Friday beef

Friday's beef-o-rama was brought to you by Jimbo.

Iowa farmboy

Courtesy of Jimbo.

An odd satellite image

This is today's enhanced satellite image of the ConUS. The cold front that will bring us strong storms this evening is being elongated along a north/south axis by the strong high pressure sitting over the Eastern Seaboard. Note that there are pockets of energy all along this front - most notably over Mississippi (note the supercell over the northern part of the state) which provided the flash floods in Fort Worth yesterday. The odd thing about this set-up is that the front is extremely long for this time of year. The associated strong low pressure center is centered near Hudson Bay and the front trails all the way to the Gulf of Mexico - for mid-June this is a rather strong front.

The nice part will be that this front will sweep the hot and sticky air off into the Atlantic - tomorrow afternoon should be delightful as the cooler and drier air filters into the area with highs in the mid-80s and bright blue skies.

Fishing!

Well since I am moving the whole family to Iowa for some wholesome living, I might just have to put down the cocktail and get back to my roots. I grew up fishing with my dad and I always enjoyed it. Sadly this aspect of my life has been under-developed in recent years. Well now that I am moving to the heartland, I am going to pick it back up. I was pleasantly surprised to note that Iowa has self-sustaining trout streams in the northeastern corner of the state. Additionally there is a wide variety of fish to catch in the rest of the state. Bubba noted a large number of streams and creeks when we drove in the country of Iowa around Guernsy where my great-grandmother spent almost all of her life. So I look forward to lake fishing and golf before the cold weather starts up and then trout fishing and football in the Fall.




Channel catfish

Walleye

Northern pike and a hot fisherman!

Rock bass

Largemouth bass

Flathead catfish - these things are UGLY

Trout and cavemen - Jimbo, isn't this like a caveman version of the Charlie's Angels posters from the 70s??

Crappie

Brook trout - This guy looks like Weatherwoof in outdoor drag!

Rainbow trout and a hot potential hubby for Hot Mama

Saharan dusts

This is a nice image from a satellite over the Atlantic Ocean showing the dust storms that blow with the prevailing winds off of the coast of Africa and into the tropical Atlantic. These dust storms have the fortunate side effect of seeding clouds and scientists at U Wisconsin Madison have recently suggested that more dust correlates with fewer Atlantic hurricanes.

Filled with Pride

Hey kids...Pride was fun!

Bubba and I had to run around separately on Saturday but reunited for some quick drinks with the neighbors whilst my new Pride ensemble was being washed that afternoon. I was running behind - had to jet off to the far reaches of Shaw to meet up with Jimbo. He is dog-sitting for us this week so I had to give him keys and $$$. (Bubba and I are up in Iowa this week looking for an arts and crafts bungalow to rent.)
Jimbo and I walked up to meet Bubba et al. at the beer tent at JRs. While most years I have watched some of the parade, this year it was dykes on bikes and that was all I saw. Mama had some cocktailing to do. Jimbo was in festive spirits and made eyes at the door guy at JRs - he was woof-tastic. No. 7 and the hubby hauled their asses up from the burbs to have some drinks. No. 7 is looking trim and fetching - I do think that I was a little handsy that night (it was the Pride that made me do it).
Butch and the Colonel and Big Box Andy and El Gordo were prowling about but did not catch them. Drank with a bunch of the rugby folk - Chaka popped in later- in the beer tent and then ran up the street for dinner.

Sunday was brunch upstairs with J&J and French Open - Nadal!!! Brunch was fab with bagels and lots of fresh fruit and coffee - the weather was perfect to laze about watching tennis and eating and chatting. Bubba and I got going around 1pm to Pride and promptly ran into EVERYONE. At the recruitment tent - Delicate Flower had the cutest little underwear (called baskit) and Shaggy was working his tits - those girls know how to recruit!

Bubba and I went down to the beer garden and drank beers and chatted - Good Times.

Then Bubba and I jetted home to clean up and head out for his birthday dinner. We went to the Chop House and had a nice dinner - and Bubba got some bling for his birthday. Love Bubba. By the time we got home - we were exhausted, far too tired to watch the LAMEST SOPRANOS EPISODE EVER!

Gay Bomb

Weather Woof has a great story on his blog today about the military wanting to build a gay bomb.

Surf on over for a laugh.

Caption contest

Jimbo had some festive pics from DC pride on his blog and he highlighted one that needed a little caption. I have re-posted the picture here and I'll send 20 bucks to the person with the best caption. The judging will be done by Bubba.

The picture you see is Jimbo in the arms of some woofy top. To the right of the happy duo are two people in the background, Bubba is in the orange shirt and I am to his right in the plaid shorts. I have no idea what I was thinking when I was making that face, but this picture is perfect for a caption.

Leave in the comment section and the winner will be decided on Sunday.

Martial arts beef

Baseball beef

Shawn Green

Pat Burrell

Albert Pujols

Butcher beef

For Jimbo and Weatherwoof who felt that the beef overload from Sunday was a bit underfed - I have whipped up a quick photo set of wrestlers and firemen. For those of you who like your beef meaty and slightly aged...

Beef Overload

A sensory overload for Hot Mama and the Barometer....ENJOY!

Me in 30 years

LOVE HER - courtesy of Butch.

Fireman Caveman

What Jimbo and I seek.

Butch and the Colonel - Hostesses with the mostesses

One problem with selling my truck is that I have limited mobility to the outer reaches of town (i.e. the burbs). One of my treats last Fall when I had my truck, was going over to Butch and the Colonel's to watch football and play DOA4 on Xbox. And I am shocked how competitive Butch can be. Lots of F-bombs and trash talking like:
"Girl, I just fucking beat your tired little ass". I miss my DOA4 days on Sunday.

Anyways, Butch and the Colonel hosted a fab little soiree last evening for the rugby team. Their house is PERFECT for entertaining and the rugby boys came ready for some entertainment. B and W (from my Feb 25th entry) pulled up just as we did - my favorite straight duo - they could honestly make a Simple Life show out of these two. B is South African and W grew up in St. Louis and they met last fall on the rugby pitch - but now you'd think they have known each other forever. Plus they can hold their own with the homos which makes them super fab. On the way to B&Cs manse, Bubba and I picked up MakersMark and PnJ from the gay ghetto. PnJ looked fetching in royal blue and MakersMark had these fab khaki shorts on with a little bulldog pattern stitched in (think preppy) and bottle of vodka. He looked ready for an evening at the Kennedy compound in Hyannis. We all gabbed on the way over to B&Cs about one of our favorite topics, MakersMark's dating life.

OK - sorry for jumping around a bit - we are back at B&Cs making our debut. Twan was looking so SKINNY. Hugh Heffner looked dapper in a cute little collared shirt and shorts that made his box look outrageous! Delicate Flower looked cute as always in a summery outfit and Shaggy was sunburned from laying out in his Florida print banana hammock on his porch - a dangerous proposition when living in Falls Church. The Colonel had a really nice shirt on and Butch looked great!

Drinks, drinks, drinks and lots of hamburgers and hot dogs. Everyone was in a festive mood. I got to catch up with alot of people I have not seen is quite awhile (since I spent alot of time looking for a job this Spring). It will be sad to move to Iowa - I will miss all of my DC rugby mates. But there is hope!! Apparently those drinks were strong because, as Bubba noted, half the team is going to road trip out to visit us in Iowa!

People started filtering out at the sun went down. And that meant it was time - for XBox!!! The gayest of the group tried Twan's ultra-gay dance game and then Butch threw in DOA4. The time for F-bombs and ass-kicking had arrived. After a few warm-up rounds, Butch and I teamed up against "The Breeders". These two heteros then experienced the beat down of "Gay Power". The fags kicked some straight ass in tag team DOA4. And kicked it again. And again. It was a virutal hetero-bashing hate crime. And it was in front of their wives - I was so thrilled that I popped a little chub! Go Gay Power!

Alas, all good things must come to an end. We had to leave B&Cs amid many kisses, dropped off MakersMark in the gay ghetto, and then Bubba and I headed home to watch some of this season's Sopranos On Demand. I am WAY behind and hoping to catch up today so I can see the finale tonight!

Nice extratrpoical low conversion

This morning's satellite of the US shows a very nice and elaborated low pressure that looks very much like a nor'easter. However, unlike a nor'easter, this is the remnants of Barry that was a tropical storm around the Florida peninsula and is now going through the conversion to an extratropical storm. This conversion takes a system that feeds off the warmth of the ocean to drive its development (the tropical storm) and as it moves into cooler waters or over land, it will then use temperature and moisture gradients (the extratropical storm) to perpetuate, and even strengthen.

Barry is a little early and a little to the east of a normal June track, but this formation of weak storms and the streaking of the remnants up the East Coast is a June fixture. Look for a few more remnants to pass by before the proper hurricane season starts in late July.

Having grown up in North Carolina, these tropical storm remnants would pass over at least once a summer - more often 2-3 times. When the low pressure passes fairly close, these storms provide a warm, drenching day-long rain along with a little breeze. The air is really fresh during and shortly after these storms. The best part is the sounds the trees make in the rain and the breeze - lots of rustling and whistling. Shouldn't be much breeze today, but once the rain starts (any minute) - open the windows or sit on a covered porch and experience to one of summer's most under-rated treats.