SASF - v.5.13

It's Friday, the 13th peeps! That be a holiday in Celti's world. hee hee

Kaboom!
We've been having some pretty crazy thunderstorms here the last few days. I'm loving it, but authorities are starting to get worried. We've had a lot of rain this spring, and flood warnings have now been issued for several areas.

Some of you may remember back in 1993 when Des Moines and a lot of the midwest suffered through horrible flooding - we were without power for 3 or 4 days and without water for almost 3 weeks (the waterworks were flooded). Well, 1993 started out with a very wet spring just like this year.

As I drove through the park on the way to work this morning, I noticed that the river was VERY high - nearly out of it's banks. Last night some areas got over 3" of rain and that's on the heels of another 5 inches in the prior two days in some areas. More thunderstorms are forcasted for this afternoon and tonight. I'm so glad my house is on a big hill. lol

Speaking of Storms
I was watching some videos a couple days ago on launch.com and found the new video for Mudvayne's "Happy." What a cool video! I really like the song, so that helps. It starts out with them performing in the middle of a field of flowers and it all goes down hill from there, ending up with one of my favorite phenomena - a tornado. Sweet! You can check out the video from this page if you're curious.

Big Loss for Central IA
I'm sad to report that the Raccoon Valley Humane Society, one of the best no-kill shelters in our area, will be closing it's doors. They have relied heavily on donations and fund raising, and have not been able to maintain enough of an income to meet their payroll obligations. The decision has been made, so there isn't anything anyone can do at this point about that. This is a terrible loss as a lot of the other shelters are already at capacity and have trouble keeping up with demands. They will, however, remain open until all of the pets they have there are adopted. I was sooo happy to hear that. I realize that this is a very local issue, but if anyone from central Iowa is reading and might be interested in adopting one of these babies, you can find more info here.

Toothy Grins
On a happier animal-related note, I found this little gem a few days ago. It's a photography website where they specialize in pet portraits. Their approach is different and fun. There are some really cool photos to be found there like this one:


Threadbared
Evil Science Chick found a cool blog. What a find! Thanks, Bunsen! The girls who write this stuff are just too funny. I can't really explain it - let's just say it's about fashion trends. Snarky! heh

Break On Through
Some of my long-time readers (and archive diggers) may remember a post I did many moons ago about about my one and only sister. We've never been especially close, but the years have mysteriously pulled us further apart. Up until last week, I had not seen or spoken with my sister for nearly 4 years. When we do see eachother, we're always civil and nice, but she just shows no interest whatsoever in seeing me or contacting me. I don't even get a frickin' holiday card from her. I called & left messages, and sent e-mails putting my hand out to her wanting to be closer, and she ignored me so I gave up.

Last week, she came home from Colorado with my parents to visit my 93 year old Grandpa. He hasn't been doing well, and she hadn't seen him for a long time. On her very short stay (2 days), she told mom that she really wanted to see me, too. Whoa! We met for dinner last Tuesday night, and it was so nice! She seemed genuinely happy to see me and invited us to come out to Colorado to visit. I feel like a door has finally opened there. I was sorry that our visit was so short, and I will take her up on her offer to come visit. What a relief!

Way Out There
I'm a big fan of news of the wierd and stupid. The human race never ceases to amaze me...

Evil Gnome Garden
The "gnome garden" complete with picket fence was removed from the bottom of Wastwater in the Lake District of England after several divers died within the last few years. It is thought they spent too much time at too great a depth while searching for the site of the ornaments.

Now police divers say there is a rumour that the garden has returned at a depth beyond which they are allowed. Pc Kenny McMahon, a member of the North West Police Underwater Search Unit, said the gnomes were well known among the diving community. He said: "Wastwater is quite clear at the bottom, but there's nothing to see. At a depth of about 48m, divers had taken gnomes down and put a picket fence around them. But there were a number of fatalities and the Lake District National Park Authority asked us to get rid of them. We went down there, put them in bags and removed the lot, but now there's a rumour about a new garden beyond the 50m depth limit."

Police divers can't legally dive any deeper so, if it exists, the new garden could have been purposefully put out of their reach.

So, someone has planted a mysterious gnome garden at dangerous depths, luring divers to their deaths. *insert eerie music here*

Melts in Your Mouth AND Your Hands
Cadbury's of England and Madame Tussauds have teamed up to immortalize Britains favorite personality in chocolate. Right now, BBC radio personality Jonathan Ross is leading the race with David Beckham at a close second. Whomever wins will have their life-size likeness formed in chocolate. I can think of a few people I'd like to see in chocolate...hee hee. Those whacky brits...

LOL


Have a great weekend!