Category Archives: weather

art work, water, weather

The Odd of the Moment

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L headed back to the mountains today so I was left to do real work and enjoy a beautiful day. It did indeed reach 45F – so I walked to the Post Office and then to the office of the new mayor (who also happens to be the treasurer of my campaign committee) and then to one of the local computer stores to look at some proposed equipment for the Humane Society. All in all a pleasant walk with just a light weight hoodie over my office wear.

Now that you have clicked away due to my boring meanderings, we can get to the interesting things. As I neared home, I saw a couple of city trucks and workers along with an old high school friend standing on the lawn of a house down the street from ours. Turns out Joe’s (uncle of the high school friend) water lines to the house froze last night. It is one of those oddities that sometimes the subsurface frost shield can move as the surface warms and cause freezing in unexpected locations. They were all standing around after giving up on using the flame-thrower in the meter pit and were about to roll in the hot water jet machine to try thawing it out. Pretty incongruous to see workers in shirt-sleeves using the flame-thrower and the hot water jet to thaw out water lines under the street. I was just happy it wasn’t my water line.

The whole episode brought to my mind the question of whether bad things happen in multiples or not. Just yesterday I remarked to L that Joe must have gotten a new pickup; then I realized that the new truck in his driveway was his friends and Joe’s was nowhere to be spotted. That is unusual because Joe’s truck is always out front. Turns out that Joe’s truck had been destroyed in an accident Saturday. Now his water lines froze shut last night. Sure seems like Joe is off to a bad week. So do you think Joe should plan for yet more bad news?

Speaking of being a bit off, can you spot what is wrong with this piece of art work?

I just hope it isn’t what we have on the side of our animal control trucks. After all, we are supposed to handle animals of the non-human variety, not party animals and others of the human variety. Someone dropped a rather critical e off Humane. I guess I’m going to have to take a look when I meet with the animal control officers later in the week. If you hear a large AARGH echoing through the land, you’ll know what I found.

furniture, sunday, weather

Proof I Am Alive

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After several days of ODing on the football playoffs, I figured I’d better get my rear end in gear and prove I am still alive.

Today it warmed up to a glorious 42 and tomorrow it might even hit 45. That meant that L and I and Molly went walking in the park this afternoon. I wore shorts since it exceeded the 20 degree threshold, but L had on a bit too much with a sweater and a coat and gloves and …. So L was shedding layers all the way along the walk. Molly didn’t care about the temperature;  she just walked in the snow rather than on the cleared path. If she thought it got too warm, she just sat down in the slush and grinned at us. Given that she does the same thing when it is -10F and the wind is blowing, that was no surprise.

I read a number of blogs (my Google Reader list has about 230 in it) and suffered unrequited bouts of glee whenever I read that someone felt guilty that their Christmas tree was still up after the New Year. But I couldn’t make snide comments on the blogs because our tree was still up. L and I finally took our tree down today. Now I no longer have to restrain my glee to, I can make snide comments the next time I come across a posting saying the tree is still up. (Especially since this year it got put up earlier than last year.)

Finally, I have found the perfect bed. For whom I am not sure, but who could resist trying to get fitted sheets for this bed:

And while we are looking for new and different furniture, how about this “Rocking Hot Dog”:

I think a room outfitted with the bed and rocking dog would be sufficient to drive me crazy. How about you?

christmas, weather

The Weather Outside Is …

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The weather outside is frightful, …

Not really. It is cold and starting to blow, but the snow has not yet started. The weather critters are now predicting the snow to start in the early AM tomorrow. That is a shame because the funeral and interment of our friend’s mother is tomorrow morning. We’ll have to see if it is as raw and blustery as predicted. I hope not. I would be happy if it held off until Christmas Eve, but I suspect my wishes will have little effect.

Today it got up to a blazing 35 after yesterday’s 60 degree balm. Since most of the snow was melted for the first time in a while, it was a good opportunity to perform poop patrol in Molly’s yard. I’ve never figured out how a medium sized dog can poop so much. I think babies and dogs must poop their body weight every few days. In any case, since the temperature was above my shorts threshold of 20 degrees, I was out cleaning the yard in shorts and jacket. Is it any wonder my neighbors think I may have a few screws loose?

L heads down from the mountains tomorrow for Christmas here. I am really looking forward to that. The Son will be working in the mountains over the holidays. For some reason this year seems not to have the normal Christmas feel about it. I’d assume it was just me, but other people have mentioned the same feeling. Maybe we are all just turning into old curmudgeons.

Time to get some real work done.  I’ll leave you with this thought:

death, humor, weather

A Potpourri of Odd Things

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Yesterday could have been called Black Sunday in these parts. A friend’s mother passed away in the morning. And then one of my uncles lost his battle with cancer in the afternoon.  My sympathies to both families as they deal with death and Christmas in the same week.

Then we come to today. The temperature was close to 60 degrees and much of the snow and ice melted away. But … the weather critters are now predicting a big snow for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. (In fact, one of the weather critters is predicting a blizzard on Christmas Day for here and the area to the east.) Would it have been too much to ask for the nice weather to hang in there for a bit. Now the most reliable of the weather critters is predicting snow starting tomorrow evening and continuing all day Wednesday and then blowing and snowing for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Oh and a glorious 18 for the high on Christmas. Guess I’d better quit hoping for nice weather or it will be 20 below and blizzarding.

Now that I have been all gloom and doom and caused glazed eyes in those of you still reading, it is time for some humor. I subscribe to a great little paper full of sarcasm, humor and snark called Funny Times. It features everything from essays by the likes of Dave Berry, political cartoons, and just plain fun. One of my favorites is Jon Winokur’s Curmudgeon column. Each month he choses a topic and then presents a number of quotes pertaining to the topic. Usually I know about half the quotes, but sometimes it is a complete skunk. So I herewith present 5 quotes that I actually knew from this months column on the topic of Washington, D.C.:

Washington is a city of Southern efficiency and Northern charm. – John F. Kennedy

Washington is a very easy city for you to forget where you come from and why you got there in the first place. – Harry S. Truman

Being a Chicago Cubs fan prepares you for life – and Washington. – Hillary Rodham Clinton

After two years in Washington, I often long for the realism and sincerity of Hollywood. – Fred Thompson

The Supreme Court has ruled that they cannot have a nativity scene in Washington, D.C. This wasn’t for any religious reasons. They couldn’t find three wise men and a virgin. – Jay Leno

So what is your favorite quote about Washington, D.C.?

job, titles, weather

Five Oddities, Facts, and Rants

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Time for a varied bag of oddball things; some factual, some rants.

#1 – Most misleading headline:

This week’s issue of the IEEE Spectrum Online (an emagazine for engineers) featured a story with the running title “Radioactive Cyborg Insects“. Sounds like something out of science fiction or perhaps Chernobyl. But, when you click through to the actual story, you get the utterly boring and much tamer “Nuclear-Powered Transponder for Cyborg Insect.” I was really hoping to read about the mutant spawn of Chernobyl ala the comics. Darn!

#2 – Rant:

Commenters who do not hook their name to either their website or email address. It makes it almost impossible to respond directly to your comments if you haven’t connected the dots. You know who you are.

#3 – Rave:

Last I checked, it is still above freezing tonight. It was near 50 today during the sunlight. There is a good chance that the ice and slush on the streets may indeed be gone in time for Santa’s visit!

#4 – Odd fact:

Winter Solstice this year occurs on December 21 at 17:47 UTC. For those who are a bit astronomically challenged, it means that the day length shortening then begins to turn to lengthening. Yay for more daylight on the way next week!

#5 – My new job:

All the new job guessers kept heading off into the sage brush with my admitted red herring hints, so here is the real scoop.

I am now the Executive Director of the Logan County Humane Society. I was a founding board member and have been on the board of directors for years, so this is a natural step as we begin construction on our new facility thanks to the generosity of local donors. (And thus the red herring clue that I was out putting in orange stakes in a sage brush field. We were marking the new facility site so the soil engineers could do their core drilling tomorrow.)

It is an interesting and challenging time. I am the first Director in LCHS history, so I am starting a lot of activities from the ground up. Coupled with the construction our first LCHS facility, my time is going to be a bit short for a while.

As a side note, this is the first time I have ever had a use for those FEMA ISC certificates I collected via training over the years as mayor. Who knew they were required for things like AEMP training?