What crazy ride the weather in southern Indiana has been throughout most of the month of February!
Yesterday’s thunderstorm was still rumbling when I finally fell asleep, and here I am — just a few short hours later — and it’s snowing so hard I can’t even see the home of those pesky neighbors as I look out the window to my west. Letting the dogs out at the butt crack of dawn, I watched them make the first footprints in the falling snow. By the time I raised my photo to take a photo, Dharma was the only one left in view.
There’s a reason why Hugo is the star of most of my dog photos.
I’m not sure if Hugo hasn’t figured out the whole having his picture taken action yet, or if he is simply wants to be the main character in this dog show. What I do know is that almost every attempted photo of Dharma looks like the one above, or similar to the image below:
Raise a camera or my phone to snap a shot and ole’ Dharma turns away and snubs me. No amount of coaxing will bribe her to look my way.
Merida is similar in her attempts to foil any decent photographs, but her evasion tactics include spinning and continuous movement. I’ve resigned myself to the fact that the only decent pictures I’m going to get of the girls is as they sleep — or on the rare occasion I can catch them off guard.
Now you know: Dogs have a strong sense of personal space, and having a camera (even a phone’s camera) pointed directly at them can feel intrusive.
It’s rained here all day. This evening, the thunder and lightning was no different than a spring storm — with the exception that it’s just 43°. Close to midnight, it’s still storming and Hugo is scared. I wonder if some of his time before he found us was spent outside in bad weather.
Poor lil’ fella has cried ever since the thunder started.
Ben felt so sorry for him that he crawled in the dog bed with him.
Neither of them appreciated me taking a photo and interrupting the conversation they were having about how thunder isn’t anything to worry about…
Wintery mix is next, but at least the thunder will dissipate.
The thunderstorm won’t be around much longer says weather.com. It will be leaving just in time for the wintery mix to hit while we watch for “significant flooding.” Sheesh! It’s predicted we’re to get another inch of snow on top of whatever ice decides to stick around.
For the record, the cold season in Indiana lasts for 3.1 months — from December 1 to March 5 — and the coldest month of the year is January. That means we’re already on the other side of this winter and spring can’t come soon enough for me.
Now you know: Thomas Jefferson wrote his own epitaph listing three accomplishments. Being 3rd President wasn’t one of them. This is his epitaph: Here was buried Thomas Jefferson Author of the Declaration of American Independence of the Statute of Virginia for religious freedom & Father of the University of Virginia. (Inventor of the swivel chair would’ve been my top notation if I were him.) 🙂
So many people are up in arms over the recent tariffs imposed by the US on Mexico, Canada, and China. Within 1 day, EVERYONE is an expert on tariffs. Everyone except me, that is. Sure, I had economics in high school and college decades ago, but even those with a master’s or Ph.D. in international economics or trade policies doesn’t make one an expert in the field.
As someone who doesn’t have continuous engagement with global trade issues and geopolitical influences (and other essential requirements too numerous to mention) — and because I have zero control over Trump — I can only hope he has advisors who do possess that expertise. All I can do is buckle up — and if you’re reading this, that’s likely all you can do, as well.
I will admit that I about spit out my coffee when I read Trump’s statement this morning that said, “Canada should become our Cherished 51st State.” 😳
Hard to believe, but I don’t have any control over the weather either.
Most of the snow is gone, FINALLY, and temps here in the Ville are forecasted to reach almost 60°.
If you believe Punxsutawney Phil, the most famous groundhog, we’re going to have another 6 weeks of winter. You should know; however, that his success rate is only around 39-40%. I am hoping he’s wrong this year.
Now you know: Punxsutawney Phil has been predicting the arrival of spring since 1887.
I guess when the cold weather advisory was lifted I expected a little bit of warm weather. But what did we get? You guessed it! More snow…
It was light snowfall, didn’t last all that long, and it didn’t really make a huge difference, but good grief! Enough already!
Take a deep… very deep… breath…
I have some FB friends that are Trump supporters — and others that are totally flipping their ever-loving shit. I get it! I do. But it is what it is. Trump IS the president — yours and mine if you live in the good ole’ USA — no matter if we voted for him or not.
It seems to me that Trump is fulfilling the promises he ran his campaign on. Since he was elected based upon those promises, nothing he’s doing should be a surprise, right? Sure, there are things you can do if you oppose certain actions taken by any president — contact your elected representatives, peacefully protest, stay informed, support legal challenges by donating to organizations like the ACLU… etc. But the biggest thing you can do is to exercise your voting rights.
Posting ugly personal insults to others who don’t believe the same as you isn’t going to change one thing.
Really smart people that I respect can sure haul out some inappropriate language in a public forum when it comes to politics. It makes me sad to see personal friendships strained over views on federal government issues and national elections.
Rather than get worked up about things I can’t change — and because the weather here is total crap — I turned my energy to the kitchen and made baked Ziti!
It tasted great, but the sauce turned out pink. It sort of looked like vomit and I probably lost my Betty Crocker in Training badge over this one. 🥴
Now you know: Before the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded, NASA management genuinely believed that the chances of a catastrophic failure to the Space Shuttle was 1 in 100,000. By the time the Space Shuttles were retired, they had a catastrophic failure rate of 1 in 67.5.
Another bitter cold morning here at the barndo. With a low of a whopping 2° and a high of 16°, it’s not a good day to do anything outside. Queen Dharma needs a deck escort because she’s old and the deck is a bit slick, and I wasn’t happy when she woke me up at daybreak to pee. Getting old sucks for dogs and humans with dogs.
I’m still feeding every bird in Jackson County.
I fill the feeders here daily but am unable to get a decent photo of the beautiful sight of birds eating. Why? Because the storm door’s glass is frozen over and opening it is like roll call for my 3 hound dogs. ARG!
Mr. Pesky is feeding birds also, but complains of visits from the non-desirable kind. I’m not sure if it’s because my feeder is closer to the house than his or some other thing about nature I don’t understand, but I’ve only seen woodpeckers, cardinals, blue jays, titmice (is that the plural of titmouse?), and what I think is some sort of finch.
Don’t let curiosity make you a scam victim!
I received a “pocket hug” in the mail. The return address was a place I’d never heard of located in NY and there was no indication of who might have sent it. BUT… there WAS a QR code I could scan to find out.
This is how the scam works… fraudsters send you an inexpensive product from an online retailer that you never ordered — this is known as a brushing scam. Inside or on the packaging you’ll see a QR code with “instructions” on how to return it, find out more information about the order, or see who sent the unexpected gift. Once the code is scanned, all the information stored on your phone — including personal and financial info — is sent to the scammer.
I’ll never know if the pocket hug was a kind gesture from someone or if it was a scam attempt because this girl wouldn’t scan the provided QR code. Be careful… and don’t let your curiosity make you a victim.
Now you know: In 1982 a crew of five sailing from Maine to Florida ran into a storm with 30-foot waves which capsized their boat. Over the next five days, two of them became delirious after drinking saltwater and walked off the dinghy into many awaiting sharks. Infection killed a third, leaving two survivors.
