So A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words?

You betcha!

Nightly we have been bombarded with the reality of what some ignoramuses called hype and blown out of proportion weather system sweetly referred to as, ‘Hurricane Irene’!
Lovely gal once long ago now a tremendous pain in all the innocent victims’ rear ends, lives, properties and you name it, and all their lost memorable possessions!

Sadly, not only did many of these people not have insurance in the form of the flood type, which we are required here to maintain where we are, but to be fair we do live on a saltwater canal… and they don’t. Many live in landlocked areas such as the folks in Vermont. And some live in areas that have had nothing like this happen in over a century, so why bother paying for something that you may never ever use, huh?
And to add insult to injury, FEMA needs a rain check; pun intended, on paying out the claims since their bottom line is now at 800 million with the horrendous year we have been having and so far a few states claims have been over a billion in losses and needs from the Feds!
Gosh talk about timing!
Why we never ever know when these awkward weather disasters are going to happen or we would have all planned better, hmm?

Now is the time for the Americans to realize we need each other to survive, since our version of ‘Big Brother’ is not copping to the job at hand since monies have not been previously used wisely in many of our tiny minds who seemed to have life always so honky dory and never ever have any difficulties in life and so they cannot understand when money might be tight or that not all future problems can be planned for?
It takes a village of co-operation and sweat equity, boy are they words to live by these days, huh?
Volunteerism is where the biggest efforts should be placed front and center stage, right?
Monies too will be a BIG Necessity in enabling rebuilding and buying what is needed to make lives whole once again…
Giant concepts of Habits for Humanity in multitudes!
As well as engineers with the know-how to replace roadways, bridges and frameworks of cities and towns… our infrastructures need to be seen-to. Now where did I hear that before? Why the whole idea might even create future jobs? Geez that sounds familiar too… I know I heard that somewhere before…hmm… if I could only remember…
I do believe it was in a campaign speech or some such thing, but I could be wrong since I have been wrong before, but who knows… any-who…
Better late than NEVER, we need to put folks back to work and trying to be one who does try to make lemonade out of lemons this could be the vehicle for just that… what you ask?
WHY JOBS MY FRIENDS!
Once the shock of the devastation has passed, which will take forever but can be tamed with purpose of life with the need to be productive and have control once again… your lives will be whole and renewed with the reality of accomplishment of tangibility!



On that note of HOPE please folks we have been there and so I speak from experience do not give up, life will eventually get better since it cannot get any worse!
Allow me to wish you all a very happy good night and to ask you to kindly count those blessings and share those overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear?

PS And also know one thing and that is that we all care and are here for you!

Today I would like to go slightly off topic and...

Discuss something other than devastation, OK?

Besides it's not like talking about it is going to change any of it, is it?
Neither will wishing it away.

Today we had a gentle rain on and off all day.
Which was conducive to contemplating …oh I don’t know… the meaning of life?
Nah, nothing that deep for this wee brain, but thoughts still manage to go through it daily, heaven knows what though…bud dump bum…!

I must admit that today was a bit of a goof off day I did do a load of wash and dried it too…boy that sounds hard, but not really, we have a washing machine and clothes dryer right in our laundry room! HA!

I did prepare my own breakfast and so did Hubby but we cheat on occasion and both had Carnation’s Instant breakfast in chocolate of course, but in mine I emulsified a half of banana… simplicity at its best and healthy too since it was made with fat free milk and was the sugar free variety!
Lunch was left over chicken which also was a do it yourself sort of meal, Hubby had made an open faced sandwich with the homemade gravy I had made when the raw chicken became a whole baked one a couple of days ago.

Have you ever read how much sodium is in cream of mushroom soup?
Well, we had bought mushrooms in the produced department and with the sodium free bouillon, a bit of extra virgin olive oil, and a smidge of I Can’t Believe It’s Not Margarine light, a pinch of fat free sour cream, garlic and onions thickened with a wee bit of flour it all came together with a dash of sea salt and pepper too! Healthy gravy, lower in fat and sodium, Ta Da!
Yesterday, I added yolk free noodles with additional bouillon to half of the left over gravy with carrots, mushrooms and more onions and garlic chopped chicken pieces with more water to make homemade chicken noodle soup!
Any-who, my chicken chopped up I used in soft taco roll ups with additional veggies and hot sauce and fat free sour cream, hmm so good…

Dinner was made together by us; with grilled salmon with green goddess homemade dressing: recipe: fat free sour cream, light mayo, apple cider vinegar, tarragon, chives and scallions, also rosemary potatoes: recipe: tossed in rosemary, olive oil and garlic powder and salad romaine and tomatoes and mushrooms with more homemade dressing: balsamic and extra virgin olive oil with sugar substitute, garlic powder and basil.

All healthy and quite delish!

I know this might not be what you were all that interested in but as we all know no matter what happens in life to us or ones we care about…life will always go on…
So when we harp on things that we cannot change than we are not helping the situation…volunteering and donating is how to help…but when neither is possible…
Help others by informing is my hope to do some good…

Although the Red Cross has said ten dollars can help and I am more than sure that if you want to ask them what else that they need they will tell you!

On that idea as a possibility allow me to be the first to wish you all a very happy good night and to ask you all to count those blessings and to kindly share all your overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear?

Pure wetness without ulterior motives is rather nice...

Gosh that could sound slightly seductive or a wee bit sexy, but no it is a weather commentary…ha!

We are having a bit of rain here with no motives of destruction with its presence.
Refreshing as it should be; without any wrath.
Sorry, that it is not what I understand is still going on in the northeastern realm of our country.

Too much wet stuff is still causing negative and unnecessary roughness and way too much water in the form of flooding!

Sadly, the death toll has risen much to all our dismays. The most recent count was up to thirty who died before their time in their prime. They’re still five million without power and ten thousand flights had been cancelled and most airports have not gotten back up to speed with rescheduling as of this writing.

The only good that I have heard come from our northern brethren is that the heat wave has seemed to abate somewhat and without power at least now many can open their windows with temps in the sixties and seventies?

My younger cousin wrote on my Facebook page that although she is living in Brooklyn NY logistically it is impossible to get into Manhattan NYC to go to work with the subways not online yet and that her boss was not at all sympathetic and did open today even so. And so albeit not a matter of life and death but to be sure an economic concern that is more than likely shared by millions who did not suffer the extremes of the storm’s devastation…but need to make a living too!

Bits and pieces are coming in slowly of personal experiences.
Many know a person in the areas impacted by all that has/is still happening.
Small anecdotal snippets I am sure will be fascinating as time goes on over the next several days or weeks to us to relay to get a more up close and personal idea of what is going on…

Trivia for any of you, who might live under a rock, today was the sixth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina!
It appears while looking back that the most destructive hurricanes in our recent history of late anyway did occur in August Andrew, Charley, and Katrina all devastating August hurricanes. And now by size alone, Irene, may very well go down into the history books too.

Daily we tell ourselves to be prepared in life for whatever we get thrown in life, but in truth we all procrastinate a little, don’t we?

Truth be told millions of us were scouts as children and we all memorized that motto to be prepared, but as adults many of us have forgotten and now we know that we should have remembered and swear that next time we will!
It does appear that many who did listen to the authorities in the long run are happy that they did. Being safe instead of sorry in these many cases have proven to be logical and cautious, although the ones with no evidence of their own problems will never realize how important that others heeding the advice was for them!

On that note of it could have been so much worse if people did not listen allow me to be the first to wish you all a very happy good night and to ask you to kindly count those blessings and pray for all those in the flood raging areas still dealing with the aftermath and share those overages of blessings because they really need you to… and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear?

People's perspective on the hurricane now downgraded to a tropical storm...

ANGER!

They’re people who are calling it all hype and that it was a dud!
For you idiots, go ahead, I will wait when you tell that to the 18 dead people’s families! More still may come…but I truly hope not! No one knows yet, with all the flooding…
The flooding is still going on, but perhaps not in your neighborhood, do you have power?
Nearly four millions still do not! Oh that’s right you would know this if you had by maybe ….watching the news!
The subways and other trains in the greater metropolitan area will not be running tomorrow not because it was a mistake to stop the New York transit from running but it will take days to clear the tracks of downed trees and wires and mudslides covering the above ground tracks!
Flash floods are still going on in New England, and still more are expected up and down the coastline all the way till Tuesday, not to mention all the tornadoes being spun off from the not too powerful storm that in your small minds was ‘a dud’! Destroying homes and infrastructures all over the coast line and its interior!

Funny how déjà vu this is for when we were hit so violently by Hurricane Charley a category 4 way back on August 13.2004, a Friday, people less than twenty miles away that were fortunate to not get a hit direct or otherwise, also said that it was NOT so bad!
I beg to differ with all these naysayers! You’re full of SH-T!
It goes back to the hearing of the tree falling in the forest concept; if you do not hear it did it actually happen. That was rhetorical, if all you smarty pants even know what that means!

If anyone has posted that crap, the dud too much hype baloney, on my Facebook page I have closed it in disgust, now I ask you; wouldn’t you?
Why so many people who at first seemed mildly intelligent are proven later on to be complete idiots!
Just in: the dud of a weather system that did not cause too much devastation only so far has caused an estimated SEVEN BILLION in damages, and true not as bad as first thought of, but this is just a preliminary estimate!

Gosh I am seething!

I am posting late tonight due to my concern and interest about all those people IN HARMS WAY and most I do not know, but I still care.

Another person local, in Fort Myers Florida actually said heartlessly in my book, that “if his sister were not still living up there he wouldn’t care”, what?
I am so disappointed in people with that way of thinking.
Sad doesn’t seem to cover it.
If nothing else this year with all the outlandish weather happenings, from earthquakes, tornadoes, Tsunamis, you would think that compassion would be more than abundant not less…
Oh well, Pollyanna here hoping that my Dad was right these people who think so negatively and only for themselves in this world that daily becomes smaller, are in the minimum and the majority are the good caring loving people who want to know one thing…now what can we do to make this all better?

On that high note of trying hard to utilize my Dad’s mindset once again allow me to wish you all a very happy, safe night and to count those blessings and share those overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear?

Pirate Fest! A small distraction...

Yes, we went out today to get away from the computer and TV and have a bit of fun.
And much to our surprise, we did.
After our lunch we went over to Fishville AKA Fisherman’s Village in River City AKA Punta Gorda for their third annual Pirate Fest.
It was much better than previous years it appears they had a splurge of ideas and finances since many pirates attended the festivities as well as vendors and rides and on and on, etc…
And so although we ate lunch at home and due to the tremendous turnout where we had to park was way across the street in order to find a handicap space to have room for Hubby to take out my scooter. We spent a good two hours going through the quarter mile covered venue and all there was to see.

All I can say is that there were many vendors spread throughout the facility that were selling pirate related items from costuming to monogrammed items with the scull and crossbones, what-have-you; and also unrelated items from candles to cologne.
Entertainment consisted of cannons ready to be shot off with so-called real pirates telling their history and young women dressed too as pirates singing and dancing.

The whole thing started yesterday and will go on tomorrow from eleven A.M. to six P.M.
Much better than last year's offering I must admit and quite a nice surprise!

Sorry to hear when we arrived home that the hurricane had caused two deaths in North Carolina, one, a man, who went out during the storm who was hit with a tree limb and crushed and another, a women, killed in a car accident due to the traffic light being out since the area had lost power.

As Hurricane Irene goes up the coast she has maintained her cat1 status that she went down to this morning.
Many are losing power and trees are down as well as streets being flooded over, nothing has changed warning wise for the east coast.
All warnings have remained the same and over two million have been evacuated.
At the time of this writing she has moved slowly up the coast line towards the northeast, while now in Virginia.

New York’s transportation, subways and airports have been closed down since noon today.
Stores there too have boarded up and closed as well…
Many tourists appear to be clueless, a women in Manhattan for a tennis match said that “it is not good since she has no idea where she will be able to have breakfast before her match”? What? How can so many be in the dark?
And not know why the shops are closed?

Another was concerned because her flight was cancelled and worried about her job, I do believe even the nastiest of bosses would understand this!
CRAZY!

Any-who, on that note of not believing how people still do not know what is going on…
Allow me to ask you all in Irene’s path to be safe and do what your local authorities say for you to do, and try and have a very happy good night and count those blessings and kindly share those overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear?

Irene, Irene, Irene, I feel sorry for those Irenes out there!

Of course it is important to know what is going on and we all want everyone to be safe, but…I think the time has come to change the concept of naming hurricanes for people!
Go with me here… each name used for a major storm brings with it extremely negative connotations and thoughts from then on when heard or referenced, hmm?

I don’t recall where the concept came from but I truly think the time has come to give them more descriptive names of their actual content of destructive abilities, what do you think?
People names are so personal and storms should not be, since they become nemesis immediately when discovered for their quantitative divisiveness.
‘Tropical storms’ are more ambiguous and simplistic than its more powerful cousin ‘Hurricane’.

Adjectives, adverbs, and verbs are free so I have been told and don’t seem to have any feelings. And so, I now declare that to be a much better way to call these weather systems that expound lethal and devastating destruction on life and limbs as well as properties should be tumultuous whirling dervishes of mighty capacities or any similar description that works! TA DA!

Now that that’s cleared up…

Moving on…
Thankfully, people who are in the direction of the cane are listening and taking heed of what all the authorities are telling them.
Very few are being foolish.
Some interviewed are of the ilk of wanting to ride the storm out!
All I have for you are a few words …WHAT ARE YOU CRAZY?
These were people in direct alignment with the hurricane’s point of entry as a CAT 2, true only around 100 mph winds but dangerous just the same.
Not that I know anything only being a person who helped after Hurricane Andrew, a Category 5, circa 1992 and being a survivor of Hurricane Charley a Category 4, circa 2004, but I love people and I would HATE to know due to stupidity that they died!
Gosh, you could have some lethal disease and die or be very old and die, but due to stupidity, DON’T DIE! Most fight to live, and that’s why I just don’t get it…sorry!

Geez that felt good to get out into the air…whew!

The explosive possibilities of what may happen have most newsy type programming keeping us well informed, not to mention all the weather channels on the TV and Internet as well.
Many online are interactive or even have weather windows with live action films of how the weather is changing.
What a world we live in with instant everything at our fingertips and that means no excuses to be as safe as you can be!
Tonight is the last night of sort of still calm waters in many areas in the encompassing target areas, be well and happy and save your families not your things remember they are replaceable, YOU ARE NOT!

On that loving warning… allow me to be the first to wish you all a very happy good night and to ask you kindly to count all your blessings and to share all your overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear?

Anticipation, preparation or perhaps evacuation...

Lock ‘em up, move ‘em out or stay put… a plea post…
Up and down our eastern coast of America authorities and meteorologists are keeping track of Hurricane Irene.
Landfall can be expected in several areas: from the Mid-Atlantic States on northward.
The category of Hurricane Irene may be a 3, 2, or 1, either way batten down your hatches and evacuate or listen carefully to what you are told and pray!

Tonight I am experiencing a bit of my own tumultuous weathering of my bodily storming.
With mild chest pains, chilling body and higher than normal glucose levels 143, but not in the danger zone, let me explain… My chest pains appear to diminish on rest, but I have been more dizzy than usual, but gosh you know us blondes, hmm?
Any-who… Hubby took my blood pressure and it was good at my low normal, 100/58 and my pulse was like 78 and so that was all in the normal range and as well as my cool body temp of 98.1 and so what. What’s all the bother about, huh?
I do think that listening to the news affects me like everyone else, you would have to be heartless not to be, and so I am sincerely concerned for what this hurricane might do.
It’s true we are physically in the clear, but how can anyone not be worried for all those who will be impacted.
Seriously our hearts and prayers are with you/them all!

Heavy rains and trees will be going down and people will be without power, in this heat!
I am crying inside for them all…
When will it all stop?
These horrendous weather systems and wars and murderous people and on and on and on and on…
Frightening is all I can say and to maintain some form of sanity we must observe some types of positive distractions when not in harms way… otherwise, listen, prepare and do what the knowledgeable have told you to do for they should have the know-how to keep you all safe!
Remember Katrina!
Evacuate if told to and even if not go where the storm will not be, please!
I love all of you!

Tomorrow and the rest of the weekend seem to be when the storm will be making its detestable moves on life and limb and so beware!
Take care…

That’s all for tonight’s blog and I hope when we meet next time we will be told that Hurricane Irene went out to sea and did not harm anyone!
If not I do hope that whatever reports come in from the target zones of impact will be lesser than feared!

Allow me to wish you all a very good night and to ask you to kindly count those blessings and to share those overages and we will too!

And next time I will expect you here or be square, ya hear?