Smoke Photos
I just got back in and thought I'd share. It's hard to photograph smoky conditions so that you can see what it looks like with the naked eye, but this might give you an idea. Bear in mind nothing in my area is on fire. This is all just smoke coming down from other fires in the state.
Bead in mind this is a straight road. Runs exactly East-West for miles and miles and you can normally see very far ahead of you. There is also a traffic light less than half a mile away in the second photo that is entirely obscured.
Nasty.
~ flowers bloom for
:: miss m ::
at 5/11/2007 02:21:00 PM ~
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Smoke Part 2
"Back with a vengeance!" 'Least that's what it feels like. It's miserably smoky out there from the fires burning across the entire state. Way worse than Tuesday which was better by the afternoon. It's so smoky out there that my living room smells faintly of burning through the closed sliding glass door. Even before I looked outside, I knew it was bad today. My friend Rand tells me that there's so much ash in the air that it's showing up like a dusting of snow on parked cars too. Greeeeat.
I'm heading out to help organize some more things that Rand wants to sell on ebay (I'm doing the listing for a cut of the sale price since I have the extra time and he doesn't) but man, I don't want to go outside today. And now I'm panicked that tomorrow's Birthday Extravaganza at Disney is going to be similarly mired in thick smoke and ash. Dammit.
Anyway, gotta run. (And try not to wheeze myself to death before I even reach 30.)
~ flowers bloom for
:: miss m ::
at 5/11/2007 12:00:00 PM ~
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Huzzah! An Actual Entry!
I've only intended to do an entry for over a week now. Last week of course was crazy with Love's gallery opening and then I just didn't get to any real content since.
So, a brief, run-by posting to get caught up.
Wednesday May 2nd & Thursday May 3rd - We ended up hanging all of Love's art that day. And had a minor panic when they gave us absurd, cheap-ass penny-a-foot chain and S hooks to hang it with. Looked beyond stupid.
Um, yeah. 
Had to run to Wal-Mart and get some of the
Command Hooks because no holes in the walls were permitted and nothing that would leave any marks. We bought them on the belief they would reimburse us but nope. So that was $27 out of our pocket.
Bad pic, I know, but you can see the drawing of me that's included.It all worked out well though for a last-minute
what the hell do we do to make this not look like ass solution and then we went to buy food. Our friend Rand chipped in on the food budget saying he was part of the "Friends of Parker" fund. (The group who "co-sponsored" the event is known as "Friends of the Library.") They only put in $40 for food. With Rand's help, we basically doubled that and got a MASSIVE amount of super yummy food. Sushi, bruschetta on this delicious garlic Parmesan bite-sized bread, four types of cheese and four types of cracker, a 6lb veggie tray, mini quiche, and these really good multigrain chips with two types of hummus. The library had sodas and water and we borrowed a standing cooler to keep it all iced.
This is just part of one of the two tables we had full of food.It all went fantastic though. Everyone loved the art and the food and had very nice things to say about both Love and I. (I totally played hostess and made sure the food was fresh and full, everyone was greeted, and to sell him since he doesn't tend to promote himself in any way, shape or form!) Sadly, it means I didn't get anywhere
near enough photos since I was busy running the event.
<
Bad pic I took at the beginning of the night. Never got around to taking more later.Weekend: May 5th & 6th We finally used the free movie coupon I won from
blingo (a friend won and so did I also so you should use it too!) to see Spiderman 3. I thought it was pretty good, not as great as the first two, but still pretty good. Love didn't enjoy it very much because he thought there were too many villains in it. I can see that. It definitely was a little overstuffed. Plus, there was some needlessly jerky/twitchy camera in a few places that made me have to close my eyes. Still, not bad.
After the movie we hit this cool store called
International Bazaar and I picked up a really unique item for my next Full Moon Swap package. I don't know my partner yet but the theme is "Once in a Blue Moon" and is supposed to be rare, handmade and unique items and this is so I think whomever gets it will like it. (And no, I'm not saying what it is until I know how my partner is so it doesn't ruin a surprise.)
Sunday we had errands to run since we didn't do them Saturday. Standard fare stuff like getting kitty food, stopping by Costco, grabbing some household items from Target, etc.
Monday May 7th - Thursday May 10th More of the same this week. Tried to catch up on some housecleaning, laundry and related on Monday. Had to run some errands myself (pick up some beads supplies for an order) on Tuesday. Mom came by Wednesday. Today I need to vacuum and I'm writing this much overdue entry. I've also been busy with updating
PhoenixFire Designs and my
received swap post at Full Moon Swaps. All of which involved getting photos, uploading the photos, formatting the photos and getting it all organized. Of course, the beginning of the week sees Heroes, American Idol, House, American Idol again, Medium (dvr'd) and Lost. (Thursday and Friday we don't have any shows we watch but Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday are busy tv nights around here.)
The Coming Weekend: May 12th & 13th We're heading out to WDW on Saturday. It's my "birthday" trip since Wednesdays aren't exactly conducive to a trip to Disney. You can pick up a birthday button for free from Guest Services, so you'd better be sure I'll be wearing mine. You get lots of "Happy Birthdays!" from cast members (Disney doesn't call them "employees" they call them "cast members" or "CM" for short.) You usually tend to get a free dessert somewhere along your day and Love got a card and a cupcake when we had his lunch at
Crystal Palace Buffet. I admit it, I want to bask in the birthday-wishes!
I don't know what's going on Sunday. I'd love to stay over at Disney but we can't really do it. Our passes expire the week after on the 20th so maybe we'll head out the final weekend as well and I can have a
second birthday trip. (Hey! It's legitimately in between both weekends so I can do it twice, right?
And...we're spent. Now that I've rambled enough to make up for the week of non-entries (and probably totally forgetting interesting, important or otherwise blog-worthy events) I think it's time for some lunch. I'm starving and seeing as I've been writing this for like an hour now, it's time for some food. (Note: only having a banana so far today, while tasty, is not a meal.) Cookies for anyone who got through that. I'm out!
~ flowers bloom for
:: miss m ::
at 5/10/2007 03:41:00 PM ~
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Ooh, Shiny!
Just a note to point out that there have been some more updates on PhoenixFire Designs today. There's been a TON of new earrings uploaded recently and some new necklaces and bracelets. Here's a peak at three of the pairs of new earrings:
Genuine Swarovski Crystal Earrings in Pacific Opal | 
Genuine Swarovski Crystal Earrings in Caribbean Blue Opal | 
Genuine Swarovski Crystal Earrings In Fuchsia |
Pretty, no? :)
~ flowers bloom for
:: miss m ::
at 5/10/2007 02:37:00 PM ~
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Seven Days
I'm down to my last week of being a 20-something. My 30th birthday is next Wednesday, the 16th. I believe, it is officially time to begin the mourning process.
(Yeah yeah, I'll write a real entry sooner or later. I've got recaps to do but I just haven't felt like writing and I've been running errands and catching up on the housework and such. I'm getting old and forgetful, so you're just going to have to accept that I forget to post and I get grumpy if my nap gets interrupted by the need to post. *chuckles* But, you know, gifts, prizes and cash cheer me up. *smirk*)
~ flowers bloom for
:: miss m ::
at 5/09/2007 06:18:00 PM ~
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For The Love of Rain
I'm sure you've heard of the wildfires in Georgia but maybe not the ones raging across Florida. None are in my immediate area but today, the winds are carrying the smoke in very badly. It's all hazy out there and it smells like burning. If you have any other Florida blogs you read, you're probably going to be hearing about it a few times. It's pretty big (and scary) news. About 260 separate fires are burning in Florida covering more than 20,545 acres.
There's a health advisory because of the heavy smoke and particulate matter increase in the air for all of West-Central Florida. Basically, the recommendation is to stay inside as much as possible until the smoke passes. The ironic thing is that we're having absolutely gorgeous weather with highs only around 78F today and low humidity. But you can't go outside to enjoy it. Weather turned nice last night but will be back up towards 90F in a day or so.
This drought situation is so bad. We're so dry here. As of May 2nd, due to the drought and fires burning across much of Florida, the governor declared a state of emergency. More than 80% of Florida is experiencing moderate to severe drought conditions. Our water bills are going up because reserves are going way down. Add in too much uncontrolled population growth to global warming and the climate changes that are happening because of it and you see a recipe for disaster. (Hrm, kinda like the one we're in right now....)
Anyway, I've got errands to run today. Joy of joys. It's going to be hell to do in this smoke. I needed to get this stuff done yesterday but didn't and this is the price for procrastination. Florida's burning though folks, even when it's not your backyard, it still is your backyard. Today's blanket of smoke reminds us clearly how interconnected the weather system truly is.
~ flowers bloom for
:: miss m ::
at 5/08/2007 11:02:00 AM ~
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)
now.