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Storm Watch!

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It’s hot here today! 31 Celsius (87.8 F) with a humidity factor bringing the temperature up to 40 Celsius (104 F). See I told you it gets hot and humid here in Toronto.

It’s been dark and kind of overcast for the last couple of hours, but just a few minutes ago it got almost as dark as late evening and the wind picked up like crazy.

A storm’s a comin!

Now there’s thunder and lightening but very little rain. So far.

This is the kind of weather that causes Tornado’s to spring up in the Southern Ontario region. I hope that one doesn’t, but I wouldn’t be surprised to hear of a few towns that got hit by one.

Chances are also high that our power will go out at some point in the near future. A couple of years ago when there was a good storm like this one’s shaping up to be my husband and I heard a loud crack and saw a giant flash of light off to the east. Turns out it was a transformer that got hit by lightening and blew up! That kept the electricity out for a while!

Wish me luck?

I’m sure my plants will love the extra water and nitrogen in the air from the lightening … but I really hate thunder storms.






Flags and Accessories at the United States Flag Store

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united-states-flag-store.jpg

I’ve been asked to discuss United States Flag Store, an online store where it appears that you can purchase just about anything to do with flags and their display.I’ll start by saying that as far as selection goes I doubt that you’d find a better online collection of American Flags anywhere on the internet or off-line. Which, I suppose, is why they really are the largest vendor of online flags and flagpoles. You can get everything from small flags, car flags, pins, patches and decals, patriotic decorations, as well as patriotic wear and gifts.

Not only do they sell US Flags, but they also sell custom flags, state flags, World flags, flag display cases, flag accessories and Outdoor Flagpoles. There’s even a section on the site that contains information about flag etiquette and flag care.

Browsing the site is quite easy. Simply use the menu on the left hand site of each page to reach the section that you’d like to look at. Once you are on a page with the type of items that you are interested in purchasing you’ll find thumbnail photos of the products, and if the items come in different types, styles or sizes you’ll be able to travel deeper into the site until you are looking at exactly what you’d like to possibly purchase.

For example, if you are interested in purchasing a flagpole you could click on the flagpoles menu on the left hand side of any page, then once you are in the flagpole section you’ll see thumbnails and short descriptions that will lead you into specific pages for the various types of flagpoles that United-States-Flags.com sells, such as 20FT ground flagpoles, residential flagpoles, commercial flagpoles, Wall mounting US Flag pole kits, and accessories such as Snaps, trucks, brackets, eagles, and recognition rocks that you might need to use when hanging your flag, or that you might need to replace on your current flag display.

What I’d like to see improve on the site, is that when you click on the State Flag area and perhaps choose “Alabama – Kentucky” state flags, it wasn’t clear to me that this was an alphabetical list of state flags from A to K. That could of course be just me. The World flag section is set up that way as well.

Now, this is a site that sells flags, and to my eyes the only thing with a splash of color on the site are the flags themselves. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that at all. When I visit a site whether it be a blog or a website, or an online store, I’m much more concerned with the content and navigation of a site than it’s appearance, but I do know that some people will not delve deeper into a site if they do not like the initial look of the site.

So I’m suggesting that perhaps a header displaying a colorful flag be placed across the top of the page or some kind of design consideration like that be added to the website. Yes they do have a small logo with a flag in the top left hand corner of the page, but it doesn’t add much pizazz to the website.

Prices seem quite reasonable, and the selection really does appear to be unbeatable. I really can’t find any flaws in the design, and I’ve only suggested a few minor improvements that would make the site a little bit more appealing to the eye.

Readers, do you have anything to add regarding the United States Flag Store?

Elderly neighbor already tending her garden?

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I’ve mentioned my “stalker” neighbor Sofie before haven’t I? She’s the little old lady that lives next door who stares at me from her living room window when I sit working on my desktop computer, or who rushes outside the moment I try to get any work done in the garden. Are you remembering her now?

Don’t get me wrong. She’s a nice enough lady, but she’s very lonely, and clingy and well, uhm this kind of creeps me out sometimes.

In an earlier post I had said that our weathers been warmer this week and that most of the snow that we got a week and a half ago or so is almost gone. Well this seems to have spurred the gardener in little Sophie because I saw her outside earlier poking through the earth in her garden. It’s 0 Celsius outside … too cold to be outside without a coat on!

I wouldn’t doubt that she’ll be out turning her soil daily soon. It’s not like she has anything growing in her garden, or that there’s really any tending that needs to be done on this day in the middle of March. It’s just soil. When she gardens she grows vegetables – tomatoes, peppers, leeks, mint and that’s pretty much it.

It’s not like weeds are likely to start growing this week. We are set for cooler weather again and maybe even some snow. It will be below zero most nights and perhaps a few of the days in the next week.

Looks like I’ll have to try to persuader her to stop puttering outside in the freezing cold.

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