Supercell

This is what a Supercell Thunderstorm looks like twitter.com/TwistedSifter/…
— Ben Matthew Wong (@TwistedSifter) June 19, 2012

I be gettin outta the way when I sees this baby coming my way.  Unless I haven't showered in a couple of years.

It's been a day and change since cold turkey Facebook style and I'm still alive.  Lots of sun, completed two ferocious New York Times Xword puzzles, read about 15 pages of Lisa Randall's newest book and cleaned out the cupboard on the front porch.  Scented the tomatoes with Miracle-Gro and watched a zillion insects do a honeybee's job of passing pollen.  From wasps to Flys, moths to sweat bees, and a bunch of insects I had no idea existed.  I don't think the lack of honeybees is going to put a dent in plants making viable seed for the next growth cycle.  Only difference is....no honey.
     I missed the transit of Venus across the Sun.  but it was a..mostly cloudy....b...much better view on the internet....c..I'm really lazy when it comes to observing  celestial events.  I've got a pretty nice pair of binoculars. I laid out on the pool deck one night soon after their purchase, determined to see our one of our nearest galactic neighbors...The Andromeda Galaxy,   you know the one that's going to smash into us eventually. (don't sell the farm just yet) and after about half an hour of my eyes adjusting to the dark and with my arms straining at the sinews with  holding the binoculars vertical for twenty minutes straight...lo and behold,,the Andromeda Galaxy, our twin sister.  The picture is provided by NASA.  

Goodbye Facebook

    Goodbye and good riddance to my Facebook presence.  They finagled and fleeced me into the timeline template and the only way I can protest is to quit.  Cold turkey style quitting.  Probably should go cold turkey on bad habits at least twice a year.  Hopefully I can stay quit, but that's a moot question and I really don't know how long I can stay disconnected.  But it will allow me to read and study more, and anyway it's spring, hot weather is here and there's absolutely no reason to coop oneself up in a dark room facebook gawking when there's sunshine and fresh air to be had.  I doubt anyone will notice my absence, let alone miss me.  Besides I was getting tired of wishing everyone "Happy Birthday" and not getting a response from them.  I'll miss it, mostly for the lack of instant news rather than listening to friends try to force me to be a good "christian"...LOL.
     Any whosits the tomatoes are going great, as are the chiles.  Oregano and rosemary and spearmint abound. And horseraddish and parsley.  Gonna be hard to wait for that first tomato......yummm.

SRO in Morgantown

     The phone rang this past Saturday.  It was my friend Tim.  Tim's a trumpet player in the Morgantown Community Orchestra and he was inviting me to tag along to the concert they were giving at the CAC at West Virginia University on Sunday night.  I eagerly accepted his offer and patiently waited until the appointed time when they arrived to pick me up.  I don't own a car so transportation is a chore, but Tim's wife Chris is a good driver and we had a pleasant enough trip to Morgantown.  The theater itself was small, seating maybe 100 people and soon filled up to overflowing.  Chairs were brought in, and more chairs, and then more chairs as it soon became apparent they had grossly underestimated the following the Orchestra would draw.  


     The conductor,  Alejandro Pinzon,  was gracious if soft spoken.  When the featured pianist Rafael Smith failed to show, maestro Pinzon quickly and apologetically  rearranged the program and we were underway with  a short piece by a wind ensemble.   Then the meat of the evening, and a bravo performance it was.  Latin American in theme it showed off the talents of our community musicians.  From a pre-teen violinist to a septuagenarian flautist, who had taken up the flute just two years prior, they all played with gusto and verve.  The  highlight for me was "Habanera" from the opera "Carmen" by Bizet, which is the one and only opera I've listened too and really enjoyed.  The orchestra hasn't been together very long, nor have they had many practice sessions, but you couldn't tell it from the music they produced. 


      It was a thoroughly wonderful evening of music,,,topped off by a stop  at the Red Lobster and the cruel murder of a couple of Maine's best lobsters.  What a person will go through to eat some butter.
   

I am so Stoked

I AM SO STOKED .....    and the reason is contained in this video.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
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     Now since the time I was able to sneak my older brother's comic book stash and learning to read, I've dreamed that the future for the human race pointed toward other worlds.  In the sixties I thought we were going there, but except for the Apollo program and the Space Shuttle we seemed almost manically set on invading other countries and killing everyone who disagreed with us.  This insanity has depleted our treasury and deadened our collective souls.  But out of the blue of the western sky comes a group of technology billionaires with ample funds with the vision for a better tomorrow, teamed with a group of engineers and former astronauts with the expertise. experience and drive to make my dreams come to fruition within my lifetime.  

Camp Massawomee on a Tuesday

     It's a lazy Tuesday, the tomato plant hanging upside down in it's Topsy Turvy basket and the horseraddish, chives, onions, lemon balm, spearmint and parsley are thriving.  As is the algae in the pond. Sunday Steve and Tracy were here and we smoked some chicken on the grill.  I'm still coughing, and my butt is covered in greasy charcoal.  We won't be doing that again any time soon.  

     

     I should thank my friends Chris and Tim for supplying the apple wood for the grill.   It imparts an interesting tang to the meat or veggies done on the grill and I implore you all to experiment with fruit woods in your grilling.  The French use the grape vine cuttings that accumulate when they prune and train their vines, to roast chickens on the spit.  I've tried it and the taste is superb.  

     It's wonderful how you can stumble onto such marvelous things by following random links while surfing the internet.  I subscribe to Phil Plait's "Bad Astronomy" Blog, and today he had this link to "Tree Lobsters" .    Now at the very bottom of the Tree Lobsters page is a set of icons belonging to "Friends of Tree Lobsters".   Selecting the "Atlanta Skeptics" link and scrolling down a bit you find this gem:     

     Enjoy my friends.

False Spring

It's false Spring but it doesn't matter, warmth is warmth even if it comes with an occasional chill.  There's a tomato plant growing on the porch engendering a fresh thoughtst in our mind and a primal rhythm in our breast and that's all that really counts. It's the beginning of the Pirates season, after the end of the Madness of March.  The over hyped NBA afterseason has begun....ho,hum...NHL drive to the Stanley Cup has once again crept onto our horizon.  Tennessee has voted to teach "Bible" in the place of reason.  Will West Virginia be next to succumb to cultism?   Matters not, Global warming has given us "false" Spring and my mantra is " Don't look a gift horse in the mouth?....Accept and rejoice at the boon.

If anyone would comment on this blog
It would be greatly appreciate

I really prefer to communicate with others and not the void.


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