Thursday Thoughts

 - I was looking at the weather.com story on the drought the other day, and was surprised to see South Florida listed as extremely dry.  That must be a mistake.  We have gotten rain regularly all summer long.  Not light drizzly rain, oh no.  Heavy duty thunderstorms and downpours no less than 3 days a week.  Maybe the weather people should take another look at their maps.

Despite this inaccuracy, I follow the weather reports diligently because we're in hurricane season (one of the four seasons here in Florida; the other three are tourist season, love bug season, and summer).  Tropical Storm Gordon has formed in the Atlantic, but thank the Lord it will stay in the Atlantic and cause no threat to land.  There's a tropical wave coming off the coast of Africa that we need to keep an eye on, but thus far we've had no hurricanes threaten our borders.

I know some folks think of living in Florida as too dangerous because of the hurricanes.  The way I see it, no matter where in the United States you live, there will always be some sort of weather phenomena that needs our attention.  It could be hurricanes along the east and Gulf coasts, or it could be earthquakes on the west coast.  It could be tornadoes or severe drought in the Midwest.  Come winter, it might be blizzards and freezing temperatures.  Honestly, I'm quite content living in Florida.  The hurricanes give plenty of alert time to get ready, and praise God we haven't had anything come near us the last couple of years.  We might get hit this time, or maybe not.  We'll just have to keep our eyes open.

 - I'm wondering if I should try my hand at extreme couponing.  Food prices keep going up, and now with the drought they're only gonna get worse.  I've watched a couple of the coupon shows but I'm not impressed.  Not that getting all that food and stuff for almost no money isn't a great accomplishment; it's just that I can't see stocking my house full of things I will never use nor eat.  One episode had two sisters getting anything and everything they could for free or almost free, including shelves filled with diapers though neither sister had any children.  Another episode showed a family of 5 with a stockpile that could easily last for over a year, if it didn't expire before that.  If you ask me, that's just as wasteful as buying the items and throwing them away.  What good does it do anyone to have all these things just lying around instead of being used or eaten?  I would applaud them for giving the extras away to a food bank, a nursing home or an orphanage, but to keep it, and worse yet, to continue to add to it, just because it's free?  I don't see the benefit of it.

 - The other day I was looking at my living room trying to figure out where I want to put the Christmas tree this year.  What, you think Christmas is that far away?  Let me remind you we are already halfway through August.  Time goes by very quickly.  Besides, if I think of Christmas, the heat won't seem so oppressive.  Did you know that's how The Christmas Song got written?  During an excessively hot summer (much like the one we're experiencing now) Mel Torme decided the best way to stay cool was to think cool thoughts.  He started writing on a piece of paper, "Chestnuts roasting...Jack Frost nipping...Yuletide carols..." and shortly thereafter the song was born.  Nothing like Christmas to make us feel cooler and warmer at the same time :).

 - I finally started a book on my Nook again.  It's called Sixteen Brides, and I decided to start reading it because I downloaded it August 2011 and after having it for a whole year I should be ashamed at not having read it yet.

 - Oh look, another thunderstorms approaches.  I should get off the computer and read for awhile.  Once the storm passes, I'll work on next week's meal plan.  Have a blessed day everyone!