Tornado watch for NW Georgia; Almost hurricane season

There is a tornado watch posted for northwest Georgia, as close as Bartow, Polk & Haralson counties, until 7 PM EDT. So far there has been nothing of merit, but there are potential tornadoes that are rolling through the northern and southeastern suburbs (including Vestavia, Hoover and Homewood) of Birmingham/Jefferson County, Alabama. We'll keep an eye on this one...fortunately I've got my trusty phone which sends me the text messages of potential severe weather. I'm sure Action 2 and 11 Alive will have everything on in high def should it come to that (let's hope it doesn't).

Other than that the new drought maps came out this week and they are about the same, putting us in the 2nd highest drought category still, while the SE suburbs are in the next lower category. It's going to be a long summer and I can see my grass starting to dry out. In addition, it is getting hot enough that the annual ryegrass is dying out. Funny thing that less than a month ago we were talking about snow!

Also, I watched the Derby even though I was dog-tired. I'm excited that Big Brown won because I think he has a real shot to win the Triple Crown, but I'll be excited enough if he can first win the Preakness. I think Eight Belles' death was horrible, except I think the only "fault" lies in how horses are bred these days. It was not the fact she raced with the guys, it was not the track and it was not the jockey.

Kentucky Oaks Day

It's the Oaks today, and I'll be traveling to Athens, Georgia tonight to see my sister graduate from the University of Georgia.

In Churchill Downs weather news, things look okay, except that there is a Tornado Watch for areas of western Kentucky, as close as 80 miles from th Downs. Hopefully there will be no storms (or damage) there.

We had a frost advisory this week, that was nuts.

Tomorrow is Derby and I am thinking either Big Brown or Court Vision...We'll have until tomorrow at 6:11 PM EDT to decide.

Kentucky Oaks

Today is Kentucky Oaks Day...I'm listening to WHAS out of Louisville, the Kentucky Derby station.

It's 63 and misty there now, with some thunderstorms in the vicinity...here is the line of storms, expected to go through Churchill Downs between 9-10 AM. I found a really cool feature on The Weather Channel website...if you type in 40208, then click on Radar, it'll show you a Google Earth-type image (actually I think it's the Microsoft product) with the rain superimposed...you can zoom in and then scroll around to find Churchill Downs and see if it's raining there at this minute!

Tomorrow's Derby weather is supposed to be much better, mid-70's and some pop-up thunderstorms.

I might be cutting the mint from my back patio tomorrow for the Juleps. Also I'm going to pull out the julep cups tomorrow, so it'll seem more "authentic".

New car & the Queen comes to Richmond!

So I got a new car yesterday! The Acura RDX is what I got. It's about the size of a large CRV, but WAY cooler, with lots of buttons and features that weren't even a thought when my old car, a 1998 QX4, came out. At that time, having automatic air conditioning was a big deal...now I have passenger & driver's side air conditioning! It has 20 miles on it now, up from 3 yesterday, and I can't even put my personalized tag on it yet until I get the paperwork to do so!

Also, the Queen (Elizabeth II) is current in Richmond visiting in preparation for a trip to Williamsburg/Jamestown for the country's 400th anniversary. Virginia is very excited, as evidenced by its license plates, which say Jamestown 400th Anniversary.

Finally, Derby Day is Saturday. Tomorrow is Oaks day, which historically is Louisville's Day at the Races, but now is simply a party almost as big as Derby itself. Now Louisvillans a lot of times go on Derby Thursday to see the races, which is only a $2 charge and is no specific "Day". My horse this year: Any Given Saturday...I like the football reference.