Cloud watching

A cardinal was around yesterday and would pose for a picture then fly away only to return with a different pose on a different branch. Not sure what he was doing but he did keep watching the camera as he did it.

About a half mile away a turkey buzzard kept circling and there must have good air currents up there as he barely moved his wings. Perhaps next time he will fly a little lower and get closer for a better shot.

The blue sky was filled with clouds and most looked a little odd to me, like this disjointed mushroom cloud. It looked like the evil scientist really messed something up in his secret laboratory. At least I hope that was what happened.

Some clouds ever appeared to be dancing as they moved slowly across the sky. Two partners turning as one while enjoying the beautiful day. Watched these slowly swirl until the dance ended and they broke apart. I guess you had to be there.

And I finally spotted the elusive whale cloud to the east that made me smile. Said cloud was slowly heading north on waves of wind. He made good progress as long as I could watch before he went behind some big trees.

It looks to be a dry day here today so enjoy our Friday as much as we will. Now I need some coffee and about 10 donuts to get me going.
Comments are always welcome.

Look up

A lot of us are talking about the rains, the floods, the tornadoes and other weather related things so we’ll go in a different direction today since the basement is finally dry.

When I got up this morning it was brighter than normal so I went out to investigate and saw this strange bright white ball in the eastern sky. It took a while before I realized it was the sun and stayed out longer than usual enjoying it.

If you are an early riser today through June 1st and you get outside about a half hour before sunrise, and have a clear view to the east, you can see the waning crescent moon and Venus low in the eastern sky. Venus should be easy to spot once you see the moon as it’s one of the brightest stars out there.

As a matter of fact the moon and Venus are the 2nd and 3rd brightest celestial bodies after the sun. So if you have clear skies and your view isn’t blocked by trees or buildings you should be able to see both if you happen to be outside early. Venus will appear under the moon and not like the picture above from a few years ago.

And the night of June 1st, if you can get away from city lights, you should be able to see both the Big Dipper and Little Dipper. While the Big Dipper is bright and fairly easy to spot the Little Dipper is not.
So if you have clear skies on the 1st just look north.

Now that I’ve geeked you out, enjoy our Thursday as we know the weekend is almost here. Now for some coffee.
Comments are always welcome.

Cute critters

I don’t get many pictures of cute critters but when I found where Mama cat hid her miniature brood the chance was there. We noticed Mama went from pregnant to skinny again and couldn’t find where she stashed the kittens. Until I went to get into the garage and noticed something moving behind the security door.

The orange object I saw moving was this kitten sitting on Mamas back and in a playful mood. Mama cat didn’t seem to mind so I put off going into the garage. When the kittens notice they’re being watched they scatter.

After all the playing the kitten took a nap. I just had to get this shot if I didn’t get any others. As luck would have it I got lucky and snapped a few more.

This little one seemed curious and was looking at everything. It makes me wish the glass was cleaner so it would be a better shot. With the rain everyday it’s not easy to keep the glass clear.

Finally, this one looks a little green but that is just a reflection in the glass. The green lawn gave the critter a different look. There is one other kitten and I’m working on getting his picture. He looks a lot like the famous Grumpy Cat and doesn’t resemble his siblings much.
Sooner or later I’ll get a shot of him.

Enjoy our Wednesday and enjoy the pictures as we have. Now for some more coffee.
Comments are always welcome.

What do you think?

Have you heard of the LEGION Act that was introduced into Congress on February, 2019. LEGION stands for Let Everyone Get Involved in Opportunities for National Service, which may not be what you think. It is basically two bills, one in the House and one in the Senate, that would allow almost all veterans to join the American Legion.

The government now recognizes:

World War I, April 6, 1917- November 11, 1918

World War II, December 7, 1941- December 31, 1946

Korean War, June 25, 1950- January 31, 1955

Vietnam War, February 28, 1961- May 7, 1975

Lebanon/Grenada August 24, 1982- July 31, 1984

Panama, December 20, 1989- January 31, 1990

Gulf War/War on Terrorism, August 2, 1990 to present

So now the legislators want to add over a dozen conflicts to the list to allow thousands more veterans to join veterans group they previously couldn’t. Membership has benefits, programming, and emotional support. Members of the American Legion and VFW seem to think it’s a good plan.

Some of the 12+ conflicts included in the bills are:

the Greek and Chinese civil wars

the Lebanon Crisis of 1958

the Bay of Pigs invasion of 1961

and the Cold War 1947-1991

The Senate version of the LEGION Act is S. 504 and you can go to the link to read that bill.

The House version of the LEGION Act is H.R. 1641 and we have a link for that.

Not sure what the chances of the bills passing are but both are bipartisan bills. All that said I’m not for it or against it but it does sound like a grown up version of everyone who plays gets a trophy.

Enjoy our Tuesday as our basement is pumped out and ready for more rain later today. Now I need some Coffee.
Comments are always welcome.

Memorial day

Sunday snicker

The Baptist preacher just finished his sermon for the day and proceeded toward the back of the church for his usual greetings and handshaking as the congregation left the church. After shaking a few adult hands he came upon the seven year old son of one of the Deacons of the church.

“Good morning, Jonathan,” the preacher said as he reached out to shake Joanthan’s hand. As he was doing do he felt something in the palm of Jonathan’s hand. “What’s this?” the preacher asked.

“Money,” said Jonathan with a big smile on his face, “It’s for you!”

“I don’t want to take your money, Jonathan,” the preacher answered.

“I want you to have it,” said Jonathan. After a short pause Jonathan continued, “My daddy says you’re the poorest preacher we ever had and I want to help you.”

Quick update

Late yesterday afternoon the western sky looked like this about a half hour before sunset. There was a tornado about 80 miles away and when the storm did come I was sound asleep. After this is posted I’ll check the basement in case I slept through a good one.

Earlier in the day I spotted this little critter just sitting there enjoying the day. Not sure if he found what he was looking for put he flew off before I ran out of patience.

If not busy pumping out the basement I may watch the race at Charlotte Motor Speedway a little later today and turn up the surround sound. The wife is out of town until Monday morning so there isn’t anybody to complain about the ‘racket’ coming out of the speakers. And if it gets too loud I’m sure the neighbors will let me know.

Monday is Memorial Day when we honor those who gave the ultimate sacrifice. I know we’ll have a moment of silence here to remember and give a nod to our God also. If you have a flag, Monday would be a good day to display it.

Enjoy our Saturday unless you hate the day, then by all means be grumpy. Now for some coffee and leftover pizza to get the day going.
Comments are always welcome.

Cookies?

The much forecast thunder storm rolled through about an hour ago and once again we were not impressed. As a matter of fact I was outside with camera in hand trying to get some shots of the lightning before it got too wet.

We’ve seen the weather forecasters so much lately we feel as it we know them. It even looks like the flood is going to pay another visit soon. If the wife was working I’d be out on the porch sleeping on hammock so I could hear the rain.

This batch of storms appears to have spread across the country and several areas got a soaking, we even have tornado warnings for later today. I’ll be checking the basement for water and napping in between so will miss a lot of the forecasts and warnings. Don’t think I’ll be missing much.

Earlier the local weatherman compared warnings and watches to cookies! He pointed out that all the ingredients to make the cookies on the counter is like a watch and the baked cookies are like a warning. Lord love a duck! Have we gotten that stupid as a society that things have to explained with cookies?

At any rate be careful if you’re having severe weather. Things can go from bad to worse in a heartbeat. Enjoy our Friday as it is the start of a 3-day weekend for some. Now I need some coffee to stay awake until we get back from buying groceries.
Comments are always welcome.

One of those days

Hard to believe but all the pictures above were taken within 15 minutes of each other. The top one is facing east and looks like a normal day this time of year. The kind of sky that has kids guessing what the clouds look like as they slowly dance across the sky.

The middle picture is facing south and looks a bit different. These low flying clouds looked great yet might also foretell of rain. They were so low the trees got in the way of a great shot.

The bottom photo faces west and was the last taken. Grey clouds came out of nowhere and tried to block the sun and again, looked like the kind of sky that would have the little ones seeing all sorts of critters in the clouds. And we didn’t get rain until much later in the day.

During all that a lonely dandelion was fighting a losing battle with the winds and would soon be just a shadow of its former self. The thunderstorm that came later last night finished it off and it now looks like a half eaten Tootsie Pop.

And yes, this post is late. I overslept and it took me a half hour to get vertical. My back decided not to work today and I’m fighting it to get mobile to get things done.

Enjoy our Thursday as the weekend is only a dream away. Now for some coffee and leftover pizza.
Comments are always welcome.

Catching a break

The wet weather has moved on and we’re already warmer this morning than we were all day yesterday. When the rain stopped we had 60 mph sustained winds for over 30 minutes that rattled the windows in our 110 year old house. Surprisingly, no downed trees or loss of power around our house either.

Oklahoma got hit for sure and we’ve seen videos of tornadoes, flooded roads, and damaged buildings. Not sure what other states got hit with but we haven’t heard much about fatalities and hope that number is low. Here we may have another flood with all the recent rain.

With all that going on I noticed several little green pine cones growing on the pine out back and was reminded that no matter what we get hit with things will get back to normal at some point. It’s funny how some people don’t know, or care enough to find out, that crazy weather has been around longer than we have.

We talked about that during my visit with Dad and he said he’d been through droughts, floods, record heat and record cold, tornadoes, the great depression, and had gotten wet more than a few times. His take is we setting up for a drought which is hard to swallow as wet as everything is around here. That being said, as far off as some weather forecasters have been he could be right.

Enjoy our Wednesday as it means we’re half way through the work week. Now for coffee so I have the strength to push the mower around later.
Comments are always welcome.