Teleidoscope

Thu, Dec 03, 2009

New Slider

Posted at 9:40 pm MST to Weather

Wow! The new sliding doors between my bedroom and the deck are impressive. It's 0 Fahrenheit out and I just stood next to the sliding doors, and might as well have been standing next to the solid wall. There was NO chill coming through the door or its frame. There is no wind to speak of tonight, which might make a difference, but this is still very impressive.

Standing next to the new basement doors I can feel a little chill -- they aren't as heavily insulated. But they are still a vast improvement, partly due to being installed and caulked properly, which the previous dorrs were not.

This is excellent.

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Block Heater

Posted at 6:51 pm MST to Weather

Yesterday was very cold and snowy. Last night the temperature dipped to 0 Fahrenheit, and this morning my foxy little car (now officially named Reynard) was very cranky about starting.

Tonight is supposed to be very cold again, so this evening I plugged Reynard in -- I had a block heater installed last summer after I bought him. It's a lot cheaper to invest in a block heater than to build a garage to shelter the car from the cold and wind on this ridge.

I have had block heaters in some previous vehicles, and liked them. Besides making the car easy to start on cold mornings, the warm engine starts giving heat to the cabin and defrosters a lot faster.

A trick I have used in vehicles without block heaters is to buy one of those utility lights that consist of a wire cage around a light bulb. Placing a hundred watt bulb into the engine compartment over night, preferably near the battery, can make a big difference on a cold morning.

There is a battery heater available for the Forester. I don't think I need both the battery heater and block heater, and chose the block heater because I like the extra heat it makes available for the driver. If I were going up into the ski areas, I might consider adding the battery heater, but I would need to rig a way to plug both heaters in.

Corporate housing for any gig in a really cold climate should include covered parking, so I really only need the heater here.

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Wed, Oct 28, 2009

Wood-stove

Posted at 8:48 am MDT to Weather

I have a good wood stove in my living room. And a cord of firewood out in the yard that has been sitting there for a couple of years and should be well seasoned.

I haven't actually used the wood-stove much in the past few years, but it is nice to have it for backup. My furnace went out on Monday and wasn't fixed until yesterday (they needed to order a part) so I burned some wood for two days.

I may burn some wood later today, just because it makes things cozy, because we are having a major storm. But I will have to dig some firewood out of a drift to do so, so maybe not.

This year's Halloween storm came a couple of days early, but it seems to be trying to make up for timing with volume. Yesterday they were predicting 8 to 14 inches between midnight today and tomorrow evening, but the latest weather report said 18 to 24 inches.

The reports are that the south side of Denver is getting hit hardest, but I think I already have 6 or 8 inches in my yard. There will be less snow on the roads on top of ice because the weather was fairly warm for a few days (it was 60 yesterday afternoon) and the snow melted at the beginning of the storm.

I'm going out now to sweep the front porch and shovel the walk (it's nice to have a walk to shovel) and maybe excavate some firewood.

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Sun, Oct 25, 2009

Snowy Sunday 2009

Posted at 2:51 pm MDT to Weather

Man, this is shaping up to be a nasty winter. It's not even Halloween yet, and this is already the fourth snowy day.

It melts fast at this time of year and today it isn't even accumulating yet. But this does not bode well for the season.

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Sat, Oct 10, 2009

First Snow 2009

Posted at 9:30 am MDT to Weather

I'm not at the farmers' market this morning, and I'm glad of that. The first snow of the season began over-night and is still falling. It is very pretty to watch out of the windows, but I'm glad I'm not out standing in it.

Nanette and Rowan have started the Jay Hill Farm pumpkin stand for this year, so they decided trying to work market would be redundant -- as well as unpleasant -- given the forecasts.

I'm going to spend some time in the kitchen today. I want to make one more batch of melon sorbet, using tequila and agave nectar instead of rum and sugar so it will be more diabetic-friendly. And I have some pumpkins that need to be made into pies.

I think I'm going to start defrosting some chicken giblets and livers to make a batch of dirty rice, too. I got some nice bright red bell peppers and fresh celery at the supermarket for it. But I probably won't make the dirty rice until tomorrow if I spend today in the kitchen making pies.

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Fri, Aug 28, 2009

Cool

Posted at 6:56 am MDT to Weather

The weather has been unseasonably cool for August. This has been a weird summer.

I was awakened last night by a charliehorse. I don't know why my left calf muscle decided to tie itself into a knot at 4 am, but I wish it wouldn't do that. This is the second time since I've been back from Mobile. Ow.

I noticed that I was laying on my left hip when it happened, so it's probably a sign that the hip is slightly out. I'll give things a day or two tounkink, then start some exercises to strengthen the muscles around the hip.

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Sat, Aug 15, 2009

Silly Bee

Posted at 10:11 pm MDT to Weather

The weather today was very strange, and felt more like late September or early October than mid-August. It started out cool and cloudy, but the sun went in and out, with occasional bursts of cool breeze and a brief period of rain at the farmers' market (it doesn't look like I got any noticeable precipitation at my house).

THe crowd was strange, too. Lots of out-of-towners,and (therefore) a lot fewer dogs than usual. There seemed to be a lot of parent and grown child combinations... I wonder if the out of state students are beginning to arrive for the university. Our sales were as sporadic as the weather.

The most persistent visitor to out booth was a bee, or possibly a series of bees. We had a small, clear clamshell box of nasturtium flowers out on the table -- they are edible and good in salads: they taste like radishes. The box had some small air holes in it, and there was a bee that kept crawling into the box and rummaging among the flowers for a while, then coming out again for a while.

I think it was always the same bee: the breaks in its hovering around our table weren't really mong enough for shift changes unles the beehive was very close by.

Our booth is across the street (maybe 15 feet) from a florists' booth that was full of bouquets of all kinds of flowers. But the bee didn't want those flowers, even though they were out in the open and readily accessible. It wanted the flowers in that little 5x7x1 inch box.

Maybe it likes a challenge. Or really likes nasturtiums for some reason.

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Wed, Jul 29, 2009

April in July

Posted at 7:01 pm MDT to Weather

The temperature at my house was 50 degrees F at 5:30 PM when I got home today, July 29. It's raining, too.

This summer has been ridiculous.

A few days ago, the radio said that Denver was already having the fourth wettest summer since records started being kept. I think we're heading higher in the record books.

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Mon, Jul 20, 2009

Cloudburst

Posted at 10:12 pm MDT to Weather

Man.

We are having an impressive cloudburst at the moment. I am seeing occasional flickers of lightning in the distance, but for a while I could not tell if there was any thinder because the noise of the rain and hail against my roof and windows was so loud.

I have no attic space -- there is only about 8 inches or so between my ceiling and the roof surface -- so there is not a lot of sound decoupling that can happen.

I hear the hail ping against the metal chimney of the woodstove and the vent cover of the range hood, too.

I suspect this is going to give me a reminder of what the next landscaing project needs to be. There is one side of the foundation that tends to leak water into the basement. I noticed this morning that even though the dirt has been mounded up against the house along there in the past, it has now sunk down. That's probably why the leaks have been more common lately.

I'm planning to have a small paved area added at the problem location at the foot of the steps from the back porch. The project should probably include a French drain there and along the rest of that side of the house, along with the regrading. At least I won't need to buy fill dirt for the regrading: there is a huge pile of dirt that came out of the hole where the ne retaining wall was built.

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Sun, Jul 05, 2009

July 4 2009

Posted at 3:47 pm MDT to Weather

Man, the weather has been weird lately. We've had rain almost everyday and the weeds in my yard are flourishing (think Sleeping Beauty, but with thistles instead of roses).

This weekend has also been chilly, though we had actual summer temperatures early in the week. Today,at 3:30 pm, on July 5, the temperature has not reached 70, and yesterday was about the same. I borrowed a long-sleeved shirt from Nanette because I was freezing in the breeze

There are also occasional "showers" where it rains cats, dogs and hamsters for a while. Nanette's picnic yesterday had to move indoors for a while, just before a downpour that made it look like someone had aimed a garden hose at her north-facing windows. And today there has been some thunder along with the rain.

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Tue, Jun 09, 2009

Noisy

Posted at 4:45 pm MDT to Weather

It's been cool and cloudy -- almost misty -- most of the day, but things got
noisy a little while ago.

Lots of thunder, some very close, and pings and clunks when little hailstones
hit the stovepipe and vent covers. When I looked out, I saw one of the bunnies
taking shelter under the truck.

Now the sun is trying to come out for the first time today.

The lights blinked once as the cell passed by. I'll need to reset the microwave
clock, but the stove clock is OK. The computers and AV stack are fine.

I wonder why they make the clocks in microwaves so sensitive? It seems like
they start flashing 8s or hyphens (depending on the clock) at the slightest
excuse.

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Mon, Apr 13, 2009

Muggy

Posted at 8:04 pm MDT to Weather

I awoke this morning to darkness and thunder. The sun came out for a while at midday, but mst of the day was cloudy.

I would be miserable in this climate without airconditioning, and even with it, I find things unpleasantly humid. I'm glad there is only another month on this contract. If this is what the Gulf Coast is like in April, I shudder at the thought of June.

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Fri, Apr 03, 2009

Storms

Posted at 8:36 pm MDT to Weather

Yesterday was a long day and a stressful one. There were thunderstorms and flooding and tornado warnings in Mobile up through midafternoon.

When I got to the airport the weather was still engaging in special effects and precipitation. By the time my flight was due to leave the sky was clear, but that didn't help much: the storms had disrupted things enough that the plane we were supposed to ride to Houston didn't arrive until 45 minutes after we were supposed to take off.

This was worrying, since I only had a 55 minute layover. And the plane from Mobile arrives at the B concourse and the Denver-bound plane leaves from the E concourse.

I didn't have a wheelie bag, so I couldn't run, but I managed a rapid trudge. Fortunaly, the Denver plane was delayed 20 minutes. I arrived just as they were loading the back of the plane.

So I made it to Denver, and was able to take care of the task that required this trip.

Getting back to Mobile may be equally exciting: they are predicting a blizzard for Colorado for this evening through much of tomorrow. Getting to the airport on Sunday morning may be interesting. (At least Shawn thought to warn me about the weather, for which I am very grateful. We were able to change my car rental to specify a 4 wheel drive vehicle -- so I've got a decent chance of making it to the airport.)

My back isn't complaining as badly as it was at this point of the last trip.I have figured out a way of schlepping my non-wheelie bags through the airports that bothers my back less. Oddly, carrying the two bags -- by the handles doesn't work, even though they are about about the same size and fairly close in weight.

What does work is to use the shoulder strap for the bag with the laptop, which is a bit heavier than the other. But I have to put my head through the strap so the weight of the strap falls on my right shoulder and my left hand steadies the bag on my left side and supports some of the weight. The other bag is carried by the hand grip in my right hand, hanging straight from the shoulder.

This makes no sense at all. Why does a method that seems to put most of the strain on my right side bother my back less than a balanced load?

I'm tempted to use the small wheelie bag for my next trip home even thooough I don't need anything mearly that big for these trips, and I'll have to gate check it between Mobile and Houston. Actually, I should gate check the overnight bag for the morning flight from Houston to Mobile: it's a very small plane with overhead storage that it pro forma rather than useful.

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Tue, Mar 31, 2009

Flash Floods

Posted at 7:13 pm MDT to Weather

After the few days f storms, we had a couple of nice days. Then it clouded up again, and today we had occasional bursts when it rain cats, dogs and hamsters.

At least this front has less thunder and lightning.

All the waterways were already full from the previous round of rain, so there are flood and flash flood warnings in all of the counties around here. Nothinglike what Fargo is getting, of course, but 4 feet too much is still a flood if it takes out the roads and drives people from their homes.

I'm not in an area in danger of flooding, as far as I can tell. The biggest nuisance I have is that the weekend storm knocked out the traffic light at the corner so it flashes yellow and red. (I've gotten spoiled. The first couple of week I was here there wasn't a traffic light there: they just installed it. But I've gotten used to having the left turn arrow to help when I come home from work.)

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Sat, Mar 28, 2009

Lightning

Posted at 9:56 am MDT to Weather

Thunderstorms along the Gulf Coast don't mess around with half measures. I was awakened at about 4 am by a thunderstorm that produced lightning flashes every few seconds for several minutes. There were a couple of bursts like that yesterday, too. Most of the thunder seemed fairly distant, but that means the lightning bolts that were lighting up the sky.

There have been problems with flooding because of three days of heavy rain. And there were tornadoes in Mississippi and further inland in Alabama because of the strength of the storms. But the weather seems to be clearing up for a while

It was cloudy when I got up this morning, but now the sky is blue and the sun is shining. Trees and bushes that were just bare sticks a week ago are putting out green leaves.

Weather.com says there may be scattered thunder showers on Tuesday and Wednesday, but it should be sunny until then. This will be a relief after the past several days of very dark cloud cover.

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Thu, Mar 26, 2009

Precipitation

Posted at 7:33 pm MDT to Weather

The weather report a couple of days ago predicted 100% chance of rain for the Mobile area. I was amused, since in Colorado they seldom call for more than a 70% chance of rain even when it is actually raining.

We have had rain. Also thunder and lightning.

And there must have been a power glitch last night: this morning I discovered the hard way that the apartment's alarm clock does not have battery back-up. My furry backup alarm clock also failed, since cats are solar powered and the clouds, rain, and recent timechange made the room very dark. Fortunately, my internal clock works pretty well. I awakened (out of a very strange dream) only about half an hour later than usual.

Meanwhile, Colorado has been hammered by a blizzard that has most of the major highways officially closed and most other roads just impassible. I'm glad I travelled home last week.

It turns out I'll be travelling back to Colorado again next Thursday (and arriving very late i the evening)-- I hope enough snow melts by then that I can get into my driveway. If not, I'll stay at Nanette's.

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Tue, Mar 10, 2009

Fog

Posted at 9:58 pm MDT to Weather

It's really unfair to have a morning of really dense fog so soon after Daylight Savings time started. It was dark this morning.

And it's a little depressing to run the windshieldwipers to clear the condensation and have them leave yellow streaks of pollen. No wonder I'm having occasional bouts of sneezing and watery eyes.

I have noticed that a lot of shrubs and trees have started flowering during the past few days, so I suppose I should be grateful this is not an ecosystem I'm very sensitized to.

It could be worse: they're having deadly blizzards in North Dakota and Minnesota, and according to weather.com the weather here in Mobile at 10:25 pm was 64 degrees F and 86% humidity. And sunrise was at 7:07am, with fog... no wonder it was hard to get up this morning.

There ought to be a rule against having daylight savings time sart before the equinox.

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Sat, Feb 28, 2009

Ambivalent

Posted at 10:41 am MST to Weather

It's warm here in Mobile, but today it is cloudy and very humid. They are warning about possible severe weather this weekend.When combined with this crud I've got, it makes breathing annoying.

I don't want to make the apartment too cool, but I have turned on the air conditioning in the hope that it might take at least a little of the moisture out of the air I am trying to breathe. 75 degrees didn't really feel bad (though 75 at 10 AM suggests things would be a lot warmer later in the day.) 72 with the noise and the draft from the AC is kind of annoying, but the dryer air and the movement from the fans does seem to be more breathable than static humidity.

No fever (I had a little bit of one Tuesday). No sinus problems or sneezing that seems to be associated with the crud as opposed to pollen allergies. My symptoms are coughing, sore throat, lack of voice and a slight headache. No symptoms that seem to be asthmatic (I've been good about avoiding foods I'm allergic to) or pneumonic.

But I hate being sick away from home.

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Sat, Feb 14, 2009

Rainy Alabama Saturday

Posted at 10:44 am MST to Weather

Man. When it rains here, it RAINS. For the past few days we have had occasional downpours when it rains cats, dogs and hamsters interspersed with long stretches of steady rain. I feel sorry for the people who are scheduled to be in Mardi Gra parades. I have the heat turned up higher than I ever do in Colorado: this thick, damp seacoast air really sucks the heat out of you.

I need to start carrying my folding Italian umbrella, which may have been manufactured in China or someplace, but was purchased in Italy when I was there on a cruise a few years ago. It happens to be in the truck.

I think one of my other umbrellas may be buried behind a truck seat, too. I'll have to look for it. Maybe tomorrow when the rain is supposed to stop, or at least be more intermittent.

I'm planning to attend at least one Mardi Gra parade: it would seem silly to be on the Gulf Coast in Mardi Gra season and not attend any parades. I already have some Mardi Gra beads and stuff: my supervisor at work went to one of the Thursday evening parades, before the rains started and brought me some beads and cups (also Moonpies, but I can't eat those so she gave them to somone else). She has promised to show me a good place for parade watching on Monday.

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Mon, Jan 12, 2009

Squall

Posted at 10:12 am MST to Weather

This is one of the days I'm glad to be working from home.

There were no forecasts of snow for today, but we got about an inch an hour for about 4 hours beginning at 4 am. The snow was fluffy enough and the wind was strong enough that the plows weren't ablle to deal with it well: it kept blowing back across the roads .

The morning rush hour traffic reports were amazingly bad.

We need the moisture badly, as shown by last week's wildfires. This has been a very, very dry winter along the Foothills, though the high country has been getting plenty of snow.

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Tue, Dec 30, 2008

Wind Speed Chart

Posted at 9:04 am MST to Weather

I have found a site with the weather from NCAR. This should be a close match to conditions at my house, since there is nothing but a few miles of empty air between us.

The wind speed chart for the past 24 hours looked like this at 9 am:

The peak gust shown is over 70 mph.

If my house was an airplane, the 'Fasten seatbelt' sign would have been on for the past 12 hours. Needless to say, I did not sleep well.

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Thu, Dec 18, 2008

Tree

Posted at 3:00 pm MST to Weather

The weather monday and Tuesday was bitterly cold, and they are predicting snow this evening and tomorrow and more bitter cold for the weekend. I ran out an hour ago to get my mail and finally buy my Christmas tree, and I seem to have timed it just right. I had dry roads, but now, half an hour after I put the tree into its stand, it is snowing pretty determinedly.

I bought my tree (a 6 foot Colorado Balsam) from the Big M Janitorial lot, where I have been getting my trees for years. I think they have their own tree farm: the trees have always been very fresh and held their needles well.

They seem to have a lot of trees left considering it is less than a week until Christmas. Last year I bought my tree earlier and the lot was more picked over: either I'm not the only one running late, or people aren't buying trees.

The weather this December has been unusually cold and snowy, though so far it is the mountains that are getting hammered. I hope we're not in for another winter like two years ago, when I had 5 foot drifts across my driveway for months.

I'm glad I decided not to get a ticket for the Revels show: if Sunday is as cold as they predict, I am not going to want to go out.

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Fri, Nov 14, 2008

First Snow 2008

Posted at 7:26 am MST to Weather

There is snow on the ground this morning. The high country is getting hammered, but down here it's just enough to whiten the grass and make the morning commute a mess. Not enough, unfortunately, to give us any appreciable moisture.

They are predicting a warm weekend and a high of 70 on Tuesday.

I thought I saw a little snow on the ground Wednesday evening, but a chinook came in and by yesterday morning everything had dried out.

Including my sinuses. This is the second day of a sinus headache which is getting annoying.

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Sat, Oct 11, 2008

Brrrr

Posted at 10:54 am MDT to Weather

We haven't had the snow they were warning about yet, but this morning is cold -- just a lttle above freezing -- and rainy. It feels like New England weather, not Colorado.

I lasted only two hours at the farmers'market (instead of my usual 7-ish) because there were no customers to speak of and I wasn't wearing enough layers of clothing. Nanette said she was wearing 6 layers and I only had 3.

I also had only one glove (the other one may be in the truck somewhere) and the toes of my left foot, where the circulation is a little iffy, were going numb.

I did get some horseradish from the canning company that processed the horseradish from Nanette's farm, so I'm going to try meatloaf with functional horseradish and homemade breadcrumbs for supper.

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Sun, Oct 05, 2008

Birdfeed

Posted at 4:57 pm MDT to Weather

I was cleaning out the pantry a few days ago and dumped some wild bird food from several years ago out onto the scraped-bare part of what used to be my lawn. I thought that if any of it evaded the wildlife it might either sprout or at least add some organic matter to that space.

It took a few days for the wildlife to notice, but they are really going to town now. A little while ago there was only one magpie walking around examining the situation, but he is gone now. Maybe ancient stale seeds are beneath him.

I just looked out and there were a half dozen pigeons and about a hundred small dark birds spread out over the lawn chowing down. When they fly, I can see that many of the smaller birds are redwinged blackbirds: their wing patches aren't noticeable when the wings are folded at this time of year.

There is also a squirrel with cheek-pouches so full his head is at least twice as wide as usual.

Oh well, maybe the critters will fertilise the soil a bit, before they leave. They are dining in the damp -- there was a huge long roll of thunder and a brief cloudburst (enough to leave puddles on the driveway) an hour ago, which is a little odd for this time of year. It may be the seeds were not noticeable or interesting to the birds until they got wet.

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