Ten degrees and cold, but thankful

I keep a gratitude notebook, and despite all my blessings, sometimes I draw a blank. That's when I write down the truckers, miners, USPS, the grocery workers, the linemen, the snow removal employees, and all the other people who showed up when we were forced into a lockdown that didn't work.

And today I'm grateful that last night our son-in-law brought over his folding walker with wheels that he used during his hip surgery recovery. Yesterday about 6:30 a.m. I was sitting at the kitchen table writing in my gratitude journal and felt a familiar pain slowly move up my pelvis. Usually that happens if I've moved furniture, or sneezed or unloaded the dishwasher.  This may be the new "normal."  Back pain for no reason.  So, I'm learning to maneuver it, and have even found a cloth purse to attach to it to carry my cell phone, or even my breakfast in a plastic container.

For this type of back strain, it must be ice and not heat (causes swelling).  Sitting is worse than standing which is worse than lying down. I have a few things on the schedule this week.  A hair cut tomorrow and senior Bible study on Thursday to which I'm supposed to bring the snack. We now have more than 1/4 inch of snow, so that could cause additional problems. My plans for yesterday were to do a number of loads of laundry, so that's been put on hold too.

It's 94 at the lake

 And the air conditioning died.

  

 We've contacted the new owners and they've decide to replace rather than repair.  That's what the new environmental laws do--force people to buy new rather than repair. It's supposed to be cooler tomorrow, and we haven't had the really hot days that Columbus has experienced.  The AC was new when we bought our cottage in 1988, and we replaced it in 2002. So I hear 20 years is a good record for AC units. Tonight we go to the picnic in the park--last week was too rainy and cold! Tonight we'll be slapping our ankles as the bugs in the grass bite!

It's warm for December, but January is coming

Our weather is quite mild right now, 58 degrees predicted for New Years Eve,  but the weather reporter on the local channel just reminded us January is coming. That's usually our snowiest month, and he recalled January 1978 (before he was born) when the total snowfall was 34.4 inches and the blizzard we had.  I just checked the predictions for January, and I don't see any daytime temp below 32 degrees.

Ice Melt vs. Rock Salt — Which Is Better for Your Business? Earth Development (earthdevelopmentinc.com)

Short trip to the fitness center

We decided to change our routine a little--we got 4-5" of snow last night (still falling) so rather than take 2 cars to Lifetime Fitness where we work out (about 2 miles), I decided to go with Bob in his car.  We had driven 2 blocks north when his SUV began to spin out--he couldn't get it to straighten out, so on about the 3rd spin as we went into the southbound lane and on coming traffic, he said, "Well, I guess we won't go this morning," and we continued south with our new best friends, and returned to our garage. It's supposed to warm up today, but he was also planning to take paintings to a UAAL show in Friendship Village.  That will need to be evaluated as there are no plows out yet either for our condo or the streets (7:15 a.m.).  I've already got my heart rate up. . . but this is not the way to do it.

Heads up (or maybe down) northern Illinois and Indiana

Whatever happened to global warming?  They had to fix the wording: climate change because then it covers everything.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/01/26/polar-vortex-intrusion-dangerous-brutal-cold-aimed-great-lakes-by-tuesday/?

National Weather Service reports for Chicago: By Tuesday night, temperatures are expected to take another plunge, to 23 below zero, flirting with Chicago's coldest temperature ever: minus 27 on Jan. 20, 1985.

How to handle a few inches of snow

When I was in college, there was no e-mail, and the dorms had only one phone to a floor, so we couldn’t even take messages from the college administration on how to handle a few inches of snow. It was just one of those things it was assumed we had learned from our parents who had lived through the Great Depression and walked to school uphill both ways in 6 feet of snow.

This is what Ohio State University sent out to the “campus community.”  I’ve been retired for 18 years, and I still hear from them.

“The safety of our campus community is our top priority. Please remember to take precautions while traveling in winter weather.

• Plan ahead and allow extra time.
• Check scheduled activities in advance to make sure there are no changes or cancellations.
• Dress appropriately for the weather (boots, hat, gloves).
• While walking, take it slow to avoid slipping.
• While driving, allow additional distance between your vehicle and the vehicle in front of you.
• Know your route and pay special attention to changing and/or declining weather conditions.”

We’re under a snow watch, but nothing is happening

School closing due to heat

I don't know how many MMHS graduates remember this, but they actually did close the school one September in the 1950s because it was too hot. I was there. Of course, our homes didn't have AC or fans either, but . . . Today Columbus is sending the kids home early due to the heat.

But the sun is shining today

Temperature to match 1954!

Today (and yesterday) in central Ohio we’re supposed to match the temperature records for 1954! I think it will be about 72, depending on where you are, and I hope to get out for several walks. We get our weather about a day after Illinois, so I’m thinking it was warm there too in November 1954. I was a sophomore in 1954 at Mt. Morris High School so I pulled out my school annual (white, padded cover, Mounder title in red, 1955) to see what was going on. Tina Kable would walk from her home on North Hannah, stop at my house on South Hannah, we’d walk up Main Street and pick up Kay Alter and Priscilla Drummond.

In the fall months we also stayed in touch the old fashioned way—through our school newspaper, The Hilltopper put out by the journalism class. By doing this group project they learned writing style, proofing for mistakes, how to paste-up pages, typing copy and running a mimeograph—probably not useful skills today, but teamwork is always important. I see names from Facebook like Bob Rawes, Donna Coddington, Ralph Dollinger. On a warm November day we’d all walk together after school on our way to Felker’s for a cherry coke searching for our names in the Hilltopper.

By November, the annual staff had already begun preparations of this book by getting advertisers, developing a theme, taking photos and planning the art work. I see some Facebook or email list members I recognize like Joyce Kinsley, Bob Rawes and Jerry Wallace. A promotional sign says the year book cost $2.75! That was a good buy—mine is 60 years old. There’s even a photo of my sister Carol (d. 1996) whose grandchildren are on Facebook so I can keep up with their activities.

I’m looking through the names of the varsity football team who played that fall and see a number of people on Facebook or local e-mail lists, some deceased (Jim Mongan, Phil Egan, Gerald Blake, Stan Messer, Don Satterfield, Pete Smith), and some who seemed to have dropped out of sight. The junior class that fall presented “One Foot in Heaven” on Friday, November 19. I see Bill Allenfort, who is still active in community theater getting a beard.

And there’s the student council learning the basics of representative democracy with cute freshman Carol Samsel and junior Murray Trout (deceased). The Council organized all the Homecoming activities, sponsored dances and provided the concession stand. They sent delegates to district and state conventions—sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

We did have professional lyceum speakers for assembly in those days, but also our in-house thespians provided entertainment. It was a big group—I see Jerry Wallace, Harold Hanke, Mike Balluff, Joyce Kinsley, Connie Frey, Sally Olsen, all of whom are on Facebook.

The fall of 1954. It was warm, and so are the memories.

Pray for the Pro-life marchers!

Here's what's in store for the thousands heading for Washington, DC for the annual pro-life march.

" The snowstorm targeting the I-95 corridor from Richmond to Boston late this week has the potential to rank among the most memorable on record, according to the National Weather Service’s Paul Kocin."

These brave people only get a few minutes on national cable or broadcast news, but EWTN usually covers several hours.  There are many speakers, some from the government, and special events for young people and mass.

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2016/01/19/weather-service-textbook-east-coast-snowstorm-could-resemble-all-time-greats/

http://marchforlife.org/mfl-2016/rally-march-info

 https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/babies-lives-matter-thousands-converge-in-chicago-for-pro-life-march

Who are the "deniers" the left ridicules?

Calling me a “man-made climate change denier” is very different than believing that climate changes over time. And yes, I have read the reports on both sides (or 3 or 4 sides, because there aren’t just 2). It’s just a lie and insult to say that those of us who don’t believe the Wizard behind the curtain and the leftist hype don’t believe in a clean environment. It’s also a lie that the president is talking about pollution. These are two different issues. All these climate change folks in love with the latest cell phones need to look what they are doing to the land in Africa where the precious rare earth elements come from for that technology. The U.S. used to have them, but they were over mined, and now all the orders go to China. I’ll believe they are serious about dangers to climate when thousands of globalist power folks give up using jet planes to get to conferences in interesting places like Paris and Hawaii.

 

Yes, climate does go in cycles. But that is change, right? There was the “little ice age” from the 16th-19th century. That’s not huge as time goes, but if you were living then and trying to grow food, it was pretty desperate times in some parts of Europe. If a volcano explodes on an island and sends dirt and ash into the air, it can cool some areas of the globe for years. But I don’t call that “man made climate change.” If there are solar flares that last a few decades and heat things up, I don’t call it man made climate change even if it creates new deserts and dries up lakes with changing jet streams. http://www.space.com/19280-solar-activity-earth-climate.html

 

“Welcome to [Obama’s] leaps in logic that would span the Grand Canyon. Apparently excruciatingly slow, contradictory, and sometimes nearly imperceptible changes in the atmosphere’s temperature are capable of spawning ideologies like communism, fascism, and now Islamic jihadism, although the president won’t use that term. Never mind all those historical details about what actually caused these ideologies to rise—social upheavals like industrialization, philosophical disputes unleashed by the Enlightenment, and the crises inside Islam. The president has got it figured out.”

http://dailysignal.com/2015/12/07/obamas-insane-history-lessons-on-climate-change/

 

 

Already?

I was talking to my brother in northern Illinois yesterday when he mentioned the snow and predicted chill factor.  I hadn’t been watching the weather report, so I thought he was kidding.  No.  Snow is early this year, especially in South Dakota.

http://www.argusleader.com/story/news/crime/2015/11/20/sioux-falls-snow-weather-forecast-south-dakota/76094970/

Fourteen inches of snow were reported in the southwest quadrant of the city by Friday evening, the National Weather Service office said. On the other side of town, Sioux Falls Regional Airport recorded 7.1 inches by 6 p.m.

The numbers shattered the previous snowfall record for Nov. 20, which was measured at 3.8 inches in 1975.

Other parts of southeast South Dakota had a variety of snowfall levels. In Harrisburg, one area measured a whopping 17 inches of snow, while Huron did not see a single flake, said National Weather Service meteorologist Kyle Weisser.

Snow totals for Friday

Tea –18 inches

Southeast of Harrisburg – 17 inches

Southwest Sioux Falls - 14 inches

Tyndall – 11 inches

Yankton – 8 inches

Salem – 5 inches

Chamberlain – 4 inches

Dell Rapids – 2 inches

Madison – 1.2 inches

Flandreau – 0.3 inches

Farmers Almanac prediction for 2015-2016 snowfall

It’s Spring, but . . .

As I recall one of the worst storms we had in Columbus was April 4, 1987—we got over 12 inches and we were at a wedding.  The pastor couldn’t get there; someone else had to stand in. But they are still married. We’ve also had March blizzards—one of the worst in 2008.

The polar vortex is back

If this was a bulls eye, I think it would be Columbus.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2015/02/19/arctic-outbreak-shatters-records-in-eastern-u-s-coldest-yet-to-come/

Our streets were finally cleared around 3 p.m. yesterday, now the snow has melted on the sidewalks and condo street, but more cold to come. 

“NOAA’s Weather Prediction Center writes that the dangerously cold outbreak is surging south thanks in part to an appendage of the polar vortex. “There are indications that this could be some of the coldest weather since the mid-1990s for parts of the Southeast U.S., Mid-Atlantic, and central Appalachians,” it wrote. “An eddy of the polar vortex will add to the potency of the surface cold front, thus creating a deep layer of bitterly cold air.” . . . the week’s record-breaking cold is not just Arctic, but Siberian air that has been trudging across the North Pole and into North America — leading many to refer to the outbreak as the “Siberian Express.” ”

Our church Haiti mission team got out of Columbus on schedule last night and out of Miami on schedule this morning.

Green is rain, purple snow—for busy travel day

This is the forecast for Wednesday, November 26, 2014.  Not great for travelers.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2014/11/24/east-coast-timing-and-impacts-for-wednesdays-winter-storm/

Record cold in South Carolina

Global warming is natural and has been taking place the last 8,000 years or so; that said, there are so many things individuals, organizations, non-profits and the local, state, and federal government can do to preserve the best and enhance the rest without damaging cultures and nature. Unfortunately, it has become a political battle and a war for profits as investors and utilities chase the latest windmill and solar panel. The gulf between gain and truth seems to be getting wider.

http://www.drroyspencer.com/2014/11/earliest-snow-in-columbia-sc/

Colder-than-normal and wetter-than-usual

That’s the Farmer’s Almanac prediction for the winter of 2014-15.  It was correct last winter.

http://www.10tv.com/content/stories/apexchange/2014/08/24/us-farmers-almanac.html

Watching the morning scare stories

I'm glad we have TV warnings and coverage of bad weather, I really am, but the breathlessness and excitement, the stirring of fear. Do I see just a tad of wishful thinking for climate change/disturbance/wind change people? There are fewer hurricanes and tornadoes and the temps overall are dropping, and the icebergs were still floating on Lake Superior in mid-June, but why mess with a good story?  My next door neighbor has a huge ash tree.  Now that’s a concern. (Ash borer)

Hurricane Arthur

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyUDGfCNC-k