WeatherGirl’s Station

I’ve added a Flickr sidebar to my blog. It’s so cool!!!!!!!!!! Depending on your screen size you may need to scroll down to catch a glimpse.

Current temperature 82F/28C

So a new season of US television has begun and we’re still in August and can hardly be said to be headed into the autumn months. At least not yet!

Last season I only made it 4 or 5 episodes into this show before I had to admit defeat and give up watching. (Actually it was Michael’s loss of a couple of important digits that did me in.) The tension was just too much and I knew there was no way I would make it to the end of the season with my sanity intact. Confinement plus the threat of serious physical injury hit all the wrong buttons for me and suggested serious unhingedness was likely.

Happily our hero and his brother made it out of the building at the end of last season and consequently I’ve decided to give the show another go. Let’s see how many episodes I manage this time!

Current temperature 81F/27C

Ho-hum. This was a big disappointment. I haven’t read the book but from the title I was expecting a sturdy feminist tale of a young woman who grapples with the fashion industry and survives triumphant, her good sense in tact. Sadly no. I was so looking forward to bite and insight into a business that encourages women to contort their bodies into unnatural positions, lust after things they don’t need and pay exorbitant amounts for tat.

Meryl Streep has the movie’s main redeeming feature, she had all the best lines and gave her character some serious depth. Simon Baker was very easy on the eyes. Can’t say there’s much else to recommend this peon to the fashion industry.

Current temperature 81F/27C

Yes this is way late but then I’m posting this link mainly for my own entertainment however if you haven’t seen this you really must. 2006 White House Correspondents Association dinner.

The US Prez spends most of his time listening to advisors who tell him what he wants to hear. Nairy an opposing opinion makes it to his oh so sensitive ears. In his book there is only ever one way to do anything - his way. So it must have been a bit of a shock to hear that in fact he’s screwing everything up and sending us all to hell in a bandbasket.

Pity the poor party planner who thought that Stephen Colbert would toe the party line and not expose the Decider-in-chief to The Colbert Report brand of truthiness. I assume they either have never seen the show or, perhaps more shockingly, they didn’t realise it was an ironic take off of right wing pundits like O’Really.

You’ve got to admire the balls of a comedian who can keep going to such a frosty reception in the hall sustained only by the knowledge that the future internet audience would be laughing their arses off when they replayed the downoad again and again and again.

Current temperature 63F/17C

With all the tumolt in the world and the growing realisation that continued petroleum use is not tenable it’s exciting to live in a place where research is ongoing into new energy technologies. Not only is there hope for the future of humanity but the survival of the small rural community in which I live looks more likely.

The photos are of our wind turbine which is part of an experiement that is testing battery technology and how you can store the electricity generated from the wind. The power generated by the turbine makes a serious contribution to UMM’s green initiatives.

Personally we signed up to Ottertail’s Tailwinds program for our own electrical supply at home.

Current temperature 70F/21C

After my adventures in hair-shaveage last summer I’ve embarked on another chapter in The Wonderful Adventures of Weathergirl’s Hair. This time I thought I’d try going blonde. My assumption was if it looked really vile I would just shave it off and start from scratch.

So far, 3 hours in to this experiment, it’s not going too badly. Sub Evil Boy was most positive in his reaction. He also took the photos for me.

So I’m pretty much a strawberry blonde because my hair colour naturally tends to red. I love how good the gray looks! I suspect over the next few days the colour will soften a little, permanent colour usually does. The next milestone is to see how fast my hair grows and consequently how soon my roots show.

Current temperature 68F/20C

Yawn. Who’d have thought they could make a boring Supperman movie. For two and a half hours almost nothing of interest happens. Kevin Spacey’s Lex Luther is the most interesting thing on the screen and that lasts about 15 seconds. More Lex would have kept the boredom threshhold down.

So this is what we lost a great X Men 3 for? Sheesh.

Current temperature 68F/20C

This has sat in draft form on my computer for ages so I thought I better post it quick just in case it evaporates and ends up in the virtual ether.

Yes, finally after years and years of work I have completed my afghan-come-quilt project. Little did I know all those years ago when I began this small project how long and tortuous a road it would be to get the bugger done!

The afghan material was woven in such a way that it was amenable to being cross stitched on. However due to the weave each cross stitch had to be completed before beginning the next and that meant I couldn’t work up a head of steam and speed along.

The border is alternating stitched and not stitched squares. I stitched 13 squares in the border using my own design created from elements in the main panels. Each border square used two different colour combinations from the main panels.

Four panels in the finished piece included information about my family, including our names plus the date embroidered. The other panels are all based on quilt patters. Two examples are shown above. They are, on the left, Lone Star, and on the right, Log Cabin. I used a chart by Canterbury Designs called, Quilts In A Day (Or Two), designed by Joyce B. Drenth.

The backing fabric is a patchwork pattern and helps protect the skin from the rough fabric that is the afghan. Quilting is achieved through ties using the cotton thread that I stiched with.

Current temperature

Intermittent. If you love the radio show you’ll love the movie. Not being a fan of the radio show I can’t recommend the movie. (We’re big fans of the annual joke show but that’s a whole different kettle of fish.)

There are a lot of musical performances in the movie but not much in the way of sketches. I’m more a fan of the sketches myself so the balance didn’t work for me. There were some high points. Kevin Kline as Guy Noir was fabulous. I loved the cowboys, Dusty and Lefty, with their off colour humour.

Current temperature 73F/23C

Disappointment reigns supreme. The main problem was the script. What script, I hear you ask. Well, yes, exactly. The great thing about the original movie was the freshness of the characters and the glee of being along for the ride. What a romp! Sadly that can’t be said of this movie. To the good, Bill Nye was his usual fabulous self as Davy Jones and the CGI effects were stunning. Loved seeing the kraken devour a certain character who shall remain nameless in the interests of preserving my reader’s spoiler free status.

At 2.5 hours this movie could have done with some serious scissor work. A serious tighening could have worked wonders. Let’s hope Pirates 3 redeems this bloated excess of a movie.

Current temperature 70F/21C