When It Rains

Hello Friends,

Have you had any rain lately? We finally got a good rain this afternoon (August 1), along with lots of thunder and lightning. It seems my dinner plans may have changed to cooking the burgers indoors instead of grilling. We'll see.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand, RAIN. Thus far, we have had 1.24" of rain in this storm. Nope, I did not go out to check the rain gauge. I used the raindrop.farm site. 

All you have to do is plug in your zip code and click in your location to see their approximation of how much rain you have had in the past 24 hours.

This is especially handy if you want to check rainfall at another location such as a vacation home, farm or perhaps your place of business should it be in a flash flood area.

Wherever you are, I hope you got rain if you need it, and not if you don't. 

One line garden update: I picked the first pod of okra today!

Update: I just checked back to see how much more rain we got, and it had dropped to 1.07". This is what they say about how it works.

"How do you know how much it rained?
We calculate rainfall by processing data from high-resolution radars, ground sensors, and satellite data. It aggregates inputs from 180 Doppler radars and more than 10,000 rain gauges, using scientific models to derive rainfall estimates. We then deliver rainfall amounts that are hyper-localized, ensuring you receive data tailored precisely to your chosen locations.

Final update: According to our rain gauge we actually got 2.1". It was more accurate the last time we had any measurable rain.

Until next time, stay safe and stay sane (and dry).

A Truck From The Past

Hello Friends,

Car Lovers Rejoice! After 50 Miserable Years, CAFE Standards Are Dead

This could be good news for car and truck buyers and the auto industry as well. Let's bring these back, shall we?

CAFE stands for corporate average fuel economy, and here is an excerpt from the article linked above.

"From the beginning, these standards were a disaster, forcing automakers to radically downsize their fleet, which research showed cost thousands of lives because, all things being equal, smaller, lighter cars are less safe than larger ones.

In fact, a 2002 National Academy of Sciences found that these fuel economy standards not only boosted the cost of cars, but may have caused as many as 2,600 more traffic fatalities just in 1993."

You know, safety first, except when it's not.

This whole thing began in order to force car manufacturers to increase fuel economy across the board. They had to meet a corporate standard or face stiff penalties.

That meant smaller cars and larger pickups. Why pickups you ask? Well as I understand it, pickups are generally less fuel efficient anyway, so to meet these new standards they had to provide the required gas mileage per cubic foot of vehicle. Thus, the super-large pickups were able to state the required gas mileage.

Have you seen the size of modern trucks? You practically need a ladder to get in or out, and the bed is as high as my head. I hope that with the demise of the CAFE standards, we can return to reasonably sized trucks.

A shout out to The Abode of McThag for sharing this article.

Until next time, stay safe and stay sane.

More About Herbs

Hello Friends,

Let's talk some more about herbs, shall we? My current read is The Herbal Apothecary by 

JJ Pursell. Although I am only part way through the book, I find it well written and easy to understand. It covers 100 medicinal herbs with helpful color photographs. She describes the attributes of each plant, including instructions on how to make teas, tinctures, salves, and syrups, plus dosing and recipes.

There are sections on the systems of the body: cardiovascular, respiratory, gastrointestinal and endocrine. These give detailed information on how our bodies work, and how herbal medicine can play a part in keeping us healthy.

At this point, my herb garden contains mostly culinary herbs, and even that got away from me and bloomed before I decided to harvest. Yesterday I picked some German thyme and Italian oregano. I had previously trimmed a new rosemary plant that had gotten leggy.

I'll continue to build my herb garden to hopefully include more medicinal herbs and have enough culinary herbs to harvest at the proper time and still have fresh when I want them.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention that when using herbs in your dishes, one tablespoon dried herbs = three tablespoons fresh herbs. Just remember to triple the amount of fresh herbs if your recipe calls for dried, and always use fresh in salads and salsas and as garnish in finishing off your dish. When putting fresh herbs into a cooked dish, add near the end of cooking to retain color and flavor. I'll update on the rest of the garden later.

Until next time, stay safe and stay sane.

What's That On The Porch?

Hello friends,

Today we are getting back to nature in a weird way. I saw this strange thing on my porch. It that a leaf or some type of life form? I pick up a stick and poke it. It doesn't move. It looks a bit like a jellyfish in the first picture doesn't it? I can just imagine it floating lazily on the water going where the current takes it. 

Assuming that it is not a living creature, I flip it over to look at the underside. It looks like an image of a brain. I'd never seen anything like this, and wondered how it got on my porch.

So I did a bit of looking around, and found this site, Mushroom Appreciation. There is a lot of information here concerning a variety of similar mushrooms. What I gather is that they grow on dead or half dead trees (I assume dead branches in an otherwise live tree qualify as hosts). We have two large Pecan trees in the front yard which usually sport at least one or two dead branches. When those fall, we often find a slimy black fungus on them. Those are gross, but I think not the same. 

I believe this is the wood ear mushroom, also known as jelly ear, and possible jellyfish mushroom, which is an apt description.

This next picture was taken later that day when it had dried out a bit. It retained it's shape, but darkened somewhat. You can still see the "brain" lines. 

After a few days, it dried out to maybe 20% of its original size. You can still see some of the brain lines, but it is much darker and crispy like a chip.

I find different types of fungi very interesting. There is a fungus category on my side bar where you can see the rest of my unusual finds.

Maybe the occasional afternoon thundershowers will produce some lawn decorations to post about.

Until next time, stay safe and stay sane.

Patience My Friends

Hello Friends,

Hubby and I have been reading this lady's blog for several years, and it is time I highlight her here at Roses to Rainbows. Her name is Sarah, and her blog is According to Hoyt. She is originally from Portugal, and this is important because having been raised in a foreign country gives her a perspective that those of us born in the U.S. don't have.

Throughout the years, she has informed and enlightened us. She has encouraged and entertained us. She has forbidden us from swallowing the black pill on numerous occasions when things looked particularly gloomy, often reminding us to "Be not afraid, we win - they lose". Thank you Sarah!

Sarah is also a fantastic fiction writer, and you can find her books on Amazon. and you can also find her on my sidebar under Frequent Stops.

Now, please read her July 17th post entitled "A Decent Respect". This is for all my conservative friends who are a bit frustrated, or somewhat peeved, or just downright angry at the lack of progress made in bringing the perps to justice. 

From the Covid plandemic participants to the Epstein list debacle, we want answers that result in convictions. We've been through a lot over the past five years, and our patience wears thin. 

As humans, we tend to pivot from "it's been six months so what are they waiting for" (glass half empty) to "well, it's only been six months, give them time" (glass half full). Let's all be "glass half full" people. Things must be done right with all the i's dotted and t's crossed, allowing nothing to fall through the cracks. Sometimes the wheels of justice turn slowly. On the other hand, slow and steady wins the race.

In all honesty though, many changes for the good have already happened at amazing speeds.

Still we must stay vigilant because the liberal democrat socialists will continue to try and divide us and fracture MAGA. We the people need to remain united in the face of their lies and continue to share the truth.

So read, enjoy, be encouraged and share her post with friends, family, on social media, etc. 

Personally, I have my own list of offenders I would like to see in the above cartoon, although there would be many more inmates.

Until next time, stay safe and stay sane.