Fay.
Gustav.
Hanna.
Ike.
Josephine.
It's the tropical storm busy season - and this year has had a bumper crop. The folks in south Florida have had a difficult time focusing on anything but the storms that have been rolling in every few days.
Fortunately it looks like Hanna is going to stay to the east east enough to miss Florida, but NA / SC aren't out of the woods yet. Still to early to tell what's going to happen with Ike & Josephine. . .
We found out last week that at our new place when we lose power we also lose our water. And our well doesn't have one of those old-time pump handles. I have some fresh water stockpiled, but that's not going to help with baths & toilets. (I suppose the pool would work for bathing. ;) ) . Need to consider some type of emergency generator for the house (besides the little one that I bought when we first moved to FL 3 years ago).
Poor New Orleans is right there in the center of the bulls eye for Gustav. Forecasted to make landfall sometime early morning to the west of New Orleans, it is expected to grow to a category 4 hurricane.
Ouch.
MSNBC has a nice interactive tracking program here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26295161/
And we really shouldn't forget about little Tropical Storm Hanna. It's been biding its time out in the Atlantic, slowly creeping westward towards the Bahamas, well under the radar with Gustav getting all the attention. But, the forecast is bringing it mighty close to south Florida.
Could this be a huge 1-2 punch for LA and FL?
Fay hit the state for a second time this morning a little bit south of Ft. Myers. The good news (for Tampa folks anyway) is that it seems to be drifting more to the east as it heads north.
We haven't had a drop of rain from it yet. So far the prevailing wind keeps shearing the rain eastward as it tries to approach Tampa. The forecast still predicts a bunch of rain, but looks like Fay isn't going to make it beyond a TS.
No complaints here.
Joe Healy has a bunch of good weather links on his site if you're interested in seeing what the latest looks like.
Hmmm. Tampa is usually one of the gutters in the Gulf of Mexico Hurricane Bowling Alley. But this time, it appears as though we're right in the pocket for (currently) Tropical Storm Fay.
Around noon our cable TV went out. It's still out now, 3.5 hours later. And today the Wimbledon men's singles final is being played. As a result, I pressure washed the lanai and pool area.
I found Wimbledon Radio online and during rest breaks I've been able to catch a number of points - including the 4th set tiebreaker. British accents calling the match, fans ooh-ing and aah-ing, players (well, Nadal) grunting, the sound of the rackets striking the ball.
I've finished the pressure washing, taken a bath, and am sitting on the couch listening to the match. They're on serve in the 5th set, with Federer serving at 4-4.
Update: Well, Nadal took the match, 9-7 in the 5th set. Amazing tennis from what I heard on the "radio" and have read online. Sad I couldn't have watched more of it, but the sounds of the match will be with me for a while. Called the cable TV company - a technician won't be out until Tuesday morning.
Update2: Just found videos of the 4th set tiebreaker and the entire 5th set on NBCSports.com. Wow.
Are back in first place again. The new stadium initiative has died (again), but the Rays continue their winning ways. Last night they took the second game in a series against Boston.
That's the best record in MLB right now. The All Star break is just around the corner. How long can they keep it up?
I love living in Tampa. One of the reasons? The almost daily afternoon thunderstorms that roll through for an hour or so then go away. Right now the sky is almost pitch black, the thunder is rolling, and the rain is about to come down in buckets.
My wife and I like to watch "Dancing with the stars" and "So you think you can dance." This season's SYTYCD has been a bit under-whelming. (Not enough Mia Michaels choreography for one thing.)
But on tonight's show, there was a very moving dance to "Bleeding Love" by Leona Lewis. Great song. Great interpretation by the choreographers. And marvelous dancing by the couple. They showed such emotion.
Glad I had it recorded on my DVR. I've watched it over and over this evening.
Here it is on YouTube. (The dance itself starts about 2:37 into the video.) http://youtube.com/watch?v=ovjAuBuepVA
And the Rays have the best record in baseball. Cool.
It's May 15.
Tampa is 6 games above .500 and leading the AL East.
Are you telling me all they needed was a name change to start playing major league baseball?
Call me speechless.
I finally got around to downloading this software. It is absolutely amazing. The images are stunning, and the UI is so intuitive. I could stay up all night, gazing into the heavens, er, my laptop screen.
If you haven't seen it, go download it today. http://www.worldwidetelescope.org
If you're a fan of the night sky, you'll find it breathtaking.
Have you ever seen a tornado close up, flipping cars into the air like they were little toys?
Check it out: http://www.weather.com/multimedia/videoplayer.html?clip=10720&from=hp_main_tab3
Right now we're somewhere over Virginia / North Carolina and we just skirted around a couple of spectacular thunderstorms tonight. Lightning streaked across the sky, filling my window. It was as if someone had electrified large sticks of fluffy cotton candy. We were above and to the side of the storms; the stars visible and shining up above us. Inspirational.
Switching subjects completely...
I ate lunch at a mall in King of Prussia, PA (I love the names of places up north), and bought an umbrella at an Eddie Bauer store before leaving. The purchase paid off. It rained the whole time I was inside buildings, but whenever I needed to go out, the rain stopped. Psych! Karma. If I hadn't bought the umbrella the skies would have been dry while I was inside, and opened up wide anytime I wanted to go out. I needed a new umbrella anyway, especially one that has auto open and close.
What'd I eat? I tried a Cuban sandwich at the Cheesecake Factory. Pretty good, especially considering I wasn't in Tampa. I only ate half, though, saving room for some strawberry shortcake afterwards. Ooooohhh. Now that's what I'm talkin about. It was massive and mouth wateringly good, and if I'd tried to eat it all I would have hurt myself. The berries tasted fresh and were piled high; the ice cream, homemade. Instead of sponge cake, the ice cream was sandwiched between a homemade English muffin-like cake/biscuit. All this, topped with a huge swirl of whipped cream. I could have made an entire meal out of it. Maybe next time I will.
Call me sated.
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