Rain at Last

When I lived in Western Washington, I never thought I would welcome rain as much as I did today. We've had a few light showers in the past three weeks, but today we were treated to two hours of a nice steady rain that produced nearly an inch of the wet stuff. That should dampen the forest floor enough to lessen the chance of wildfires.

It Works!

...the emergency generator, that is. Last winter I bought a 20kw, propane powered generator and had it wired to start by itself when the power goes off. About 10PM last night, a car hit a transformer about a half-mile down the road. Less than a minute after the power died, the generator started and everything worked as advertised.

Only problem was that I felt guilty sitting in my chair and reading a book while the neighbors wandered around with flashlights and candles. I did offer to run extension cords if it turned into a long outage, but thank goodness repairs were made by 2AM.

Legal Tender not so Legal

Louisiana recently passed a law that purchases for second hand items cannot be made in cash. Checks and money orders are fine, but “legal tender” is not. The reason given is that authorities want a paper trail to discourage thieves from reselling at thrift stores, pawn shops, garage sales, etc. As if another law will discourage someone who already broke the law that created the situation.

All they've done is create yet another law that honest people will ignore. Seems like the more laws that are written, the fewer are being enforced and the more irrelevant the authorities become.

Another Bill Whittle Gem

http://youtu.be/OAOrT0OcHh0

Where are the Hummingbirds?

Every year we have been treated to the sight of hundreds of migrating hummingbirds stopping at our house to refuel and rest. We have six feeders that had to be refilled every day and at the peak of migration, more than once a day. A dozen birds would hover a few feet away while I refilled an empty feeder, and would begin feeding as soon as I stepped away. Our next door neighbor also had several feeders to catch the overflow from us.

This year there are no migratory birds...none! When I first put up a feeder in early September, it was visited by what I believe was one local family of Ruby-throats. We never had more than four birds visit, and that number has dwindled to one regular visitor. Typically, they are gone by the second week in October, so I imagine our one little bird will be gone any day now.

It must be the drought that's altered their migration route. Louisiana has had more rain, so they might have shifted their flight path a few miles to the east. Whatever the cause, I sure miss the entertaining little critters.

Live Free or Die

Every politician should watch and heed.
Link

Tropical Storm Lee

So near, and yet so far. Tropical storm Lee was spinning a mere 40 miles from here and drenching the area with the rain we so badly need, but its westward progress stalled between the towns of Nacogdoches and Jacksonville. Nearly two feet of rain fell in parts of Louisiana, but all we got to see was a heavy cloud bank hanging on the horizon off to the southeast. At least, the hundred degree days might have ended for the year.

This dry, hot year, combined with the turmoil in the world reminds me of the lyrics in the old Kingston Trio song from the 50’s.



They're rioting in Africa, they're starving in Spain.
There's hurricanes in Florida, and Texas needs rain.
The whole world is festering with unhappy souls.
The French hate the Germans, the Germans hate the Poles.
Italians hate Yugoslavs, South Africans hate the Dutch.
And I don't like anybody very much!

But we can be tranquil, and thankful, and proud,
For mans' been endowed with a mushroom-shaped cloud.
And we know for certain that some lovely day
Someone will set the spark off, and we will all be blown away.

They're rioting in Africa, there's strife in Iran.
What nature doesn't do to us, will be done by our fellow man.