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Post by kds on Jul 26, 2023 14:03:30 GMT
I used to watch Shark Week, too, but for me it went the way of most of the various educational/documentary-oriented channels into silly, overly dramatic, reality television. The History Channel, the Discovery Channel, and other similar channels all took their purported areas of specialty and made them into what felt like an incessant barrage of aliens, conspiracy theories, and misleading silliness. To this day, I really love the more dry, straightforward educational programming without the gimmicks. But I suppose it's the gimmicks that lead people to watch, so a show about sharks might end up being "Are Sharks Actually Ancient Aliens!?" One of the last Shark Week programs I remember enjoying was a special from the mid 2010s. It was actually produced by the BBC, and it was a real throwback to the programs I remember. It was just footage of sharks with a narrated voiceover. No staged arguments. No overly forced reality drama. No using airtime to plug other reality shows. Speaking of which, that reminds me of the first indication that Shark Week wasn't quite right, back in the early 00s, when Discovery first began to devolve into just another reality TV network, they first used Shark Week to promote their shows like Monster Garage and Myth Busters. To their credit, they did back off on that a bit. There have also been some pretty well made documentaries about historical shark events like the USS Indianapolis and the 1916 Jersey Shore attacks, but I think both of those are over ten years old now.
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Post by Kapitan on Jul 27, 2023 11:57:34 GMT
A 2-mile walk or so had me drenched with sweat this morning, and while it was warm--75--it was the humidity, something like 90+%, that got me. My goodness, that was unpleasant. But with clean air, at least getting outside is tolerable, sweaty or not.
It occurred to me as I was walking, though, that August is just around the corner, beginning next week. To my mind, that makes summer two-thirds finished. (I know astronomical seasons say otherwise.) And I am officially one of those old guys talking about how quickly time passes. 14-year-old me is rolling his eyes and calling 2023-me nasty names...
However, I think in late September I'm going to book the same little country cottage I have the past few years. That will extend the feeling of summer somewhat, with a little vacation ahead.
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Post by kds on Jul 27, 2023 12:20:49 GMT
I stopped at Walmart yesterday to pick up some charcoal for my heatwave grilling this weekend. I'm happy to say that they still have not put out any Fall stuff in their seasonal aisles. Although, I did notice some Fall beers trickling onto the shelves at Total Wine.
We're going to have three very hot humid days here. I'm just hoping to have a window on Saturday where it's not storming so that I can grill.
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Post by Kapitan on Jul 27, 2023 12:29:24 GMT
I read that the heat we've been having here in the Upper Midwest was expected to migrate east-southeast. So I suppose you're going to get what we've had. (Though there doesn't look to be much relief here, either. After today's mid-90s forecast, we're looking at upper 80s every day going forward.) Well, you said there haven't been many hot days down there, this might be your chance.
We've had our share: 15 days over 90 so far this summer, which is the same as or more than 6 of the past 10 years already, with all of August and September to go. I'm hoping this weekend will be a nice enough couple days for me to do some yard work, such as weeding the garden, weeding along the patio, finally mowing, etc. Once it's in the 90s I'd rather not get into those activities. Nice, cool (for summer) mornings are the time for that.
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Post by kds on Jul 27, 2023 12:33:03 GMT
I read that the heat we've been having here in the Upper Midwest was expected to migrate east-southeast. So I suppose you're going to get what we've had. (Though there doesn't look to be much relief here, either. After today's mid-90s forecast, we're looking at upper 80s every day going forward.) Well, you said there haven't been many hot days down there, this might be your chance. We've had our share: 15 days over 90 so far this summer, which is the same as or more than 6 of the past 10 years already, with all of August and September to go. I'm hoping this weekend will be a nice enough couple days for me to do some yard work, such as weeding the garden, weeding along the patio, finally mowing, etc. Once it's in the 90s I'd rather not get into those activities. Nice, cool (for summer) mornings are the time for that. The next three days will see temps in the mid to high 90s, with the humidity taking the heat index to around 110. On the plus side, I'm looking forward to having a cold Summer Lager in this heat. On the minus side, my old HVAC unit is really going to get tested the next three days. We'll be back in the 80s for Sunday though.
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Post by kds on Jul 28, 2023 15:23:34 GMT
I haven't grilled since the Fourth of July, so I'm really looking forward to sitting outside during our hottest heat wave this summer, having some beers, and grilling some food.
But...due to the intense humidity, there are storms in the forecast.
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Post by Kapitan on Jul 28, 2023 15:33:33 GMT
I think the worst of our heat wave is past us. We actually had a flood watch last night, with threats of serious rain of up to 3 inches in an hour, but it never happened. I don't know that we got any rain at all overnight. It'll be hot again today, but not quite so hot. Maybe 88-90 instead of 95+, and with good air and hopefully decreasing humidity. (Humidity is 71% right now, and was about 90% this morning.)
So the weekend is looking good here. Tomorrow I'll finally do some of that yard work I've put off, or (in the case of mowing) nature has made irrelevant up until now. This afternoon I'm going to pick up some beer and I might just grill something.
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Post by kds on Jul 28, 2023 15:40:01 GMT
We were supposed to get storms last night, and they never came, so I'm hoping the same happens tomorrow.
Tomorrow is supposed to be the third and last day of our mini heat wave, with highs going back into the 80s on Sunday. I might also grill on Sunday. I almost never grill twice in a weekend, but my mother in law is coming over on Sunday night (loooong story), so my wife mentioned grilling dinner. I'll take any chance to grill out in July. And, being outside while my mother in law is over is just a bonus.
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Post by The Cincinnati Kid on Jul 28, 2023 15:51:39 GMT
Last night it poured non-stop from about 9pm to probably after midnight. I almost stayed up in case anything started leaking as this was by far the biggest test my house has had since I bought it. Luckily, no issues aside from some water seeping in the garage where the addition meets the original portion of the house. Turns out we received almost 4 inches of rain.
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Post by kds on Jul 28, 2023 16:17:26 GMT
Last night it poured non-stop from about 9pm to probably after midnight. I almost stayed up in case anything started leaking as this was by far the biggest test my house had had since I bought it. Luckily, no issues aside from some water seeping in the garage where the addition meets the original portion of the house. Turns out we received almost 4 inches of rain. I really thought we were going to get something like that. It got really gray around 6:30p, and a couple hours later, I heard a bit of a drizzle, and thought "here it comes," but...nothing. Possible storms this afternoon too.
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Post by Kapitan on Jul 28, 2023 16:42:23 GMT
Last night it poured non-stop from about 9pm to probably after midnight. I almost stayed up in case anything started leaking as this was by far the biggest test my house has had since I bought it. Luckily, no issues aside from some water seeping in the garage where the addition meets the original portion of the house. Turns out we received almost 4 inches of rain. First, congrats on the house not leaking: I know how those fears can be. That has to be a major relief. On your total rainfall, WOW. That is 33% more rain than we've had since mid-May to now combined!
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Post by The Cincinnati Kid on Jul 28, 2023 17:12:41 GMT
Last night it poured non-stop from about 9pm to probably after midnight. I almost stayed up in case anything started leaking as this was by far the biggest test my house has had since I bought it. Luckily, no issues aside from some water seeping in the garage where the addition meets the original portion of the house. Turns out we received almost 4 inches of rain. First, congrats on the house not leaking: I know how those fears can be. That has to be a major relief. On your total rainfall, WOW. That is 33% more rain than we've had since mid-May to now combined! We had a very long dry spell, so I can't complain too much since nothing leaked haha. Even though we started to have some rain again over the past 1-2 weeks, the yard was still struggling. Looking out my window now, I notice an immediate difference in how much greener the yard is than yesterday. That was probably the most rain I've seen in one day, let alone a just few hours in my lifetime.
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Post by Kapitan on Jul 29, 2023 12:22:32 GMT
Big occasion: I actually mowed the lawn this morning. It was the first full mow--I did some sidewalk edges where it had been disproportionately long a few weeks ago--since May. Honestly in some spots, it still didn't need it, but we have had a few showers and so it was getting shaggy. Finally.
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Post by Kapitan on Jul 29, 2023 14:48:22 GMT
Oh, also, along the lines of something Sheriff John Stone said the other day, my neighbor's gigantic oak tree has begun dropping its acorns all over my driveway, yard, etc. As I backed out of the garage to the alley, I got pelted by about half a dozen! That's a solid month early. I assume it has to do with the lack of moisture this summer, but I don't know. There are a million squirrels playing and fighting up there all the time, which I am sure knocks some loose before they'd otherwise fall, but even so...
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Jul 29, 2023 17:15:12 GMT
I just finished cutting the grass. It was an easy cut; the grass is dry. Some dry spots are developing. We could use a nice, steady rain for a day or two. I'd like to sprinkle some grass seed on the spots. Did some deadheading on the annuals and perennials. They're hanging in pretty well, still flowering.
The infamous horse chestnut tree leaves are getting yellow and brown. There were a half dozen more horse chestnuts on the ground. And, yes, Kapitan, the squirrels were playing...actually they were working. What they do is scope out a nice big chestnut (or acorn ) and bite or gnaw at the stem until the entire stem/nut falls to the ground. Then they go down on the ground, retrieve the nut, and take it back up to their nest for the winter. The ones they don't retrieve...
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