We had a serious thunderstorm in the Roanoke area yesterday. On our mountain we missed most of the damaging winds that seemed to be a little south of us. We did get a nice dose of moisture, probably something over an inch, but I had forgotten to empty my rain gauges after we got back from the beach, so the exact total will remain a mystery.
I'm glad to see a couple of editorials in the the Roanoke paper today. "Doing business with tax cheats" mirrors what I posted in "The Real Problem." I couldn't agree more with the subtitle, in the article which says, "Uncle Sam should compel federal contractors to settle IRS accounts before signing new deals."
The next editorial was "An eminently bad decision on takings." It deals with the same subject as my post, "Another Land Grab." Again I absolutely agree with their opening tag line.
Legislatures should counterbalance a Supreme Court decision that showed far too little respect for private property rights.
Confidence in our legislators continues to plunge. After all they still haven't dealt with the problems from the 2003 power outage. I discussed this in "The Shaky Electrical Grid," I can only imagine what it will take to really get them moving on anything besides the junkets paid for with lobbyist dollars.
I was also pleased to see the print version of my favorite condensed news magazine, "The Week," highlight one my food favorites that I have written about recently. Their article, "Soft-shelled crabs: A fleeting summer delicacy," comes on the heels of our streak of luck finding them in Roanoke, "Soft Shell Crabs in Roanoke!"
Since television is now telling me that "confession is good for the soul," the truth is that on our recent trip to Beaufort, NC, I enjoyed soft shell crabs and local steamed clams two nights in a row at one of our favorite dining spots, The Net House. Just to show that the fleeting delicacy does truly exist, I'll include this picture that I took to torture another soft-shell lover who lives on the hill close to us. He wanted me to bring him some home, but unfortunately I'd would rather enjoy them delivered to my table.
If you can't find some soft shell crabs, you can at least enjoy a picture of them.
I suspect we'll have some more storms this afternoon, hopefully they won't be serious. There's is certainly no shortage of moisture. All we need is some heat since it is still just 70 degrees Fahrenheit at 10 am.
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