If there are one or more people on your friends list who make your world a better place just because they exist, and who you would not have met (in real life or not) without the Internet, then post this same sentence in your journal.

Check out the 4-min movie for my friend Jeff Carlson's books, Plague Year and Plague War:

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. These must've hatched this afternoon. I really don't need this many . . . Do not look if arachnids give you the heebie jeebies. ( Read more... )

What is the President's response to our conflagration and pestilence? He lifted the ban on off-shore drilling. Why? He hates California and is enjoying kicking us when we're down. Maybe he thought we wouldn't notice. I hereby empower my elected representatives Diane Feinstein and Barbara Boxer to rip him a new one. Nancy Pelosi'd do it for free. They already got off an opening volley and I wrote all of them letters to tell them to keep it up: ( Read more... )

The fires are coming under control -- at least the complex of several dozen fires north of me. They say they'll have containment in a week or so.

That wonderful news was greeted by other news: now they're going to spray us for mosquitoes! Gaaaaah. We've been through it before. It's a shelter-in-place deal where you shut yourself and your critters up in your sweltering house from 8 to midnight. Can't turn on the a/c because you can't pull in toxin-laden air from the outside. This is going to be a lot of fun ... again.

Although the Butte fires are still raging, spewing smoke into the valley, all is not so bleak today. The following is from the Sacramento Bee, moments ago. I love the comment from the meterologist:

"A precious puff of wind coming up from the Delta brought a bit of natural air conditioning to the Sacramento region today.

"The good news is that the famous breeze could kick up this weekend, keeping temperatures well south of the 100s. But the air quality will still be bad.

"'Stay indoors and watch movies,' said Felix Garcia, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service."

And for a good reason: It's hot and a bit humid and today the air quality went into the PURPLE range. I've never seen it purple - EVER. No no no, the air isn't purple. The gauge. The gauge, I thought, went up to red for Unhealthy Air. But there is worse than unhealthy! There is purple for VERY unhealthy. OMG - it's icky out there! Particulates from the fires, particulates and pollutants from the agriculture and cars, low-level ozone from the high temps -- and we've got a high pressure blanket sitting over the entire central valley holding all the air in. theodicy, don't breathe!

I got out of my writers group at 8:45 and it was 94 outside. You heard me. Gaaaaah! It's now after 10:00 and it's down around 90. It's going to be 107-108 the next 2 days. With bad air. Air you don't want on your planet much less in your lungs!

There's one bright possibility: If the smoke gets worse, it might lower the temperature a few degrees. Think: Krakatoa!

Has anyone seen this quarter? I haven't:



I found a shiney New Mexico today, and apparently Arizona is circulating. West Virgina allegedly came out in October 2005, but I still don't have one. Lemme know if you have one clanking around your change purse/coin drawer/sofa/lint collection.

I found this message rather moving.

1. Post 3 things you've done in your lifetime that you don't think anybody else on your friends list has done.

2. See if anybody else responds with "I've done that."

3. Ask your friends do this in their journals to see what unique things they've done.


I decided to go with "Today" because I, like, totally have the "lifetime" advantage on all of you. :P

1. Despite doing nothing helpful, I am acknowledged nonetheless in the author's comments of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. And I am acknowledged in the James Rollins Thriller The Last Oracle which is IN BOOKSTORES TODAY!

2. At lunch ate a burger and french fries, then later had an old-fashioned drumstick (ice cream) AND a piece of a Three Musketeers candy bar -- and AM STILL AWAKE!

3. Received TWO greeting cards in the mail in the last week. The 2nd arrived today. IN THE MAIL!

[If "listing achievements" gets competitive, I'll get into my, um, youthful exploits.]

Remember me complaining about 100-degree temps? That means everything dried out and we're a tinder box. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection says since Saturday we've had 5,000 to 6,000 lightning strikes and about 800 of those strikes sparked wildfires. Wildfires everywhere around Sacramento, filling up this big bowl with smoke and the air isn't moving anywhere. Cough cough cough. It looks like this:

(Sacramento is in the middle of the firemap.)
Art: Sacramento Bee

Want to hazard a guess at what my cat is attacking?
( Read more... )

A friend from the '80s when we both lived in The Big Tomato is in town. He had lunch with former newspaper buddies and I picked him up at 2:00 pm. We hugged and stood in the road trying to decide what to do. He decided we needed to get out of the [long string of adjectives] heat. He has lived in humid, sticky Florida for a very long time, so his complaining about the heat surprised me (even though it was 103). And I was able to look at him and say the thing that we Tomato-Town people always say: "But it's a DRY heat." And for once, it was said without sarcasm.

Does the air conditioning unit in a car use more power on high than on low? Or is high/low a function of the fan and separate from the energy used to run the a/c?

To exchange Instant Messages with people, do you have to share the same IM service -- such as (a) AOL's AIM or (b) Windows Live Messenger. Can someone with one IM someone in the other?

Thai food. Lunch. theodicy
Chicken Green Curry
To. Die. For.
First we went to the downtown Farmer's Market and made very quick work of it. No basil. No selection of homegrown tomatoes. But the peaches - OMG the peaches.
That burst of flavor was a preview of coming attractions.
The Thai food was fabulous. The flavors. Mmmmmmm.
And then there was coffee at a Midtown cafe.
Sounds like we languished the entire day - but it was 2.5 hours door-to-door. Efficient! Fun! Fabulous!

Headache!
Oh my good-golly, the pain. Gaaaaaaah!

It was a good weekend, despite the head-splitting pain. I also: ( Read more... )
- got cheered up by one of my nephews,
- and a bunch of other stuff.

OMIGOD. Was that ME who did all that stuff?
I'm flabbergasted.

What is with the wind??? We've had nothing but breezy days and windy days for weeks, it seems. It's getting on my nerves. (achoo) And nose.

Good news/bad news, theodicy.

This week's pollen report is out. Tree pollens are backing off! They're down from HIGH to Moderate. (They've been high since, like, January.)

Bad news: Grass pollens remain high.
And Weed pollen? It's now up to High, too.

My eyes are so red . . .