Preparations Complete

Plants are in from the porch, sitting on a tarp to protect the carpet. The two huge blue containers were tomato plants.

Wind is picking up. Tide was up a fair bit a few hours ago when we went for a walk. I suspect things will start getting a bit rougher now through the rest of the night.

Still snug though.

WE ARE PREPARED!

So Isaac, who apparently has serious identity crises issues, is heading for us. Probably. Whatever. Tropical storm, hurricane, tropical storm, and back and forth and back and forth like a hooker in Tampa right now.

We've got food and water and Tom has booze and I have yarn and Oreo has pillows. We're sheltering in place.

Also, super headlight of superness

Bring it, bitches!

Things we have learned:

• Dippy stoner girls do their hurricane shopping around 9:30 PM and make me want to stab people
• Plastic forks sell out quickly
• Every public official in and near New Orleans sounds nuts

Also, if I wake up and this bastard has turned into a Cat 3 or something overnight I'm going to be really, really pissed. As it is, it's probably going to just sit over a huge swath of the Gulf Coast, aka "The Land Mass between NOLA and Mobile" for at least a day with major storm features.

Oh, and according to the Weather Channel, I got my BA at this place:

Mississippi State? Never heard of it.
See more on Know Your Meme

Thanks, guys. We had almost gotten over no one being able to pronounce Biloxi properly after Katrina.
And, you know, everyone flipping their shit about New Orleans when the entire "Land Mass" was laid waste.

Related articles

• Isaac threat to Gulf well beyond New Orleans

Godspeed, Neil

Neil Armstrong photographed by Buzz Aldrin after the completion of the Lunar EVA on the Apollo 11 flight (brighter and smaller version) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Neil Armstrong by most accounts was a quietly competent, unassuming guy, as the following snippet should illustrate:

He accepted a teaching position in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Cincinnati, having decided on Cincinnati over other universities, including his alma mater, Purdue, because it had a small Aerospace department; he hoped that the faculty members would not be annoyed that he came straight into a professorship with only the USC master's degree. (Source)

Awesome pilot. Best of luck to him on the next great adventure.

I hope we continue in his footsteps in exploration and innovation.

Best Place Name I've Seen Lately

The view north along the top of the cliffs at Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, a World Heritage Site in Alberta, Canada. Photo taken with a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump

Basically, Native Americans (and other cultures in other places) chased buffalo to a cliff or drop-off or whatever, let gravity do its thing, and then reaped the rewards of tasty, tasty meat and stinky, stinky fur.


Demonstrating that stupidity knows no limitation in terms of culture or time period, I give you the reason Wikipedia gives for the place name:

In Blackfoot, the name for the site is Estipah-skikikini-kots. According to legend, a young Blackfoot wanted to watch the buffalo plunge off the cliff from below, but was buried underneath the falling buffalo. He was later found dead under the pile of carcasses, where he had his head smashed in

Idiot.

I wonder how that conversation went:

Idiot: Oh, cool, it's buffalo-run time again!
Other Blackfoot People: Yep, try not to run at them from the front this time, okay.
Idiot: But I wanted to see them running and then fall! Hey, I have an idea! I could stand under the cliff and watch while the rest of you chase them!
Other People: That sounds like a great idea! Dumbass.Several Hours Later
Other People: Anyone seen the idiot? He always disappears when we get to the gross parts.
Buffalo being moved
Other People: "Holy shit, he actually did it. The least we can do is memorialize his epic, epic stupidity for future generations."

And now it's a WORLD HERITAGE SITE!

The past few days

I think this quote says it best:

“There are no words for this — it is just nuts,” said Dr. Michael Greene, a professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive biology at Harvard Medical School.

Health Experts Dismiss Assertions on Rape - NYTimes.com

Anywho, I think most of you can guess how I feel about Todd Akin and his, shall we say "eeeeenteresting" view of reality.
And you can probably also guess that I would think it was awesome if my uterus had magic powers. I mean, beyond the capacity to wander through my body and make me crazy.

I mean, wouldn't this be cool?

Donations Needed

So I can buy this:

Fond of Big Bottoks Am I, You Other Mercians Can't Deny

Or, Aethelbald of Mercia, rather:

According to a story recorded by the 16th century antiquarian John Leland, and derived by him from a now lost book in the possession of the Earls of Rutland at Belvoir Castle, there was once a King Alfred III of Mercia, who reigned in the 730s.[45] Though no Mercian king was ever named Alfred, let alone three, if this story has any historical basis (which Leland himself rejected) it must presumably relate to Æthelbald. The legend states that Alfred III had occasion to visit a certain William de Albanac, alleged ancestor of the Earls of Rutland, at his castle near Grantham, and took a fancy to Willam's three comely daughters. It was the king's intention to take one as his mistress, but William threatened to kill whichever he chose rather than have her dishonoured in this way, whereupon Alfred "answerid that he meant to take one of them to wife, and chose Etheldrede that had fat bottoks, and of her he had Alurede that wan first all the Saxons the monarchy of England." A painting of this supposed incident was commissioned in 1778 by the then Duke of Rutland, but was destroyed in a fire in 1816. (Emphasis mine)

English: depiction of the Queen of Punt (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I wonder how she compared to the Queen of Punt?

This seems a bit ghoulish even to me

Really, Weather Channel? I get to see my friends facing down, like, a tornado or something? That sounds AWESOME!

Actually, if I could see my friends during hurricanes or whatever instead of the dumb-asses they usually have on air, it would at least be more entertaining.

Bread!

I've always wanted to try making bread from scratch. No knead bread has been trendy lately, so I finally went ahead and used a recipe from Budget Bytes.

It turned out really well for a first time bread. Nice crispy crust like I like. Still kind of fluffy in the middle. I made rolls instead of a full loaf today. Still have half the dough waiting in the fridge to be used in the next week or so.

There are all kinds of fun variations to try - raisin bread, whole wheat...mmmm

Dough right after mixing

Loose fitting lid for dough to rise

Rolls cooling

Omnomnom bread!