How's the weather?

Oldenginerod wrote:

dckrsn wrote:Hey, Happy Australia Day Rod!


Bob

Thanks Bob.  No fear of us being snowed in on the day.  It's always a great day for barbecues, Australia's national pastime.  Tuesday is a public holiday, but I think there'll be plenty of people missing from work on Monday making it an extra long weekend, another national pastime.

That sounds like a recipe for a better work regime. I've always been an advocate of the 10hr./4-day workweek. Mon. thru Thurs.. and when production warrants it; Friday/Sat. until noon. For a blue-collar guy.. that's time + 1/2 hrs. pay over 40hrs. std. in the U.S. If you work for a busy company.. and like to work.. you can make some good dough. Having an extra 12+ hours to your weekend makes a big difference. I used to work 2nd shift for the sign company (CNC router job) and typically put in 10+ hr. shifts. I miss those days. I could open-up the shop Sunday evenings.. work til' 2 or 3 in the morning.. and go back in Monday afternoon at 4:00 p.m. By Thursday I'd have my 40 hrs. easily. I could sleep late Friday morning.. (after getting in at 3-4:00) and still be a weekend warrior!

Oh yea.. the weather.. It's averaged 24F here in N. Smithfield for the last 72 hours.. but clear. Very windy mid-days.. fairly calm at 6:00 a.m. when I go out to start the car and warm it up. (I didn't have heat most of last winter.. it's fixed now). We got about 2" of snow in two different dustings over the last ten days. That's all we've gotten thus far. It's been cold enough; that there's still some on the ground. I'd like to see the 2-4" in the current weekend forecast happen.. because I didn't use my ski-sled once last season.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QggK5bWD0_M



Those handles act as friction-brakes/steering-assists. I upgraded since the vid with cleats on the bottom to help with braking. It's a really fast sled with only 4" surface-clearance. It won't go in thick powder.. so it's best to have some kind of a packed base. Serious sledders have a tough time finding good runs. The European "rodels" made by Torggler have a higher ground-clearance.. and the rider assumes a legs-forward seated position.

Torggler rodels

Oldenginerod wrote:Looks like the folks on the US east coast are gonna get creamed over the next couple of day.  Lay low, hold tight & keep warm.  Turn up the heat & forget about the outside world for a few days.
Go well.  Hope you're all safe & secure.

Rod.

Rod: You are welcome to So. Cal. anytime.
     Forecast is possible rains this Saturday, warm and sunny next week, .

happyierdad              

Well, today is a no fly day. A good day for straightening the bench, repairing, drinking coffee, and snow shoveling. 14" are on the ground in virtually white out conditions. The township uses tri-axle trucks with chains for their plows. This was stuck outside of my house. You know that's a sign to stay put. Truck had to back up all the way down the street. I admired his driving skills. One major consequence of living on a fairly steep hill. I'm on the high point which fairs well during the wetter spring and summer months. Appears that we have at least 10 more inches on the way and as fast as you can shovel it, the stuff comes right back. The 35-40 mph winds make it a real treat. Makes one appreciate summer. During my shoveling, I uncovered the BB-Q grill so, it loks like hamburgers and hot dogs. This elevates the moral. Ken

Ha! Bob I saw your earlier post and thought that was weird cuz up the road around the time of your photos show they had a LOT more snow

In your post you said " Come-on..that the best ya got?????" and I grinned thinking...Careful what you ask for Bob....grin

fredvon4 wrote:Ha! Bob  I saw your earlier post and thought that was weird cuz up the road around the time of your photos show they had a LOT more snow

In your post you said " Come-on..that the best ya got?????" and I grinned thinking...Careful what you ask for Bob....grin

No kidding! You got spanked Bob!! Our forecast has been upgraded since last night. No longer 2-4".. now they're talking 6-10.. but nothing yet. That's ok.. "bring it on".. I'd rather get it now, than Sunday night or early Mon. morning. Time to get the old girl out of the shed.. and stage her at the top of the driveway with tarp and bungees covering her. Haven't had to fire-her-up yet this winter. My wife has asked me twice now to go to the store before it starts snowing. If I don't go soon.. "she's" gonna get fired-up!

Goin' flyin' tomorrow. Cribbs is in town, we fooled around in the shop this evening and will be meeting the rest of the squadron at the Fort in the morning.
Rusty

No flying for me, it's pretty bad. We just picked up another 6". We've had more as I remember the storm in 96 that left us with over 3' overnight.

[quote="rsv1cox"I remember two similar snow storms in Tiverton roddie, just not quite as much snow.  Most amount of snow recorded in Virginia/West Virginia was 40.5 inches in Shepardstown about 30 miles away.[/quote]

Hey Bob, how long did you live in Tiverton? I remember you mentioning living there. Did you move directly from there to WV? My wife and I moved from Woonsocket to N. Smithfield in the Spring of 2011. Hurricane Irene hit later that Summer. I shot some amazing vids of hummingbirds on a feeder outside our kitchen window. Leaves/branches flying through the air.. and these "smallest of the small" braving it for a sip of nectar!

As we moved about the world and within the USA as an Army Brat , later a soldier for full career, we experienced all sorts of differing winter seasons.

On the island of Formosa (Taiwan) we were cold at 65F during the winter and burned Kerosene heaters in the house making my mom super nervous about carbon monoxide

Dad got re-posted to Joliet Illinois and the first winter (1965) was one of the biggest snows in the Chicago area, or so the news said. Our place looked a lot like the snow load Bob is showing. We kids loved it except I was old enough to help shoveling and that began my deep dislike for heavy snow.

From there we moved to near where Admin (Jason) is. In this case Fridley MN and again we kids learned much more about winter living, skating, snowmobiles and Ice fishing. By now dad invested in a snow thrower and I kind of had fun with the chore using that machine

The only thing about winter I miss is the beauty of a heavy deep snow on a moon lit night with very little wind, just big giant puffy flakes and the subdued quite created----  only to be turned into nasty gray dirty slush soon re freezing each night making the roads treacherous.

As a junior soldier we (wife was a soldier too) could not call in and decide the safe thing was to stay home. Sometimes (rarely) the Fort would declare the road condition Black and issue a "delay of reporting" for "non essential personnel". Unfortunately wife and I were always "essential personnel".

Still here thirty years later so I guess our driving skills in REAL BAD weather were adequate as neither of us ever needed a wrecker, insurance agent, or ambulance as we managed to get to work and home after sending kids to whatever day care we had arranged

Yea.. the roads were bad here yesterday when I went out to the store. I went early.. but the storm had already started within the hour. The rate was at least an inch/hr. at the start here. It's only about 1.5 mi. round trip to the nearest store for us, but a lot can happen in a short distance when you have stupid drivers on the road. I was stupid to wait until the storm started, to run the errand.. but it was comfy and warm here at CEF.. and well.. you know how it is.

I didn't get the snow-blower out of the shed yet.. but it's currently sunny and clear. The temp is 35F.. up 8 degrees from just an hour ago. My wife and I are going out to clean it up in a bit. Maybe I can get her to make a snow angel with me?

fredvon4 wrote:The only thing about winter I miss is the beauty of a heavy deep snow on a moon lit night with very little wind.

Aye Fred, we have 2' feet on the ground here, and there's a big moon tonight.
Should be beautiful.


Bob

It was some years later as I grew and got to personally see mother nature at work before I started appreciating some description of something in poetry or book stories

In this case a family tradition was always the reading of Clement Clarke Moore's 'Twas the night before Christmas poem

As a Lad I did not understand these lines until I witnessed the described event

"The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below"

"As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky."

Actually this poem led me to learn how to enjoy reading outloud

Thanks very much for that , Fred.
I'll remember those words tonight.
Bob

fredvon4 wrote:It was some years later as I grew and got to personally see mother nature at work before I started appreciating some description of something in poetry or book stories

In this case a family tradition was always the reading of Clement Clarke Moore's 'Twas the night before Christmas poem

As a Lad I did not understand these lines until I witnessed the described event

"The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below"

"As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky."

Actually this poem led me to learn how to enjoy reading outloud

Magical words Fred. I can remember back when I was a child.. first being able to really understand them.. and living in a very rural, wooded area of town. I still look for.. and see the beauty of Winter. It helps to deal with the drudgery side of it.

Yesterday's storm started with huge flakes.. Today's early afternoon sunlight provided for some photos after the clean-up.



An over-heated Roddie.. post snow-blower duty.



My wife "Lynne".. don't get in her way of shoveling!



The trusty "Roddie-mobile" with oil-consuming Captiva behind..  



Lots of privacy here.. woods to the sides and out back. There's a trail leading out of the yard to the right of the swimming pool. It leads to a network of trails.





Chiminea #1 to the right of a stack of used-decking to rebuild our "very-used" deck later this Spring.



Chiminea #2 sitting atop rotting deck.. along with grill. Lynne shoveled-off the deck.. and made decals for my Rare Bear 2 years ago. I love her.




That's my story for this storm. No snow-angel making.. although I did suggest it.

roddie wrote:

fredvon4 wrote:It was some years later as I grew and got to personally see mother nature at work before I started appreciating some description of something in poetry or book stories

In this case a family tradition was always the reading of Clement Clarke Moore's 'Twas the night before Christmas poem

As a Lad I did not understand these lines until I witnessed the described event

"The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below"

"As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky."

Actually this poem led me to learn how to enjoy reading outloud

Magical words Fred. I can remember back when I was a child.. first being able to really understand them.. and living in a very rural, wooded area of town. I still look for.. and see the beauty of Winter. It helps to deal with the drudgery side of it.

Yesterday's storm started with huge flakes.. Today's early afternoon sunlight provided for some photos after the clean-up.







Lots of privacy here.. woods to the sides and out back. There's a trail leading out of the yard to the right of the swimming pool. It leads to a network of trails.






That's my story for this storm. No snow-angel making.. although I did suggest it.

Sorry guys, but it is 74 degrees and sunny here in Escondido, California. It rained last night for 2 to 3 hours, but it is all dried out and clean now.

happydad

Really is amazing how many on CEF can relate to different places

In my case a number live near where I used to live, or I worked near where they now live

Jason the Admin tells stories from his place and I can relate as I lived a little north in Fridley and went to Spring lake park Jr High

Bob just now mentions living in New Port News VA and I was an instructor at Fort Eustice there for 4 years

Bob aka rsv1cox is also in a area my wife's kin folk grew up and worked and we visit every few years

Duke is in the tide water WA area and I did two tours at Fort Lewis (Tacoma) and family tree from that area

We (CEF) lost track of SuperDave before I could meet him

With a mobile society, and in my case, with family all over the USA, I can relate to many other places mentioned on CEF

Rusty in Ft Jackson area...Columbia SC is Capitol AND a college community with some of the best in the world Pizza places making each of my trips there truly memorable....better yet...traveling I ate at a lot or restaurants...college kids are much better wait staff than a small town with high schoolers living at home

I could go on and ON as a lot of members are posting from locals I am familiar with

Perhaps better in a different thread

Chimenea and decks by Roddie in Rhode Island are cool as wife and I are massive deck freaks with no less than 5 on our property each with a chimenea for cool evenings

I mentioned getting some video of hummingbirds out during hurricane Irene back in August 2011. Here's the best clip..

Hummingbirds out in a storm

Where we are is a MAJOR migration zone for Humming Birds

arriving the end of each March...some staying, and others moving as far north as upper reaches of Canada

Wife and I (retired) spend hours drinking booze  (did I mention RETIRED) and watching the migrating birds trying to see who would be OUR guests for the next 7 months before heading south again...smart assed birds are much smarter than most humans

Re-filling feeders is all part of the weekly routine of PATIO living

I keep meaning to get back to good photography as some of the MINE, MINE,MINE,!! fights over a particular feeder are just plain comical and very entertaining especially since the "staying here" local males get super territorial about a particular feeder====
and some of them come within a inch of my nose demanding a re-fill

As amazing as the small adult Humming birds are... brand new babies are a true miracl to observe