Here is some eye candy from yesterday’s storm.
Here’s a look west from my balcony during a lull.
A high bank of clouds during a break in the storm action.
Here’s a residential street view of some of the storm clouds departing Ames.
Below are some magic hour shots of a clearly beautiful Ames on a late spring evening. Even McDonalds can be beautiful sometimes.
Bonus feature — some dumpster divers near my apartment:
I came back to campus a little more than 24 hours after my first visit to this tree with the amazing, bark bursting flower clusters. Leaves were already sprouting. Ahh, the transitive nature of beauty. Leaves are cool too, but this freakishly beautiful Eastern Redbud’s flowers look like bee meth.
Flowering Eastern Redbud aka Cercis Canadensis from Phil Hasenkamp on Vimeo.
I had the following back-and-forth on Facebook today. It was about the above image. Hipsters and faux intellectuals who talk about political issues annoy me. You may detect that below.
Hipster faux intellectual: While putting the young me through what they do, they all could at least go without an umbrella. I’ll bet George Washington never had an umbrella at Valley Forge. A true leader leads from the front.
Me: ^Seriously, that’s your reference, an 18th Century Revolutionary War figure? It has zero correlation. Do you have any idea how servile young enlisted were expected to be back then? Also, do you think Washington was on the front lines? It’s an absurd reference. Sorry to be so blunt, but I’m sick of the irrational histrionic rhetoric from Obama-bashing conservative critics.
Hipster faux intellectual: Wow, I thought I bashed all of these presidents, not just Obama. I don’t like any of them. Yes, I believe Washington led from the front because I have read that he did. That’s how good generals led in that time. It does correlate because they are all presidents. I love how you put me into a box without knowing anything about me. I was just saying that ANY man who puts young men’s live’s at risk on a daily basis could stand in the rain while making a speech. So, I actually agree with the meem, just on a different level. You should read comments as they are written, and not be so quick to get angry and start an argument. if you want to argue about why I dislike President Obama, we can do that. If you want to discuss why I dislike any of these other gentlemen, we can do that. Don’t paint me into a political corner. I disagree wtih Democrats and Republicans. I think for myself.
Me: ^My comment was based 100% on your previous post. “I’ll bet” was the subjectively vague rationale you used in your assumptions about Washington’s leadership style. Whatever you read sounds sketchy. (Wikipedia is not a valid source) Based on the semiotics of the meme, president Obama is the individual being signaled out. I was not angry or argumentative. I was simply stating that your comparison was and is absurd. Had you included your general dislike of presidential privilege in your first post, I wouldn’t have commented. Listening to you talk about any other president does not interest me. Have a good weekend.
A little ornamental tree on campus caught my eye today. Ames is on the extreme northern edge of where these things grow. If I was a bee, I would’ve been twerking my little stinger off.
This is an awesome, warm and delicious meal. Drink some super cold, unsweetened ice tea with it like I did. Starting with the first image below, click through the gallery for instructions. Serves four with leftovers. Get a giant french bread loaf for dipping and serve with rice or couscous. Also, if you’re fancy, add some saffron strands when it’s stewing. Enjoy.
These silver maple flower buds will go from red to green soon.
How do we go from these hardy souls on May 2nd. . .
. . . to Lt. Dangle’s cut-off jeans shorts and flip flops on May 7th?
It’s a wardrobe malfunction that can only be explained by lack of scrutiny attention to detail. . .
I finally gave in to my urge to eat these today. My favorite snack food combined with my favorite fast food meant that “cheat day” from my fitness diet was going to be awesome.
Spring weather is here and these two musicians are taking advantage of it. It’s been an unusually rough winter, but the next 7 days call for 70′s. It will be a brief honeymoon before the gnats and flies invade. Did I just do a Debbie Downer thing there? Yes, I inadvertently did.