daily 2008 may page

Kay's Daily Journal
May 2008

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2008 Old Farmer's Almanac Predictions for May 2008 in the Mid-Atlantic Region

I'm still looking for the Almanac to reconstruct this data. Sorry for the delay!

Temp. 62° (avg.)
Precip. 4" (2" above avg., north, 2" below south)
1-3: Sunny, very warm.
4-7: T-storms, then sunny, cool.
8-14: Showers, seasonable.
15-21: Sunny, cool.
22-26: Showers, then sunny, seasonable.
27-31: T-storms, warm.

Important May Dates

Holidays Etc:	Anniversaries:	Birthdays:	Miscellaneous:
May 11 - Mother's Day	May 29 - Jim & Carman	May 2 - Mom (1925-1965)	Birthstone - Emerald
May 26 - Memorial Day		May 11 - Eunice	Flower - Lily of the Valley or Hawthorn
		May 24 - James	American Stroke Month
		May 29 - Lex	Asthma & Allergy Awareness Month
			Better Sleep Month
			Clean Air Month
			Healthy Vision Month
			Hepatitis Awareness Month
			Lupus Awareness Month
			Lyme Disease Awareness Month
			Melanoma/Skin Cancer Detection & Prevention Month
			Mental Health Month
			Military Appreciation Month
			Multiple Chemical Sensitivity Awareness Month
			National Arthritis Month
			National Bike Month
			National Celiac Disease Awareness Month
			National Egg Month
			National Hamburger Month
			National Health Month
			National High Blood Pressure Education Month
			National Historic Preservation Month
			National Neurofibromatosis Month
			National Physical Fitness & Sports Month
			National Salad Month
			National Teen Pregnancy Month
			Older Americans Month
			Tuberous Sclerosis Awareness Month
			Ultraviolet Awareness Month
			Watershed Awareness Month

May 31, 2008 - Sabbath

Had a storm go through late this afternoon. Tornado was spotted at AP Hill. Jimmy & Jessica were on route 301 about a mile from our house when they got to see their "first" tornado!!! It was in a field just off the highway! COOL.

We got 1½" of rain in a very short time, but at our house that was the only thing that happened.

Accomplishments for May 2008:

Bible Read (NIV-New International Version):
     Psalms
     Proverbs
     Ecclesiastes
     Song of Solomon

Home Studies:
     Online SS Lessons: 2008 - 2nd Quarter:
          05/02 - 5. The Wonder of His Works
          05/09- 6. The Challenge of His Sayings
          05/16 - 7. The Puzzle of His Conduct
          05/23 - 8. The Intensity of His Walk
          05/30 - 9. The Tenderness of His Love

Note: Online SS Lessons are available at: Current SS Lessons

Daily & Continual Readings:
     Chancellor Church Daily Devotional - May 1 - May 31

Books Read - Fiction:
     Lie by Moonlight - Amanda Quick
     Up Close and Dangerous - Linda Howard
     The Devil that Tamed Her - Amanda Quick
     Lawman - Diana Palmer

Audio Books Listened to:
     Seaswept - Nora Roberts
     Rising Tides - Nora Roberts
     Inner Harbor - Nora Roberts
     Chesapeake Blue - Nora Roberts

TV Specials:
     Carrier
     Sopranos, Season 1
     Sopranos, Season 2

TV Movies:
     No Country for Old Men
     You Belong to Me

Contests Entries:
     Total Contest Entries for the Month: 579

Weather Projects:
     Email Updates for Storm Chase 2008

Skywarn/NWS/KG:
     Reports: 05-31-08, rainfall, 1.5"

Computer Projects:
     Reconstructed Blood test results chart & history
     Searching file by file for missing data & listing for future replacing

Inventories:
     Reconstructed Genealogy Books inventory

Webpage Updates - kayurie.com
     Daily Journals (dailies)
     News Archives (end of month standard)
     Index (end of month standard)
      - - - found JS error on ALL web pages, starting corrections

Household Projects:
     Room by Rooms: Organizing hobby stuff
     Routine housework: Spring Cleaning - continued

Note:
If you are interested in reading or listening or watching any of the listed items above, please check with your local library. Most of these books, audiobooks, CD's, cassettes or DVD's can be found on their shelves. The household, craft and hobby projects are mostly my own and many can be found on these webpages under the same category. If not my original ideas, then credit is given, if known, where due. For instructions, corrections, additions or comments, please email me at the address listed at the bottom of this webpage. Hope you have enjoyed my entries.

May 30, 2008 - Friday

Did a few town errands, picked up some groceries. Heard from both of my sons. All is well. Just a busy time of the year!

May 29, 2008 - Thursday

Happy Birthday Lex !!!

Happy Anniversary James & Carman !!!

And this is the 71st Anniversary!!! What a message this is to young folks today!!!

May 28, 2008 - Wednesday

Just a busy day, what can I say!!!! Not much to report today. But just wait. I'll have plenty to say soon....

May 27, 2008 - Tuesday

We had a very humid high of 89° today. There are storms headed our way, just a small line ushering in a cooler front. Supposed to have highs in the mid-70's tomorrow. But for today, it's just plain humid!!!

I spoke with Seth again today. They spent the night in Medicine Lodge, KS. They've had some equipment malfunctions that caused the tracking not to work as well as the web cam. But they're still having a good time. He's working alot of radio contacts and is working from a lot of states and counties. Said he may have over 500 contacts before this trip is through!!! That's a LOT of contacts!!!! Today is the last day of actual chasing. They have to start for California at the latest by tomorrow for the conference in San Jose. They are really covering the country on this trip!!!

Here are the SPC Statistics for today:

May 27, 2008
Tornado
High Winds
Large Hail

Note: Tornadoes reported: Illinois-1, Indiana-1

May 26, 2008 - Monday

Sun is shining brightly and it's still in the 70's. However, as the day is getting later, the humidity is starting to roll in just a bit. Otherwise, it's very pleasant.

We went to town and did a little shopping with the sales. Just picked up a few odds n' ends, for some work Jim wants to do around the house. I cut up some strawberries and we had our traditional Memorial Day strawberries on the little yellow cake thingys with some cool whip on top. Yum, yum. I do love that and like to have it once or twice in the spring. Plays havoc with my sugar. So no more treats for me for awhile.

I'm doing good, so far, off some of my meds. I quit taking the thyroid meds for awhile. Seems like I was being a little overdosed with that one. I don't really feel any different, but Jim says I'm more contrary. I think it's just that I have allergies and as the humidity comes in, I hate that and it always makes me more short tempered. Though over the years I have finally learned to control the temper part. But it takes constant prayer.

Here are the SPC Statistics for today:

May 26, 2008
Tornado    4
High Winds    32
Large Hail    112

Note: Tornadoes reported: Kansas-3, Texas-1.
Largest Hail reported: 4 Ľ" in both Pecos County, TX and Roger Mills County, Oklahoma.

May 25, 2008 - Sunday

We had a quiet day today, did some stuff around the house and Jimmy came to visit for a few hours which is always a treat!!!

It was still nice temperatures outside so no complaints from me for now!

Here are the SPC Statistics for today:

May 25, 2008
Tornado    50
High Winds    146
Large Hail    272

Note: Tornadoes reported: Kansas-10, Texas-4, Minnesota-2, Iowa-31, Illinois-3. There were 14 fatalities associated with the tornadoes: Minnesota-1, Iowa-13. Injuries reported: Minnesota-9, Iowa-70.
Largest Hail reported: 4 Ľ" diameter in both St. Croix County, Wisconsin and Butler County, Iowa. 4" diameter was also reported in Black Hawk County, Iowa with winds gusting at 93 mph. Kansas and Minnesota had reports of 3" diameter hail also.

May 24, 2008 - Sabbath

Happy Birthday James !!!

A 96th birthday is really something special!!! Congratulations!!!

Pretty day out in the 70's with a slight breeze. I can handle that ok as long as the humidity stays down. Watching, tracking the storm chasers out in the plains.

Here are the SPC Statistics for today:

May 24, 2008
Tornado    13
High Winds    32
Large Hail    81

Note: Tornadoes reported: Oklahoma-4, South Dakota-5, North Dakota-4.
Largest Hail reported: 2 ľ" diameter in Garfield County, Oklahoma.

Several people emailed me about all the tornadoes and funnel clouds spotted in Texas today. Some were shown on the TV news in detail. I didn't get to see any of these videos, however, I know that unless the videos and reports are made to the NWS or SPC, they don't get included in the statistics for that day. I pull my data directly from the SPC reports as those are the numbers that go into the history books. That's why it's so important for folks to report when even funnel clouds are spotted. It helps the weather people learn where the storms are happening and helps in the long-term forecasting. Even if there was no damages this time, the next time could be a larger storm, with damages and it also shows which states and areas get hit the most with these storms that can produce severe situations.

I also believe this is why, here in Virginia, we seem to be having more tornadoes. I think it's because of our growing population as well as more reports being made. If you listen to some of the "old-timer's" talk, the tornadoes that we are having are not new, just previously never reported.

I am hoping that NWS/SPC will send some folks to Texas to assess the damages and reports so that their statistics can be adjusted to a more accurate number of actual tornadoes that occurred today in the area. And I will recheck the SPC reports in the next few weeks to see if the adjustments have finally been made! Thanks to Lex and the others that emailed me about the fantastic footage they saw on TV!! I sure hope the news stations replay some of it so I can see it too!!! I'm also confident that some of that footage will make it to NGC or Discovery. Sounds like it was really cool!!!!

May 23, 2008 - Friday

Jimmy called this morning and had good news about their water situation. Looks like things are going to be resolved soon! I know that he and Jessica are happy about that!!! Things are also going along well in the wedding plans, so we're all looking forward to that too!!!

Seth also called this morning, the Virginia Tech Chase team had 8 encounters yesterday! Seth keeps in touch with them as well as other teams who are chasing. They all know each other, it's so cool! I'm running tracking on Seth as well as the VT team also. It's really neat to see what they're doing and where they are in relation to the storms. Seth is doing something new this year. He has a webcam that will take a photo every minute or so. However, since they will often be out of range of locations for internet use, it won't be live online until the evening. Every night he plans to upload the photos onto his web pages for you to see where he has been during that day!!! I think that is SO cool!!!

Otherwise, around our house, we're just having a routine day, a little housework and a little relaxing, catchup for Jim after being gone this past week, bills, paperwork etc. As well as all the little things that I save up for him to do! He loves me for that, I know!

Here are the SPC Statistics for today:

May 23, 2008
Tornado    64
High Winds    45
Large Hail    102

Note: Tornadoes reported: Colorado-5, Wyoming-8, Nebraska-1, Oklahoma-1, Kansas-49.
Largest Hail reported: 3" diameter in both Gove County & Finney County in Kansas.

May 22, 2008 - Thursday

Ran a couple loads of laundry this morning then went to town for grocery shopping. That done, I came home and cleaned up the kitchen after putting away the groceries, fixed some supper, did my dishes. Jim has been on travel and gets home tonight so I'll wait up for him.

Congrats to Seth on his good news about his job!!!! And good luck to him on his storm chase. He and JoAnna leave this afternoon for a "Chase" and it looks very promising as the weather has been very active today. Even had a small tornado in California about 10 miles from Earl. They also had 2-3 inches of hail that was (according to SPC) 3/4" in diameter!!!! Pretty unusual for them to get this type of weather. Same for Colorado. They had a tornado 70 miles north of Denver. Eastern Colorado gets tornadoes occasionally but not north of Denver! Bizarre weather happenings!!!

Earl had called to tell me about arriving home in the hail and his roof and yard were covered just like a snowstorm in the large hail! That's when I checked SPC about the reports and saw the confirmed hail size, locations and the same with the tornado! Awesome having internet!!!!

May 21, 2008 - Wednesday

Spent today doing some housework, laundry and more paperwork sorting. I bagged up some garbage and went through several large stacks of magazines that had been sitting there for ages. Hence the garbage bagging. Will take them to the dump later this week. Tired tonight, so going to watch a little TV and call it a night!

May 20, 2008 - Tuesday

Busy day today. Did a little shopping, looking around at shoes and stuff for the upcoming wedding. Didn't buy anything yet, but had fun looking! Spent the whole day and even took some time to visit my favorite sewing and craft stores! Picked up some supper and went home to watch a little TV and put my feet up for awhile.

Watched some season finale's this evening and then worked on some sorting paperwork that has piled up. This is an ongoing project for now! After midnight (couldn't sleep since I took a nap late afternoon) I practiced some songs for the church program in June. Nothing else new today!

May 19, 2008 - Monday

I had my car in the shop, dropped it off last night, picked it up this afternoon. Just the routine yearly inspection at which time I also routinely get an oil change. I usually do that about every 5000 miles since the car is now 10 years old. Or every 6 months, whichever comes first. All was well, so I passed inspection and am good for another year as far as the Commonwealth is concerned!

May 18, 2008 - Sunday

Worked on some stuff around the house this morning. Jimmy came over and visited with us while running a couple loads of laundry. We sure enjoyed his visit! Later we ran out for some bread and picked up Chinese for supper, after leaving my car at the shop for the yearly inspection required by the state of Virginia.

We're getting excited about the wedding plans. Everything is coming together! And it all sounds just wonderful...

We watched some TV in the evening and that was a full day! Enough, I'm tired....

May 17, 2008 - Sabbath

I didn't sleep good last night, don't know why, just didn't. So I was extra tired today. After lunch I slept on the sofa for 3 hours!!! Spent a couple hours watching a movie on TV and then called it a night. (I'm actually filling this in the next day!) I was just plain tired!

May 16, 2008 - Friday

Housework, laundry, what can I say? Friday is always a busy day... Hmmmphf...a poet and didn't even know it....

May 15, 2008 - Thursday

Housework and a short shopping trip filled up the day. Jim was on travel the last couple days so I tracked his flight back until it landed. That's a really cool thing to do! Otherwise, just a normal routine Thursday.

It was a little bit warmer today, reached the low 70's. Bright sunshine all morning, but by around 2 pm clouds had moved in. I see by the radar that we have some rain coming. And due to all the rain we received last week, we're under a flood watch even though it won't be as bad as last week. We had over 5" in one storm, but tonight and tomorrow it's only supposed to be an inch or so. It's just that the ground is already so saturated. Hence, the flood watch. Just means the roads will flood, cause the water has no place to go. An inconvenience for some, I'm sure, but I don't have to go out in it, so no problem for me. Our lane is in pretty bad shape from last week, so I avoid driving it. And when I think of the cost of gas, well, sorry Wal-Mart and all the stores that I usually frequent. It's just too expensive these days to go shopping....

May 14, 2008 - Wednesday

Working around the house, trying to get some more paperwork filed and stuff organized. Jim had hung up one of my bulletin boards which is a "wipe" board, which I have my list of Genealogy and Music "to-do's". It's a constant reminder to me for when I sit down in my room and think I don't have anything to do, and then I just start playing computer games. Don't get me wrong, I love playing the games, but I need to be constructive right now to catch back up on all the files and data and photos and documents etc that need to be reconstructed on my computer! It's an overwhelming task but it will eventually get done. Hence, the reminder on the wall!!!!

Today started out as a beautiful sunny day but around 2 pm it clouded up as if it's going to rain. There is rain out west but nothing close yet on radar. Time will tell.

I received the Tornado Safety alerts from our local alert system and I forwarded it to those of you in the Mid-Atlantic area, since it applies to this area for this time of year. Important information to remind all of you of safety precautions in the event of severe thunderstorms, microbursts and tornadoes. Please read it, go over it with your families, know what to do, just in case.

May 13, 2008 - Tuesday

Yeah! I finally got my almanac data. Actually I had to get another copy since the other was lost forever. So I'm good now until the next issue comes out which is in the late fall.

Today was sunny and beautiful, temps reaching a high of 74°. The air was cool due to the leftover offshore breeze so a very pleasant day. Tomorrow should be similar.

May 12, 2008 - Monday

Well, it really did rain. The rain gauge only holds 5 inches and it was over the top so we at least had 5 inches of rain overnight. And yes, the lane has run. Enough that we'll have to have it graded and restoned again. That's pretty typical in the spring so we're used to it by now!

Otherwise just a typical Monday. Housework, laundry and miscellaneous paperwork. Followed by a game or two on the computer while supper was cooking. Rain stopped late afternoon and is currently just a drizzle tonight. Temps reached a high of 51° today, YEAH! and it's currently about 47°. I believe we are supposed to warm up mid-week.

May 11, 2008 - Sunday

Happy Mother's Day !!!

Happy Birthday Eunice !!!

What a nice day! Seth called me for Mother's Day and then Jimmy called! Then a little while later Jimmy came over to visit for the afternoon. We really had a nice afternoon! For me it was a GREAT Mother's Day and I thank both of you guys and Jim too for such a nice day!!!!

The weather wasn't as nice, though I appreciate the cooler temperatures! It started raining mid-afternoon and poured by evening. The news says it will rain all day tomorrow too. Oh well, I really had a nice day today rain or not!!!

May 10, 2008 - Sabbath

We received another .8" (8/10th's) of rain last night and early this morning. Sounds like we may get more by Sunday night. We shall see.

Well, one of the special days this month is today, National Train Day. Cool. I like trains. Well, model trains. Always wanted to set up a model train and scenery, just never had the space to do so. One of my nephews had started to set one up years ago in their basement and I also had an uncle who spent alot of time, many years ago, in his basement, making a huge scenery for his trains. It was so cool. And then, some years ago, when I lived in Pennsylvania, there was a place a few miles from the academy called "Roadside America". Honestly, that was the coolest place I had ever seen. It was a huge room with nothing but trains and countryside scenery and mountains and stuff! It was so realistic! I thought that I would do that someday. Well, it's on my list.

I was just checking to see where I'm at in some of my webpage designs and updates. Man, it doesn't take long to fall behind. For example, I need to update all my Hurricane pages and statistics, since I haven't really done that since 2005, though it appears I worked a little on 2006. And I never finished all the individual hurricane and tropical storm stuff. There are awesome photos from NOAA and places like that of various hurricanes and damages. There's even satellite photos over the last few years of damages due to various hurricanes along the coastlines of the Gulf and Atlantic. They are amazing and I hope to include some of those and links to more when I get caught up on my data. This is a good summertime project for me as I'm usually watching the Atlantic and Gulf very closely for storm development. So be patient, I will get these added, hopefully this summer!!!!

Then there is more work on all the hobby and craft and nature pages to do, design and whatever. Need to take photos and scan photos of stuff, actually, some have to be re-scanned. All takes time, I'll get there eventually.

And I'm still hoping to locate the Almanac data for the weather section of these journals (above). It's got to be around here somewhere.........

May 9, 2008 - Friday

Well, the first thunder and lightning, mild, rolled through around 11:30 pm last night. Then around 1:45 am I got my alert that we were under the gun for a severe thunderstorm. Well, we were already getting it, I had just woke up from the thunder. We didn't get much wind and only a few mild "booms" of thunder, nothing really close. Then around 6 am this morning a couple more booms of thunder. All in all, it was just the garden variety type of thunderstorm, nothing severe for us. We got 1½" of rain total.

When I spoke to Dad on the phone over on the Eastern Shore of MD, they were over 5" of rainfall so far and it was still raining!!! That's alot of rain!!!! And up in the Stafford end of Fredericksburg, they had a tornado. There was all kinds of rotation showing up on the weather radar, so I'm not surprised. I'm sorry for all the folks that had damages to their homes, but thankfully noone was hurt the last I heard.

Then FOX news showed the best tornado video I've ever seen. Later saw it on CNN, so watch to see. It was a surveillance camera pointed out at a parking lot (I believe) in Alabama as a "small" tornado went through the parking lot of vehicles. This is why, folks, you never remain in your vehicle, if you are directly in the path of the twister! It shows the twister picking up the vehicles and tossing them like toys! AWESOME VIDEO!!!!!!

May 8, 2008 - Thursday

Under a severe storm watch tonight until 3 am. Excuse me, a tornado watch until 3 am. The severe storm is a given. It's been rainy off and on but nothing serious so far.

Had an interesting experience, which started last week when I went shopping. I had ordered a couple rubberstamps and when the girl took my order said there were a couple of really big orders ahead of me so it would take longer than an hour. Later, while I was still in town shopping, she called me and said because of the big orders ahead of me, had run out of the stamps so had to reorder some. They would get more supplies in within a few days and they would call me when my couple of stamps were ready. I called a few days later to check and the guy I spoke with said that the girl told him not to do my order because she knew just how I wanted my stamps. (I type up exactly what I want, font size and style etc and they scan it into the machine). She wasn't in that day but would call me later when she had made them. So the one hour stamps actually took 9 days. No big deal, they were just for personal use in my contesting so I was in no rush. Finally the store called and said they were ready so I went into town to pick them up. Instead of just a couple stamps, there were over 30 in the box. Apparently, some numbers written on the order sheet were misinterpreted as the number of stamps wanted. No wonder they had been unable to fill my order until they reordered. I felt bad about it, but the girl that took my order remembered as soon as I said I didn't order that many stamps! They were very nice about it since it was their mistake but I still felt bad about it. I'm sure they can reuse the frames, just not the printed part. (I know that because they have corrected one for me once that wasn't right). But still.....

May 7, 2008 - Wednesday

Ran to town to get a new phone. Ours has died, so it's now replaced. Other than that, just housework. Ironed 11 shirts. I hate to iron so I put it off which is really stupid but there you have it. So once every couple weeks I have a couple hours of ironing to catch up. If I would only do it each week, it wouldn't be nearly as bad......

I was looking back at this weeks short journal entries. I think I sound a bit contrary (sp?). I'm not really. Well, I get a little short-tempered in the humidity but it's short-lasting. If I get contrary I soon feel contrite about it all.... Hm-m-m. Can't think of any more con-type words so I'll let it go at that for tonight.

May 6, 2008 - Tuesday

The humidity is crazy. Everything in the house feels wet. Papers are drooping, and it's kinda hot. I don't like hot weather. Correction. I don't like humidity. Correction. I hate humidity. There, that clear enough???? It is the one thing that makes me very short tempered. Ya think???

May 5, 2008 - Monday

Lots of plans to accomplish stuff but just moving slow. It's warmer today and the humidity is climbing. Not my favorite thing.

May 4, 2008 - Sunday

Well, I didn't get my email today. Got an error message that there was a fatal error in Outlook. I will try to get my email again tomorrow. I need to go through the old email that we recovered from my failed computer and I suppose, delete as much of it as I can.

May 3, 2008 - Sabbath

Well, the temperatures have varied quite abit this week. We had upper 50's on Wednesday morning which then upped to mid-60's. By Thursday we got into the 70's and yesterday we made it to the upper 80's. Too hot for me. Well, it's the humidity moving back in that is getting to me. But it's not oppressive yet. Just wait till the end of July or mid-August. And really it only gets bad when unsettled weather is headed our way. The humidity rising means more chances of storms, so I guess thats a good thing too. Today, it hit 87° with lower humidity, so that's tolerable but has cooled off a little bit more in the last couple hours due to some stormy looking clouds that have filled the sky. Nothing on radar close but it looks like it could storm. Probably building overtop of us and will hit the lower counties of Maryland later this evening.

I forgot to mention that if you wish to read my April accomplishments, you must go to the "Archives" webpage. Otherwise, stay with me here in May.

Nothing else new here in our part of the country. Just watchin' the weather, cleanin' the house (well, not today), and tryin' to organize the clutter (again, not today). It's like trying to control chaos.

May 2, 2008 - Friday

Mom's 83rd birthday (if she had lived)

Yep. Mom would've been 83 today had she lived. But she didn't. She died at the young age of 40. I will always miss her. I have a webpage that I've been working on about her. Also web pages on all my family too. I will eventually add more photos and stuff, it's all on my "to do" list!!!

Otherwise, today was a typical Friday. I usually try to get my housework somewhat under control so we can relax over the weekend. Well, I woke up with a headache today, so I at least did a load of laundry and vacuumed. I later decided to check my sugar levels, I've been negligent on doing so, and 2 hours after I took my morning meds, my sugar was still at 165. Hence the headache. It's now down around 132 and I'm due a dose of the meds so that will help lower it some more through the night. Just got to watch what I eat more closely! But I am feeling a little better now too.

Other diabetics in the family struggle keeping their sugar down below 200. I can't imagine how bad they must feel when it goes up in the 300-400 ranges.... I've had a few readings over 200 and I know how bad I feel when it starts to climb. It's really amazing.... So for all you out there who struggle with the disease, watch what you eat, you will feel better! I'm a fine one to preach that one!

Other news around our house, Jim had to take down a hornet's nest that decided to build right by the deck. It just built up in a day or two and it was those nasty black hornets with the light yellow on their backs. They are mean. So we had to discourage them from building by the door like that...

Then today, I was unable to sweep off the deck until dusk. New invader trying to keep me away. I have to sweep off the deck every morning from the shells of peanuts that the raccoon leaves over night. Carpenter Bees. You know, those LARGE bumblebees? For some reason they have decided that the deck might be a nice place to build a nest. Or rather, under the deck. At one time I saw no less that 5 of those huge bees on my deck. Not good. So that will be the next thing to deal with. Hopefully this weekend. Ain't summer fun??? And do you know why all the hornets, wasps and bees like our deck? Because of the spiders that they find all over the ground, in the trees and on the house. Yep. Summertime. I'm ready for winter.

May 1, 2008 - Thursday

As far as the Miscellaneous Category above about the Awareness Month's, I could keep going on that one! Unbelievable how many things are in May. And I didn't even begin to list the "Weeks of.." or "Day of's...." Well, I just have to list a couple more. I'll just list a few here: May 1 - Mother Goose Day; May 4 - National Weather Observers Day (I like that one!); May 5 - Cinco de Mayo, Cartoonist Day; May 4-10 - Teacher Appreciation Week, National Pet Week and Be Kind to Animals Week; May 5-11 - National Wildflower Week; May 10 - Astronomy Day... I think you get the picture. There are a whole lot more of them that I haven't even collected yet. I basically just list the USA or various States, nothing for foreign countries. That would take just too long.

I'm still working on reconstructing some of my data. As you can see, I was able to reconstruct the important month's awareness lists. I'm still working on some of the other stuff. I will be for months....

I've been working on my accomplishment worksheets and have them reconstructed as much as I can. Next I need to fix a graph up for my doctor's office, hoping that they will be kind enough to give me all my bloodwork for the last 3 years. Next are the contesting logs that are necessary for my online contesting. Haven't been doing that since my computer died and I'm missing alot of good contests, so that will be one of the next priorities....

Later this summer I'll get back to the scanning or should I say "re-scanning" and "re-ripping" of documents, photos, music, audiobooks and such. They have a lower priority right now, but need to be done. Jim backed up my computer today for what I have so far. He also had all the audio sermons that I lost on his computer so he copied those over onto my system. One less thing to do later....

Every weekend it's been raining and we received the parts for the lawn mower. So Jim took today to put the new parts on and get the mowing-deck put back together. He was able to cut grass finally and the yard looks alot better!!!

We have been watching a special on PBS all week called "Carrier". Most of it is alot of talking to different personnel on board a carrier. Apparently a filming crew went on the 6 month deployment with the aircraft carrier, USS Nimitz. Some of the footage was only so-so, alot of emotional baggage that the crew was feeling, but Wednesday's episode had an hour of stuff that, to me, was the best! They were in rough seas and were practicing landings on a pitching deck. It was AWESOME!! And scarey!!! The ship was really going up and down and they had so many bad landings that it went on into the night which was even more dangerous. The planes were coming down and literally bouncing over the cables that they are supposed to hook and so they would have to take off hard before they ran off the end of the ship. They sent a tanker up to refuel the jets as they were running out of fuel trying to land on the deck. At one point, late at night, they still had 14 planes plus the tanker still in the air. Some of the pilots had 8-10 landing attempts. Problem is that when the ship is pitching, at one point as the pilots approach the ship, they are actually looking at the bottom of the ship, like they are going to crash into it rather than be on the deck, so they nose up, then the ship sinks in the trough of the wave and the pilot is now too high above the deck. That's when they will drop hard onto the deck and bounce over all three cables, missing, throwing sparks everywhere from the cable hook and having to throw it on the afterburners to take off again. Then imagine doing it in the dark. It was a real nail-biter episode!!!

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