Weather: Thunderstorms built up around noon yesterday -- huge, high, billowing cells. The air was muggy and hot, and when the lightning started, a bolt hit the ball field right across the street! It terrified me when I heard that our receptionist was sent out in tht storm to roll up car windows. SCREW THAT! Let 'em get a wet ass -- people can be KILLED by lightning.

Wildlife: The male Yellowheads and Redwing Blackbirds fluff-up and posture at the box feeder. The females just fly up and eat. ("Get outta my way, boy!")

Charity Alert: It can't be easier than this -- The Hunger Site : Give Food for Free to Hungry People in the World

Keeping Up To Date: Here's an improvement to the Historical Society's website -- Buy this book! Preview "Looking Back" by Kathryn McKay
How about Final Friday? They have these good-weather "art walks" in Helena, Montana and Missoula, Montana. Why not here? Welcome to the Hockaday Museum of Art
Here's some streaming FUNKADELIC! SHOUTcast from Juan in Florida

Media Watch: Despite what I wrote yesterday, my wife and I went to the local Borders Books and bought first editions of Bill Clinton's My Life. Yeah, we'll get them signed by the author somehow.
Queer Eye For The Straight Guy had some droll moments. Their client dressed almost as funny as Carson normally does, and it was hilarious to see Cressley trying to tone somebody down. The client was also unrepentantly slobby -- he left a half-dozen empty beer bottles standing on his new coffee table for about ten hours, even though he knew that he was bringing somebody home in order to impress them with Thom Fillicia's redecorating work. (No, he never cleaned them up.)
There's supposed to be a Steven King's Kingdom Hospital episode tomorrow night -- uh huh, we'll see. Maybe Trio Network will finish it on their FLOPS series. For now, here's a somewhat funny website that's part of ABC's media hype: Kingdom Hospital of Maine

Before I Forget: Rudy Valee was in two movies on TCM last Monday -- Gold Diggers In Paris (1938) and Gentlemen Marry Brunettes (1955) -- they're both C-grade pictures, set in Paris, with insipid plots of show business fraud. The 1955 movie was shot on location at times, but not the 1938 flick.
There were talented people involved in both films -- Busby Berkeley in Goldiggers, and Jayne Russell in Brunettes. Valee played an Ivy League con-man in both roles -- George Bush's role-model for sure!
TCM also played other Jayne Russell movies, including two of her best -- Macao and His Kind of Woman with her San Fernando Valley neighbor Robert Mitchum. The latter film is outright stolen by a very funny, upstaging, Vincent Price in the last half-hour. "B" Picture doesn't neccessarily mean BAD Picture!