Good morning!!!!

[toppop52]

Storm just hit, 52 mph gust just now, super heavy rain and near constant lightening. .6” of rain in 15 minutes and no sign of letting up.

1.9” in 30 minutes.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Crime is up everywhere, not just in urban areas. There were arrests for looting during last year's evacuation for the Dixie Fire, the largest wildfire in California history. That was the main reason I ignored the evacuation orders. I've spent a lot of time hardening it and making defensible space. I even have homeowner's insurance, something I thought I would be unable to obtain after last year's fire season. I like to think I can defend my home from wildfires, but that's a long way from a sure thing.

Bad guy wise, I have upgraded the alarm system, installed security cameras inside and out, and finally have an internet connection fast enough to let me keep an eye on things while I'm away. I have blindingly bright LED lamps on the outside of the home that can turn night into high noon, so the cameras will capture usable images. I've joined a club and have started taking regular firearms training classes.

All of this, and I still worry about my safety, more so than at any other time of my fairly long life. The woods are alive with illegal pot grows and meth/hash oil factories, addicts and bums litter the city streets, and law enforcement is spread too thin to be a meaningful deterrent. They're good at what they do, but the crooks they catch are often set loose the same day, often without any bail. That's because it's cheaper to let criminals go than it is to prosecute and incarcerate them. And we pay among the highest taxes in the country, not enough of which goes toward preserving public safety.

There's just too much going on in the world that we have no control over, and that has gotten so much worse than it has ever been. Drives me crazy just thinking about it. Maybe younger people don't notice the decline because they have no basis for comparison in the short time they've been alive. Just another "reward" for reaching old age, I guess.

 

[daugen]

now that's a downpour Randy. System is headed East, should be out of there soon, giving my friends in DE a wet day

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Good morning to all! Low was 62°, high forecasted for 88°. It's 78° at 09:00. Unfortunately, fire red flag warning in place. The wind kicked up at around 07:00, gusting 35-40 mph.

Scratch trying to fly the helicopter with the GS.... maybe later will be calmer.

Doug, the sweet sound of a 4 stroke! That is starting really easy. Scheduled the first flight yet?

Drew, sorry to hear you're having so much pain. Hopefully it will subside quickly.

Toppop, sad story about the officer. Hopefully some eyes will be opened and these revolving doors can be stopped. It's happening everywhere.

Buppies, thanks for posting the beach picture.

Cleaned up the downed branches. I am expecting to see more today, but hoping for none.....

Not sure what else I'll get into today, raised bed planters on hold for the time being. New idea for the courtyard walkway.... instead of wood timbers as borders and crusher fines for the walkway, I priced out doing concrete and it's the same cost, maybe a little less. Plus, I can form it with gentle curves and 'custom' shapes forming flower beds. A big plus would be decreased maintenance too!

It's drip irrigation day again ..... gonna get that started. Need to change out some drippers, 3 containers overflow, so will change them from 2gal/hr to 1 gal/hr. I'll double check the rest to make sure they are working properly.

Everyone have a great day!

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Storm just hit, 52 mph gust just now, super heavy rain and near constant lightening. .6” of rain in 15 minutes and no sign of letting up.

1.9” in 30 minutes.

I saw that on radar. Knew you was getting it good.

My local sheriff is like yours, but I work a couple counties over, near the governor.

 

[sodamo]

67°F and .71 inches rain.

Sophie is visiting our friend just home from hospital with the hip issues for lunch. Something of a gals gathering. I promised to make brownies so I’ll be slipping into David Domestic mode this morning.

Doubtful it will dry enough to finish mowing, but that’s oK I got some inside tasks requiring attention. Possibly even do my state taxes.

And another Piano session. Doing some free lessons via my iPad. Boy got some unused muscles in my hands.

Prayers for all
Be safe
Have a great day

 

[toppop52]

now that's a downpour Randy. System is headed East, should be out of there soon, giving my friends in DE a wet day

We got 2.36” in an hour.

 

[PJSprog]

There's just too much going on in the world that we have no control over, and that has gotten so much worse than it has ever been. Drives me crazy just thinking about it.

We have a case going around here where a guy recently killed and beheaded his pregnant ex-girlfriend (baby was due next month), and tossed her head in a dumpster. Police caught him right away. Judge ordered him held on $2M bond. Really?! I mean, if there was ever a case for "held without bail," how could this not be it?

 

[rswyan]

A pleasant 73F, moist, and cloudy @ 12:45, only calling for a high of 83F - 86F today - which is a significant downward departure from yesterday's prediction of 93F.

Local weather station down the road says we only got 0.38" total of rain from the storms last night ... so evidently that second round that was supposed to come through didn't develop into much of anything here. But plenty enough to keep things green ... at least for the moment. After the possibility of a stray thunderstorm today, it looks like the next chance for rain will be Thursday when there is 58% chance of scattered thunderstorms.

Tomorrow is supposed to be brutal, a Heat Advisory has been issued, calling for an actual high of 97F.

Watered potted squash and pumpkins first thing yesterday. Some of them were starting to look droopy but they popped right back up once I gave them a drink.

Then did some work on The Woman's dahlia's, fertilizing the ones that hadn't been done, watering, and adding more soil to the grow bags to help support them. Have one that's going to need some additional support. Will have to figure out something on that.

After that I started mowing the front lawn and got that all done. Took a little break during that to come inside and finish up the Singapore Mei Fun from the other day. Didn't amount to much more than a few bites but it took the edge off.

Then took the garbage and recyclables up to the cans at the road and set them out, collected the day's mail.

Woman was going to bring home Mexican for dinner but they were closed, made an "executive decision" because she couldn't reach me and ended up bringing home gyros from Papa Gyro's which was pretty good.

At some point I took the time to actually read the Special Weather Statement the NWS had issued and decided that with the possibility of 75+ mph and 1.5" hail my already sunk costs with the squash and pumpkins warranted a little further effort ... so I headed back outside around 22:00 or a little after and started moving as many plants as I could into the garage, using a small Amazon box I found in the garage which would hold three pots.

Also arranged a bunch of the shorter ones into a rectangle and then took the dump cart and turned it over covering those. Probably got 50 of them protected with that.

It was warm and humid and I was sweating profusely, but I managed to move most everything into the garage that I didn't get covered with the dump cart. In the end, it was all for naught, since the really damaging part of the storm tracked south of us. But I was happy to do it.

Not sure what all will be on agenda for today, some likely possibilities are:

Get plants moved out of the garage and get them arranged a little better than they were, also get a count on each of the various types.

Get the bell peppers and tomato plants planted later, if the ground is dry enough and not a soggy mess. Eggplants are still a little small so will leave those for now.

Get a few yellow crookneck and zucchini plants in the ground in the garden down here at the house as well.

Finish up work on the Water Buffalo.

See what else comes up.

Hope everyone has an enjoyable, productive, and safe Tuesday ...

 

[LouNY]

Why doesn't the hospital provide security to it's employees. Someone needs to sue their employer.

I'd rather see someone neuter the jerk off idiot, just a quick swipe with a good blade and walk away.