Don't doubt Redoubt

Something's brewing in Alaska

and the last time Redoubt Volcano erupted, some 20 years ago, the above pictures were taken. Redoubt is only 100 miles southwest of Anchorage. Here is today's report:

Unrest at Redoubt Volcano continues. Seismicity levels have remained relatively constant since yesterday afternoon at 3:30 PM AKST, and are still well above background. Clear web camera views currently show a steam plume rising to roughly 10,500 ft asl.

I was just on the webcam site and was very upset that it wasn't downloading...all I had was a black screen and I hoping to see the moment of eruption. Then I realized it was probably night there just like it is here...the eruption, however, is imminent...to watch in real time go here:

http://www.avo.alaska.edu/webcam/webcam.php?cam=Redoubt%20-%20Hut

Alaska's volcanoes are not like Hawaii's. "Most of them don't put out the red river of lava," said the observatory's John Power.
Instead, they typically explode and shoot ash 30,000 to 50,000 feet high — more than nine miles — into the jet stream.

The picture below is the jet stream on Feb 1, 2009 and if I am deciphering this thing correctly...get your goggles and air masks ready...the ash snow is coming our way!!!

Bouabidi Family - taken on their cruise in Dec.2008

Etch A Sketch Obama

80 hours - 1 continuous line

Obobblehead Shortage

Send all Obobbleheads to:

103 E Ave

Grundy Center, IA 50638

Please no C.O.D.s... she's on a fixed income.

Bobblehead pictured is a pretty good likeness but I have no idea who sells it. Here is another one:

http://www.politicalwobbles.com/

Obama Action Figures

The Japanese have bestowed Obama a Ninja...quite an honor, I think. These action figure dolls are hitting the market (or at least the internet) by Japan's Gamu-toys. I thing the American versions will be 'Obama on the Blackberry' and 'Obama plays basketball.' What else will the Japanese think of?

Obama vs. Godzilla?

Lisa turns 28 on the 25th

Happy Birthday Lisa

Eric- Happy 40th Birthday on the 24th

Happy 40th- ERIC.

Happy Birthday Nicole- 19 on the 24th

Happy 19th Birthday, Nicole on the 24th...... Enjoy your day.

"look me in the eye...brow"

BLOOMFIELD, Ind. (AP) - A 72-year-old man with eyebrows so long he brushed them each morning raised $1,600 for charity from people who paid to take turns trimming his out-of-control brows.Some of the wiry hairs shorn from Si Burgher's shaggy eyebrows measured more than three inches long because the former jeweler's brows had never been trimmed.Burgher's eyebrows were so long he used to brush them before leaving the house. But he agreed to have the overgrown brows tamed last week by members of the Bloomfield Rotary Club to raise money for a polio eradication campaign.

I'm pretty sure I sat beside this guy on an airplane once.

Looks like the one has a little "moose" in it.

Knoxville's mysterious burnt man

Hot (burning hot) off the press!

I've had some bathroom events that brought tears to my eyes but never anything like this:

KNOXVILLE (WVLT) – A man suffered severe burns on Monday afternoon in spite of there being no signs of fire.
Knoxville Fire Department crews were dispatched to the fire at Cagle Terrace Apartments on Renford Drive around 3:30 PM. Officials say they knocked on the door to the unit but could only hear moaning inside. After breaking it down they discovered a 56 year old man inside the bathroom suffering from third degree burns to his face and second degree burns to his hands.
According to investigators, there was no sign of fire in the apartment except for a candle inside the bathroom.
The victim was taken to the University of Tennessee Medical Center for treatment but had to be transferred to one of the region’s two burn centers late Monday evening.
Fire officials say their investigation is still on going.

Hmmm...another case of spontaneous human combustion or methane ignites aftershave?

Food Tasters for Obama

When Teddy had his 'spell' at the inaugural luncheon, I first thought, "oh no, he's been poisoned! Those terrorists have caught us off guard again...all of our politicians are going to die." I don't know if that's a bad thing but I keep thinking that some redneck skin head is going to take out our new President and that the least we should do is hire a

Food Taster for Obama.

So, I did an internet search and can you believe we have a whole group of individuals who have already volunteered and it is right on the Obama website. Check this out:

Food Tasters for Obama is open to supporters of all dietary persuasions, including kosher and halal, veggie and vegan, gluten- or peanut-free, and any other kind of food allergy. We even welcome lactose intolerant soy latte drinkers.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/group/FoodTastersforObama

Researching BASHes, Snarges and Zoonoses

A US Airways jet was forced to land (ditch) in the Hudson River last week following a suspected bird strike. The jet incurred a loss of both turbines. It is suspected that the engine failure was caused by running into a flock of geese at 3200 feet, shortly after takeoff. This is not new news, I know that but it did instill in me a desire to do some research on bird strikes. This is what I found:

***Bird strikes to aircraft, otherwise known as a B.A.S.H. (Bird Aircraft Strike Hazard) are definitely not rare and cause an estimated yearly $400 million in damage in the United States of America alone to $1.2 billion worldwide to commercial aircraft. Think how cheap we could fly if all aircraft (not just the Star Trek ships) had 'shields' to protect from incoming 'torpedoes.'

***The remains of the bird, termed snarge, are sent to identification centers where forensic techniques are used to determine the species. Here are some snarges (worlds worse job-snarge remover):

***Trained personnel have to handle the snarges to ensure proper analysis and to reduce the risk of zoonoses (I'll let you look that one up yourself-but stay away from county fairs from now on).

***The most startling fact is that the Israeli Air Force has a larger than normal bird strike risk as it is in a huge bird migration route in the spring and fall (so they can stop blaming Hamas for the destruction-the secret is out).

Now, if the NTSB can get those engines back from the bottom dwellers, we can get some answers. By the way, did you see how clean that plane was when they pulled it out of the Hudson? Good thing it didn't go down in the ole Muddy.

Happy 37th Birthday Amy

Happy 37th Birthday on Sunday the 18th --- Amy. Have a great day.

Happy 39th Birthday Dustin

Happy 39th Birthday, Sorry I had to cut the side of your head off but didn't have a picture
of just you alone. Have a great day........

Eerie lights in the sky

These stunning images show mysterious columns of light streaming into the sky above the town of Sigulda in Latvia at the end of last month.

Experts say: The air above the town was notably cold and filled with suspended ice crystals.
It is believed that the columns were formed by those reflecting light from the bright streetlamps and other lights on the ground - beaming it back downwards again.
Skies all over Europe have been filled with such natural phenomena during the cold snap of recent weeks.

We have certainly had a cold snap and I haven't seen anything like this in my backyard...I think it is more inaugural pomp.

Rules for Drafting Snowplows

A snowplow operator in Colorado City didn’t realize he’d been in a traffic accident. He also didn’t realize that the car that hit him was still attached until other drivers flagged him down! 70-year-old John Archuleta rear-ended the snowplow Monday morning and his car became entangled in the snowplow’s sanding mechanism. Snowplow operator Fredrick Parrent, Jr didn’t feel the impact and continued driving for about half a mile. No one was injured in the incident, but Archuleta was cited for careless driving.

Careless driving? Put er in neutral, sit back, and turn up the tunes until you see your exit.

from http://www.mentalfloss.com/

Just Another Day in Siberia

It's so cold, I had to open the refrigerator to heat up the kitchen....But that's not the half of it.........

Look what happened here:

Frostbite List

If your village is not on this list, quit complaining about the cold:

1. Roger’s Pass, Montana: -70 °F, January 20, 1954

2. Peter’s Sink, Utah: -69 °F, February 1, 1985

3. Riverside RS, Wyoming: -66 °F, February 9, 1933

4. Maybell, Colorado: -61 °F, February 1, 1985

5. Island Park Dam, Idaho: -60 °F, January 18, 1943

6. Tower, Minnesota: -60 °F, February 2, 1996

7. Parshall, North Dakota: -60 °F, February 15, 1936

8. McIntosh, South Dakota: -58 °F, February 17, 1936

9. Tetonia, Idaho: -57°F, February 9, 1933

10. Couderay, Wisconsin: -55 °F, February 4, 1996

Excluding Alaska, these are the 10 coldest recorded temperatures

from www.mentalfloss.com

The Blizzard People

I think the thermometer got stuck in their Blizzard machine.

Moe, Curly and Larry

Zach B. on the right. His two sidekicks (their parents are friends of Omar and Deb) on the left preparing for a formal dinner on their cruise.

Wolf Moon

According to the Farmers Almanac, January's full moon is considered the

Wolf Moon

Full Wolf Moon - January Amid the cold and deep snows of midwinter, the wolf packs howled hungrily outside Indian villages. Thus, the name for January's full Moon. Sometimes it was also referred to as the Old Moon, or the Moon After Yule.

According to http://www.cryptomundo.com/

This one is called the Wolf Moon, a Full Moon in Cancer, and it is indeed a precursor to a year that will be full of

werewolf news.

Probably a good idea to hop on over to www.amazon.com and invest in the above book and remember the old adage from American Werewolf in London: "don't go into the Moors!"

Swim for your life, George!!

Have you seen the most clicked on CNN stories from today? Ahead of Gaza City fighting, the commissioning of the USS George HW Bush, the deaths from the Costa Rica earthquake and Zimbabwe's latest monetary woes is: George, the 140 year old lobster, liberated by PETA from a seafood joint out East, driven to the Atlantic Ocean and let go. You see, George was the largest lobster many people had ever seen...lobsters can grow a pound every seven to 10 years, and George's weight was estimated at 18 to 20 pounds.

All I can say is: Thank God!!! We would have had to melt the Butter Cow from the Iowa State Fair in order to eat that fellow.

and in that case, the only attraction left would be the fat people roaming the food court.

Whacked Windmill Update

I have just found an update on the mangled Windmill in England from a few days ago and I am compelled to release this information to free my readers of undue ASS (alien stress syndrome).

With the absence of any rational explanation - an aircraft collision, meteorite or catastrophic material fatigue - we were left with the unsatisfactory possibility that it was an alien collision.

However,

a small fireworks display (roman candles, chrysanthemums and splitting comets raining down over Lincolnshire) celebrating an elderly man's birthday confused onlookers to say that they had seen some kind of UFO with octopus-like tentacles the night before the windmill was found whacked. In other words, probably no alien involvement in the mangled windmill. Shucks!

So, what did happen to the windmill???

"I reckon something the size and weight of a cow would do it," Dale Vince of energy firm Ecotricity told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "If there is a rational explanation – we will come up with it."

A smart blogger came up with this explanation and seems as good as any:

Since there appears to be no dead flying cow underneath the broken blade, nor any other mangled machinery that might have come from something that hit the blade, my vote would go to a rogue airline discharging toilet waste. A large ice block dropping several thousand feet could do this sort of damage, and most of it would melt and sink in the ground before an investigation crew arrived.

Hello, Aubri

Welcome to the world, Aubri!!

Brady and Jenn's baby girl born today.

Birthday Cake ala Elvis

Two of the entries in the Food Network's Elvis Birthday Cake Challenge. Happy 74th birthday! Note: Please stop celebrating my birthday when I die.

Windmill gets Whacked

On January 4th, a large turbine at a wind farm in Conisholme, England was damaged, with one blade falling off, another badly bent. Locals said they saw a "tentacle"-like UFO in the sky near the wind farm on the night before the damage was discovered:

Mr John Harrison, Saltfleetby described how on Saturday night, January 3 he looked out of his landing window to see a 'massive ball of light' with 'tentacles going right down to the ground' over Conisholme wind farm."It was huge" he said "At first I thought it must have been a hole where the moon was shining through but then I saw the tentacles – it looked just like an octopus."It was an incredible site; I have never seen anything like it before. I have no idea what it was, all I can say is what I saw".

Hum...., did anyone predict this?

"Grand Warlock" Makes Predictions

Mexico's self-proclaimed "Grand Warlock" says the United States will pull troops out of Iraq in 2009 and send them to the border with Mexico in an attempt to expand its territory.

(like we need more of Mexico in the US)
The prediction from Antonio Vazquez comes with a word of warning though: his record of projecting the future is spotty at best.
Vazquez has been making predictions since 1980 on events ranging from international events to the private lives of celebrities, based on his reading of tarot cards.
Vazquez erroneously predicted last year that oil prices would be stable and that Cuba's Fidel Castro and singer Britney Spears would die. This year, he says Spears will continue to triumph.

(He also predicted Hillary would be president...must have been looking for a Cabinet position)

Local Kell Gets Vibes

Bonnie has revealed her first prediction of 2009. Through whatever source she claims, whether channeling, crystal balling, tarot reading, recurring dream or simple intuition, the red star above on the map of Waterloo, IA, marks the approximate position of a homicide that she predicts will happen shortly. She says 'Conger' and 'Lafayette' are key words and may just mark the location of the incident as they are popular streets in Waterloo. I'm sure she will reveal more details as they manifest.

Best Headline of 2008

Now, for my favorite newspaper headline from 2008:

Two swimmers dead, Juan Moore missing

One swimmer drowned and another is missing and presumed dead following a Saturday evening swim off Wildwood beach. Coast Guard personnel, using a vessel and a helicopter, searched for the missing swimmer in Wildwood until 7:29 a.m. Sunday, when the effort was halted, Coast Guard Petty Officer Chris McLaughlin said."It's beyond the chance of survivability for someone to be out there without a life vest," McLaughlin said.Juan Moore, 28, was among three friends from Philadelphia who swam toward a buoy about 100 yards off the beach around 7 p.m.Officials said two of the swimmers made it back to shore. While one of the men made it back safely, the second swimmer, 36-year-old Ismael Lopez, was unconscious and pronounced dead after failed resuscitation efforts. The third swimmer, Moore, is believed to have been swept out to sea.

More top Headlines:

http://www.fark.com/2008/misc/HeadlinesOfTheYear2008.shtml

More Prognostications

The expert prognosticators revealed their visions last night on Coast to Coast AM. Here are a few highlights:

*Psychic Jeffrey Wands:
There'll be a breakthrough in AIDS treatment, with possibly a vaccine. A cure for certain types of cancer will involve a food enzyme.
This year will have a bad hurricane season, with the West Coast even being affected at one point.
A possible fire at the Sears Tower will raise safety issues about large buildings.
Several music entertainers will die together in a plane crash.

*Spiritual psychic Angela Moore:
Major seismic and/or volcanic activity will take place in America, possibly at Yellowstone.

Todays headlines on CNN.com: (the predictions are already coming true...)

A Spurt of Quake Activity Raises Fears in Yellowstone

...recent earthquake activity is raising fears that have their origins 642,000 years ago, when a Yellowstone "supervolcano" exploded so violently that it created the caldera itself. Today, such an explosion — 1,000 times more powerful than the explosion of Mount St. Helens in 1980 — would not only cover most of the U.S. with ash but also throw so much dust into the atmosphere that the world's climate could change.

2009 Predictions

Tonight, my favorite weird radio show (Coast to Coast AM) will invite psychics, spiritualists, and the like to make their annual list of predictions for the up-coming year. I can guarantee you that they will include 'dire' economic situations, earthquakes in the Pacific Rim, and Mid-East strife. You see a recurring theme year after year with psychics. The best predictions (and the most creative) come from listeners calling in their predictions. Last night's show was reserved for call-in predictions by novice fortune tellers:

*Valerie in Oklahoma City predicts a fire at an American-owned hotel, with a high loss of life but also miracle rescues.
*Craig in Madison, CT foresees a rogue wave hitting a cruise ship ala The Poseidon Adventure.
*Dan in Tampa believes there'll be a new development in the JonBenet Ramsay case.
*A trillion dollar investment in train infrastructure will turn around the economy, a male caller declared.
*Jim from 29 Palms believes this will be the year that an earthquake causes the Hoover Dam to break, and its waters will refill the Salton Sea.
*In February, a meteorite will hit leaving many hailstone-size pieces in a small area.

Some of the 'misses' from last year's callers:
Air Force One disappears.
Mount Etna explodes.
US boycotts the Olympics.
Gore jumps into the race.
Peace in the Middle East.
US & Canada combine currency.
A disabled UFO is found in Lake Tahoe.
Tom Cruise abandons Scientology.

All I want to know is why didn't anyone predict Sarah Palin?