Rat thoughts

I took this photo while crossing the NE-50 bridge over the Platte River near Louisville, NE.  Usually the water fills at least half the channel, but now it's barely more than a creek.  The Platte is not a very deep river, flood stage is only 9 feet, but it's currently at less than 15 inches.  There is actually grass growing out where the river should be.



The river usually looks like this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Platte_River.jpg  (Taken from just a few miles upstream)

A great radar shot of a gust front ahead of a line of storms moving towards Omaha.  (It's the thin yellow line near the middle)



That's no moon.  It's a SUPERMOON!

There is a High Risk of severe thunderstorms this afternoon into tonight over the Mississippi/Ohio River Valley region, including parts of Northeast Arkansas, Western Tennessee, Southeastern Missouri, Southern Illinois, Western and Central Kentucky and Southern Indiana, with a Moderate Risk in the areas surrounding that, including Eastern and Central Arkansas, Northern Mississippi, Northeastern Alabama, Central Tennessee, Central Kentucky, Southeastern Ohio, Central Indiana, Central Illinois and Southeast Central Missouri.  There is a Slight Risk of severe weather from Eastern Texas through the Eastern Great Lakes

A Major Tornado Outbreak is forecast later today and tonight over portions of the Mid-Mississippi and Lower Ohio Valleys.

This is the same storm that yesterday produced 48 tornado reports, softball-sized hail, 80+ mph winds and at least 13 casualties across Kansas, Oklahoma and Northern Texas.

This is already a Particularly Dangerous Situation Tornado Watch issued for Southern Illinois, Southern Indiana, Western and Central Kentucky and Eastern Missouri.  Violent tornadoes, hail to 3 inches in diameter, wind gusts to 70 mph and dangerous lightning are possible.

If you live in these areas, make sure your weather radio is turned on and working.  If you don't have a weather radio, keep your radio or TV tuned to a local news station or monitor your local radar via the NWS web site or another weather site such as Weather Underground.

Bike chain fail.

If you're going to chain your bike to something useless like this ashtray, at least run the chain through the wheels so someone can't just ride off with it.

Sounds like it should be a Furry show.  It's not.



A few weeks ago my roommate's dog somehow tore a nail and had to go to the vet for surgery.  Now she's missing the nail and it shows no signs of growing back.

We got lucky the other day after that really bad thunderstorm and had only minor damage to the fence.  Others weren't so lucky.



Woodchuck!  (aka Groundhog or Marmot)  He was just staring off into space when I snapped the photo.  I tried to get his attention so he'd look at me, but that scared him off.  They're almost as cute as bunnies when they run away.



I saw this license plate in town and had to snap a photo.

And here we go again.

We've had thunderstorms every single night for nearly a week now.  It's getting a bit annoying.

EDIT:  And now we have a Severe Thunderstorm Warning.  Winds gusting to 60 MPH and torrential rains.

Also the possibility of hail to 3.5 inches and/or 80 mph winds.

I love this phone. I'm listening to NOAA Weather Radio with the Scanner Radio app while typing out this message.

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Whoo, 1500th LJ entry!


I was at Sam's Club late last night when a huge thunderstorm hit.  You could hear the torrential rains even inside the store.  Fortunately they have a covered loading area, unlike Costco, so I was able to load the stuff without getting soaked.  I was also apparently the only person who brought an umbrella.

Picked up a 50 pound bag of popcorn.  That should last a while.


Last night I signed up for the Nebraska Lottery's free MVP program.  They gave me a coupon for a free Pick 5 ticket.  The jackpot is currently $102,000.  I went to the minimarket in town and got my free ticket this afternoon, then stopped next door at the Subway for a $5 footlong.  Laying on the counter was a coupon for a free MegaMillions lottery ticket, so after getting my order, I went back to the minimart and got that ticket.  That $5 footlong could end up winning me $31 million.


In case you've been living under a rock for the past week, Steam is giving away free copies of Portal until May 24th. Minimum requirements are a 1.7 GHz processor, 512MB RAM, a DirectX 8.1 compatible graphics card, Windows 2000 or higher.  If you meet those minimums, be sure to download.  If you don't meet those minimum requirements, GET IT ANYWAY!  Once you "purchase" it, you'll have it in your Steam account for life, so you'll be able to download and install it on a future computer.

Power went out. Tornado warnings a couple counties to the southwest. Severe thunderstorm warning next county over. Looooooong line of storms stretching beyond the Kansas border.

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