I Believe In Science

And why wouldn't I?  Feast your eyes on the latest scientific finding, courtesy of the New York Times:

EVIDENCE OF HEART BENEFITS FROM CHOCOLATE

I need a new drug...

Here's the money quote: "By many measures, consumption of chocolate was linked to lower rates of stroke, coronary heart disease, blood pressure and other cardiovascular conditions."  Well, I say praise the Lord and pass the Hershey's!  Preferably with almonds...

[Hershey bar image: Hershey's Vending]

No More Dishpan Hands

Exciting news - "Ranson, West Virginia" has just outed herself in Thursday's comments.  Welcome, 6.pac.mom!  I'd link to her, but she doesn't seem to have a blog.  And yet more exciting news - Larry installed the used dishwasher for me.  It was gifted to me by my recently deceased friend, in a manner of speaking; her daughters had to replace all her appliances in order to sell her house.  I am convinced that this dishwasher will work out, as it turns out that my friend bought it on MY BIRTHDAY back in...oh...the year 2000.

It's not old, it's experienced.  Besides, she didn't use it much - just to drive to church on Sundays...

Never mind that it seems to be creating a puddle when I run it.  I can just mop that up.  The bar, it has been lowered around here, I'll tell ya.  Also exciting?  I used one of those cute little square dishwasher detergent tablets instead of the traditional powder.  What fun!  I never would have tried it, but that's what my friend used; and I don't want to make any changes that would destroy the magic.  It cleans dishes!  And dries them!  Without bickering!  How amazing is that, anyway?



[Cascade image: The Stir]

Meteorological Meltdown

Our end of the country is experiencing a weather geek's dream - earthquake, tornadoes, flash floods, hurricane - it just doesn't stop coming.  The most entertaining part of all this are the comments on the Capital Weather Gang's Facebook page, comments like this one: "ECMWF is a good global model but is not necessarily the best for fine-grained hurricane tracks. I'd be looking at GFDL. HWRF is explicitly designed for this but their choice to stick with NMM core is 'interesting'."  

Those are the COMMENTERS, mind you, not the actual Capital Weather Gang professionals.  Weather geeks take things VERY seriously, apparently.

So I'm off to check on flashlights, batteries, water, etc.  I am fairly sure I won't find any of those items in our house, even though Larry and I have bought approximately umpteen thousand flashlights in the past 2 decades AND I purchase all sorts of batteries every single month at the commissary.  Tomorrow will undoubtedly be spent mingling with all the other flashlight-and-battery shoppers in the local stores.  That should be almost as much fun as shopping before a blizzard.  I can't wait.


On the up side, our upcoming camping trip has been canceled due to our not wanting to drown in our sleeping bags.  Which gives me more time to persuade Larry to buy that camper...

Quickly

For The Bloggess's sake, I sure hope God has a sense of humor.

And I'm loving all the advice I'm getting on the camper (in)decision.  But just so you know, it's not a choice between the camper and a dishwasher.  I've just inherited a dishwasher (glory, hallelujah) that I have high hopes for.  That is, if Larry can ever get around to installing the thing - he's been too busy lately strenuously ignoring all the pictures of campers I leave up on the computer screen.

It's late.  That's all for tonight, you delightfully helpful people, you...

Crowdsourcing

Larry and I are vaguely considering a (for us) significant purchase (and no, it's not a dishwasher - why would Larry BUY a dishwasher when he managed to MARRY one?).  A friend brought to our attention a used pop-up camper for sale nearby; and, given that I have recently converted to being a person-who-camps, we're actually discussing it.  Well, I'm discussing it, anyway...

"Look, Larry!  It sleeps 6!"

"Midgets?"

"And, oh, a little sink!  Isn't that nifty?"

"Honey, it's a tent on wheels - no more, no less.  And we have a tent already."

"But it's cute!"

"$2900 dollars is never cute."

Now, while I doubt that my readership encompasses a large camping demographic, I am nevertheless throwing this question out there: Is a pop-up camper worth the money?  I'm thinking less mud on the sleeping areas, less chance of things getting wet in a storm, and - oh, look - a dinette table to play cards on while we listen to the pitter patter of raindrops on the roof...


Also?  It's cute.


[Camper image: Squidoo.com]