Swine Flu In New Hope! ::

I stopped at a little local convenience store just a few minutes ago and the big news was that apparently there has been a case of swine flu in New Hope and that workers from city hall had gone to the Piggly Wiggly and stocked up on bleach and gloves in order to do battle with the dreaded virus!

There might be some degree of over-reaction involved, but I'd rather see proactive action rather than reactive!

School Closings In Madison County ::

Apparently two students at Heritage Elementary School in Huntsville are being treated for symptoms of the latest flu outbreak with the result that all county schools, as well as the Child Development Center on Redstone Arsenal and the child care center at Marshall Space Flight Center, will be closed for the remainder of this week.

This seems to be a very reasonable proactive response to the threat of a major flu outbreak!

Will Sessions Follow Specter? ::

The thought of this happening just drives me to hysterics! I'm glad it could never happen.

More Cute Critter Photographs ::

They're now about 3 weeks old and rapidly developing personalities, not to mention curiosities! I'm seriously thinking of keeping the little grey one on the left, but the others will be up for adoption. The mother is a really sweet cat who adopted me about a year ago as a kitten herself.



And here are the little baby birds which were born yesterday in my front door wreath. Not much to look at other that little balls of fluff right now, but we should be able to get photographs of open mouths soon!

Kittens Nursing ::

Panoply Time ::

I haven't been in several years, but I'm gonna try to make it down this afternoon or early evening. Actually, what I really want is a panorama photograph of the park during panoply and I think I may be able to get that from one of the parking garages.

Friday Catblogging ::

Now taking orders for kittens--have 4 little females which are now almost 3 weeks old!



Missy, the mother, is a fabulous loving cat although apparently a bit of a feline slut!

I have nursing photos which I will put up tommorow.

Tragedy On The Streets ::

I happened to be at the Books-A-Million on Airport Road last Friday evening and I was leaving just after 9pm to go across the mountain, but the intersection was blocked by emergency and police personnel. I pulled into the Shell store on the corner to see if there was an easy way around the wreck. I parked and walked up to the corner and knew immediately that this was going to be devastating although my preliminary thoughts were not as bad as how this wreck ultimately turned out.

Two young and promising lives were lost. Two families are grieving. Multitudes of friends are grieving for this loss.

From today's Huntsville Times:

The man charged in the fatal wreck involving two young Huntsvillians has outstanding warrants for driving under the influence, police said.

Felix Dominguez Ortega, 25, has also been arrested under the name Adan Herrera with a birth date of Aug. 8, 1985. Police said Ortega also used the name Reynaldo Martinez and Juan Sanchez.

[snip]

Ortega is charged with two counts of murder. Leigh Anna Jimmerson, 16, and Tad Mattle, 19, were killed when Ortega's pickup truck hit their car Friday night at the intersection of Whitesburg Drive and Airport Road, police said. Jimmerson was a sophomore at Grissom High School and Mattle graduated from the school last year.

The official story is that Ortega hit a car in an apartment complex, left, was reported, and was being followed by a Huntsville police officer who was simply trying to get his license number. This looks to me to be another instance where the lawyers are salivating over the potential lawsuits with the city of Huntsville.

Thought #1: This is just a terrible and senseless loss of life.

Thought #2: The time is long past for a citizen's review board regarding police actions in Huntsville!

The city of Huntsville just settled one lawsuit costing 3 million dollars.

The widow of Darren Spurlock is suing for 5 million over the police chase leading to the death of her husband on Redstone Arsenal. I expect that the city will settle for 3 million on that one after throwing as many roadblocks as possible for the the next few years.

I expect this latest accident to lead to multi-million dollar lawsuits for the city also!

Unfortunately, there's much more to this story which I think will play out over the coming months.

Really Lousy Weather ::

So, I took Good Friday off and what happens-severe weather. Just a short while ago the weather rolled through with rain, hail, and high winds. I wound up having to drive through a good portion of this, but I really didn't have any problem.

Just up the road from me, at a crossroads, is was a very stately Oak tree. Unfortunately the winds blew this tree over a short time ago and it will be no more. This really saddens me beyond words and I'll try to have some photographs up later.

Happy Birthday!

Snow? ::

In April?
In North Alabama?

I'm really not terribly surprised that we're having a bit more cold weather. I just finished moving all of my plants back inside for the next couple of days so the little seedlings will survive. That reminds me that I have some legacy seeds which I have yet to get started, but I think I'm going to take a couple of days off later this week and work on my plantings then.

Griffith Votes Against The Budget ::

As did Bright! From Politico.com:

Democrats won House approval Thursday of a $3.5 trillion budget plan that keeps faith with President Barack Obama’s domestic priorities while promising to bring health care reform legislation to the floor by next fall.

The partisan 233-196 House vote came as the Senate neared passage of its own alternative, also crafted by Democrats but more of a status quo document when compared with the House resolution or the president’s ambitious plan put forward in February.

[snip]

A conservative alternative promising to balance the budget by 2019 failed by a vote of 322-111, with 65 Republicans in opposition. A second proposal by Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, the ranking Republican on the House Budget Committee, failed 293-137, with 38 Republicans in opposition.

By comparison, Democrats held their own defections on final passage to 20, and the 233 votes for passage contrast with the past decade of often much closer House budget votes in past Congresses — under Democratic or Republican control.

So, Griffith and Bright comprised 10% of the Dem opposition to the budget bill. Time for an explanation!