Tuesday, March 28, 2017

There has never been a truer meme


Just in case you were wondering

I'm still mostly alive, mostly sane, mostly focused. Last week, spouse was home on vacation which meant I wasn't. This week I'm prepping for the comprehensive final exam that counts for 40% of my grade. There might not be much posting this week; then again, there might not be much left of me next week.


Friday, March 17, 2017

It's a Jameson past Guinness O'Clock

Just a wee Irish lass with something to slake your thirst.
You're welcome.




Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Test #4 on Punctuation finished and turned in for grading. (Did you know the only two names in the English language that end with an s and take an 's for possessive form are Jesus and Moses? Jesus's and Moses's, but never Les's.) I have no confidence in my ability to punctuate, so here's some funnies to take our minds off my imminent failure.




And from Jesse in DC who claims to know this is true:





Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Cooking with Wirecutter



I renamed my wifi "Wiretap"


And on a related note

When police forces across the country were getting their hands on military tanks and armored personnel carriers, our little counties were going, "WTF are we going to do with a tank?! What else ya got?"

What they had were all-terrain fuel trucks, easily retrofitted to carry hundreds of gallons of water and high pressure hoses into brush that regular fire trucks can't access. So far, ten Texas Panhandle counties have the Beasts. Kind of funny to watch the fire trucks screaming towards a grass fire and the Beast lagging behind like a winded rhino at the back of a stampede. But it gets there, and it does an amazing job getting into the breaks and draws where mesquite and buffalo grass offer ample fuel.

Meet the Panhandle Volunteer Fire Department's Beast. Credited for helping to quickly contain last week's brush fire.


March 6, 2017

Hemphill County, March 6, 2017
It started around noon with an emergency alert of a small grassfire in northeast Potter county and southwest Carson. By 4 pm, 8 city and volunteer fire departments plus the emergency response team of Pantex were battling the blaze that would eventually consume several tens of thousands of acres. And it was the smallest of the three fires that burned the Panhandle and three other states.

Looking west from Panhandle High School
March 6, 2017
A second grassfire broke out between Pampa and Lefors. That one burned about 135,000 acres and took the lives of three young people who were trying to save their horses and cattle from the racing flames. Couple Cody Crockett and Sydney Wallace and rancher Sloan Everett were overcome by the flames around 10 pm; Sydney died of smoke inhalation on scene and the men died of burns en route to the hospital.

Cody and Sydney
Sloan Everett

A third grassfire, and the largest by far, consumed almost 300,000 acres in three states. Starting around Miami Texas and rushing north and east into the Oklahoma Panhandle and southeast Kansas, it claimed the life of young father-to-be Cade Koch who was rushing home to help evacuate his pregnant wife. He didn't outrun the fire.

Cade and Sierra Koch
Four people under the age of thirty, gone in an instant. But wait, there's more. The loss of wildlife and domestic cattle is mindboggling. This is calving season in the Panhandle; the cows who had already calved were lost along with their babies. And the cows who were still pregnant? Two lives lost. Ranchers are staggering under the losses, of both cattle and grassland. All of the land that would feed the remaining cattle was burned.
This scene is repeated over and over in the counties burned.
But this is when country folk shine brightest. Hay and fencing donations have been steadily pouring into the affected areas, starting almost immediately. I think the first deliveries arrived within 48 hours and haven't stopped.

Hay donations, Canadian TX

The wildfire season is just beginning, and most of us are on high alert. If you're traveling through our part of the country, please be careful with cigarettes and other fire starters. It only takes a spark to snuff out so much life.

Monday, March 6, 2017

Florida Man strikes again

Add caption

I thought I'd chare this with you


Always listen to your mom


Mondays suck

I've been through a Z-pack, two steroid shots, numerous types of allergy
meds and a kickass cough syrup with codeine.
(Great stuff, but the dreams are seriously freaky.)
I can't shake the cough; I'm coughing so hard I have a stress hernia,
and I think I've separated some ribs.
And to add insult to injury, women of a certain age who've born children
suffer from a little thing called "stress incontinence".
That's right, I cough up a lung and pee.
So right now, Life can kiss my Depends-clad ass.

Thursday, March 2, 2017

All natural constipation cure

"Here I sit, brokenhearted.
Tried to shit, but, Holy Mother of God!
What the Fuck????"