dangling tornado wreckage

(via weather.com)

When a tornado warning has been issued, you may have very little time to prepare.

How you respond now is critical. And how you react depends on where you are.

In a Frame Home

• Make sure you have a portable radio, preferably a NOAA weather radio, for information.

• Seek shelter in the lowest level of your home (basement or storm cellar). If there is no basement, go to an inner hallway, a smaller inner room, or a closet. Keep away from all windows.

• You can cushion yourself with a mattress, but do not use one to cover yourself. Do cover your head and eyes with a blanket or jacket to protect against flying debris and broken glass. Don't waste time moving mattresses around.

• Keep your pet on a leash or in a carrier.

• Multiple tornadoes can emerge from the same storm, so do not go out until the storm has passed.

• Do not leave a building to attempt to "escape" a tornado.

In a Mobile Home

• Leave your mobile home immediately and take shelter elsewhere.

Outside

• Try to get inside and seek a small protected space with no windows.

• Avoid large-span roof areas such as school gymnasiums, arenas, or shopping malls.

• If you cannot get inside, crouch for protection beside a strong structure, or lie flat in a ditch or low-lying area and cover your head and neck with your arms or a piece of clothing.

In a Car

• Ideally, you should avoid driving when tornadoes or other kinds of dangerous weather threaten, because a vehicle is a very unsafe place to be. If, however, this is not possible, stay as calm as possible, and assess the situation.

• Your best option might be to get out of the car and lie flat in a ditch or other low-lying area that is sufficiently deep enough to protect against the wind.

• If you do so, beware of water runoff from heavy rain that could pose a hazard; get as far away from the vehicle as possible and shield your head from flying debris.

• Or, if possible, take shelter immediately in a nearby building.

http://www.weather.com/ready/tornado/warning.html

winky

a fish will not eat another fish's eyeball on a hook as bait.

our unbelievable fishing streak (first cast teddy caught 2 on the double hook of the one line) was disrupted after an unfortunate unhooking incident (we threw all the fish back) in which one fish (winky) left an eyeball dangling on one hook of a 2-hook rig. even with good bait (sand fleas/shrimp) on the bottom hook, the fish did not bite this line again until the eyeball was removed.

nicest beach i've ever seen

i was back in the so-called redneck riviera this week.

i was there last year exactly when the deepwater oil spill started. there were no visible effects whatsoever.

in fact, i said it's the most beautiful beach i've ever been to. i've been to many beaches in

rhode island
long island
palm beach
puerto rico
outer banks
wrighstville
down to
kiawah
key west
los cabos
sea island
nice
marbella
kaikura
bondi
ventura
san diego
santa barbara
santa cruz
kauai
cadaqués

and the powder sugar sand and clear coke bottle glass green water and uncrowdedness of the beach at watersound on the gulf of mexico in the florida panhandle makes it my favorite.

we caught some relatively big fish variously referred to as whiting and ladyfish. saw a shark and some rays. dolphins playing because all dolphins do is play. somebody saw a killer whale but he was only 4 so...

it's a fantastic place to have a fantastic vacation.

i flew back to asheville direct on vision airlines. my ticket cost $59, but if you book early enough fares are $39 one way. the plane had relatively big leather seats, and two rows of three. it left on time and they gave us big bags of pretzels. full size bags like at supermarket cash registers. i was impressed and would fly with them again in a second.

asheville chainsaw massacre

next on the agenda in the never-ending house rental repair saga: chopping down the half dozen giant dead carolina hemlocks in the back yard.

this involves cutting down the power and cable lines for 3 days.

this involves making me crazy.

thank you wooly adelgid.

i am trying to be flexible and flowing. instead i feel like a scabby bitter clot of anger.

i am thankful for public libraries and their free wi-fi.

please note the paint peeling off the house, bare wood exposed. also the piece of wood the roofers nailed to the clapboard last week and didn't remove.

these tree guys are amazing. they have no fear of heights or falling. or lightning. 10 minutes after this photo was taken a HUGE thunderstorm rolled through. it was already gusting hard and starting to hail at this point. and they were up there in the sky just chopping away.

new orleans

we left the house at 230AM thursday night (or friday morning depending how you count), drove an hour and a half to the greenville, SC amtrak station, and at 5AM boarded the crescent bound for new orleans. i woke up 4 hours later pulling out of the atlanta station.

we had a roomette which was nice because you can lower the seats and put on a bedroll they provide and completely lie down, also can close the door and curtain. there's a toilet in there, which is too close for comfort for me.

in the dining car they sat you with strangers if you didn't have a party of 4. they ran out of things like nobody's business. the service took forever. the coffee was piping hot. the salad had dark green lettuce not just iceberg. the meals were extremely overpriced, but free for those who were traveling in the roomettes.

the train slowed way down through tuscaloosa alabama. there were neighborhoods completely leveled by the tornadoes 2 days before. so many snapped trees and then 100 year old trees on their sides - their red roots unnaturally perpendicular. factories a heap of twisted steel and cinder blocks. people in neon yellow shirts handing out water. old men in their backyards surrounded by shredded belongings watching the train go by. (slide show of the destruction)

there is no open container law in new orleans and no last call. (or seemingly). there's a casino. where you can't take pictures of the blackjack table. you can take bloody marys and walk down by the mississippi river while an old lady plays the pipes on top of the natchez paddle boat, it's so windy the pipe steam cloud is blowing right back in her face.

tipitinas uptown is a legendary venue and i loved seeing two of my alltime favorite bands share the stage there and also some old friends on the dancefloor. the show was supposed to start at 1, but instead doors opened at 2 and it was sunrise when we stumbled out. my time's coming but it's not tonight.

the food at the fairgrounds of jazz fest is worth the price of admission alone. ingested included: giant strawberry lemonade with chunks of real strawberries, chicken fricassee, fried plantains, and 'jama jama' (spinach) from the african food court. to die for. a bowl of shrimp and grits. perfection.

old timers playing the blues and some mardi gras indians. sunday morning. can you beat it? no.

as a last hurrah, later that night mr. b's had the best dining experience of my life. perfect service and timing and not too stuffy and awesome AWESOME food.

the floor of the blue nile has the arabic patterned tile. waiting for the show to start a man asked us "did they find his body?" which is how i found out they killed bin laden. the hippie next to me said super sarcastic "a trillion in war debt and how many thousands killed? mission accomplished! yay america! are the troops on their way home?" i tend to agree. watching teenagers rejoice in front of the white house on tv later i didn't feel like celebrating and i didn't feel any safer.

the train left new orleans at 7am. we got to the station in a cab whose driver had lived in the city for 4 days and had to plug the train station into the gps. he moved to new orleans from charlotte where his wife and kids still live because he couldn't find work in charlotte.

we got back to greenville at 1130 monday night, back home at 1. we got mooned in mississippi.

cure for tantrums?

check out kid D's brilliant new idea to stop her daughter's fits:

i love technology

This mug will never spill or be knocked over by wagging tails.

found at the goodwill in tallahassee. i'm keeping it. it also features springer spaniel and german shorthaired pointer. it weighs about 4 lbs. with copyright 1984.

scaffolding

you'd think they might be painting the house, but no. just replacing the mossy roof. the flaking paint will continue to flake, until something major happens like a wall caves in.

also, the refrigerator broke today. the freezer is at absolute zero. a bottle of vodka is frozen solid. i didn't think alcohol could freeze completely but i was wrong. rock hard vodka. the refrigerator is a balmy 40ish degrees.

maintenance takes forever.

sign of the times

as gas prices climb

comments

it has come to my attention that the comments were not working on this blog, and for that i have much sorrow.

i hate typing out a whole comment, getting the courage to hit 'submit' and then...nothing...

it sucks!

i changed the way comments are handled and did test anonymous comments from firefox and internet explorer and i think they're all working now.

my test comment was supposed to say 'test' but instead said 'teat.'

so that's good.

sorry for the trouble, let me know if it's not working for you, and thank you for trying!

window seat app

(CECT-6 phone by Daniel Christensen)

my cell phone is a walkie talkie.

some of you however may have a more modern device. something more like...how you say...smartphone?

if you have one of these phones that downloads apps - you should definitely try out WindowSeat.

Track your flight without GPS or a network connection. WindowSeat gives you a better view of where you’re flying, when you’ll arrive, and what’s below you, all while you’re offline.

super cool! right?

and our friend phil is heavily involved in this sweet invention. props!

http://www.windowseatapp.com/

rondettes

one of the most random things about asheville is the colony of rondette houses up on the mountain close to downtown.

this is from the april 1969 issue of popular mechanics, where they showed you how to build your own rondette.

these things are still standing. they're not in the best shape. not sure a flat roof is a great idea for a temperate rain forest, many of them have makeshift tarps on the roof.

rondettes are not to be confused with weaver chicken rondelets, which i used to eat out of the toaster oven growing up. i seem to recall a layer of cheese under the breading.

5 year birthday

 

i've been posting this crap for 5 years as of today.

thanks for being here! and for being there! and all for the support in the form of clicks and comments! you know it's true, everything i do, i do it for you.

this picture was the first post ever.

1 yummy inedible sample

i order more nuts than i care to admit from nutsonline.com

their peanuts are cheap & shipping isn't too much when you buy a bunch of them

they usually send a little sample of something extra which i usually appreciate. chocolate covered sunflower seeds, goji berries, walnuts...something like that.

yesterday this was the "1 Yummy Sample" in the box. look at the list - i don't think there is one edible ingredient. they look like gummy cough drops.

mochi rice cakes? not fit for human consumption. if i were in the movie 9 to 5, i would give these to my boss to poison him to death.

go heels!

classic college jeopardy. blind girl from dartmouth tells the truth about coach k:

pets with heads on pillows

new flickr group alert!

group pool here: pets with heads on pillows

slide show here: slide show


other groups i made in the past:

• sad fans
• spilled food
• eating while driving
• he may pork her

link roundup

here are some things i'm loving on the internet recently:

• kid D is seriously psychic: dream about girl with cancer; girl really has cancer

• lydia see's lost & found boot

• tyler blue's journey as a writer

• the bugg blog cries in the lunchroom, remembers grandma

• jay archibald's latest project, kaleidoscopic fine art set to music - "scope aesthetic":

ALO "I LOVE MUSIC" VIDEO

new video from ALO! riding on the head of a giraffe!

made by guadalajara joe!

ALO's robes courtesy of skippy haha vintage!

free shirts, spam, cheers to betsy

in an effort to keep this blog un-spammy, i started a new blog just for the vintage shirts i'm selling.

skippy haha vintage blog

it doesn't mean i'll never post here about shirts, or peanut butter stash safes, or whatever, but i'm going to try to keep them separate.

BUT the bloggers who so kindly took me up on the offer of free shirts in exchange for bloglove will be posted over there and here, because i think they're interesting.

without further ado, it's betsylife!

betsy is awesome. she will make you smile, smile, smile. in real life and on the internets.

she posts daily. super fresh recipes, some simple, some not. all with mouth-watering photos. she's full of tips on cooking and enjoying life in general. she's also an amazing painter. totally inspiring.

back when i lived in san diego, she was one of the most beautiful and creative t-shirt models around - always willing and able to go the distance for the shot, so help her jesus.

she's the first to take me up on the offer of free t-shirts for bloggers.

check out her post here.

thanks so much and cheers, betsy!

Dinner on the Kitchen Floor

Dinner on the Kitchen Floor, originally uploaded by NatalieMaynor.

i started a couple new 'groups' on flickr. people can add their photos and it's a mish mash collection from different families and times and places worldwide all with a common theme.

• "Spilled Food" (slideshow)

and

• "Sad Fans" (slideshow)

this is in addition to the one i started last fall "Eating while Driving" (slideshow)

fun with the internetZ!