HOT,CLEAR; DAILY WX FORECASTS - STORM DAMAGE - SIMPLICITY OF RICE - FARM FIELD WATERMELON - CROSS WIND LANDING

Typical farming fields with hay bales all neatly set out to dry in the sun. All picturesque, works of art and hard work completed.

 

 

Week two with no rain. Temps reaching 100 degrees daily. Low humidity.  August next week and we are transitioning into the official Texas summer. Folks say,"Wait till August" when weather is the topic of conversation. 

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Storms of late June, early July. Local in town damage.

Traveling the back roads in our area still finds many trees on the ground awaiting clean up. Most every home and every yard still show the signs of passing storms. From what I read, many towns around the nation are working the remains of passing storms and floods. In comparison, we are lucky.

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 SIMPLICITY OF JASMINE RICE

I cannot help to think, when I make a small pot of rice, the historical aspects of this food having the fed world for eons. Affordable, still available in bulk, stores well in containers, easy to prepare, a comfort food and filling. 

Jasmine rice with soy sauce serves us well as a meal or side dish. Growing up, a little butter with a sprinkle of sugar made a bowl of rice the first go to dish on the dinner table. Never ever set aside nor pushed it way. Never!!

What if? I continue to ask myself this question. What if? 

I do not want to find myself reminiscing some day soon, "if only I would have stored a few more bags when it was available and affordable."

Maybe put in some extra of rice. Yep!

And this just in; "India imposes major rice export ban" 

Who knew?

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SEASONAL WATERMELON  (with seeds)

Fresh out of the field this past week. Back road farmer's next to the road farm stand.  Honor system of payment, put your cash in the box. We brought home two. Both "thumped" hollow. One for us, one gifted.

 

The bride cut, diced and cleaned. Sent me to the compost pile with the left over mess.

All by myself with a bag of watermelon rinds. No one watching and the kid in me returned full tilt. A wonderful messy treat "cleaning" the last layer of red melon from those rinds.

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STRONG CROSSWIND LANDING GONE WRONG 

 Bristol Bay Alaska
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Closed the gate here at sunset last night and found myself, arm resting on a cross bar,  listening to the quiet. Narrow country road just off the down slope of the driveway. No traffic the norm. A few birds chirping, the far off distant rustling of a tractor working and this west edge of the Piney Woods all lush with every shade of green, captured me. 

How easy it was to stop the daily routine and just look to the land that I at times, fail to appreciate. All for the stopping of a daily routine in mid step. Could it be this easy?

Appreciate your visit this week.

THUNDERSTORM DAMAGE VIDEO - HOMEMADE PIZZA, FRIED OKRA, SUSHI - TRY THAT IN A SMALL TOWN - JUST BECAUSE - LIGHTENING STRIKE

 

THUNDERSTORM DAMAGE VIDEO HERE

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Homemade Pizza        having fun in the kitchen this week.

Pepperoni, black and cheese. Our son turned us on to this simple mix. I stretch and work the dough and my wife does the sauce and toppings. This pizza is exactly what we want when we order at any pizza joint.

Those photos you often see of cheese dripping down from a fresh slice of pizzeria pizza. Yea, homemade can do exactly that!!

 

Bubbling sauce, meat and cheese.

Fried Okra 

 

The bride's third batch. Add a little salt. Finger food and the first to go at dinner last night.

West neighbor grew okra this season and has bucketfuls to gift away. 

His wife taught my wife how to prepare and fry. A lesson in her kitchen a week or so ago. A recipe passed down through generations and now in our kitchen. 

Lightly-salted flavor and crunch. 

Sushi 

 

The bride has also been playing with new Sushi making tools. Photo above also a third batch.

All of above has been a way to help pass time while we endure the Texas heat. Upside of the time spent are new meals we can add to liven up meal times. Just add wasabi...

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AND JUST BECAUSE

Try That in A Small Town  You may be like me and not have heard this song until recently. Also this song is a current hit with other bloggers posts.

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A TURBINE RACE CAR. Fun video. Historical, successful.

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There are a few of you that will enjoy this photo shared by neighbor.

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I am losing bragging rights about bad weather to my son, living in middle NH. He reports that a lightening strike hit 3 ninety-foot trees just 25 yards east of his home. Melted rock near the roots of the trees. 

The trees are still standing, but splintered from the trunks to their tops. He says he is has no desire to try to take them down himself. "I can see the trees raining down splinters just as I touch the base of one of those trees with a chainsaw." "Blew the top off of the transformer down the driveway." 

 As for weather here in east Texas: its hot!

Thanks for the visit. Keep on keeping on and and have a blessed week.

 

(Lasts minute solution this morning for a spider bite problem on my big toe). Works great. Wife says I look like a hobo.  Function trumps looks!!

 

 

FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS - JIBBER JABBER - PUDDING PIE

FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS

We have been in and out of the heat red zones for the past several weeks in east Texas. Heat indices as high as 117 and the high humidity.

Video Here

The storms in the video above happened several weeks ago and have been followed by several quick dissipating and hard-hitting thunderstorms dumping inches of rain in an hour. Local flooding and damage is noticeable but pales in comparison to the flooding in Vermont (example). That being said, local crews here  are still cleaning up, rebuilding power lines and town infrastructures. Storms leave a trail of rebuilding across the nation.

You will notice some flaws in the middle of the above video as I am trying to learn masking and key framing.  I do not fully understand how to do this and have found that pushing this i5 10th GEN lap top using Pinnacle 26 video editing, causes the program to crash. Many times.

"I need a bigger boat."

(AT Posting: We have just been put into a weather severe thunderstorm warning box with approaching and building storms from the west. Ahhhhhhhh)

JIBBER JABBER

Found on ncrenegade.com. A video from Appalachia's Homestead, A Rich Man's War that video here. Hard to watch (must though); from the heart.

She followed the above video with this video on some thoughts of home prices in east Tennessee.

The recent call up of troops is more than concerning. I cannot imagine what these families are going through in these tenuous times we live in.

God bless us all in the days ahead.

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PUDDING PIES "What's in your fridge?"

Banana cream pudding, graham cracker crumb crust and leftover raspberries. So easy and quick. Tried chocolate pudding and it failed on every level. Sticking with banana and vanilla puddings. One pie lasts three days and a real treat during this hot summer days.

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Thanks for the visit this week. 

 

RED FLAG HEAT WARNINGS - SPEED FLYING - GARDENING - STREET TACOS

Stressed Winter Squash

 

 

Mid-afternoon and the winter squash display their stress from the heat of the direct sun. A quick watering and they bounce back quickly.

 

 

Has been a week of red flag heat warnings. Heat indexes from 105 to 120 degrees.

 

Walking from the AC in the house to the outside patio can be an instant jump in temperature as much as 45 degrees. And the heat is most noticeable in the immediate penetration through clothes. 

 

Standing or working (pulling string beans) in the direct sunlight lasts no more than 5 minutes for me. 

 

Granted, many folks work in this direct heat. They are much better prepared than I am for those longer periods. To beat the mid-afternoon heat, most everyone working outside begins the work day at sunrise. Plenty of water and rest periods are the order of these outdoor days. 

 

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For the love of flying.

 

Tom Cruise is now speed flying. 

The bride and I are working our way through the MI series this week. Just finished MI-3. Each successive film ups the game on stunting. Speed flying: yep, will for sure watch his next movie.

 

Naturally, I had to look up more speed flying videos.   The black opening with music sets the stage, I guess. Sound up!

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Purple Fountain Grass

 

Attractive when flowering, the color and lazy dancing in light breezes.

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Twisted Vines

 

Two vines have joined forces for growth. Working together, their two twisted stems are stronger and both a foot taller than any of the other beans in the patch. Lessons from Mother Nature if we look.

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Breakfast "Street Taco"

 

 

Link sausage, scrambled egg and garden fresh Pico de Gallo wrapped in a small flour tortilla. Yes, hundreds of ways and choices. A tasty home breakfast package.

 

 

Pico de Gallo from the garden except for the jar garlic.
 

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Weather station is in the hanger with apparent rechargeable battery failure.  Another victim of heat and daily direct sun. Parts on order.

 

 

 

So, this week it is all about the heat wave in portions of Texas. We have been in the middle of all of this for a couple days or just miles outside of of the red zones. Our traveling has been limited. Self-imposed. 

 

The Dodge still has brake issues and her KIA is older and we have become old folks who may worry too much. Much like the winter ice storms up north, being stranded in this Texas broil, too far from home, is not a situation we want to find ourselves in. 

 

This morning, as I post, the heat has mellowed into the low 90's with afternoon heat index's at a 100 degrees. Thunderstorms forecast all through this coming week and with that, lower temperatures for awhile. 

 

World jibber-jabber on hold.

 

Thanks for the visit. Nine thousand last month. Have a blessed week.