forgot butter on Wednesday, so if I want any on my french toast Sunday morning I'll have to go to some store today.....used the last little bit this morning.....it's going to be muggy today, no two ways about it....already feels damp inside the house even....a couple of windows were open during the night .....I can have fish fillets, mashed potatoes with gravy, and green beans tonight, and then watch that battle of Kentucky game at six......I might go walk around the downtown square area in a while, if the rain holds off....they are going to close the college bookstore on Musgrove, since colleges are moving away from the expensive printed books and just using online texts.....makes sense to me....don't have to carry the things around and then lose money on them at the end of the term.....the bookstore will re-open under different management as a "spirit store".....that doesn't mean bottled spirits, it means stuff with the Blue Hose logo......

an eastern western

I think it was set in Thailand.....english subtitles.....another flick from the foreign western category.....a really strange look to that movie, like everybody involved in it had taken exotic drugs.....Tears of the Black Tiger.....or something like that......so this morning it's pretty nice out, clear with a little breeze.....70% chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon and evening.....got into the 80s yesterday and might again today.....I fixed chicken-fried steak with mashed potatoes, cut green beans, country gravy.....today can be more steak-and- avocado fajitas I guess.....with bell pepper, onion, garlic, sour cream, salsa.....it was warm enough for shorts and sandals walking for the paper as the sun was coming up....I think it's Spring Break next week for the school district.....my snack mix this week is Chex brand, 'cause they had that two bags for four dollars.....which isn't a bad deal.....I have one Megamillions ticket.....

got into the 80s

Wednesday.....61 and fair here now.....the grocery store was still messed up when I went there, people moving everything around and making it hard to get up and down the aisles.....and I forgot to get butter, even though I stood there for a moment in the dairy section trying to figure out why I was there.....took a nap after lunch.....a small hamburger with kosher dill pickle chips, mayo, mustard.....steak and avocado fajitas for supper, good deal on decent avocados this week.....Netflix has a "foreign Westerns" category.....I watched one last night that didn't make a whole lot of sense, but had plenty of six-guns, etc.....and I watched a Star Trek episode where the "away team" ends up fighting aliens in a cave again.....they seem to end up in caves a lot.....probably because they have a set that looks like a cave and they like to re-use it for production budget purposes.....probably paid for itself over the years.....I'll try an avocado burger for lunch today.....time to go walk around the park I suppose.....

52 and fog

predicted high of 77.....maybe I can find stuff for fajitas at the store, that sounds good.....don't know what else.....I'm out of pickle slices.....I could get those $.99 hamburger buns and make sliders for lunches, haven't done that lately......everything will be in a different place this week, 'cause they were starting to move it all last week....I might have to wander around longer than usual.....

cold wind

so it's a cooler morning than it has been lately....55F when I was out finishing the yard work.....did the back today, took a little over an hour.....the grocery ad in the mail didn't inspire me much.....don't know what I'll get tomorrow shopping.....maybe get things for some kind of stir-fry skillet.....ham is in the ad for Easter I guess.....Easter egg kits were featured on one of those fold-out sidebars.....I finished off the rib-eye last night, and I have either frozen fish or frozen chicken-fried steak things I could do today.....it got up around 80 Monday, but it might not get out of the 60s this afternoon.....I watched some movie about a French bank-robber last night that was a sequel to the first movie about him that I'd seen some months ago....and I watched the last Father Ted, so I'll have to find a new off-beat comedy series to watch each evening after the news.....there are plenty of choices, mostly British stuff is what I like.....Don't know what time I'll get back to the house this afternoon.....the services start at two, followed by the burial right there at the church-grounds, and then cousins will be "at the home" after that.....I need to look in the closet shortly and make sure my "good clothes" look decent still.....

perfect morning

for weed-eating? That's what I been doing anyway....blues skies and a nice breeze, temperate conditions....so that took 'til 10:30....to get the front and part of the sides done.....next morning I'll get to the rest I hope.....trimmer and mower work.....what do realtors call it.....the street presentation looks OK now.....if you photo-shopped out the abandoned house to the left.....put a rose garden in there instead.....well, Aunt Becky's obit was in The Greenville News today.....services at 2:00 Tuesday out at the Beaverdam Baptist .....real close to the home I believe....I know how to get there anyway, went right by yesterday on the way to pick up Uncle Ed.....I've got maybe the last of the chicken salad for a lunch sandwich today....and a piece of rib-eye and rice pilaf and cut green beans I guess for Monday supper....I need to remember to dice up some garlic for the steak, ' cause I believe there's most of a head of garlic up there in the cupboard that I should be using for something before I forget ......

late post today

because I left the house at 8:30 this morning to go over and get Uncle Ed to drive him up to the hospital in Greenville to visit Aunt Addie.....Cindy was there already fixing his breakfast....it took a while to get him up and running....and then he took us some crazy way to where we were going....but we got there eventually.....hit a couple of showers on the road, but his big Buick drives nice, has those automatic windshield wipers too.....a couple of the daughters were there taking turns looking after Addie.....I got a six-inch Black Forest Ham Subway Sandwich in the hospital food court for lunch....with Dr. Pepper as my drink.....the doctor came by eventually and explained that Addie had not had a stroke as was feared, but instead was suffering from low blood oxygen due to an infection and chronic lung problems.....she might be back home OK in a week or ten days.....so I got back to Clinton around four this afternoon after getting Uncle Ed back to Mountville....heated up leftover ribs, potato, corn for Sunday supper.....got Kansas vs. UNC on the TV with the sound off.....took the trash out to the curb.....so I guess I'm about ready to pull my boots off and just kick back now.....

severe weather expected for Laurens County

so Little League opening day is cancelled....games will start Monday instead.....couple of heavy rain-storms last night....I stayed up 'til after midnight watching NCAA basketball.....more of that this afternoon and evening.....stopped raining so I could go for my early walk, but I don't know about more walking today....we'll see.....them ribs came out really good, enough leftover for another supper and maybe a lunch.....tonight I can have either fish or rib-eye......didn't get any mail yesterday.....the day before that was just the City utility bill.....so that takes care of all the bills for another month.....this Macbook might be wearing out, the screen has a short in it when you open and close it, so I've been leaving it open once I get it to a spot where it works.....and the hard drive is making a clicking noise as it goes around.....a new one is $1200.....or the new iPad is $500 for the cheapest version.....do I need a Macbook Pro, or will the iPad do everything I usually do.....which is just internet really.....e-mail, weather, blog, facebook, banking & bills......that's about it.....I think the iPad comes with Skype, and face-time....no hard drive to worry about, no lid to wear out.....maybe for my birthday in a few weeks.....

lots of birds singing

it's mid-60s and overcast.....but that seems to suit the birds fine, they keep singing.....no rain yet today, but the front might get here with thunderstorms later.....got my walking done for the day.....it was foggy again around sunrise, everything is damp....including the weeds in the yard, so that gives me an excuse not to get out there and cut them.....maybe by Monday it will be sunny and dry enough for that kind of thing.....saw a good NCAA game last night, the Badgers and the Orangemen.....since it doesn't look like it's going to get terribly hot today I suppose I can do the ribs and a potato in the oven late in the afternoon without warming up the kitchen too high.....and I still have corn-on-the-cob for a side......I'll make grilled cheddar on wheat with onion for lunch, as a change from the chicken salad of the last few days.....the curried rice pilaf will be the starch side for some more suppers soon.....I can't seem to get going today.....lassitude might be the right word.....

blanket of fog

and a 61 degree temp at sunrise.....I went over to Laurens and Walmart.....got another pair of river-runner type walking sandals for this Summer....I go through a pair every year....wear out the left toe and the right heel with my lopsided stride.....but they are only $16, so that's no biggie....and they are really comfortable while they last....I got more Blue Goo too, they were out of it on the shelf last time I was over there.....so tonight I'll fix breaded fish fillet, rice pilaf, and cob corn.....I'll add a little extra curry powder to the Zatarain's package.....I have both tartar sauce and cocktail sauce for the fish.....I got the cheapest BBQ sauce they had in Walmart, on my theory that the cheapest is usually the best.....or good enough at any rate....that's for St. Louis style ribs sometime over the weekend.....so I'll go walk the park with my new foot-gear in a bit.....T-shirt and denim shorts conditions looks like.....chance of thunderstorms later in the day....looked like a threat of that a couple times yesterday, but didn't actually get any rain here, it stayed mostly in the low-country.....

bumble bee in the kitchen

came flying right past my ear while I was making chicken salad.....it kept trying to get out through the window screen over the sink....I caught it in an empty moonshine jar and put it out the back door....the big kind of bee that bores a hole in a log.....I made about a pint of chicken salad, with onion and sweet pickle relish, curry powder.....I'm low on mayo so I just used some mayo and some ranch dressing.....it's tasty stuff....it will be for lunches this week, on wheat bread.....got a loaf of wheat bread this week, instead of rye....they are messing around inside Bi-Lo like they do in grocery stores from time to time.....putting in new flooring and shelving and moving everything around so you can't find anything....new check-out counters with new screens to use, etc.....but they had good sales on this week....got some steak and some ribs and some fish fillets all marked down to decent prices.....got Granny Smith apples this time, ate the last Empire this morning.....it was warm walking the park, but now some clouds are coming over.....might be thunderstorms in the afternoon.....it's been 55F for my newspaper walk for the last 5 days I think....I'm leaving windows open at night.....I wonder how the bee got in the house in the first place?

Spring

or as they might say around here "Sprang"......going to be a warm one.....today anyway, they are saying there might be a bit of a cold front over the coming weekend...or a cool front.....dandelions are all over the back lawn.....pollen is painting the front porch green....wipe your feet or you'll track it onto the carpet.....a little cold supper last night.....chicken, potato salad, sharp cheddar cheese .....last piece of rye toast with the poached egg this morning.....found three books at the library....their computers were down, so they had to check them out by hand.....folks were waiting around for them to come back up.....the folks who rely on the library computers for internet access.....when I was in McDonald's Sunday for lunch there were folks in there who were obviously milking their caffes to take advantage of the free wi-fi.....one lady appeared to be writing a term paper, or something like that.....very pleasant walking at sunrise today.....a long coal train had the school busses and other traffic tied up as I strolled through downtown.....almost time now to walk the mill park.....I suppose I have no excuse to delay Spring cleaning.....some day I have to do something with the laundry porch, there's too much stuff stacked up in there .....much of it can probably be thrown out.....some of it might just get shifted to the shed.....there's lots of room in there, and it stays dry and all.....

sunny monday morning

it didn't get quite as hot yesterday as they said it would....it was close though, 78F....and there was a nice breeze in the afternoon so it didn't get muggy.....I had a chicken pot pie for supper......and watched most of two basketball games .....the game with NC State and the North Carolina game....so if the two Carolina teams advance they end up playing each other, that's the way the bracket looks in the paper today anyway.....I'm going over to the library....it opens at nine....and Tuesday is Spring and Wednesday is grocery day and the 3rd Wednesday....when the SS goes into checking for me.....dogs are barking at the trash truck.....why do they bother?

rainbows & a sun shower

see below for the rainbow yesterday afternoon.....and Sunday morning just after sunrise while I was walking to get the newspaper, there was a line of showers coming from the West so the sun low in the East threw up a very well defined double rainbow over the town....I didn't have a camera with me.....the line of showers caught up with me on the way back, even though I was walking in the sun still.....I had taken my windbreaker/raincoat 'cause I'd looked at the radar before I left the house, so the little bit of rain didn't bother me.....ham-on-rye french toast for breakfast....lunch might be brat on rye again like Saturday....unless I go out and get a hamburger....something I haven't done in months.....haven't done this year anyway....blame Nick and Dan for that, they were talking about going out for hamburgers yesterday on the video call we do.....well, now I'm going to read the Sunday paper.....the showers have already gone past....but there's a chance of more later.....since it's projected to get up to the 80s again later, it might get muggy in the afternoon.....

puddles

I guess it rained overnight....didn't wake me up.....on the radar there's a storm front over near Athens that might head this way later this morning.....finished off the casserole last night, probably have bbq chicken and potato salad this evening.....hot dogs are all gone, so lunch might be grilled swiss on rye.....maybe with some bratwurst on it too, still have one of those.....from where I sit looking out my living room window I can see the backyard next door, and also the next backyard beyond that.....there for the last 3 years two border collies were running back and forth almost constantly.....maybe they stopped after dark, I don't know....at any rate, the dogs are gone now.....I think the grandfather who owns that house has a farm somewhere....maybe the dogs went there ....that's just my speculation, since I saw him in the neighborhood the other day....the travel trailer that had always been there is gone too....maybe the dogs are on vacation....the pollen index has been something like 10.2 out of 12.....what with the oak pollen and the overnight rain, the gutters downtown are stained green....for St. Patrick's?

were some clouds

around sunrise, but it's mostly blue skies now....I walked the park, and then vacuumed, swept, and scrubbed up some in the bathroom and kitchen.....got a couple of windows open....it was 85F Thursday, but it might not get that high again today.....didn't see any school busses this morning on my newspaper walk, so maybe this is the 4 day weekend they are taking because they didn't use the snow days this year.....I got a Guitar Player, that was all the mail ......hasn't come yet today.....for supper today I have some choices.....but will probably just finish off the casserole, get that out of the fridge......Spring is next Tuesday? beautiful outside right now on the front porch.....the bats were out last night....I guess now there are more bugs for them to eat, with the changing season....no fireflies yet.....after that one day I haven't seen anybody working much on cleaning up the place next door.....one guy did saw some branches off the tree at the back of the house, but then I think his chain-saw failed, 'cause he fiddled around with it for a while after it stalled and then just left and didn't come back.....

going to get hot

into the 80s in the afternoon? yesterday after the park walk I got out blue-jean shorts and sat barefoot on the porch ......watched the folks going by for 2nd Weds. at the food bank on the corner....that's USDA food day, always a crowd....you can sit out and watch the near missies that happen with cars parked on both sides of the street, effectively making it into a one-lane road......finished reading the stories for the month in Fantasy and Science Fiction.....I guess it will be worth the $0.99, several thought-provoking scifi ideas in the first issue I read anyway.....I heated up casserole and lima beans for supper....today I can have cold chicken and potato salad....I still have two hotdogs left.....I got more bbq corn chips and more store-brand chex mix for this week.....I have Empire apples, which are good and crunchy.....my library books are due Monday.....it looks like some of the Big Dance is on CBS, so maybe I can catch some basketball games over the next couple weeks.....I get a CBS feed as a .2 on an Upstate UHF channel.....most of the time....unless there's thunderstorms.....20% chance of showers or thunderstorms tonight....

fogged in

but it's a warm fog.....might get up to 80 today.....I made shrimp and hash-browns last night....with sweet onion....and an egg poached in the middle with cajun sauce on it....an iron skillet meal.....with rye toast and marmalade.....now I've got to go grocery shopping again .....I already did my Irish meals for the month earlier on....corned-beef, bangers, etc.....so don't know what I'm looking for today.....O.J. and tea bags for a couple of things.....maybe get a cooked deli chicken, those are easy and are marked down a little this week, according to the ad that came in the mail Tuesday.....it stayed warm last night.....I sat out on the porch some around 10, before bed......finished a thick library book, didn't watch any movie.....time hasn't changed yet in Europe, so my overseas news is off by an hour this week.....so I watched Father Ted before BBC, instead of after....when I run out of Father Ted, it looks like there's a slew of other strange Brit humor shows to check out, helpfully selected for me by the Netflix computer.....I spent some time yesterday getting the browser in the kindle to work.....it's tricky, but you can do e-mail and facebook on the little screen.....it's easier if you just turn off the graphics, they don't work very well anyway.....but in a computer crash emergency you could use the device to get online...as long as you have a wi-fi signal you can use....well, off grocery shopping.....

storm drain continued

this morning the City crew was digging a ditch along Academy next to the apartments....it looks like there is going to be a vault under the new parking lot that will drain into the system for the mill village....which I guess flows eventually to the creek below mill hill.....it's back to warm and damp today, a switch from the cold and dry .....and the paper had an article about how the next two weeks are going to be more like May than March.....temps 35 degrees above normal ......so the dang weeds will grow back faster I suppose.....the oak tree out front looks like it's getting ready to release pollen.....and the pecan trees out back are starting to bud too.....the City truck came by while I was reading the paper and picked up my yard waste pile off the curb....that service is included in the utility bill.....the bratwurst and brown rice casserole worked.....made with roasted garlic alfredo sauce....and diced up garlic and onion done in olive oil along with the sausage chunks.....plenty of leftovers.....I steamed some crook-necked squash as the side.....it was 57F on my early walk, and I guess I'll head out the door here in a few minutes and go over by the mill as usual.....

monday morning

and it wasn't raining so I went ahead and tackled some yard clean-up.....took a pile of fallen branches and sticks out to the curb, to get them off the lawn so I could run the mower.....the grass wasn't that high, but taller weeds with flowers were sticking up and looking unkempt....knocked that stuff down anyway.....took 'til almost 11.....and then I ran the shower as hot as I could stand it on my lower back.....to try to keep it from getting stiff and painful after all that twisting and bending, etc.....think that's working, along with Max Freeze.....so I can have a hot-dog for lunch I suppose, and this evening either make that casserole I've been talking about, or have sausage, eggs, hash-browns, toast with marmalade......have to decide before it's time to start a casserole.....Academy St. was blocked off at Elizabeth early on when I went for the paper, a City crew was out working on that drain project some more.....they put a new drain point in up near the apartments.....and it looked like maybe they were prepping for some new pavement near the entrance to the complex....we'll see.....that's big excitement around here, anybody doing anything....

later in the afternoon

it's warmed up into the 60s and is nice outside....but weeds are coming up in the yard, and I guess I'll have to start cleaning up around here pretty soon....but it might rain Monday.....took a nap after lunch.....the cottonwoods blossomed already this year with the strange weather, so they stand out as you look around the neighborhood, since the oaks and pecans are just now starting to get leaf buds and are still bare looking so you see right through them.......

frost warning 'til 10 this morning

Next time I drive anywhere I'll need to change the dashboard clock, or I'll become confused.....I'm glad the computer and cell phone change themselves, 'cause I wouldn't know how to do it.....enough mashed potatoes and peas and onion gravy left for bangers-and-mash for supper today, and then I have stuff for a casserole for Monday and maybe Tuesday......watched part of some college basketball game yesterday, but couldn't really get into it.....they lost me at the commercials.....sunny and clear enough outside right now, still 35F windchill.....SC Lt. Governor resigned in disgrace when convicted of multiple campaign finance violations.....his excuse was that the laws were too complicated for him to understand...(?)........I was wondering what else you can do with kindle, so I looked at the magazines.....and am doing a 14 day free trial of Fantasy & Science Fiction......that's one of the magazines I used to read back in the 60s.....it's only ninety-nine cents a month from Amazon.....the first story I read was good.....some of the free books they have on kindle are worth every penny.....Sunday mornings I play a Kinks station on Pandora, and you get a good mix of Beatles in there too with other British first invasion like the Hollies, etc.....I used the Roku to watch Dan play the banjo yesterday afternoon.....huge strides in entertainment technology continue unabated.....

wind 10 mph ENE

for a windchill of 39F.....so we are back to the clear and cold thing today, instead of the warm and damp thing like yesterday......will little breaded shrimp re-heat decently in the microwave? I didn't eat them all with the grits and slaw last night.....so some are in a container in the fridge....I think my coffee-maker might be on it's last legs....it's making a funny noise....I got the thing for 12 bucks as I recall.....maybe 12 years ago.....I like it because it's small and compact....can probably find something similar in Walmart or Fred's.......but I want something with just a switch on it, not some damn programable contraption that has to be re-set every time it loses power.....it does not need to tell me the time of day.....it does not have to be "automatic"......can I still find such a thing? Anything with a little screen on it is nothing but trouble.....mumble grumble.....I've noticed lately that some of the guitar amplifier brands are touting the "traditional interface" on some new products.....all knobs to twist, no damn little menu screens or programming to do.....I must not be the only one.....anyway, probably be a hot-dog and corn-chips for lunch.....I still have more chicken-fried steak fixings.....that slaw was easy....finely diced cabbage, raisins, and ranch dressing.....I could have the last little bit of that at lunch with a dog I suppose.....

some progress?

When I got back from washing the car and checking the tire pressure I talked to a guy who is starting to clean up the abandoned house next door that's been sitting there for more than three years....he says that somebody who usually buys old trailers on lots, cleans up the lot, and then puts it on the market has got title to the next door address by paying the back taxes.....the guy said he is waiting for somebody to deliver the dumpster, which they will place on Washington St. Somebody had told me once that there was a 90 day time-frame on a demolition permit, and the guy said that's what he thought too.....the place should be gone before Spring is over.....I went walking over by the mill as usual, and it looks like somebody has something going on in part of the old office building.....windows fixed, trim painted, and power on in the part right across from Red's.....and the parking lot right there is getting cleaned up some, from tree limbs, etc....And coming back to the house I could see that they had cleaned the mud off the street up where they have been working this week....that's good.....progress of sorts in the neighborhood.....I still have some cabbage left, maybe I can slaw it to go with shrimp and grits......

big mess

the rain overnight washed a lot of yellow mud across the street there near the church where they tore out the sidewalk and dug up dirt putting in new storm drains....and I drove to get the paper 'cause it was still raining then and so now my Jeep looks like I live on a dirt road....yellow mud splashed up the sides.....and now it's not coming down hard enough to wash it off....I might take it over to the coin-wash.....it needs that anyway, probably been a year or so since the last time it got washed.....I'm lazy, what else can I say......I forgot Clemson basketball was on in the ACC thing last night on a local channel.....so I missed seeing them exit in their first game....oh well, guess I really didn't want to watch that anyway.....I still have some corned beef left, so I can make grilled corn beef and swiss on rye for lunch, as a variation from hot dogs.....Friday supper might be shrimp and grits? From looking at the regional radar, I think the biggest part of today's rain is about finished here......every rainy day helps some, but the cattlemen are already worried about another drought year with not enough water to grow feed....what ya goin' ta do when the well runs dry?

when I got back from Laurens

I went and walked around the park, and actually got pretty warm walking with a flannel shirt on....but when I went out on the porch to eat an apple, this big black cloud and a cold wind came up....looking at the radar, there is something blowing up from the South.....might get a shower or two here pretty quick.....

onion gravy

I'm going to have to remember how I made that last time.....for bangers-and-mash.....onion gravy is traditional, if you are having gravy on it.....the instructions might be on the onion soup packet....made "country gravy" last night for the chicken fried steak.....maybe gravy meals aren't good for you.....I don't use animal fat though, I use olive oil.....it's sort of gravy looking weather.....clouded over, chance of drizzle in the morning.....the weather lady yesterday had a graphic showing how there's two layers of clouds right now....lower level clouds coming up from the low-country, and high level clouds streaming down from the mountains....so not much sunshine reaching the ground.....I wonder if that big solar storm will mess up feeds from overseas, like BBC or whatever.....I think that can happen.....well, mid-50s so walking can get done today.....and I might go over to Walmart, just because it's easy to find things in there.....got gasoline the other day.....doesn't really use much to run over to Laurens....I paid $3.41 for regular, with my Bi-Lo Fuel Perks.....poured some Marvel Mystery Oil in there too.....that Shell station near the grocery store where you can get the Perks discount changed hands a while back, and the new people run everything as a credit card instead of debit....the debit buttons don't even work....and then they must not run their credit card batch every day, because a charge there won't show up on my bank account until four or five days after I was there....confuses me some times, wondering if the dang thing ran correctly....oh well, I'm sure it will hit me sooner or later.....I had a hot dog with onion and a pepper for lunch Wednesday....probably be the same thing today.....

cloudy, cold

mid-40s.....some chance of rain later.....they were working at putting in a new storm drain vault this morning when I came back along Academy.....looked like the same contractor who is doing the parking lots, not City workers.....since there was no snow this year, they are giving the snow days to the schools as a 4 day weekend and an extra day of Spring Break.....that's in Greenville County anyway, don't know if they will do that here in District 56......the days are already set aside so they have to use them up? whatever.......the kids are coming to SC the first week in June, is the plan anyway.....maybe I can get Spring cleaning done by then.....I made a grocery list, so I can be a little more organized in the store than the last few trips.....the ad yesterday had shampoo and drain cleaner offered two-for-one, and those are two things I'm out of....so that works for me....might as well go right now and do the shopping.....

this is only a test....

the sirens went off at 9:00 as a test of the severe weather warning system....I guess there are loud-speakers on the Municipal Building two blocks away because I could hear the disclaimer ....."only a test" etc....freeze warning this morning too, was frosty.....25 windchill on my walk.....they tore out part of the sidewalk on Academy yesterday.....at the place where water stands after a storm....maybe they are going to fix it to drain better.....in the cold snap last year that half-block or so was a sheet of ice for four or five days.....I bet they dig up that old storm drain there and improve it somehow....they should do that anyway, it doesn't look big enough to do the job.....work continues on the new civic parking lots ......they were delayed for a year by a lawsuit because they were presented at first as Pharmacy School parking lots.....and the School is part of the College, which is a religious institution.....so they had to argue about the separation of church and state.....no public money for a religious parking lot.....as I say, they ended up using County bond money for the work, and ceding the land to the City.....so they aren't church parking lots after all....so they won't be "Student Parking Only"? Used up the second piece of rib-eye last night, more corned beef and cabbage for today, and then shopping day.....this morning I think I'll go over to the gas station and then drive around some, since I can't remember driving the car for a few days....got to keep it running, pumping the juices.....looks like it's going to be windy again....hope it's not as bad as yesterday....

still blowing

wind from the West 13 mph.....windchill of 38F when I went out for the paper.....wind advisory until 7 PM this evening.....the cold front should bring it down below freezing overnight.....there is some snow on the ground up in the mountains......corned beef last night, and today can be rib-eye for supper.....I guess I can wait and see if the sun warms things up enough to go out walking after lunch.....right now it's too chilly and blustery for me......

too much cold wind

to go out and sit on the porch.....I lasted maybe five minutes and came back inside .....15-20 mph blowing out there.....oh well.....it's staying comfortable inside, with broken sunlight now and then....took a little nap around 1:00......

3X4=12

clear, calm, colder.....drier.....low 40's in the morning.....wind might kick up in the afternoon....ran the central heat to take the chill off before breakfast.....rum french toast with ham.....for some reason the coffee pot was fighting with me .....I put in the usual measured 3 cups of water, but only got 2 cups back.....what happened to the other cup? It must have stayed in the grounds somehow, is all I can figure......nice crisp fresh air on the early walk, except for the 1/2 block where I was breathing Fabreeze or some kind of dryer anti-static thing whatever they are called....a cling-free chemical agent that is not nice to smell so early on a Sunday morning.....right after eating.....they should be out-lawed, along with perfume samples in the newspaper.....I never use them, and my laundry never clings together.....what's the point? Maybe everything I have is too old and worn-out to have any cling left......I cleaned house some yesterday, and I have leftovers I can just heat up tonight.....so can't think of much I would have to do today.....or even could do.....

tax dodge

It stopped raining by the afternoon so I was able to get out and walk....I went over and inspected the vacant block between the bank and the Post Office where they are laying in a new parking lot....it looks pretty elaborate, with landscaping and storm drains, etc.....and I walked over to Musgrove past the tobacco shop that opened a while back.....I read in the paper about the family that runs the place.....they brought the idea from Texas.....the deal is they buy raw leaf and cure it and shred it for smoking on premises.....this way the per-pack tax is not levied.....so they sell it to the customer, and they have automatic machines that stuff the product into "roll your own" filter cigarettes.....so instead of $44 per carton the ciggy-butts are $22 out the door.....American enterprise at work.....earlier the bros and I had our bi-weekly video conference.....at supper-time I did iron-skillet rib-eye.....lunch was cold corned beef on rye with mayo and wasabi-horseradish mustard......I turned off the TV tonight after the overseas news, and have been trying to read, but my eyes want to slowly close.....

tornado watch and warning

The county was under tornado watch when I went to bed around 10:30.....I woke up at 4 AM or so with what sounded like another thunder and hail episode going on like the morning before.....and the tornado warning siren went off after a while, so I got up and looked on the laptop to see if there was really anything headed right at Clinton.....there wasn't.....the warning was cancelled at 4:41.....I went back to bed.....if a tornado is going to take the roof right off a house, I don't know what you can do about it anyway, warning or no warning......after looking at some cooking site recipes, I used cabbage in the curried pork dish, with rice noodles.....so the pork sirloin is all gone finally.....today I can either have leftover corned beef and cabbage, or a piece of rib-eye with squash and macaroni salad sides.....it's still raining, and looks like it might be coming and going on into the afternoon.....it was 70F in the kitchen at breakfast, haven't had to use any heat lately.....it was raining too much to walk for the paper....don't know if I'll get any walking done today the way things look.....

thunderstorm with rain and hail

the thunder started around 4:30 this morning, and about at 5:00 the hail was coming down loudly.....there's a metal cap on the water heater chimney that goes PING when hail hits it.....that went on for 10 or 15 minutes......walking after breakfast it was foggy and humid, 61F.....it's going to be muggy if this stuff burns off and heats us up into the mid-70s again today.....I ate plenty of "Irish boiled dinner" yesterday evening.....and there's plenty left over.....tasty and filling.....I should use up the pork sirloin.....mince it up and heat it with BBQ sauce or perhaps make pork curry over brown rice......can you put squash in a curry? I'll have to google that idea.....bet there are recipes.....some time this month I'll have to work in the yard some.....pick up debris fallen from trees and cut back some shrubs and start grass-cutting season......I need to fix the shed door, it is hanging on one hinge.....get like a gate hinge over at the hardware store.....

rain in the middle of the night

but the severe weather that was on the evening news didn't get to Clinton.....no tornado warnings....64F and cloudy here now......chance of rain again tonight......I've got the corned beef brisket in the slow cooker.....I read the first book in a trilogy, and found out from the library website that they don't have the other two books as e-books, but they do have hard copies over at the main branch in Laurens....so I'm going to drive over there and see if I can find them ......I don't think I need anything at Walmart while I'm over in that direction, found pretty much all I was looking for at the grocery store yesterday......I think I remember how to get to the library over there, I went there a few years ago once.....I ate plenty of shrimp last night, have squash leftover for other suppers.....can have a little macaroni salad with lunches too, so it gets used up in a timely fashion....