Month: January 2007

From MyWay News:

Molly Ivins Dies of Cancer at 62
Jan 31, 7:10 PM (ET)
By KELLEY SHANNON

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Best-selling author and columnist Molly Ivins, the sharp-witted liberal who skewered the political establishment and referred to President Bush as “Shrub,” died Wednesday after a long battle with breast cancer. She was 62.

(snipped)

To Ivins, “liberal” wasn’t an insult term. “Even I felt sorry for Richard Nixon when he left; there’s nothing you can do about being born liberal – fish gotta swim and hearts gotta bleed,” she wrote in a column included in her 1998 collection, “You Got to Dance With Them What Brung You.”

In a column in mid-January, Ivins urged readers to stand up against Bush’s plan to send more troops to Iraq.

“We are the people who run this country. We are the deciders. And every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action to help stop this war,” Ivins wrote in the Jan. 11 column. “We need people in the streets, banging pots and pans and demanding, ‘Stop it, now!'”

link to article

Wikipedia page for Ms. Ivins

We are under a winter storm warning, although nothing is expected until morning. All I know is that the grocery store was crowded as heck and it is bitter cold outside.

The National Weather Service in Greenville-Spartanburg has issued a Winter Storm Warning… which is in effect from 4 am Thursday to 6 am EST Friday. The Winter Storm Watch is no longer in effect.

Snow is expected to overspread the northern North Carolina mountains… and higher elevations of the foothills… early Thursday morning and continue to fall into midday. Snow will mix with and become predominately sleet and freezing rain during the afternoon and evening… except over the areas west of the French Broad. Here precipitation will transition to mostly rain during the afternoon. Two to four inches of snow accumulation with locally higher amounts over the higher elevations are expected. Along with the snow… a damaging accumulation of ice is expected along and just west of the Blue Ridge and possibly the upper French Broad valley.

I live at about 2100ft/640m and although we aren’t as high as what they normally consider “higher elevations”, we tend to follow that weather pattern.

Some webcams to watch:

Mt Mitchell – highest peak east of Mississippi at 6684ft/2037m. It can be the heat of August at the house but be near freezing at the peak. (webcam is useless after dark)

Cold Springs Ranch – near Max Patch Bald, 4629ft/1411m, part of the Appalachian Trail. Their weather often is the same as ours. Check out their weather station page. (this webcam is privately owned and best viewed in daylight)

Downtown Asheville – can look in 4 directions. Aim the camera to the north to view toward us. I’ll be waving. 😀

Found this one whilst surfing the Butch-Femme.com forum. (a site NSFW!!)

Top Ten Old West Phrases That Will Never Sound The Same After That Da*mned Gay Cowboy Movie

1. “I’m gonna pump you fulla lead!”

2. “Give me a stiff one, barkeep!”

3. “Don’t fret—I’ve been in tight spots before.”

4. “Howdy, pardner.”

5. You stay here while I sneak around from behind.”

6. Two words: “Saddle Sore.”

7. “Hold it right there! Now, move your hand, reeeal slow-like.”

8. “Let’s mount up!”

9. “Nice spread ya got there!”

10. “Ride’em cowboy!”