Nature Rules Our Lives

Tornadoes and floods all around Des Moines since Sunday night. A trailer park got hit early Monday a.m. north of town, and all the local news shows showed a trailer house that had a board flung through the side of a trailer into a lady's bedroom just after she got out of the room. And a couple of lowlying river bottom areas that got flooded in the big June floods got flooded again and everyone in the area had to be taken out by rowboat again. And the main news of today is the 5.8 earthquake that hit California this morning. No one killed, but like in New Orleans during Katrina the cellphone towers went out for a while. Much talk on cable news about whether this is a prelude to the Big One that is predicted to hit Cal. sometime. Yesterday on NBC Brian Williams got an interview in Iran with Nejad, who was on good behavior and was loving peace and didn't want to nuke anyone and was being misunderstood. He was still being nice today, but like Khrushchev way back when will probably get back on his high horse tomorrow or very soon. It is getting late, so I am going to wind up this entry now, and hope that things are quiet and nice the next time I hit the keyboard. Wishful thinking probably. So, you all take care and we will return in the near future. Di di mau!

Don't Know Why Stormy Weather

Heavy rains, heavy winds, large hail, all coming through central Iowa today and all the past week. Regular daily routine has been humid every day and storms every night. And several murders all this past week in central Iowa. And there has been Obama's trip through Europe, and a lot of news concerning what has happened to the little girl in Florida, whose mother did not report her missing for 31 days. Greta and FoxNews has been hammering this story for several days. What I am doing right now is watching a movie video I got at a thrift store--DeMille's 1934 Cleopatra, with Colbert and Henry Wilcoxon. Interesting for its black and white visuals, but not a masterpiece. Interesting that Anne Baxter in Ten Commandments seems to channeled every acting trick Colbert did in Cleo, down to her throaty voice. Maybe because DeMille directed both of them. Gas prices have fallen about 20 cents in the last few days--now 3.65 per gal of ethanol from 3.98. Right now outside my window light lightning is flashing and tater wagon thunder rolling. So, more bad weather through the night till the sun comes up. And there was an effort this week and last week for US negotiaters to talk to Iranians about their nuke program, but apparently nothing got accomplished. For various reasons Obama did not meet a bunch of wounded American troops at a hospital in Germany, and he has a lot of US conservatives mad because he told the crowds in Berlin that he is a "citizen of the World." Drudge and Hewitt and all the news websites and blogs have the story on his euro trip. I should confess that it is easier to look at youtube videos than to wade through numerous print newssites, even that is what I should be doing. Right now I am going to sign off this blog till next time. Oh, yes, I found while looking at some utube videos from Porky's that Nancy Parsons. who played Miss Ballbricker, died of diabetes this past January. RIP Miss Parsons. All you readers and fans of this blog take care and we will return soon. Di di mau!

Night after the Sunday Night Storm

Last night while writing the blog entry it began to rain and the wind began to blow and I got the emergency kit ready and went to sleep, and when I woke up this morning found out that we had had a state-wide wind storm that did Lots of damage, especially in the metroplex, with the usual lot of trees knocked down and power out and street lights out. In western Iowa winds of 100mph were charted. And that is what the major news in our region today. Raymond is on TV right now, and Marie has ruined Deb's Tupperware party. Some good comic acting going on even though the plot of the show is dark and bitter. And at a thrift store I found a used video of Disney's Peter Pan, which I have never seen! Interesting rendition of PP, especially Hans Conried's Captain Hook, but I have never cared for Wendy. I guess blame it on J.M. Barrie. Maybe if I watch the flick again I will learn to like Walt's Pete Pan a little better. Interesting that Walt leaves it open ended as to whether the croc ever actually eats Hook. So, this is all I have for tonight. Hopefully we can have a few days without a storm of some kind. You take care. Di di mau1

Dreary Sunday Night

Here it is; a humid evening, and the regular evening rain storm of a sort has rolled in, with thunder and lightning poppings and moderate light rain. It seems to happen every night. The 10 p.m. weatherman said that on this date in 1934 the temp. got up to 118 in far southeast Iowa. Obama is on his mideast trip, but I have not followed the news for the last few days intensely. Friday the stock market was up and down all day, and the financial talking heads on Fox and CNBC were yelling and ranting but I had to shut the world crises down for a weekend and do personel things, so I guess my ignorance of the world for the last few days is a given. But right now on Cspan is a guy is talking about the panic of 1907, so I am back absorbing knowledge. I suppose that the main news event of the past week would be that Jesse Jackson used the nword, and the women on The View got into a brawl on who could use the nword, and that got more news coverage than a lot of loftier stuff, but the debate is all part of national cultural mores, so there is some importance to the debate. The new Batman movie is currently a phenomenon, packing in huge crowds, and making money like crazy. The Batman I saw and liked was the one with M Pfeifer and Danny DeVito, especially the last scene where the penguins drag the Penguin's body into the sewer. Right now a guy who runs a bookstore is talking about some of the good books out and coming out this summer. Since I now have some time to get some reading done I would like to start reading again, like I did 30 years ago, but I just do not have the money to buy books again in quantity like I used to do. This is going to be all for right now. You all take care. Di di mau!

Summer Monday Night

Not a very original title for this blog entry, but pure summer is finally here, and in the heartland we are up to 90 degrees and the skies are blue and the rivers are down to their normal levels and the floods are gone, but it is going to take a long time and mucho money to rebuild Cedar Rapids and Iowa City and the towns that got tornadoed, and that is just in Iowa. We are having now nice weather but the aftermath of the bad weather will be around for a long time, and Burma is back being off the news map after the big typhoon, and the Atlantic hurricane season may yet produce something nasty for someone. And Nejad may be planning another trip to NYC in a couple of weeks. A big bank in Calif. crashed the other day, and there is some doubt if the FDIC can pay off the losses of all the depositers. Heart doctor DeBakey died a couple days ago at age 99, and Tony Snow died Saturday. The Iranians fired off some missiles the other day, but there is some question about whether the tapes of the firings were phoney. Nine Americans were killed in Afghanistan the other day by talibans. Lots more world news to report, but the Brinkley divorce seems to have taken up a lot more time in mediaspace than it should have. And Brad and AJolie had twins. A building in Indianola collapsed Sunday morning, leaving some people in the upstairs apartments homeless, but a couple of women got their cats rescued from the rubble today. Nice big kitty cats. Ethanol gas in Des Moines is up to 3.98, the highest it has been yet--probably will be 4.00 very soon. There was a mob of people at the closest QT this afternoon filling up. If I fill up at 4 a.m. I will probably be paying the 4 bucks. A very funny 2.5 Men on CBS this evening, and 2 funny Big Bang episodes. This is going to be all for right now. You all stay cool in the summer heat, and we will return for more blogging. Di di mau!

the rain is over the rain is over

The title of this essay is taken from a song by Wm. Billings. Has anyone ever mentioned Wm. Billings in a blog? Probably somewhere at one time. I am right now reading some books on Hamilton, Madison, and Napoleon, so my brain is swimming in the late 1780s and 90s. What has been happening on earth in the last couple of weeks? Obama's plane did not crash the other day, Nadal beat Federer, C. Brinkley and ARod are involved in nasty divorce messes, and of all people ARod was humping Madonna! Estimates are that it is going to take a long time and muy mucho money to rebuild Cedar Rapids and Iowa City after the floods of 08. The Iowa smoking ban has been operating for a week, and since the law was passed with no enforcement provisions till a week before it became official the policy now is that you can call the nonsmoking bureau and complain about smokers. Sounds better than a smoking police, but the thing has a scent of Pavel Morozov about it. ( a communist kid in Russia in the 30s who ratted out his Dad for hording grain. Pavel was a commie youth hero.) It sounds like snitching is now acceptable in Iowa--all in the name of Health. Dodie Goodman died the other day at '92. Several obits on her could not remember what she had actually done. She was on the Jack Parr show years ago, and she played Mary Hartman's mother, and no one seems to have remembered that she played the goofy old lady in Splash who was confused after getting hit by lightning. She was a very good comedian and should have been remembered by the showbiz world. Rush Limbaugh is due to get about 400 million for staying on the air till 2016. The weather has turned summerish after the storms and floods of May and June, and we are now getting 90 degree temps. We wanted summer and we have it now, so there is much complaining about the Heat. Piss and Moan and Whine. I have been busy the last couple of weeks, and spent some time at home with the family. This is going to be all for this blog entry, but I hope to have some more very soon. Since news of the world is to be found on countless other website, I need to do some looking at said sites. The story of the people rescued in Colombia from years of being held by the Farc is getting interesting as what they actually went through begins to be revealed. You all take care, and I will return. Di di mau!