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Two Rainbows Tonight

double rainbow photo

After the thunderstorm passed by, the air seemed a weird grayish color. It was not yet time for the sun to set, but it was definitely getting dark. I looked outside to make sure the storm was over and why the air looked funny.

The last few rays of sun caught the raindrops still in the air and created this beautiful double rainbow over our house. We hardly ever see a rainbow around here and a double rainbow is very rare. I wish it had happened an hour earlier, as the sun went down soon after and the rainbows faded quickly. But we all enjoyed Mother Nature’s show while it lasted.

I took this photo with my cellphone. I think it turned out great for not being a fancy Nikon type of camera setup. The cool thing about spontaneous photo opportunities is that now we almost always have our cell phone with us, so it is easy to tap on the camera app and grab a quick shot.

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New Bookstore in Town

Usually I buy my books from the local bookstore instead of going to the public library. I think books are meant to be owned, not borrowed.

Well, to be honest, the bookstore is not all that local – it’s a huge nationwide chain. I mean local in that I just drive down to that shopping center near my house and spend an hour walking around looking at the books. I’ll buy a book based on the author’s or sometimes the title intrigues me. For example, any book by John Grisham is an instant sale. And once I bought a book “For Dummies” just to see what all the fuss was about.

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Checking Out Different WordPress Themes

With the last upgrade for WordPress, they made a totally new default theme available to all users. It is called Twenty Thirteen, because it is the theme of the year for 2013. When I got the notice to upgrade my blog to WordPress to 3.6.1, I decided to check out the new theme and activated it. Here are my thoughts on the subject of this new theme.

For off, I’m not a big fan of the color orange. I don’t know why, but orange makes me think of Hardees and Burger King and not much of anything else good or pleasant. So the fact that this new theme is based on the color orange is a real turn off for me. I looked at the different options and see that you can change the header pretty easily, but you are still stuck with orange and that awful, huge and heavy black typeface.

I really have to wonder if anyone with any sense of class or refinement had anything to do with this new default theme. It is so loud, so vulgar, and so brutish that it is a total turn off and offensive to my eyes. Even after I tried to make some adjustments, I can’t get past the very amateurish feel of the Twenty Thirteen theme. But I decided to leave it up on my blog for a week or so to see if I could get used to it.

Today I noticed that someone has released a blue version of this same theme. I have to admit that the blues are a much more relaxing and welcoming color than the horrible orange. But the font is still too big and too thick for my taste. It makes me think of those very thick crayons and pencils that kindergarten kids have to use when they are learning to write their ABC’s. I hate it and cannot easily change it.

So, today I am checking out new WordPress themes for my blog and trying them on my homepage to see if I find something that is more my style. I have no idea what I will end up with.

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Is 13 a Lucky Number? Or Unlucky?

One of my gal pals has always been a non-conformist. She is the one from back in the hood that was so impulsive and full of bad ideas that she was always getting into trouble. And half the time she dragged me into the trouble along with her!

So, no surprise that she told me this morning that 13 has always been her “lucky number.” She brought that up because today is Friday the 13th, and a lot of people think that Friday the 13th mean the day will be unlucky for them. But my gal says that she always looks forward to Friday the 13th because it is always her lucky day.

I don’t know that it has ever made much difference to me, one way or the other. How about you? Do you believe that 13 us a lucky number? Or an unlucky number?

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This Dinosaur Has Big Teeth!

dinosaur show photo

My nephew playing at the dinosaur show on the T-Rex exhibit, impressed with the size of the dinosaur teeth. The dinosaur show was only in town for two weekends – I am glad we got to go – my nephew really liked the exhibits. He especially like the T-Rex, although I am partial to the Raptors.

His mother likes the Brontosaurus. I have no idea why, although that might explain her attraction to fat men. The last three guys she has dated have all been, shall we say, large.

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Coffee and Doughnuts

When you’ve been driving for hours and are really getting tired of being on the road, it can really help perk yourself up if you stop for a cup of hot coffee and some doughnuts. The caffeine in the coffee will get the adrenaline going and chase the sleep away. The sugar and carbs in the doughnut will also give your metabolism a kick. Plus, it is good to get up out of the driver’s seat where it is dark and quiet, and sit at a busy, bright counter filled with people and noise.

The last time I was driving through New Jersey, I stopped at one of the turnpike refreshment shops and bought coffee and doughnuts. If you have ever driven through New Jersey at night, you know how boring and monotonous the turnpike can be. That in itself causes so many accidents that the state of New Jersey had to put concrete lane barriers between the northbound lanes and the southbound lanes. And they have rest stops every 15 miles or so.

There is always plenty of parking at the rest stops, and most of them have 24 hour gas stations, convenience stores, and either a Burger King or a Dunkin’ Donuts shop so you can take a break and get some food, like my favorite, coffee and doughnuts.

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Fun Game: Plants vs Zombies

So my little nephew likes to play video games, but he is only 5 years old and can’t really handle most of the good video games that I like to play. He can barely handle the controller or make decisions quick enough to survive any levels of the games like Call of Duty or Drakes Landing. We’ve got a Playstation 3 and a whole collection of games, but the funny thing is that he likes a game that I downloaded onto my PC.

Somehow I stumbled onto a game called Plants vs Zombies and my nephew really likes this game. It has different types of mini-games and puzzles within the main game, and you can play it over and over again without advancing to a harder level if you want to stay on the easy ones.

The main idea is that you get a large grid of squares that will hold a plant that fights zombies. The zombies come staggering from the right, across the rows, trying to get into your house and eat your brains. You defend your house by planting the right plants in the way of the zombies. If you mess up, the zombie gets in your house and that level is over. You have to successfully defend your house at each level or replay the level until you succeed.

As you advance to the harder levels, you are given more plants to work with, and you have different types of plants for daylight fighting, night time fighting, and other scenarios. I like this game, too. And my nephew likes to watch me play the harder levels that he can’t handle yet. He coaches and criticizes all my plays – funny as hell.

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Enjoyed Out Fourth of July Weekend

This past weekend was really one of the best long weekends that I can remember. Everything was perfect. The weather was nice, so we were able to get outside every day. We grilled out on the deck, went to the lake every day, and of course we enjoyed fireworks at night. I grilled steaks on Saturday and then on Sunday I went all out and grilled $60 worth of pork ribs. Good stuff!

There were lots of free fireworks shows held all around town, plus the rednecks in my neighborhood all buy hundreds of dollars worth of illegal fireworks and set them off in their back yards every night. We have had free neighborhood shows every night since Thursday. Just when I think they have run out of cash for all those bangs and booms, someone runs across the county line to one of the fireworks tents and buys another hundred dollars worth.

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Chilly Sunday

Well if this crazy weather doesn’t give everyone pneumonia, nothing will.  I was running around the yard getting up the last of the leaves in nothing but a pair of jeans and a t-shirt yesterday and it’s down right chilly today.  I guess I shouldn’t complain since the weather cooperated so well yesterday.

The bad thing is there are people everywhere with the flu.  I have been trying to avoid anyone with the sniffles because the last thing I need is the flu but if the weather keeps flip-flopping like it has been, there’s going to be a lot more sick people to try to avoid.  Hopefully one of those won’t be me or anyone close to me either.  I don’t have time to be sick.

I have started taking extra vitamin C and vitamin D.  Everyone is saying that will help boost your immune system.  I usually take about 1000 units of vitamin C every day through the winter and drop that down to 500 units other times.  I’m usually pretty darn healthy too.  Now watch me get sick since I said that!!!  I better not.

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What do you think of this video?

I love music.  If the television isn’t on a movie, it’s on a music channel and no I’m not talking MTV or VH1 either.  I’m talking the channels that only play music like the Sirius channels.  Anyway, I was just flipping through the stations on my car radio trying to find something other than Christmas music and this song caught my attention.

The drums were what first made me stop on this song but then I started listening to the words.  Believe it or not but you can understand what they’re saying which was a major plus.  The group was named Fun.  Pretty cool but I didn’t get to hear the whole song so I hit the computer when I got home trying to find that song.

Man was the video way cool!!  I have always been into history and well this video gave me a look into history and a great song at the same time.  Give it a listen! I don’t think you will be disappointed.