Forever A Fangirl

Happy Yule- Shadows Stretch Longest, Daylight Hours Shortest of The Year

Winter doesn’t officially begin in the Northern Hemisphere until around December 21st. Known as the Winter Solstice, this is when for locations north of the equator the Sun is the lowest in the southern sky making it the shortest day of the year.

Skywatchers will notice that throughout the fall season, the Sun’s midday position in the sky slowly sinks closer to the horizon, making for ever-longer shadows. Meanwhile, the Sun appears to move toward the south day by day, rising farther from the east and setting farther from the west as we approach the winter solstice. During winter the Earth's northern axis is slightly tilted away from the Sun and so the Northern Hemisphere receives less sunlight.

On the first day of winter the Sun rises as far south of due east as it gets for the year and for the next few days the Sun appears to rise at the same place on the horizon. This moment in the year is when the shadows stretch their longest, and we get the fewest daylight hours. After the solstice the Sun’s pathway across the sky appears to head back in the opposite direction until it reaches its northern limit during the summer solstice in June.

The exact date and time of the winter solstice, while always occurring within a day or two of December 21, changes from year to year because of the difference between a calendar year of 365 days, and the solar year of 365.26 days - the exact time it takes for the Earth to make one trip around the Sun.

Source: Weather Network.com

Vox Hunt: Puddle Protectors

With colder weather comes rain, sleet, and snow. Show us how you're going to keep your feet toasty warm and dry all winter long.

Prope63921_48918_jb

I own these. I call them my dog-walking boots.

In Chicago you have to have waterproof--not water resistant and there's no point in going for fashion when you are slogging through, snow, ice, sleet, and slush. It does not rain here in the winter.

I wanted to get some authentic Canadian mukluks but I couldn't find any that were not made of a dead animal and were waterproof. Actually, I got stuck at the "not made of a dead animal" part.

Another plea to be more inclusive: I'm not worldly-wise but simply from reading blogs from the Australians I can say that they will not need their feet to be "toasty warm" when they are out enjoying beach or pool weather when much of the US is having winter weather.

Even within the United States,  people in areas with large populations like Florida and Southern California and other areas like Arizona do not wear "traditional" winter wear unless they travel someplace away from where they reside.

Just one more thing, many of the Vox Hunt and QotD's have a very San Francisco slant to them. San Francisco, I can state unequivocally as I'm quite familiar with the area, is not typical in most every way of a United States city. In many ways it is better--but it is a poor pool from which to base your QotD's and Vox Hunt's on.

Suggestion: Have the questions include a flip side like the one above could be something like "blah, blah, blah all winter long and conversely for those folks enjoying other major climate changes what will you be wearing in place of what you've been wearing previously?"

It's simply polite to be inclusive--and bad manners, not to mention bad geography to act as if the whole world =  The United States of America.

 

Salt Creek Breaches It's Banks

clipped from www.cnn.com

Chicago seeks aid after worst rain in at least 137 years

• Story Highlights
• Records kept since 1871 say Saturday's rain marks worst in more than century
  
• Heavy rain more related to Tropical Storm Lowell in Pacific than Gulf Coast's Ike
  
• Commissioner: Chicago River flowed "down the 5000 block of North Monticello"
  
• Authorities say 90 billion gallons of water fell on the city's water district

OK. Only 33 more days to go with the raining for 40 days and nights. They *say* it's supposed to not rain tomorrow, that we will get a break for a couple days.

All I know is I'm not mentally prepared to never see the sun again. And now that the floodwaters are receding some of my neighborhood has a funny smell.

I bought sort-of-boots today. I'm not running around in the mud here in the 'burbs and really, clogs don't cut it for the terrain nor do my trusty Birkenstocks.

Here are some shots from our neighbourhood taken on Sunday, Sept 14,2008.  Pictured are houses adjacent to Salt Creek, which breached its banks (to different ends depending where among it's many miles you consider).

We got lucky. Plus, we didn't buy on a flood plain.

Go Away, Rain

So. Is anyone else getting some weather, specifically wet weather? 'Cause you can have ours if you need it.
Jeez Louise. The bullfrogs are taking over. Man-made ponds and a real creek surround us. Critters,too.

Spouse, when we walked the dog tonight was marveling at the swollen Salt Creek overflow just down the street us. Houses--big, expensive houses are built right on a smallish river bank. They are all new w/in the past couple of years and we were gobsmacked at how close one was built into the bank. It was just a matter of time before this house would be under water and right now, it is. Not completely but lower areas of it have several feet of water up their sides.

Another home adjacent to Salt Creek, though it remains on it's foundation is in fact part of the creek now. The water rushing past it on both sides of the house--and it's runoff/river water. Big ick factor there.

Guess where the flood plain is. Hint: Food plains support life--may look more lush than other areas.

That's one of our ponds on the lower left--the smaller one--our pool matches it in tininess. lol.

Below--when hadn't rained in a while--can't even see Salt Creek and it's right there.

 

They have a couple of pumpers running but there's lots more rain to come so it looks bleak still.

Man-made ponds and a real creek surround us. We are fine, though are checking the basement of our condo. The condo's basement. Unless it has a problem and it really shouldn't our only worry is taking roads that are not flooded.
This is a very big storm.

I will walk over and see what's up tomorrow--with my camera.

Windows Vista: What You Don't Know...

I finally had a chance to use Windows Vista--and only Windows Vista on my notebook computer this summer when I brought it with me as the OS for my Dell XPS. Honestly, I was a bit dubious about using Vista on the Internet for the first time as I'd heard some negative comments from the Internet and I wasn't sure if it was up for carrying me through many hours use each day.

Knowing that I couldn't go and use another computer-being away from home for an extended period like I was, I felt like  "Oh,oh what if I can''t figure out how to use Vista?!" My fears were put to rest though after I took it for a spin a couple times.

Once I got acquainted with the important modifications I realized Windows Vista works much like XP--only better. In fact it works so much better that I was a bit taken aback recently find a very similar (like, exactly the same) great feature added to the latest update of a certain other browser.

It's a great feature wherever you use it and it absolutely makes working at the computer feel less like work--in other words Windows Vista enhances the user's experience by being more intuitive than it's predecessor and is visually much more appealing, too.

If you use Windows Vista Small Business Assurance you would probably like to note a couple fast facts about what Window has to say about it:

Stronger security. Windows Vista SP1 has fewer than half the security vulnerabilities of Windows XP. It's also  60% less likely to be infected by spyware or malware than Windows XP SP2. Finally, Windows Vista is the most secure Windows release to date.

  

 

Trading Detroit-Windsor For Port Huron-Sarnia

View Larger Map

Starting back in June when we drove to Maple Lake, Ontario to open up the cottage for the summer we endured what was the most dreaded part of the trip--crossing the border into Canada at Detroit.

Crossing into Canada at Detroit-Windsor is frustrating, time consuming, confusing and worst of all IMO, frightening if you are unfortunate enough to to do so when it's dark.

Due to various commitments here we often did it in the dark--and I did it alone--for the last time I might add. The second to last time that we came home I made up my mind: no Detroit crossing for me. It appeared that crossing the border by driving slightly north--via Flint, MI would be viable though possibly of a longer duration. Every other trip we'd made via Detroit--six of them previously this summer--resulted in a travel time of a minimum of 13 hours. We don't dawdle or make excessive stops, either. Short stops with some brisk walking (we have a dog) and back on the road. This trip we ventured out and decided to blow Detroit off completely. The crossing at Port Huron-Sarnia was painless and fast and on the way home we made the almost 700 mile trip in 12 hours flat!

We had a superb long Labour Day weekend. We took an extra day so had three full days at the cottage. The weather just got better each day with the last actually getting quite hot. It was hands-down the best weather of the 5 weeks total that I spent on Maple Lake this year* and it was a fantastic send off for summer.

*They broke a 70-year record for rainfall.

My very favourite Maple Lake photo from summer, 2008.

 

Two weeks later this groin (the rock thing above that spouse built) help form this much beach (below w/ red canoe). There was no beach initially due to rain all summer.

   

 

Spouse is a master beach-maker!

 

What The Hail?

It started off a pretty day. Comfortably warm with the lake fairly calm. The waves began picking up a bit, then a bit more and quite suddenly things became chaotic. The screen blew in on one of the front windows and I feared that the window which cranks out so that it forms a "t" when fully open would snap off, too. There are several other windows in the cottage like that--all were open and needed to be closed. Spouse and son were shielded by the hill going down to the lake and didn't seem to realize how serious things were getting so didn't respond to me yelling for help with battening down the hatches. By the time they came inside hail was raining down, the high winds were blowing the deck furniture about, leaves and branches were flying every which way--and then the power shut off. The storm continued for some time and since one never knows just how long the power will be out here on the Lake, spouse went to the town a couple of lakes away and bought ice and food to barbecue. It's good that he did as the power was off for 8.5 hours and the hydro company had told us that the couldn't find where the problem was and would have to quit for the night and come back in the morning. We were heating up water on the barbecue at 11 p.m. for clean-up having given up on having the juice on to power the water pump when it switched back on. It was a relief but the situation has been pretty disruptive. Our neighbor next door built a fire despite the lingering drizzle and as the light faded to black we did, too. Spouse got a pic of our neighbour who is nothing if not a good humoured guy.

Getting warmed up

Just Another Post About The Weather

Now that the weather is has been acting nicely for a few days, we've been lulled into the notion that spring! is here! I've gotten on the bandwagon too, pounding the drums of joyousness in solidarity.
If only it would stay this way, continuously moving closer to better weather. But reality does intrude rudely. We don't like to think such thoughts but when the inevitable occurs we are bummed because "the weather sucks.' And it seems to suck more because we've enjoyed such delicious samples of the yumminess that is spring only to get rudely shoved back into reality.

Yes, reality. It seems much more than a concept when it rains for a week straight and you've just about forgotten what the sun looks like.
Not that anyone needs reminding, but for me, I will continue to relish the good days, acknowledge the "bad" and try not to let "weather" monopolize too many of my blogs posts for fear of being accused of "writing another post about the weather." (Just kidding on that last statement.)

I just took my first top-down ride this year!!!

Woo-hoo!
I just took my first top-down ride this year!!!
The weather here in the Northwest of Chicago suburbs is superb.
Sunny and mild and I didn't have to go to Florida or :cough: Arizona :cough: to enjoy it.
The upside to top down motoring in this Great Lakes region is that there is only about 4 months of the year where you can be certain that you can't ride top down.
In areas known for their extreme warmth (see above) for me it actually gets too warm to do the top down thing for about that long (longer, maybe--not got the numbers in front of me).
I'm actually going to again try to count the number of top-down rides I go for this riding season.
Why?

Why not?

On the road to Alice's Place.

I Need To Be Walked!!!

Hi there.

I'm trying to get caught up on so many things that have fallen by the wayside in the past 8 days. That's right, it was a week ago Friday that I first felt the weakness that morphed overnight into a full on case of The Flu.

As I was sitting out in the living room today, enjoying my morning cup of coffee (I can taste it again!) I read up on the current strains of flu that are sickening many folks. Unfortunately, the scientists who each year "guess" what the following year's flu will consist of, guessed with only 40% accuracy versus the 60-70% range that they usually nail.

The article went on the say that February, not April "is the cruelest month" as there is more flu now than any other time of year and therefore more misery.

I have to agree.

Sick or not and I'm usually not, I do not like February one bit. I can talk myself into at least semi- believing that there is a reason to be optimistic about the Midwest's winter weather but with February I come up with nuthin'. But it wasn't always so.

Until this year I looked forward with great anticipation to Groundhog Day. Why? Not because I care about shadows or lack thereof. No, I had a much better reason. My little bro and his lovely wife would spend days baking all manner of confectionery treats and each year's seemed more scrumptious than the last.

We'd hear a buzz at the door and there they'd be with a plate brimming with exotic cookies and brownies--all bakery quality--and then off they'd go making more deliveries. For me, it made Valentine's Day seem not all that important. I'd already had all the best treats I was going to have for the year and bro and sis-in-law only did their bake-a-thon annually--always for Groundhog Day. Alas, they have moved on to more arid climes. <sigh>

This year, Valentine's Day coincided with my flu so no lunch date with spouse. It wasn't much of a V-Day at all. I managed to make some cards for the three guys and sent some e-cards to some friends but being really sick pretty much puts the kibosh on anything fun.

The day after Valentine's Day however, I had an appointment with my cardiologist. I had rescheduled it once before so felt I had to go and at 8 days gone with the flu--no temperature, dizziness at a bare minimum I thought it be okay to go.

Ireland Park: public.fotki.com/HighPlainsDrifter/places-1/ireland-park/

Photo: HighPlainsDrifter

It was only about 20F outside though spouse parked the Mustang in direct sun (yes, we had sun!) so the car was cozy. After the 20 minute drive I arrived at the huge doctor's office building next to a hospital and got my first real experience dealing with the large amounts of snow we've been socked with. On the way there I'd passed dump trucks hauling snow away...and the hospital parking lot could have used  their help as I only was able to park upon manoeuvring into my second snowbank.

This was my second visit with this cardiologist (heart failure specialist) after being given orders for lots of tests previously. His colleague, whom I'd seen for many years moved to the east coast.

So all my tests results were "great." My blood pressure was high normal and he wouldn't accept my reasoning that maybe the flu had something to do with that?

Instead he found the one area where he has absolutely no clue about me and he began to tell me everything I already know.

I could/should lose weight (though I’ve dropped a couple pounds since last visit).

He asks me the most insane question ever. What do I want to weigh? I want to LOL. I’ve been “a big girl” All My Life. I typically put on 5-10 lbs. each winter and then take it off in the spring/summer. Very much like the bears. Even so, I should probably lose another 20 pounds on top of that but him having me keep a “weight diary” is not going to do it because I’ve tried that oh, 20 times before and it worked and then when I stopped keeping the diary because it is an obsessive behaviour which I couldn’t stand–when I stopped being on a diet my weight came back. Can we go back to how my numbers are great? I thought all this--didn't say it--just chuckled slightly at the idea of pick a number for my weight and go for it!

He blathered on. He knows nothing about the mentality of a fat girl, though I caught a sympathetic look from the nurse that was with us in the room. Here in the dead of winter having not exercised in over a week I weigh four pounds more than I did when I took off forty pounds ten years ago. I did that because I was newly into heart failure and radically changed my diet from typical American to low sodium and relatively low fat.

Mr. Fancy Heart Specialist Guy has no idea about how much I have obsessed about my weight in my lifetime. About how devoted I am about sticking to the low salt/fat thing and regular exercise. He just dispenses his “wisdom” like Pez candy. Specialist: stick to your area of expertise because when you wander away from it you sound like a stoopid-head and you offend me. I know I should drop more weight. I will continue to work on it every day for the rest of my life. Can I go now?

So to today. Energy levels are returning. Head is de-clogging though it's a funky feeling--like there's bubbles popping in my ear canals. Nose is still running clear (normal for me) and the cough is still there, though not painful any longer. And I did a 40-minute set of yoga last night.

All in all I am feeling optimistic and hopeful that I can go outside tonight with spouse and Raven for a brisk walk. Please temperatures, do NOT go all super frigid, OK? I need a walk!

Slush

We've had a 'bout of warmth.Everything is melted and puddling (is that  a word?)

I'm fairly certain that jayd brought it with him from the Pacific Northwest. As of today ALL the snow is gone--there are just puddles--some very large. It was 45(!) degrees F when I walked the dog tonight. She was happy getting to sniff the highly saturated ground. I wore waterproof boots. I was happy that I didn't have to wear a hat or scarf or gloves. :)                                 

Now however we are having the kind of weather extreme cold that causes wind burn and ick! I'm all peeling and scary-looking!

And a in a couple days it'll be in the 50's F.

Ever since global warming I've loved Chicago in January! (j/k)

Real Winter

Photo by Cyn

Anyone that's lived in a place with "real winter' will get this piece. Even if you've never left Southern California and believe me, I'd switch places with you in a minute, you'll still understand it as the writer has done an nice job of conveying how winter really feels.

One quibble though, the writer cautions that he's learned in living through "the past few" Northeast winters that "it is to be prepared to do whatever winter allows at the moment it allows it." Um, no offence, but having lived in the Northeast for many years (now relocated to the MidWest) --that was pretty clear to me at about age six.

NYTimes Editorial

When the snow stopped falling here in the Northeast, it was like looking out upon a collective memory of winters past — farther past than last winter, that is, when crocuses were pushing out of the earth in early January. It was hardly a surprising storm, yet it demonstrated how easily our idea of normal can be subverted. We are every bit as mercurial as the weather itself.

Last year, the abnormal felt like a surprise — shirt-sleeve days in New Year’s week. And now, this year, the normal feels unusual. Sleet, freezing rain, snow, wind, power outages, icy highways, canceled flights — this is what we used to expect from mid-December.

A real winter, like the one we’re having this week, means capitulating to the weather. There is no negotiating with a wind-chill of zero, no pretending that the driveway really doesn’t need plowing, no running a few errands without a hat and scarf and gloves. You simply give in and meet the season’s terms.

That is part of the pleasure of a real winter. You feel very resilient for living within its strictness. Yet if you look back in time, you can’t help wondering at the resilience of everyone who lived within winter’s strictness before central heating was invented.

There is no knowing what lies ahead, of course. This could be the start of an epic winter. It could be shirt-sleeves and gnats flying in early January again, for all we know. But if the past few winters here in the Northeast have taught us anything, it is to be prepared to do whatever winter allows at the moment it allows it. That could mean snowshoeing through the woods on a day like yesterday or playing an improbable — and deeply disarming — round of golf.

What Winter Means To Me

Show us what winter means to you.

Actually winter now means misery. Cold. Bleakness. Foul moods. Barely any snow to make things pretty. Ice and lots of wind.

Buuut. When I was a kid winter meant fun. In the first photo you can see how much fun my neighbours are having shoveling out their family's car(s).

Connecticut snowstorm--view from our house

This our backyard. Beyond the snow is a steep drop, then a ravine before the woods that I spent many a happy hour in. Absolutely beautiful.

Our backyard

More back yard and woods.

 

Our front yard, step, looking up the street. Near lower middle is a railing, one of two on either side of our front stoop. Near buried--and of course, how does one get out?!

What winter means to me is past-tense, really. Lots of snow and snow-related fun.

"Schol Bowl"

It was scary driving today. Lots of icy rain clogged/clogging up the streets and vehicles on the wrong side of the road facing towards you as you carefully passed by them. Thankful that I was only driving to Woodfield Mall and back--only fishtailed near the accidents at the beginning of the ride--love how cars around me scatter when that happens. (My youngest was not in the car--the oldest was but it's never good in icy rain as it's a Mustang GT--new tires really help though. I'm much less afraid of dying in a spin-out now.) From noon--on I  was supposed to be ready at a moment's notice to pick up younger son from the return from the Scholastic Bowl tournament in oh, jeez I'm forgetting--very far away near another state.  He left at a unholy hour this a.m. Anyway, out of abt. 40 schools they were in it as one of the last three teams--first and second places went to Barrington High School and The Latin School (magnet school, Chicago).

I think third place is respectable but the disconcerting thing is they had to do some long-ass travel today in a yellow school bus during some really rough weather. So, it was very late when younger son finally called from school looking for chauffeur service. But I was very glad when he called.

That's Hot

86° F | 67° F
30° C | 19° C

Eww! Outdoors feels like a sauna right now. This is so typical of this time of year--this odd time that hangs between true summer and real fall. "Pseudo summer" is a holdover from summer proper.

It was balmy last night when we walked the dog--like a lovely summer night--not a whiff of fall other than the very faint smell of small patches of dried leaves fallen to the ground.

But as per normal, one day it's going just turn. We'll have a day in the low 50'sF and though it may creep up to low 60'sF for a few days beyond that, it won't ever go back to  this--the twilight zone of summer-fall. It's a time when one's closet and dresser drawers burst with two seasons worth of clothes and when one must carefully check the household thermometer just outside the sliding glass door before preparing to go off anywhere. It's a time of anticipation of impending change.

This time of year is an odd time of transition which does not agree with what with the calendar says it should be, the return of the children to school that signaled "end of summer," or the falling leaves from the trees. It marches to it's own drummer and very soon it will march away, not to return again for another year.

Snowed In

My son got his wish: no school.
We are lucky, we didn't lose any power or (fingers crossed) Internet access.
My car is among many in the parking lot obscured by ice and snow.
Our dog Raven needed a path made immediately this morning so she could get past the porch and TCB.

I would love to go get some snaps of the various examples of winter beauty but having just experienced almost a week of 60F weather, I'm not going anywhere for any reason let alone out for "fun." (And the wind is howling like a son-of-a-gun).
Yes, I am not a winter person. Pretty to look at--unless you are into skiing or snowshoeing a bitch to live in. I made all my snow forts as a kid. When it warms up I'm still ok with snow angels and sledding but it's gotta be above a 20F wind chill.

I'm a bit cranky as spouse is running into delays in his DIY--ancient fixtures are sometimes really hard to remove. He worked forever last night trying to extract the fan from the ceiling. He finally did it--but right now I have a gaping hole which hopefully will be transformed into a quiet, modern-looking fan tonight.

Gone Again

Driving up north to retrieve this guy (the one on the left). He reported tonight that a "small" tornado blew through the Maple Lake area (and I'm sure, other regions in Southern Ontario) and the cottage has been without power since Wednesday. I feel badly for my dad having to cope with it all. At least their phone is functional again.

A Change in the Weather

When I checked the online Weatherbug weather service tonight in anticipation of tomorrow's trip to The 12th Annual Chicago Flower & Garden Show (woo) this is what I saw as our weather right now. Sheesh. The thunderstorms sound kinda cool but I'll take a pass on the tornadoes, please.

Ugh. In the orange zone. Not so good.

Just t-storms--no tornadoes...oh large hail, too. :/

That looks about right for this lovely, "active weather" (nice euphemism, eh?) time-of-year. Feeling kinda good that I live in a brick buidling, feeling kinda anxious about my baby (the Mustang) out in the rain (and hail). :want a garage:

Anyway, Happy Monday!

Sunshine, shining on meeee....

I accidently got too much sun today whilst in the pool--having fun for the first time in 6 days-- swimming underwater with my son competing "Bob" and "Bruce" (our pool sharks) against one another. Then it was dive to get rubber "torpedos" off the pool floor in 5.5 foot water (our pool is wimpy)--or "accidently" fire 'em at one another. I felt so fried afterward though--even after a shower. Gotta watch it out there under our damaged ozone layer.

Happy Spring Solstice!

Please--celebrate fertility responsibly. :)

This is what early spring looks like in this neck of the uh, plains. It's dead of night, so no wind chill. (Few people at this hour to turn into human icicles, so why bother?)
So anyway here's a pic of some indoor flowers. My next house shall have southern exposure!
I need greenery!

Happy, Happy vernal equinox.
Anyone for a fertility ritual?

Break Out The Sleds

I'm in a white area. :D Break out the sleds! Finally, we get some winter weather. I grew up in Toronto and Connecticut and to me, real winter will always entail lots of snow. Living in the Chicago area with it's super high frigid winds (lake effect) and nothing to show for it --namely snow--really sucks. If one has to put up with the cold there may as well be the novelty of a couple coats of the white stuff. Yay for snow! 11pm Update: Blizzard Conditions Hit New England 11pm EST, January 22, 2005 By WeatherBug Chief Meteorologist, Mark Hoekzema The early hours of a historic blizzard are well underway in southern New England where heavy snow and howling winds will create whiteout conditions across the Northeast from northern New Jersey to Down East Maine. Saturday night, the major winter had reformed off the Virginia and Maryland coast and heavy snow was expanding across New England. Blizzard conditions are expected in the Northeast after dumping 4-13" across the northern Plains, Great Lakes, Ohio Valley and Mid-Atlantic regions. As the storm strengthens and moves northeast along the coast toward a position just south of Martha's Vineyard on Sunday morning, strong upper level winds will begin to tap Atlantic moisture and throw it back inland over the cold air at the surface. This will keep the heavy snow rates going between northern New Jersey and eastern Massachusetts. Just before midnight on Saturday, snowfall totals had pushed over 10" in parts of eastern Massachusetts, with nearly 11" on the ground in Gloucester. Most locations in New England had between four and eight inches at midnight. Snowfall rates of 2-3 inches will occur throughout the night and some locations may record snow at the rate of 4 inches per hour in some of the convective thundersnows that are expected. In New York, travel on most roads was extremely difficult or rapidly becoming impossible as snowfall totals pushed over a foot in western New York. Snow amounts in Syracuse had topped 15 inches at 11pm. The New York State DOT was reporting whiteout conditions on many highways and law enforcement was urging people to stay off the roads. Snow had tapered off to snow showers or had ended in Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Washington DC and earlier Saturday evening in Philadelphia. Lake effect snow showers had diminished around Chicago and other locations near the Great Lakes. Accumulations ranged from just a few inches in Pittsburgh and Washington to up to over one foot in some neighborhoods near Chicago. Snow amounts were less than expected across Ohio, western Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia due to a dry slot of air and fast westerly winds that pushed snow rapidly to the east. Snowfall was generally in the 2-7" range across those areas. Snow began to fall in New York City by late morning, starting a long siege of snow, wind and cold that will wreak havoc on travel through the airports in the Northeast. By midnight Saturday, snow had tapered off over northern New Jersey but a re-intensification of snow was likely to occur as the Atlantic moisture begins to feed inland overnight. Snow amounts in the New York metro area ranged from 6-12 inches and over a foot on parts of Long Island at 11pm Saturday. Another 6-12 inches is likely overnight. Many airlines have delayed or cancelled flights in and out of Chicago and Detroit and other cities around the Great Lakes. Continue reading "Break Out The Sleds" » Posted at 05:10 AM in Weather | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0) | Reblog (0) May 24, 2004 Tornadoes, Chicken Vesuvio, and Blue Men Happy Victoria Day to any Canadians (and Brits?) reading along here. After we moved to the States, my family still celebrated (as best we could) all the Canadian holidays, plus the American. It was having Thanksgiving two months in a row (Canadian in October, and American in November) that was a real killer. Still, having an extra day off is welcome anytime. My weekend was pretty neat. A few tornado warnings to liven things up both on Friday and Sunday night. Here's the thing. There are tornado "alleys" within the state I reside. People build homes in (on?) them and if their number comes up, their home gets damaged or destroyed. These alleys are even on maps, so it's no mystery where they are likely to pop up on the occasion of the seasons changing, hell breaking loose and chicken littles a/k/a weather dudes, running amok. Here's what the weather guys (repeatedly during each show) broke into the season finale episodes of three of the four network shows I watch(ed), to say (one was two weeks ago--the big one was on Friday night). ***Harsh television noise to get your attention*** This is the (our town) police. A tornado has been spotted at X & Y streets (15 miles from here--that's how big our town is, end to end). Please go to a safe area such as your basement. Stay away from your windows. Repeat... I'm sorry, but I didn't choose to live in a tornado alley. There is a freakishly small chance that one would come here--we just got rain--not even high winds *shakes head*. I'm so heartless when it comes to stupidity. My younger son got freaked out though--off to the basement with him--no biggy as it's quite comfortable down there. I didn't dissuade him, rather I praised him for being extra cautious. Unless one has a private bunker, it's silly to try to hide from a tornado 'cause if it's time for your number to be up--same as in an earthquake, Mother Nature is controlling your destiny. I'm actually a huge admirer of the power of Mother Nature--she puts us humans on our knees (though of course I don't like hearing of death and destruction). Saturday was drizzly for our trip to Chicago (but no t-warnings). The meal was fabulous--antipasto appetizers, Chicken Vesuvio, and tirimisu for dessert. Oh, the decadent yumminess. We were seated by a window that adjoined the terrace to the outdoor riverfront area--spectacular views of the River North area of the city. The Blue Man Group show was highly entertaining--no surprise there. We were in the "poncho seats" (fourth row). Blue Man gets umm...messy--and there's lots of audience participation. The guy behind me had never been to a Blue Man show and he was seriously worried about getting splattered by paint or taken out by a Jell-O mold but we were never in any real danger (as we were far to the left). The folks in the center got hit pretty hard though. Hehe. I hope y'all are having a magnificent Monday! Posted at 02:20 PM in Personal, Weather | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) | Reblog (0) March 17, 2004 Stormy Weather Forward Into Spring http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/17/opinion/17WED4.html?th Published: March 17, 2004 It doesn't take much of a snowstorm in the middle weeks of March to remind inveterate weather watchers of the great March snowstorms of the past. Particularly — for those of us in the Northeast — the blizzard of 1888 and the superstorm of 1993. The 1888 blizzard, which killed some 400 people across the region, is now part of our meteorological ancestry, the kind of event that has continued to grow in stature even though the last witnesses are long gone. A blizzard will probably never be able to sneak up on us again the way that one did. We now have the luxury of seeing what's coming, watching open-mouthed as an event like the March 1993 storm develops. That one, as many of us remember, cut through 26 states and killed some 270 people. But the cruelty of a mid-March storm, even the modest kind that hit yesterday, is usually psychological. There have already been a few days of springlike warmth. Dawn shows behind the hills or beyond the skyline by 5:30, and twilight lingers till well past 6. Most of us have shifted out of our dire winter coats. The first flocks of robins are back on the ground, and in the country red-winged blackbirds can be heard in the marshes. Everything is tipping in one direction. And then it snows again. No one is responsible. But it feels like a kind of distributive injustice. There are parts of the world that really need this precipitation. Let them have it. Posted at 02:02 PM in Weather | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0) | Reblog (0) January 30, 2004 Storm Unearths Prehistoric Whale Fossil The embedded ribs of an 8 million year-old Baline Whale fossil at the Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons, Md. Thursday, Jan. 29, 2004. The bones were discovered in September after Hurricane Isabel eroded the coastline along the St. Mary's River in St.Mary's County, Md. (AP Photo/ Matt Houston) Fri Jan 30,11:03 AM ET By STEPHEN MANNING, Associated Press Writer SOLOMONS, Md. - Heavy erosion by Hurricane Isabel pounding on the cliffs that line St. Mary's River uncovered the fossilized skull of what paleontologists say was a whale that swam in the area eight million years ago. The discovery of the complete skull could help scientists fill a gap in their knowledge of the evolution of Atlantic Ocean whales during the warm Miocene epoch millions of years ago. "It (the whale) occurs in a 3 million year block of time where we know very little about the whales that were here," said Stephen Godfrey, curator of paleontology for the Calvert Marine Museum. The remains were displayed on Thursday at the museum where scientists are carefully chipping away the sediment around the five-and-a-half foot skull with hopes of one day putting it on display. The cliffs of Southern Maryland offer a rich source of marine fossils, including thousands of prehistoric shark teeth and whale bones that are uncovered by erosion. Jeff DiMeglio and his girlfriend were out scouring for shark teeth six days after Isabel swept through the area, when they came across what DiMeglio, an experienced fossil hunter, recognized as the rib of a whale. He covered the fossil and contacted the museum. Godfrey believes the 18-foot whale lived at a time when warm temperatures spread across the Atlantic Ocean, inland across the East Coast covering the Chesapeake Bay and parts of the Washington region. It was found in an area where the water would have been shallow, different from the deep water sediments where most whale fossils are found in the area. Godfrey thinks it was a baleen whale, meaning it would gulp water and then force it out across hairy plates in its mouth, trapping food. He's unsure if it was an ancestor of modern baleen whales, like the humpback or part of an extinct line of whales. Scientists were unable to locate the spine of the whale but did recover some vertebrae, a neck bone, a fin and a shoulder blade along with the skull. There are a few clues to how it may have died. Teethmarks score part of the bone and the fossilized teeth of giant mako and cow sharks were found among the bones. The sharks could have killed the whale or fed on its remains. To free the fossil from the shoreline, scientists swathed it in burlap and plaster-of-paris, creating a hard cast. Posted at 03:12 PM in Nature, Photography, Weather | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0) | Reblog (0) BITTER COLD AND WIND CAN FREEZE EXPOSED FLESH IN A MATTER OF MINUTES Winter Weather Outlook for Friday- (01/29/2004 11:56 AM) Schaumburg, IL * -7...7 F *indicates severe weather alert Watches and Warnings Schaumburg Forecast ----------------------------------------- ...A WIND CHILL ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL NOON CST FRIDAY PARTLY CLOUDY SKIES ARE EXPECTED TO BECOME MAINLY CLEAR OVERNIGHT. THIS WILL ALLOW TEMPERATURES OVER THE SNOW COVER TO DROP AS LOW AS 10 BELOW ZERO. THIS IN COMBINATION WITH WIND SPEEDS OF 10 TO 15 MPH WILL PRODUCE WIND CHILL READINGS LATE TONIGHT AND EARLY FRIDAY IN THE 20 TO 30 BELOW ZERO RANGE. THE BITTER COLD AND WIND CAN FREEZE EXPOSED FLESH IN A MATTER OF MINUTES...SO DRESS WARMLY. LAYERS OF PROTECTIVE CLOTHING ARE MORE EFFECTIVE THAN A SINGLE LAYER OF THICK CLOTHING. ...................................................................................................................... We're doing a pretty good job of getting the "record cold" people quite excited. It's really terribly awful when one ventures outdoors right now. The worst moments for me are during the long trek across the college campus after lap swimming. After going straight from the shower to minus 10 degree weather, my nose and eyes run and the brittle cold feels as if it could snap me in two. Complain as I do, I have the resources to keep me and my loved ones warm. Right now there are hundreds if not thousands of people living within a 30 minute drive of here that have no heat in their homes. They fell behind in their electric or gas bill payments and snap, off went the juice. These people from the very young to the very old, may be inside their homes but they are dressed for the outdoors. The ones fortunate enough to have electricity will keep their ovens on, doors open and plug in their little death-trap space heaters. The others will sit in the cold and dark. Some of them will freeze to death. Tomorrow I will pick up the Tribune, turn to the Metro section and see the stories of people frozen to death in their homes. Because they couldn't pay a bill. Because the federal government continues to fob increasing responsibility for it's citizens on individual states, though from coast to coast, states show great variance in their ability to provide for the poor and the weak. Living in the land of the free means many things. One is that you are free to suffer in your frigid home and sometimes freeze to death. God Bless America and especially George Bush, for all that he does and will do "for" the poor. Posted at 03:19 AM in Weather | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0) | Reblog (0) January 27, 2004 Return of The King: Steward of Gondor/ A Solo? Warning: Lame post ahead. I had a sick child at home today and I've been busy. Tonight was my first attempt at a segue from doing lap swimming at the college to going straight to choir practice by 8:30 p.m. Everything worked out okay but it would have been smoother if 1) the group of school-age kids cleared out of the pool by 7 p.m., when community swim officially begins and 2) if I wasn't driving from lap swimming to chorus in the Mustang (its first winter and mine driving it) in rainy snow (not quite freezing rain). New experience for me: when the automatic traction kicks in, it feels as if the car is being jerked back for a moment. Cool, huh? Except for maybe two sopranos , we suck as a chorus. But we have lots of fun. The music instructor is encouraging any singer to pick a song that matches the theme of the show and prepare a solo for the spring show in May. I really like a song done by Billy Boyd, "The Steward of Gondor" in the Return of The King. It's sung a cappella and sounds sort of like a lament. It definitely has an Irish feel to it. And it's only 90 seconds in length. Great pick for first solo! If we can't get the music to it though, I may be doomed, even though there's almost no instrumentation (and what there is, is of a orchestral variety), so I would think if I'm accompanied at all, it'd be by a flute and even then, really just the end bit of music tacked on after the singing is done. I erm, acquired a copy of the song today and I'm going to practice it to see I if can pull it off without really sounding awful. This song is a lament about longing to go home but with many bridges to cross, so to speak (sounds like a description of a Bob Marley tune), before it's possible to do so. (The character in the movie, Pippin, has to literally fight and win many battles in a war to help save Middle Earth before he can go back to his home in the Shire.) A constraint about what song one can choose is that the song must belong to the categories of "love" and/or "longing." I'm hoping that the category of "longing" is as broad as it sounds as we are already doing enough show tunes. Not that there's anything wrong with show tunes. They are very ...peppy! Posted at 01:57 AM in Music, Personal, Weather | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0) | Reblog (0) Lijit Search Watch SHAMELESS VIDEOS Here! EMMY ROSSUM PHOTOS The beautiful women of Showtime's SHAMELESS VIDEO scenes & screencaps as well as magazine scans from other sources. (Copyright: Showtime) True Blood T-Shirts at StylinOnline.com! Watch CALIFORNICATON Videos HERE! Californication Hank Moody Bobblehead by : BTF T-Shirts: 2 for $30. Use Coupon Code: TWO-TEES-FOR-30 Game of Thrones Daenerys Dany Targaryen I Do Not Have a Gentle Heart Baby Doll Tee Game of Thrones Tyrion Lannister Portrait T-Shirt Recent Posts CALIFORNICATION - Episode 5.06 'LOVE SONG' - Promo & Sneak Peeks VIDEO @SHO_Kareem @SHO_Cali SHAMELESS - Grammy's Gun & Mama Gallagher's Return - Sneak Peeks & Extras! @SHO_Kareem @SHO_Shameless NEW - Marvel's 'THE AVENGER'S' Super Bowl Commercial #theavengers #superbowl #trailer Walgreen's Prescription Savings Club: Join NOW and SAVE! CALIFORNICATION - Episode 5.05 'The Ride-Along' - Promo & Sneak Peeks VIDEO @SHO_Kareem @SHO_Cali SHAMELESS - 2 NEW Sneak Peeks Episode 2.05: Father's Day - FULL Synopsis - Shameless Renewed! (VIDEO) @SHO_Shameless @SHO_Kareem TRUE BLOOD Episode 5.05 & 5.06 Casting NEWS - Season 5 Episode Titles #trueblood Update! True Blood: Watch the First Season 5 Teaser! VIDEO #trueblood CALIFORNICATION - Episode 5.04 - Promo - Sneak Peeks @SHO_Kareem @SHO_Cali SHAMELESS Episode 2.04 SNEAK PEEKS - Promo - Synopsis - Screencaps @SHO_Shameless @SHO_Kareem PEACE CURRENT MOON moon phases Categories 2011 Premiere 2012 Season Premiere Academy Awards Actors Aging Celebrities Aging Rock Stars Animation Apps/Application Art Art Institute Ausiello Scoop Avatar Awards Babyvamp Jessica Battlestar Galactica Bear McCreary Behind the Scenes Books Broadcast and/or Print Media Bruce Springsteen California Californication Canada Cast Casting News Characters Chicago Couples Current Affairs Cyanide & Happiness Dead to the World Death/Funeral Device Dexter Dirty Sexy Money Disney/Pixar Disturbing Search Results Entertainment News Environmentally Friendly Episodes Family Fantasy Fashion Feminist Film Finale Flowers Food and Drink FUBAR Fun Times Gift(s) Giveaway Global Gossip Harry Potter HBO inc. HBO Store Health Heroes and/or Antiheroes Holiday(s) Hollywood Homeland Horror Humanitarian Humour Illustration Internet Interview Johnny Depp K.I.S.S. Kristen Scoop Life Literature/Writers Los Angeles LOST Love Magazine Maple Lake, Ontario Marijuana Mature Millennium Park Mini Golf Minisode Movies Music Music/Lyrics My dogs Nature Navel Gazing Networking NON Paid post Nudity Nurse Jackie Opinion Our Garden Peace Personal Photo Manipulation Photo Stills Photographs and Memories Photography Politics Pop Culture Post Secret Promo Photos Promo Preview Promo Screen Caps Protest Public School QotD (question of the day) Quiz Quotes Recap Relationships Review Screencaps Season 1 Season 2 Season 3 Season 4 Season 5 Season 6 Season 7 Season 8 Season Finale Sequel Sex Shameless Showtime Six Apart Six Feet Under Sneak Peek Sons of Anarchy Sookie Stackhouse Speculation SPOILERS Squee Strange Bedfellows Strange Love Summer Supporting Cast Survivor Survivor: Tocantins Swimming Synopses Synopsis/Loglines Teaser/Trailer Technology Television The Big C The End Of The World As We Know It The Love You Make The Walking Dead Too Much Information Trailer Travel Travel/Vacation Tricia Helfer True Blood Season 5 True Blood True Blood Official Photos True Blood Screencaps True Blood Season 1 True Blood Season 2 True Blood Season 3 True Blood Season 4 TypePad Update Vacation Vampire Bill Vampires Videos Videos and Screencaps Vietnam War Weather Web/Tech Weblogs Weeds Whine and Cheese Widget Word of the Day World Politics Writers Writing YouTube Zombies Cyn Archives February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 More... About Subscribe to this blog's feed Blogs True Blood Underground True Blood Italia True Blood Gifs The Love You Make Steel Kaleidoscopes Sookieverse Blog Sarsparilla DocQuest . . d a y d r e a m i n g . . True Blood VIDEOS: Seasons 1 - 4 True Blood Playlist S1 - S4 Blog powered by TypePad Member since 10/2003 SHAMELESS Season 2 Premiere Full Episode VIDEO http://youtu.be/SWGhrVPDQCE Shameless season 2 premiere full episode. Frank surrenders baby Liam as collateral in a lost bet; Fiona thoroughly enjoys her youth as a cocktail waitress at a local hot spot; Sheila takes steps to finally leave the house; Debbie runs a daycare with Carl; Lip's business expands. CALIFORNICATION: http://youtu.be/XEbcuxuDYV4 Buy Now!! 2 T-Shirts for $30!!! True Blood T-Shirts at StylinOnline.com! Game of Thrones Daenerys Dany Targaryen I Do Not Have a Gentle Heart Baby Doll Tee Game of Thrones Daenerys Baby Tee This is an officially licensed Game of Thrones baby tee in which these Game of Thrones shirts have been screen printed with an official Game of Thrones image on the front of this cotton junior fitted babydoll tee shirt. These Game of Thrones baby tee shirts are usually made from softer stretchy cotton. These Game of Thrones baby tees are designed to be fitted babydoll style shirts for someone who likes to wear a form fitted style shirt. Check back often for some of our new Game of Thrones clothing and other Game of Thrones merchandise at great prices only at - www.StylinOnline.com . Game of Thrones Tyrion Lannister Portrait T-Shirt Game of Thrones Tyrion T Shirt This is an officially licensed Game of Thrones t-shirt in which these Game of Thrones shirts have been screen printed with an official Game of Thrones image on the front. These Game of Thrones tshirts are usually made from heavyweight preshrunk 6oz. cotton tee shirt blanks. Check back often for some of our new Game of Thrones clothing and other Game of Thrones merchandise at great prices only at - www.StylinOnline.com . Weeds Nancy Price Botwin Suburban Hempstress Baby Doll Tee Weeds Hempstress Baby Tee This is an officially licensed Weeds baby tee in which these Weeds shirts have been screen printed with an official Weeds image on the front of this cotton junior fitted babydoll tee shirt. These Weeds baby tee shirts are usually made from softer stretchy cotton. These Weeds baby tees are designed to be fitted babydoll style shirts for someone who likes to wear a form fitted style shirt. Check back often for some of our new Weeds clothing and other Weeds merchandise at great prices only at - www.StylinOnline.com . Weeds Nancy Price Botwin Suburban Hempstress T-Shirt Weeds Hempstress T Shirt This is an officially licensed Weeds t-shirt in which these Weeds shirts have been screen printed with an official Weeds image on the front. These Weeds tshirts are usually made from heavyweight preshrunk 6oz. cotton tee shirt blanks. Check back often for some of our new Weeds clothing and other Weeds merchandise at great prices only at - www.StylinOnline.com . Dexter Tools of the Trade T-Shirt Dexter Tools T Shirt This is an officially licensed Dexter t-shirt in which these Dexter shirts have been screen printed with an official Dexter image on the front. These Dexter tshirts are usually made from heavyweight preshrunk 6oz. cotton tee shirt blanks. Check back often for some of our new Dexter clothing and other Dexter merchandise at great prices only at - www.StylinOnline.com . Dexter Face Blood Splatter Baby Doll Tee Dexter Face Baby Tee This is an officially licensed Dexter baby tee in which these Dexter shirts have been screen printed with an official Dexter image on the front of this cotton junior fitted babydoll tee shirt. These Dexter baby tee shirts are usually made from softer stretchy cotton. These Dexter baby tees are designed to be fitted babydoll style shirts for someone who likes to wear a form fitted style shirt. Check back often for some of our new Dexter clothing and other Dexter merchandise at great prices only at - www.StylinOnline.com . Dexter Face Blood Splatter T-Shirt Dexter Face T Shirt This is an officially licensed Dexter t-shirt in which these Dexter shirts have been screen printed with an official Dexter image on the front. These Dexter tshirts are usually made from heavyweight preshrunk 6oz. cotton tee shirt blanks. Check back often for some of our new Dexter clothing and other Dexter merchandise at great prices only at - www.StylinOnline.com . Dexter I Love Heart Baby Doll Tee Dexter Heart Baby Tee This is an officially licensed Dexter baby tee in which these Dexter shirts have been screen printed with an official Dexter image on the front of this cotton junior fitted babydoll tee shirt. These Dexter baby tee shirts are usually made from softer stretchy cotton. These Dexter baby tees are designed to be fitted babydoll style shirts for someone who likes to wear a form fitted style shirt. Check back often for some of our new Dexter clothing and other Dexter merchandise at great prices only at - www.StylinOnline.com . Game of Thrones Targaryne Fire and Blood T-Shirt Game of Thrones Targaryen T Shirt This is an officially licensed Game of Thrones t-shirt in which these Game of Thrones shirts have been screen printed with an official Game of Thrones image on the front. These Game of Thrones tshirts are usually made from heavyweight preshrunk 6oz. cotton tee shirt blanks. Check back often for some of our new Game of Thrones clothing and other Game of Thrones merchandise at great prices only at - www.StylinOnline.com . Game of Thrones Targaryen Fire and Blood Baby Doll Tee Game of Thrones Targaryen Baby Tee This is an officially licensed Game of Thrones baby tee in which these Game of Thrones shirts have been screen printed with an official Game of Thrones image on the front of this cotton junior fitted babydoll tee shirt. These Game of Thrones baby tee shirts are usually made from softer stretchy cotton. These Game of Thrones baby tees are designed to be fitted babydoll style shirts for someone who likes to wear a form fitted style shirt. Check back often for some of our new Game of Thrones clothing and other Game of Thrones merchandise at great prices only at - www.StylinOnline.com . Game of Thrones Stark Winter is Coming Baby Doll Tee Game of Thrones Stark Baby Tee This is an officially licensed Game of Thrones baby tee in which these Game of Thrones shirts have been screen printed with an official Game of Thrones image on the front of this cotton junior fitted babydoll tee shirt. These Game of Thrones baby tee shirts are usually made from softer stretchy cotton. These Game of Thrones baby tees are designed to be fitted babydoll style shirts for someone who likes to wear a form fitted style shirt. Check back often for some of our new Game of Thrones clothing and other Game of Thrones merchandise at great prices only at - www.StylinOnline.com . Game of Thrones Lannister Hear the Roar Baby Doll Tee Game of Thrones Lannister Baby Tee This is an officially licensed Game of Thrones baby tee in which these Game of Thrones shirts have been screen printed with an official Game of Thrones image on the front of this cotton junior fitted babydoll tee shirt. These Game of Thrones baby tee shirts are usually made from softer stretchy cotton. These Game of Thrones baby tees are designed to be fitted babydoll style shirts for someone who likes to wear a form fitted style shirt. Check back often for some of our new Game of Thrones clothing and other Game of Thrones merchandise at great prices only at - www.StylinOnline.com .

Happy Victoria Day to any Canadians (and Brits?) reading along here.
After we moved to the States, my family still celebrated (as best we could) all the Canadian holidays, plus the American. It was having Thanksgiving two months in a row (Canadian in October, and American in November) that was a real killer. Still, having an extra day off is welcome anytime.

My weekend was pretty neat. A few tornado warnings to liven things up both on Friday and Sunday night. Here's the thing. There are tornado "alleys" within the state I reside. People build homes in (on?) them and if their number comes up, their home gets damaged or destroyed. These alleys are even on maps, so it's no mystery where they are likely to pop up on the occasion of the seasons changing, hell breaking loose and chicken littles a/k/a weather dudes, running amok. Here's what the weather guys (repeatedly during each show) broke into the season finale episodes of three of the four network shows I watch(ed), to say (one was two weeks ago--the big one was on Friday night). ***Harsh television noise to get your attention***

This is the (our town) police. A tornado has been spotted at X & Y streets (15 miles from here--that's how big our town is, end to end). Please go to a safe area such as your basement. Stay away from your windows. Repeat...

I'm sorry, but I didn't choose to live in a tornado alley. There is a freakishly small chance that one would come here--we just got rain--not even high winds *shakes head*. I'm so heartless when it comes to stupidity. My younger son got freaked out though--off to the basement with him--no biggy as it's quite comfortable down there. I didn't dissuade him, rather I praised him for being extra cautious. Unless one has a private bunker, it's silly to try to hide from a tornado 'cause if it's time for your number to be up--same as in an earthquake, Mother Nature is controlling your destiny. I'm actually a huge admirer of the power of Mother Nature--she puts us humans on our knees (though of course I don't like hearing of death and destruction).
Saturday was drizzly for our trip to Chicago (but no t-warnings). The meal was fabulous--antipasto appetizers, Chicken Vesuvio, and tirimisu for dessert. Oh, the decadent yumminess. We were seated by a window that adjoined the terrace to the outdoor riverfront area--spectacular views of the River North area of the city.
The Blue Man Group show was highly entertaining--no surprise there. We were in the "poncho seats" (fourth row). Blue Man gets umm...messy--and there's lots of audience participation. The guy behind me had never been to a Blue Man show and he was seriously worried about getting splattered by paint or taken out by a Jell-O mold but we were never in any real danger (as we were far to the left). The folks in the center got hit pretty hard though. Hehe.
I hope y'all are having a magnificent Monday!

Forward Into Spring
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/17/opinion/17WED4.html?th
Published: March 17, 2004

It doesn't take much of a snowstorm in the middle weeks of March to remind inveterate weather watchers of the great March snowstorms of the past. Particularly — for those of us in the Northeast — the blizzard of 1888 and the superstorm of 1993. The 1888 blizzard, which killed some 400 people across the region, is now part of our meteorological ancestry, the kind of event that has continued to grow in stature even though the last witnesses are long gone. A blizzard will probably never be able to sneak up on us again the way that one did. We now have the luxury of seeing what's coming, watching open-mouthed as an event like the March 1993 storm develops. That one, as many of us remember, cut through 26 states and killed some 270 people.

But the cruelty of a mid-March storm, even the modest kind that hit yesterday, is usually psychological. There have already been a few days of springlike warmth. Dawn shows behind the hills or beyond the skyline by 5:30, and twilight lingers till well past 6. Most of us have shifted out of our dire winter coats. The first flocks of robins are back on the ground, and in the country red-winged blackbirds can be heard in the marshes. Everything is tipping in one direction. And then it snows again. No one is responsible. But it feels like a kind of distributive injustice. There are parts of the world that really need this precipitation. Let them have it.

The embedded ribs of an 8 million year-old Baline Whale fossil at the Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons, Md. Thursday, Jan. 29, 2004. The bones were discovered in September after Hurricane Isabel eroded the coastline along the St. Mary's River in St.Mary's County, Md. (AP Photo/ Matt Houston)

Fri Jan 30,11:03 AM ET
By STEPHEN MANNING, Associated Press Writer

SOLOMONS, Md. - Heavy erosion by Hurricane Isabel pounding on the cliffs that line St. Mary's River uncovered the fossilized skull of what paleontologists say was a whale that swam in the area eight million years ago.

The discovery of the complete skull could help scientists fill a gap in their knowledge of the evolution of Atlantic Ocean whales during the warm Miocene epoch millions of years ago.
"It (the whale) occurs in a 3 million year block of time where we know very little about the whales that were here," said Stephen Godfrey, curator of paleontology for the Calvert Marine Museum.

The remains were displayed on Thursday at the museum where scientists are carefully chipping away the sediment around the five-and-a-half foot skull with hopes of one day putting it on display.

The cliffs of Southern Maryland offer a rich source of marine fossils, including thousands of prehistoric shark teeth and whale bones that are uncovered by erosion.

Jeff DiMeglio and his girlfriend were out scouring for shark teeth six days after Isabel swept through the area, when they came across what DiMeglio, an experienced fossil hunter, recognized as the rib of a whale. He covered the fossil and contacted the museum.

Godfrey believes the 18-foot whale lived at a time when warm temperatures spread across the Atlantic Ocean, inland across the East Coast covering the Chesapeake Bay and parts of the Washington region.
It was found in an area where the water would have been shallow, different from the deep water sediments where most whale fossils are found in the area.
Godfrey thinks it was a baleen whale, meaning it would gulp water and then force it out across hairy plates in its mouth, trapping food. He's unsure if it was an ancestor of modern baleen whales, like the humpback or part of an extinct line of whales.
Scientists were unable to locate the spine of the whale but did recover some vertebrae, a neck bone, a fin and a shoulder blade along with the skull.
There are a few clues to how it may have died. Teethmarks score part of the bone and the fossilized teeth of giant mako and cow sharks were found among the bones. The sharks could have killed the whale or fed on its remains.
To free the fossil from the shoreline, scientists swathed it in burlap and plaster-of-paris, creating a hard cast.

Winter Weather Outlook for Friday- (01/29/2004 11:56 AM) Schaumburg, IL * -7...7 F
*indicates severe weather alert
Watches and Warnings Schaumburg Forecast -----------------------------------------
...A WIND CHILL ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL NOON CST FRIDAY

PARTLY CLOUDY SKIES ARE EXPECTED TO BECOME MAINLY CLEAR OVERNIGHT.
THIS WILL ALLOW TEMPERATURES OVER THE SNOW COVER TO DROP AS LOW AS 10
BELOW ZERO. THIS IN COMBINATION WITH WIND SPEEDS OF 10 TO 15 MPH WILL
PRODUCE WIND CHILL READINGS LATE TONIGHT AND EARLY FRIDAY IN THE 20
TO 30 BELOW ZERO RANGE.
THE BITTER COLD AND WIND CAN FREEZE EXPOSED FLESH IN A MATTER
OF MINUTES...SO DRESS WARMLY. LAYERS OF PROTECTIVE CLOTHING ARE MORE
EFFECTIVE THAN A SINGLE LAYER OF THICK CLOTHING.

......................................................................................................................

We're doing a pretty good job of getting the "record cold" people quite excited.

It's really terribly awful when one ventures outdoors right now.

The worst moments for me are during the long trek across the college campus after lap swimming.
After going straight from the shower to minus 10 degree weather, my nose and eyes run and the brittle cold feels as if it could snap me in two.

Complain as I do, I have the resources to keep me and my loved ones warm.
Right now there are hundreds if not thousands of people living within a 30 minute drive of here that have no heat in their homes. They fell behind in their electric or gas bill payments and snap, off went the juice. These people from the very young to the very old, may be inside their homes but they are dressed for the outdoors. The ones fortunate enough to have electricity will keep their ovens on, doors open and plug in their little death-trap space heaters.

The others will sit in the cold and dark. Some of them will freeze to death.

Tomorrow I will pick up the Tribune, turn to the Metro section and see the stories of people frozen to death in their homes. Because they couldn't pay a bill. Because the federal government continues to fob increasing responsibility for it's citizens on individual states, though from coast to coast, states show great variance in their ability to provide for the poor and the weak.

Living in the land of the free means many things. One is that you are free to suffer in your frigid home and sometimes freeze to death.

God Bless America and especially George Bush, for all that he does and will do "for" the poor.

Warning: Lame post ahead.

I had a sick child at home today and
I've been busy.

Tonight was my first attempt at a segue from doing lap swimming at the college to going straight to choir practice by 8:30 p.m.
Everything worked out okay but it would have been smoother if 1) the group of school-age kids cleared out of the pool by 7 p.m., when community swim officially begins and 2) if I wasn't driving from lap swimming to chorus in the Mustang (its first winter and mine driving it) in rainy snow (not quite freezing rain).

New experience for me: when the automatic traction kicks in, it feels as if the car is being jerked back for a moment. Cool, huh?

Except for maybe two sopranos , we suck as a chorus. But we have lots of fun.
The music instructor is encouraging any singer to pick a song that matches the theme of the show and prepare a solo for the spring show in May.

I really like a song done by Billy Boyd, "The Steward of Gondor" in the Return of The King. It's sung a cappella and sounds sort of like a lament. It definitely has an Irish feel to it. And it's only 90 seconds in length. Great pick for first solo!

If we can't get the music to it though, I may be doomed, even though there's almost no instrumentation (and what there is, is of a orchestral variety), so I would think if I'm accompanied at all, it'd be by a flute and even then, really just the end bit of music tacked on after the singing is done.

I erm, acquired a copy of the song today and I'm going to practice it to see I if can pull it off without really sounding awful. This song is a lament about longing to go home but with many bridges to cross, so to speak (sounds like a description of a Bob Marley tune), before it's possible to do so. (The character in the movie, Pippin, has to literally fight and win many battles in a war to help save Middle Earth before he can go back to his home in the Shire.)

A constraint about what song one can choose is that the song must belong to the categories of "love" and/or "longing."
I'm hoping that the category of "longing" is as broad as it sounds as we are already doing enough show tunes.
Not that there's anything wrong with show tunes.
They are very ...peppy!

Tornadoes, Chicken Vesuvio, and Blue Men

Happy Victoria Day to any Canadians (and Brits?) reading along here.
After we moved to the States, my family still celebrated (as best we could) all the Canadian holidays, plus the American. It was having Thanksgiving two months in a row (Canadian in October, and American in November) that was a real killer. Still, having an extra day off is welcome anytime.

My weekend was pretty neat. A few tornado warnings to liven things up both on Friday and Sunday night. Here's the thing. There are tornado "alleys" within the state I reside. People build homes in (on?) them and if their number comes up, their home gets damaged or destroyed. These alleys are even on maps, so it's no mystery where they are likely to pop up on the occasion of the seasons changing, hell breaking loose and chicken littles a/k/a weather dudes, running amok. Here's what the weather guys (repeatedly during each show) broke into the season finale episodes of three of the four network shows I watch(ed), to say (one was two weeks ago--the big one was on Friday night). ***Harsh television noise to get your attention***

This is the (our town) police. A tornado has been spotted at X & Y streets (15 miles from here--that's how big our town is, end to end). Please go to a safe area such as your basement. Stay away from your windows. Repeat...

I'm sorry, but I didn't choose to live in a tornado alley. There is a freakishly small chance that one would come here--we just got rain--not even high winds *shakes head*. I'm so heartless when it comes to stupidity. My younger son got freaked out though--off to the basement with him--no biggy as it's quite comfortable down there. I didn't dissuade him, rather I praised him for being extra cautious. Unless one has a private bunker, it's silly to try to hide from a tornado 'cause if it's time for your number to be up--same as in an earthquake, Mother Nature is controlling your destiny. I'm actually a huge admirer of the power of Mother Nature--she puts us humans on our knees (though of course I don't like hearing of death and destruction).
Saturday was drizzly for our trip to Chicago (but no t-warnings). The meal was fabulous--antipasto appetizers, Chicken Vesuvio, and tirimisu for dessert. Oh, the decadent yumminess. We were seated by a window that adjoined the terrace to the outdoor riverfront area--spectacular views of the River North area of the city.
The Blue Man Group show was highly entertaining--no surprise there. We were in the "poncho seats" (fourth row). Blue Man gets umm...messy--and there's lots of audience participation. The guy behind me had never been to a Blue Man show and he was seriously worried about getting splattered by paint or taken out by a Jell-O mold but we were never in any real danger (as we were far to the left). The folks in the center got hit pretty hard though. Hehe.
I hope y'all are having a magnificent Monday!

Stormy Weather

Forward Into Spring
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/17/opinion/17WED4.html?th
Published: March 17, 2004

It doesn't take much of a snowstorm in the middle weeks of March to remind inveterate weather watchers of the great March snowstorms of the past. Particularly — for those of us in the Northeast — the blizzard of 1888 and the superstorm of 1993. The 1888 blizzard, which killed some 400 people across the region, is now part of our meteorological ancestry, the kind of event that has continued to grow in stature even though the last witnesses are long gone. A blizzard will probably never be able to sneak up on us again the way that one did. We now have the luxury of seeing what's coming, watching open-mouthed as an event like the March 1993 storm develops. That one, as many of us remember, cut through 26 states and killed some 270 people.

But the cruelty of a mid-March storm, even the modest kind that hit yesterday, is usually psychological. There have already been a few days of springlike warmth. Dawn shows behind the hills or beyond the skyline by 5:30, and twilight lingers till well past 6. Most of us have shifted out of our dire winter coats. The first flocks of robins are back on the ground, and in the country red-winged blackbirds can be heard in the marshes. Everything is tipping in one direction. And then it snows again. No one is responsible. But it feels like a kind of distributive injustice. There are parts of the world that really need this precipitation. Let them have it.

Storm Unearths Prehistoric Whale Fossil

The embedded ribs of an 8 million year-old Baline Whale fossil at the Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons, Md. Thursday, Jan. 29, 2004. The bones were discovered in September after Hurricane Isabel eroded the coastline along the St. Mary's River in St.Mary's County, Md. (AP Photo/ Matt Houston)

Fri Jan 30,11:03 AM ET
By STEPHEN MANNING, Associated Press Writer

SOLOMONS, Md. - Heavy erosion by Hurricane Isabel pounding on the cliffs that line St. Mary's River uncovered the fossilized skull of what paleontologists say was a whale that swam in the area eight million years ago.

The discovery of the complete skull could help scientists fill a gap in their knowledge of the evolution of Atlantic Ocean whales during the warm Miocene epoch millions of years ago.
"It (the whale) occurs in a 3 million year block of time where we know very little about the whales that were here," said Stephen Godfrey, curator of paleontology for the Calvert Marine Museum.

The remains were displayed on Thursday at the museum where scientists are carefully chipping away the sediment around the five-and-a-half foot skull with hopes of one day putting it on display.

The cliffs of Southern Maryland offer a rich source of marine fossils, including thousands of prehistoric shark teeth and whale bones that are uncovered by erosion.

Jeff DiMeglio and his girlfriend were out scouring for shark teeth six days after Isabel swept through the area, when they came across what DiMeglio, an experienced fossil hunter, recognized as the rib of a whale. He covered the fossil and contacted the museum.

Godfrey believes the 18-foot whale lived at a time when warm temperatures spread across the Atlantic Ocean, inland across the East Coast covering the Chesapeake Bay and parts of the Washington region.
It was found in an area where the water would have been shallow, different from the deep water sediments where most whale fossils are found in the area.
Godfrey thinks it was a baleen whale, meaning it would gulp water and then force it out across hairy plates in its mouth, trapping food. He's unsure if it was an ancestor of modern baleen whales, like the humpback or part of an extinct line of whales.
Scientists were unable to locate the spine of the whale but did recover some vertebrae, a neck bone, a fin and a shoulder blade along with the skull.
There are a few clues to how it may have died. Teethmarks score part of the bone and the fossilized teeth of giant mako and cow sharks were found among the bones. The sharks could have killed the whale or fed on its remains.
To free the fossil from the shoreline, scientists swathed it in burlap and plaster-of-paris, creating a hard cast.

BITTER COLD AND WIND CAN FREEZE EXPOSED FLESH IN A MATTER OF MINUTES

Winter Weather Outlook for Friday- (01/29/2004 11:56 AM) Schaumburg, IL * -7...7 F
*indicates severe weather alert
Watches and Warnings Schaumburg Forecast -----------------------------------------
...A WIND CHILL ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL NOON CST FRIDAY

PARTLY CLOUDY SKIES ARE EXPECTED TO BECOME MAINLY CLEAR OVERNIGHT.
THIS WILL ALLOW TEMPERATURES OVER THE SNOW COVER TO DROP AS LOW AS 10
BELOW ZERO. THIS IN COMBINATION WITH WIND SPEEDS OF 10 TO 15 MPH WILL
PRODUCE WIND CHILL READINGS LATE TONIGHT AND EARLY FRIDAY IN THE 20
TO 30 BELOW ZERO RANGE.
THE BITTER COLD AND WIND CAN FREEZE EXPOSED FLESH IN A MATTER
OF MINUTES...SO DRESS WARMLY. LAYERS OF PROTECTIVE CLOTHING ARE MORE
EFFECTIVE THAN A SINGLE LAYER OF THICK CLOTHING.

......................................................................................................................

We're doing a pretty good job of getting the "record cold" people quite excited.

It's really terribly awful when one ventures outdoors right now.

The worst moments for me are during the long trek across the college campus after lap swimming.
After going straight from the shower to minus 10 degree weather, my nose and eyes run and the brittle cold feels as if it could snap me in two.

Complain as I do, I have the resources to keep me and my loved ones warm.
Right now there are hundreds if not thousands of people living within a 30 minute drive of here that have no heat in their homes. They fell behind in their electric or gas bill payments and snap, off went the juice. These people from the very young to the very old, may be inside their homes but they are dressed for the outdoors. The ones fortunate enough to have electricity will keep their ovens on, doors open and plug in their little death-trap space heaters.

The others will sit in the cold and dark. Some of them will freeze to death.

Tomorrow I will pick up the Tribune, turn to the Metro section and see the stories of people frozen to death in their homes. Because they couldn't pay a bill. Because the federal government continues to fob increasing responsibility for it's citizens on individual states, though from coast to coast, states show great variance in their ability to provide for the poor and the weak.

Living in the land of the free means many things. One is that you are free to suffer in your frigid home and sometimes freeze to death.

God Bless America and especially George Bush, for all that he does and will do "for" the poor.

Return of The King: Steward of Gondor/ A Solo?

Warning: Lame post ahead.

I had a sick child at home today and
I've been busy.

Tonight was my first attempt at a segue from doing lap swimming at the college to going straight to choir practice by 8:30 p.m.
Everything worked out okay but it would have been smoother if 1) the group of school-age kids cleared out of the pool by 7 p.m., when community swim officially begins and 2) if I wasn't driving from lap swimming to chorus in the Mustang (its first winter and mine driving it) in rainy snow (not quite freezing rain).

New experience for me: when the automatic traction kicks in, it feels as if the car is being jerked back for a moment. Cool, huh?

Except for maybe two sopranos , we suck as a chorus. But we have lots of fun.
The music instructor is encouraging any singer to pick a song that matches the theme of the show and prepare a solo for the spring show in May.

I really like a song done by Billy Boyd, "The Steward of Gondor" in the Return of The King. It's sung a cappella and sounds sort of like a lament. It definitely has an Irish feel to it. And it's only 90 seconds in length. Great pick for first solo!

If we can't get the music to it though, I may be doomed, even though there's almost no instrumentation (and what there is, is of a orchestral variety), so I would think if I'm accompanied at all, it'd be by a flute and even then, really just the end bit of music tacked on after the singing is done.

I erm, acquired a copy of the song today and I'm going to practice it to see I if can pull it off without really sounding awful. This song is a lament about longing to go home but with many bridges to cross, so to speak (sounds like a description of a Bob Marley tune), before it's possible to do so. (The character in the movie, Pippin, has to literally fight and win many battles in a war to help save Middle Earth before he can go back to his home in the Shire.)

A constraint about what song one can choose is that the song must belong to the categories of "love" and/or "longing."
I'm hoping that the category of "longing" is as broad as it sounds as we are already doing enough show tunes.
Not that there's anything wrong with show tunes.
They are very ...peppy!