March 30 2025 Thunderstorm

  A late day thunderstorm on March 30 had been anticipated for days. We knew we'd have severe weather and that turned out to be the case.

 Here's the radar - about 8:10 pm - as the line arrived ...

 I am located at the blue dot, upper center.

 I went into the back yard and took several very short videos. None of them are great but they show the ferocity of the storm.

 The sky still had a little glow from sunset at this point.

 Now, about 8 PM, the storm is almost upon us and the sky is alive with lightning.

 Note: the cell phone has a terrible time with focusing when there's not really an object in view. Why not program the phones  to hold infinitary at times like this? It seems an oversight to  me.

We got 0.68" mostly in half an hour's time, though a light rain continued well into the night.

Southern Pie

  I saw a link on Facebook for "The Best Southern Pie Ever" and saved it until I had time to give it a try, Yesterday I did. I have to say, it's not just the best Southern Pie but the best pie I've ever eaten.

 That said, Tom thinks it's quite sweet. While I'd agree, that's probably what I like most about it.

 From the ingredients I was expecting a custard pie. It's more a cross between that and the filling one would expect in a pecan pie. Whatever it is, it's to die for.

 Besides that wonderful filling, the top gets a little crusty and crisp and it adds a wonderful contrasting texture to what's just beneath.

 I always modify recipes and here's some notes on what I did this time. I never follow directions, usually finding everything can just be blended together in no special order and it doesn't matter. I melted the stick of butter first and then added the sugar. Other than that, pour away!

 I also did not have buttermilk but just used regular milk to which I added a little vinegar. A good buttermilk substitute is to add 1 tablespoon of vinegar per cup of whole mile. Stir the two together and let it stand for a few minutes before use. [For the 1/2 cup of buttermilk in this recipe use 1/2 tablespoon of vinegar]

 I found the pie very "giggly" when I rotated it at the halfway mark (my oven does not heat evenly) but at the 45 minute mark it tested done. It sets even more as it cools so don't overbake it.

 This recipe is a real keeper.

Two Winter Time Lapse Videos

  I'm running really slow but I made two time lapse videos with one of my Wyze cams in January. This cam faces north. In both cases, I though there could be a decent snow and I thought it would be fun to watch it build up. Neither turned out to be much snow but they offer interesting views just the same.

January 5, 2025

 This video shows just two inches of snow falling. That day we had a high/low of 23/14. The video runs from 1:21 to 5:45 pm/

January 11, 2025

 This video shows 3.5" of snow falling. We had a high/low of 32/10 that day. The video runs from 2 pm to 5:55 pm.