8/14-It's been mild for several days with rain coming in late week. The hydrangeas are glowy pink:
Mamachuck surveying her realm:
Piling cumulus of showers that missed us:
8/19-we had a wet weekend with a mixed bag from hour to hour. Radar showed what I call "popcorn" cells-multiple small areas of showers moving across the state. One moment it is pouring. Five minutes later, the sun is out. Repeat.
Temps will be cooling early week with a couple of nights into the 40's. Happily, temps will rebound for the beginning of next week. Rain totals here for the month are 4.6". Time to mow the lawn again!
Over the weekend, the tithonia began to bloom.
Focaccia! with rosemary and olive oil infused dough. Tasty!
C's-caramelized onions with sauteed shittake mushrooms, homegrown cherry tomatoes, olives and grated lemon rind.
Served with the red wine of our choice.
Eco-terrorists attacks on the cherry tomato bush!!! Bastards!
Up and down the bush, which reaches over 6 ft tall, branches have been nipped. Most likely, it's the damn deer although squirrels may have climbed up there. I put my money on Bambi. WTF! They also hit the shorter Jet Star tomato stems.
Damage to the cherry toms-seems too small and delicate for deer-I'm wondering either bird or squirrel. Research sez they are attracted to the sweetness but oddly, the ripe ones aren't touched and they have to be much sweeter than the unripened fruit. This isn't the first year that we suspect that we have had clip-clop hooves on THE FRIGGIN' DECK! You can see the bare branches here:
What I find as odd is that this has been a lush, wet Summer. No drought! So, plenty of stuff to eat. What? Tired of the SOS in your Carrier Creek habitat? Or is it learned behavior-they were here last year and remembered?
Well, at least Mamachuck is not to blame for this outrage.
Monster zuccs!
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The Jewish tradition of leaving a stone atop a gravemarker:
An old practice that goes back at least to medieval times and possibly earlier to place a small stone upon the gravestone of a loved one when visiting the cemetery. There are a number of reasons given for this custom, on both a basic level as well as a more esoteric one:
- By placing a stone or a pebble on top of the tombstone, we honor the deceased by letting people know that the grave site has recently been visited. When others notice the stones, they will see that this is a grave visitors frequent, and they too will take an interest in who is buried there, and perhaps will visit the grave site themselves.
- On a more mystical level, the Talmud observes that reading the inscription on a gravestone can adversely affect one’s Torah learning. While the Kabbalists explain that in general this warning applies only to inscriptions that protrude from the tombstone and not words engraved into it, Rabbi Yosef Yuzpa Hahn (1570–1637) cites a tradition that placing a stone on the tombstone also helps to avoid any undesirable consequences that would result from reading a tombstone.
- The placement of the stone serves as an invitation of sorts for a spark of the departed to come down and rest upon the tombstone for the duration of the visit.
- In life, people may enjoy the beauty of their physical surroundings, but when they die, all of their material possessions and beauty are meaningless and left behind. It is only their accumulated spiritual wealth that remains immortal, just like a rock, which stays forever.
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We were watching a doc about whales and we saw this big guy:
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| Blue Whale |
The stripes made me think of the apron worn by this famous 1990's TV chef:
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| Jeff Smith |
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Passing noted: Peter Marshall from The Hollywood Squares TV quiz show died 8/15 aged 98 years.
Q: Do female frogs croak?
Paul Lynde: If you hold their little heads under water long enough!
Ahh, marketing. Saw this at the market today:
This brand, part of the Conagra, according to their blurb is "taking a step toward protecting the environment by becoming the first brand to introduce Carbonfree® Certified Carbon Neutral single-serve frozen meals. This June, eight Evol meals, produced in a TRUE certified Zero Waste facility, will be Certified Carbon Neutral through the Carbonfree® Product Certification Program".
Gee, how nice of them. Nevamind that the emissions from your gas vehicle when you drive home from the market more than negates any carbon emission savings created by this frozen dinner. (cough) Bullshit.
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Why do you see gulls in large parking lots?
Oceans, beaches, lakes, parking lots, roof tops, and the like all have one thing in common: they
allow gulls to group up out in the open in such a way that gives them a
line of sight on both potential food sources and potential predators. Wide open space makes a safe place. Plus, humans tend to litter and kids drop things so there can be some good eatin' on the asphalt.
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Oh Gawd, politics:
The deranged Roach in his 2am Sunday tweetstorm posted this coded fake ad: from Ben Meiselas
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIAn9BIVe1w
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| Jonestown 1978 |
This is the coming apocalypse the Christian Nationalists (and others) have been in an uproar about. What I find real crazy about this coding is by putting Kamala into her Indian alter-ego, she is cast as a swami or guru, as much as a false prophet as the Rev. Jim Jones. See what happened to him! Brother, we shall know Yahweh's wrath if that dark guru witch is elected!
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Fun Vids:
A Blue Button. From Wiki:
Porpita porpita, or the blue button, is a marine organism consisting of a colony of hydroids found in the warmer, tropical and sub-tropical waters of the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans, as well as the Mediterranean Sea and eastern Arabian Sea. Although it is superficially similar to a jellyfish, each apparent individual is actually a colony of hydrozoan polyps. The taxonomic class, Hydrozoa, falls under the phylum Cnidaria, which includes anemones, corals, and jellyfish, which explains their similar appearances.
The Pharaoh's Serpent (aka black snake).
From Wiki:
"Black snake" is a term that can refer to at least three similar types of fireworks: the Pharaoh's snake, the sugar snake, or a popular retail composition marketed under various product names but usually known as "black snake". The "Pharaoh's snake" or "Pharaoh's serpent" is the original version of the black snake experiment.
The Pharaoh's snake is a more dramatic experiment and it requires more safety precautions than the sugar snake due to the presence of toximercury vapor and other mercury compounds.
This reaction was discovered by Friedrich Wohler in 1821, soon after the first synthesis of mercury thiocyanate. It was described as "winding out from itself at the same time worm-like processes, to many times its former bulk, of a very light material of the color of graphite." For some time, a firework product called "Pharaoschlangen" was available to the public in Germany but was eventually banned when the toxic properties of the product were discovered through the deaths of several children who had mistakenly consumed the resulting solid.
The Pharaoh's snake experiment is conducted in the same manner as the sugar snake experiment, however, the former uses mercury (II) thiocyanate (Hg(SCN)2) instead of powdered sugar with baking soda. This must be done in a fume hood because all mercury compounds are hazardous.
Human's These Days with vivid examples of HRH's attitudes towards us. (bloody peasants)
Fluff fire in La Rioja, Spain.
The fluff is actually seeds that have fallen from popular trees.
Its cotton like fibres help them to be carried in the wind so they can
be widely spread. Although it's highly flammable, the grass remains
unburned due to its high water content.
Bovine Revolution! From 1996. Some folks would rather not become a meal.
Insane, violent and hilarious: The Trunk Monkey ads
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Craig Stevens in the title role
We've been watching some old school TV lately: Perry Mason, Twilight Zone and Peter Gunn, which was on from 1958-1961. It's the first detective program created directly for TV vs. something adapted from a different medium. What's familiar for most folks is its iconic theme music written by Henry Mancini. Gunn is a Mr. Cool private dick but not a borderline thug like Mickey Spillane. He's a gentleman for the most part, suave, well-dressed, with good taste in most things patterned after Cary Grant. His "office" is a smokey, wharfside jazz bar named "Mother's" owned by a tough old bird. His girlfriend, "Edie" works there and occasionally sings.
Curiously, the creator was none other than Blake Edwards, who also wrote and directed a number of the episodes. In 1963, Edwards created the Pink Panther leading to a series of sequels lasting until 1993. Its iconic theme music was also written by Henry Mancini.
The Pink Panther featuring Peter Sellers and David Niven
I noticed similarities between Peter Gunn and the film Chinatown. Like Jake Gittes, he is an ex-cop who goes into private investigation. The money is better and he maintains relationships with detectives on the police force. Gunn has a nose for trouble and like Roger Moore in The Saint, (which ran in the UK between 1962 -1969), he likes to help folks out often in a manner skirting the boundaries of the letter of the law.
Jack Nicholson as Jake Gittes in Chinatown
Roger Moore as the title character
One thing we appreciate about these shows is that being only a half hour long, they move along at a good clip. The fashions are always interesting as are the prevailing mores of the times especially with gender roles/relationships.
And man...everyone smokes.
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"White Horses of Camargue" by Drew Doggett
From Wiki: The Camargue, is a traditional French breed of working horse indigenous to the Camargue area in southern France. Its origins are unknown. For centuries, possibly thousands of years, these small horses have lived wild in the harsh environment of the Camargue marshes and wetlands of the Rhône delta.
This image was part of a photo essay on CNN:
https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2024/08/world/horses-untamed-spirits-cnnphotos/
This reminded me of an earlier lifetime, living in the country and raising horses. Michele and I had 2-an Andalusian and a Tennessee Walker/Clydesdale mix that we rescued. I remember we would sit on our back deck, which overlooked a pond, and watch these two big/gentle guys play in the paddock next to the barn. They would chase each other around and perform mock battles, rearing upon their back legs and thrusting their front hooves at each other.
They were both geldings so these actions weren't serious-dogs and cats mock fight as well.
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