csziggy
csziggy's JournalSimon's Cat: PURRFECT STORM (Pupsitting: Part 3)
Correction - 40% of all Covid-19 cases worldwide in Texas, Florida, and Missouri
That was a quote stated on MSNBC a few minutes ago from someone at the White House Covid briefing. No source other than MSNBC live.
CORRECTION: 40% of all cases nationwide at 48:00 in this video:
Now you see it: Porter Sink reopens and Lake Jackson disappears once more
James Call, Capital Bureau
July 13, 2021
Daniel Matinko's drone captured these images of the dry-down at Lake Jackson and Porter's Sink recently.
Porter Sink at Lake Jackson has reopened, and for the second time this summer the lake north of Tallahassee is performing its periodic disappearing act, about nine times in the last 184 years.
“This isn’t anything like it was when I was last here,” said Marcelle Praetorius, who was walking the mud-caked lakebed near Faulk Drive Tuesday morning.
Praetorius is a birder who records her bird sighting locations and dates at an online site. She finds that a dry down at Lake Jackson provides prime bird sighting opportunities.
Insects feeding on plants blooming in the wet conditions left by a lake draining away lure birds and other critters to the site: “It’s a kickstart to the ecosystem,” former fishery biologist Michael Hill explained.
Florida's "swiss cheese" limestone bedrock. Helen Roth
More: https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2021/07/13/lake-jackson-disappears-second-time-year-leon-county-tallahassee-water/7948350002/
I don't think Lake Jackson has ever drained twice in one year, though this is not from drought as Tallahassee has had good amounts of rain for the last two years.
I'm grumpy today and need to vent
Yesterday I went to the dentist to have a filling replaced. The original filling fell out several weeks ago and this was as soon as he could fit me in. The missing filling was along one side of the tooth and there are two other fillings in that tooth that didn't look good so the decision was made to put a crown on. Yeah! Another fake tooth in my mouth. As of now I think I might have six teeth without crowns or implants and I doubt any of those haven't had fillings.
I got a letter the other day from my attorney. Nothing serious, she sends out "newsletters" that include updates to legal issues that might affect her clients, most of whom are elderly (yes, I now fit in that category). It was sent to my street address. I have told her office staff MULTIPLE times to NOT send anything to the street box. It is not secure and I don't want anything of financial or legal import to go there. That is why I have a PO Box - which I have provided with emphasis over and over to them.
I've been waiting on some paperwork I have to sign in order to close out my parents' estates. My sister called to see why I haven't responded. The people responsible sent it to an incorrect email which I have pointed out to them as WRONG. (Think of the correct one as name@business.com and they have been sending it to nam@business.com The frustrating part is that they have NAME correct in the documents. If it were supposed to be NAM, they should have changed it there, too.
Getting old sucks bad enough with having to deal with stuff like my teeth coming apart, but why can't the professionals get shit right? I didn't complain too much when they first got it wrong, just pointed out the errors. But the second, third or fourth time just pisses me off. And no, I don't jump up and down on their heads. I try to be nice when I let them know they fucked up.
I just want to vent about WHY DO I HAVE TO FIX THEIR MISTAKES? 
Siswan's post about the garlic reminded me
This year for the first time in nearly forty years I'm growing herbs. Our old house location got far too shady and damp under the trees for herbs to do well. The new house has raised terraces along the east and south side and so far our herbs are doing great.
We have English thyme, garden sage, prostrate rosemary, oregano, lemon thyme, tarragon, fennel, lemon grass, and African blue basil, plus lots of various kinds of salvia/sage (pineapple sage, indigo spires salvia, mystic spires salvia), all of which are supposed to be edible. I also planted some edible ginger and turmeric but my husband ignored my warnings about buying supermarket roots and they had been treated and didn't sprout. 
Next year...
Anyway, what is the best way to preserve the leafy herbs? I'm thinking I might need to get a food dryer thing since I have never had success at freezing fresh leafy herbs. Once dried I can separate the stems, and chop up the leaves to go into my spice jars.
Drying is what is recommended for ginger and turmeric, but I've had good success at freezing the roots and microplaning enough off the solid frozen root as I need it.
The fennel is mostly for caterpillar food - there are butterflies whose caterpillars love fennel - but I might dig the roots. Right now at least one of the fennel plants is blooming - will that affect the roots or should I give up on fennel for this year and plant more next year?
I've never used lemongrass for cooking so I'm looking forward to trying it. I understand that the roots are what are cooked with and the leaves can be used for tea?
Any help would be great!
US left Afghan airfield at night, didn't tell new commander
Vehicles are parked at Bagram Airfield after the American military left the base, in Parwan province north of Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, July 5, 2021. The U.S. left Afghanistan's Bagram Airfield after nearly 20 years, winding up its "forever war," in the night, without notifying the new Afghan commander until more than two hours after they slipped away. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
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Vehicles are parked at Bagram Airfield after the American military left the base, in Parwan province north of Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, July 5, 2021. The U.S. left Afghanistan's Bagram Airfield after nearly 20 years, winding up its "forever war," in the night, without notifying the new Afghan commander until more than two hours after they slipped away. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
More: https://apnews.com/article/bagram-afghanistan-airfield-us-troops-f3614828364f567593251aaaa167e623
As a commenter pointed out on Reddit in response to this story, The Onion predicted this - ten years ago!
7/18/11 8:00AM
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN—In what officials said was the "only way" to move on from what has become a "sad and unpleasant" situation, all 100,000 U.S. military and intelligence personnel crept out of their barracks in the dead of night Sunday and quietly slipped out of Afghanistan.
U.S. commanders explained their sudden pullout in a short, handwritten note left behind at Bagram Airfield, their largest base of operations in the country.
"By the time you read this, we will be gone," the note to the nation of Afghanistan read in part. "We regret any pain this may cause you, but this was something we needed to do. We couldn't go on like this forever."
"We still care about you very much, but, in the end, we feel this is for the best," the note continued. "Please, just know that we are truly sorry and that we wish you all the greatest of happiness in the future."
More: https://www.theonion.com/u-s-quietly-slips-out-of-afghanistan-in-dead-of-night-1819572778
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