Images of an Ice and Snow Storm

Here are a few pics from the 2009 Ice/Snow storm. Click on each photo for a better look.



This photo shows how thick the ice is on the trees.


This tree is in my neighbors yard and fell across my fence and into the garage of the guy behind me. It also knocked down an elm tree in his next door neighbors yard.


A typical street view in Louisville, this one in the Highlands.


This was a tree.


The view from my Mom's house.


The house next door.


Cherokee Parkway at Lexington Road, a winter wonderland.


Sledding hill at Cherokee Park in Louisville.


The pups love it.

Holy Shit

I rolled into Louisville around 4 this afternoon, worried that I would find a tree inside my houuse. Thankfully, that wasn't the case but Louisville is Ground Zero in the snow and ice storm of 2009. Driving north on Interstate 65, I didn't see any snow till just north of Nashville and by the time I reached Bowling Green, it was clear that I was heading into the abyss. 50 miles south of Louisville, the ice coating the trees got thicker and thicker till tress simply gave way and fell wherever they wanted. Driving around the city, I saw trees in houses, across roads, in yards and atop cars. Everywhere you look, you see mass destruction in a sea of white.

Evidently, the city saw about 5 inches of snow on Monday evening followed by an inch of freezing rain and another 4 or 5 inches of snow on top of that. As of right now, 190,000 homes in Jefferson County are without power. Crews say it will be at least 10 days till all the power is restored. Luckily, I'm not one of them though we're not out of the woods yet. The ice is still there, the trees and branches are making awful noises and winds are forecast to be rather high tomorrow. I'm really worried about a big tree in my neighbors yard. It has 3 trunks, each about 100 feet, but one of them came crashing down this week and landed on the garage of the home behind me. Finally, we have a chance of seeing as much as a foot of snow on Monday. Welcome home Kelly.

WAVE 3 meteorologist John Belski has a great weather blog. Check it out here.


I'll take pictures in the morning and get them posted as soon as possible.

I just heard on the news that there isn't a hotel room available within 100 miles of Louisville.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Teh Stupid Is All Around Me

God, I want to get out of this hell hole that is southern Louisiana. Between all the shit going on in the world (Obama caving to hissy fit throwing Republicans) and the nonsense I keep hearing around here (don't ask), it's enough to make my freaking head explode. I'm coming home tomorrow, ice and snow be damned.

Losing a Parent is Never Easy

I'm back in Louisiana as my Father's health has taken a dramatic turn for the worse. He's been in the hospital for a couple of weeks now and just a couple of days ago it looked as if he would be going home. Then, in the span of one night, things went downhill in a hurry. He's currently in the ICU at North Oaks Hospital here in Hammond and though it's still very unclear if he will be able to pull through, perhaps it might be time for him to move on.

His quality of life has been horrible the last year or two and when I was down here at Christmas, it was clear to me that he was close to being ready. He's fought a good fight, better than I had ever imagined, but I could see it in his eyes last month, that will to live at any cost was gone. And you know what? As much as I will miss him, and I will miss him tons, I totally get his reasons for not necessarily giving up but refusing any drastic measures to keep him alive.

The doctors and nurses have taken great care of him and this hospital is very nice, so I'm grateful that he's had such wonderful care. My brother and I are here, his wife Lynn, her children and grandchildren as well and friends seem to come quite regularly. If this is indeed his time, I know it will be better for him having all of us here.

If praying is your kind of thing, say a prayer for my Dad tonight. He's one of the good ones and I know he'd appreciate it. If, like me, praying isn't quite your thing, well, think good thoughts and use your Jedi powers to keep the Force alive and well.

Hit Me

It's not an official count, but as far as I can recall, I got called sir or mister more times today then I have since I began transition. It came from all directions and after the fifth or six time, you just want to run and hide and never show your face again. It hurts and hurts bad and right now, I need to cry my eyes out and bury my head in my pillow.

Some Thoughts On A Historic Day

Some random thoughts on a wonderful day...

1. After 8 long years, the clouds have finally lifted and America is once again seen as a Beacon Of Hope.

2. The United States Constitution once again means something.

3. While the beast of Racism isn't yet slayed, we did a lot today to destroy it once and for all.

4. Never in the history of this great nation, has a people so wanted one President to leave and another to come.

5. Dubya looked defeated and ready to tuck tail and head south to Texas. You all can have him, sorry Konagod, but he's yours now.

6. I felt sorry for Laura Bush.

7. The Obama girls are simply adorable.

8. This was a day for the people, the ones like you and me.

9. Chief Justice John Roberts is an idiot. How hard is it to get the oath correct?

10. People really, really hate Bush.

11. Rick Warren is a bigot.

12. The so called spirit of bi-partasinship ends at midnight with the birth of a new day.

13. I hope that Obama knows that the Republicans cannot be trusted.

14. The Republican Party is in shambles, has been reduced to a regional party and now is the time to crush them and rip out whatever is left of their soul. These past 8 years have been a nightmare and the once Grand Old Party, the party of Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt, has morphed into some strange cult that focuses only on teh gay, teh abortionist and enriching teh corporate masters. Let them be relegated to the dustbin of history.

15. I wish Obama well and I hope that the people will give him a chance. These are dangerous times and it will take a long time to repair the damages done from the era of Bush.

God Speed Obama!

15 Hours Bitches

For more, check out So Long Cowboy.com by clicking here.

Dubya, Doing What Dubya Can Only Do

Good riddance you asswipe...

HOPE

It's been a long, long time since Americans experienced any sense of hope. That has all changed this weekend as we prepare to welcome in a new President, a man who, if he lives up to his ideals, has the power to change not just America but also the World. Today, a half million people gathered along the Mall in Washington for a free concert featuring Usher, U2, John Mellencamp, Beyonce, Garth Brooks, Bon Jovi, Stevie Wonder and The Boss among others. God Speed Barack Obama.

All photos courtesy The Huffington Post.

Causes

There are a lot of things out there that get me more than a bit reved. I blog a lot about such things as Peak Oil, Urban Renewal (whatever that means), Climate Change, Over Population and GLBT issues but so far I've had a hard time getting totally commited behind one particular cause. That's changed over the past few weeks as one particular issue has risen to the top of the Kelly Meter and now I'm ready to start figuring out how to put my energy into action. That will come over the next few weeks but for now, I'll just let you know what it is...

Animal Rights!

By Animal Rights, I mean the hard core PETA loving, vegetarian eating, fight for the rights of every animal I can find kind.

A Big Fuck You To Dr. Fucking Phil

Fuck you Dr. Phil, you piece of shit hack. Quit inviting bigots onto your show and pretending that they are serious and well respected medical experts. If I ran into Dr. Phil, I'd kick him in the nuts and call him the sorry sack of shit that he is.

Okay, glad I got that off my chest. To see why Dr. Phil is a Grade A quack, click here.

Jedi Politics

Keep Heterosexuals Out of the Classroom

It's funny, we always hear about what threat gay, lesbian and transgender teachers are but it always seems to be the straight female type that gets arrested for you know, actually being a threat to studentts.

A married South Shore teacher was so “obsessed” with a teen boy she had sex with him on his kitchen floor, in the shower and in the living room and it all began when he was 13 years old, prosecutors said today.

The alleged victim, now 16, said they had sex a total of 300 times - “possibly every other day,” according to a police report obtained by the Herald.

It's time we started a national campaign to keep those perverted heterosexuals out of the classom once and for all. It should be noted however that the boy is now viewed with envy by every other male student in his school.


Perverts, the lot of them.

Give It To Me Baby

My favorite secret from this weeks Post Secret collection...


Credit: Post Secret.Com

I'm all about a little rough action in bed.

Return to the 100 Acre Wood

My beloved Pooh Bear is coming back after 83 long years...

The first official sequel to the original Winnie-the-Pooh books will appear in October, its publishers said on Saturday, more than 80 years after the honey-loving bear first appeared in print.
"Return to the Hundred Acre Wood" is the follow up to A.A. Milne's "Winnie-the-Pooh" and "The House At Pooh Corner," which were famously illustrated by E.H. Shepard.
The new book, published by Egmont Publishing in Britain and Pengiun imprint Dutton Children's Books in the United States, will be written by David Benedictus, who produced an audio adaptation of Winnie-the-Pooh starring actress Judi Dench.

I simply adore the story of Winnie the Pooh and the residents of the 100 acre wood. My bedroom is filled with a rather large collection of authentic Winnie the Pooh books and artifacts. You can be sure that I'll be one of the first in line to pick up this magical sequel to the greatest story ever told...

Mark Burgess, who has already drawn classic children's characters including Paddington Bear and Winnie-the-Pooh, is to provide the illustrations. Return to the Hundred Acre Wood will hit the shelves on October 5.

I regularly share tales of Pooh Bear with my students and I enjoy introducing a whole new generation of children to this classic literature. Evidently, I'm not alone...

"The original books were one of the greatest celebrations of childhood in any language, but we believe that David Benedictus and Mark Burgess have captured the spirit and quality of those original books."

Who Killed Jenny?

SPOILER ALERT, though the title of this post pretty much gives it away.

In an interesting twist to the final season of The L Word, Showtime has let it be know that everyones favorite lesbian bitch, Jenny Schecter, gets what's coming to her. I'm not quite sure how this will play out, perhaps the season premiere will find her murdered with the following episodes going back in time to lead up to the big event. Regardless, the storyline promises to be a rather juicy one. So, who do I think killed Jenny? Tina Kennard but what the hell do I know, I just watch.

To vote on who you think killed Jenny, click here and be sure to let me know who you think did it.

Which World?

Editors Note: This post, no matter how many times I wrote it, just never did come out the right way. I'm not ever sure what it is I'm trying to say here but perhaps it will come to me in the next few days. Anyways, here's what came out tonight...

Which world do I belong in? Does being T make me queer? Does my history of only dating girls make me straight? Will the queer community ever accept someone like me? What if I suddenly decide that guys totally do it for me? Then what? Will I just become another straight laced American girl? Or will I never really be considered a girl, just a guy playing one in real life?

These are all questions I grapple with from time to time and they've been on my mind quite a bit lately. We all know that the T is the most overlooked of the letters in GLBT despite the fact that their are few queerer things one can do than change genders.

It's weird, when I was living my life as a straight male, I was more involved in the queer community than I am now. The straight life always kind of bored me and the thought of settling down and getting married just scared the hell out of me. So now I'm in the middle of the biggest change one can possibly make and I want back in that queer community in a big kind of way. The question is, will it happen?

Pronouns

I just returned from a little get together with a bunch of old friends. We had gotten together to watch the annual University of Kentucky versus University of Louisville basketball game. I was, as usual with this crew, the only Kentucky fan and despite playing their best game of the year, my beloved Cats came up 3 points short. Everyone of them has been nothing but supportive of my transition and I probably couldn't have done this without their help. I love them to death and fell very blessed to count them among my friends. I enjoy being with them and I unfortunately don't get to spend nearly enough them. But here's the rub, after five years, some of them still don't get the pronouns right and that hurts. I know they don't mean to and I'm certainly not mad but it does make me feel pretty much like a failure.

This Is Just Insane

That isn't fog you see, it's ice fog. Ice fog forms in urban areas when the temperature drops well below zero. Whatever moisture is in the air, be it exhaust from cars, breath from humans or simple humidity, freezes into tiny ice crystals that just float in the air. Visibility can drop to zero in no time and that's when things become dangerous. But here's the really cool thing about ice fog, if you simply look up in the sky, you can see all the way to the sun and sky like nothing is there. Now I never experienced temps like this when we lived in Anchorage, but I have been at around 30 below zero and believe me, it's just miserable. The body aches, the cold just finds a way indoors and simply breathing becomes difficult. Anyways, here's Fairbanks right now with a temperature of minus 52 degrees.

Year End Me Me, Three Days Late.

From Kona

1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?
Thought about what it would be like to have sex with a guy as a girl. Intriguing at the least.

2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I've never been one to make resolutions though I made an exception this year, see two posts earlier.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Actually yes, my great friend Dee had a baby boy.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Nope and that's a good thing.

5. What places did you visit?
I made a couple of trips up to Chicago and one to Louisiana, other than that, I spent most of the year in Jefferson County.

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
Bigger breasts.

7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Why election day of course. Yes we did!

8. What was your biggest achievement(s) of the year?
Making the transition back to the classroom, this time as a female. Not many transgender teachers manage to keep their jobs so yeah for me. Bonus is I ended up at a school that I just love.

9. What was your biggest failure?
None that I recall.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I got sick a few times, the usual winter time bugs, and I threw my back out really bad and missed a week of work.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
New medicine for River which seems to have totally kicked her arthritis in the butt. She's a couple years younger at least.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Barack Obama for rising above it all during a nasty election.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
John McCain and the American media. That McCain would so sell his soul to the religious right appalled me and most certainly cost him the election.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Bills, bills and more bills. Ugh!

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
My new classroom at my new school.

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
I quit listening to new music a long time ago so I have no idea.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) Happier or sadder?
Much happier as I'm finally living my life the way it's supposed to be lived, as a girl.
b) thinner or fatter?
No change.
c) richer or poorer?
I'm making more money than ever in my life and am poorer than ever in my life.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Travel.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Eating.

20. How did you spend Christmas this year?
I spent Christmas with my Dad in the Big Easy wearing shorts.

21. Did you fall in love in 2008?
Sort of, but she doesn't know and never will.

22. How was work?
My new school is a typical inner city school with more challenges than anyone could possibly imagine. The kids come from severe poverty, most only eat meals when at school and they've already been beat down by life. Naturally I love it and wouldn't want to work anywhere else.

23. What was your favorite TV program?
Lost and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

24. What did you do for your birthday in 2008?
My Mom and I went to a little Mexican restaurant in Crescent Hill and froze our asses off as the heat wasn't workign too well.

25. What was the best book you read?
The Road by Cormac McCarthy. It's brilliant, haunting, depressing and one of the best books I've ever read.

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Modern music sucks ass.

27. What did you want and get?
A job back in the classroom after spending a year working at Central Office. It rocks.

28. What did you want and not get?
New body parts, specifically the female kind.

29. What was your favorite film of this year?
The Dark Knight was everything a great movie should be and was by far the best film of the year. Runner-up: Burn After Reading.

30. Did you make some new friends this year?
Lots of new friends at work.

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Elected Democrats with a spine. Bunch of pussies, the lot of them.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
Lots of skirts and cute shoes. My legs are my best feature.

33. What kept you sane?
Effexor XR 225 mg a day. Sad but true.

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Lena Headley of course.

35. What political issue stirred you the most?
Prop 8 in California.

35a. What political issue stirred you the least?
The 2008 Kentucky Senate race. As much as I despise Mitch McConnell, I never for a minute thought he would lose. He didn't.

36. Who did you miss?
The people I used to work with at my old school.

37. Who was the best new person you met?
My students, I simply adore them.

38. Burn any bridges?
Probably.

39. Best new restaurant you went to?
Not sure I went to any new ones, the old ones rock way too much to stray.

40. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.
Most people could really care less about my being transgender. They've got enough things on their own minds to really pay much attention.

Happy Birthday To Me

On January the 2nd of 1970, at one o'clock in the afternoon, a baby boy was born to Patty and Jim Armstrong. Doctors at Hunter Air Base in Savannah, Georgia oversaw the birth after nearly 36 hours of labor and one big heaping glass of castor oil, drunk by the mother. I'm pretty sure that neither Mom or Dad had any idea that their baby Greg would one day become their baby Kelly. They love me just the same and today I celebrate 39 wonderful years. Thanks Mom and Dad.

New Years Resolutions

I hate New Years Resolutions, they are designed to fail, but it's not going to stop me from making a few.

1. Lose some serious weight- One of the hardest things I've had to deal with is still wanting to eat like I'm a guy. My goal is to drop 35 pounds this year, hopefully by summer.

2. Finish electrolysis- It's seems like it will never end, I've only been doing it for what seems like a decade, but I've resolved myself to finishing my face and neck by the time school starts in August.

3. Vegetarian- Back in my 20's, I successfully gave up eating meat for about 3 years. Alas, cheeseburgers caused me to fall off the wagon and I never went back. Well, I'm all set to start weaning myself off the flesh. Why? Well, I just don't feel right about eating other living things and besides, the whole livestock industry is disgusting, inhumane and is slowly killing me.

I think I'll stop there, better to make it somewhat manageable. Wish me luck.