Apropos of Nothing v.3

Another angle: (sorry about the grainy photos, Tracy took them with his iPhone camera)

Very Nice Pony - love the butt shot, LOL.

Cool jeep, Pony.

LOL Katye! I almost called it that when I posted. Get outta my head! ;p

No way! I'm tired of being in mine THBBBBT!

Well, you're in for a bumpy ride... LOL!

I brought my shoulder strap - everything's good.

Eeeek, that's a scary thought, Katye & Pony sharing a brain.

It's like these 2 cats of mine -- one has a brain today, tomorrow the other one gets to use it.

mine is already used

summer - are you growing anything new over the winter?

Mine is full of silliness.

mine is on a journey that has landed it just beyond the grasp of winter.
A series of very large branches just fell - arboreal drumsticks.
What are the bets on snow this year?


Farmer's Almanac:
Annual Weather Summary: November 2009 to October 2010
Winter temperatures and precipitation will be near normal, on average, with above-normal snowfall. The coldest periods will occur in early to mid- and late December, mid-January, and early to mid-February, with the snowiest periods in mid-December, early January, and mid-February.

April and May will be warmer than normal, with near-normal rainfall in Washington and drier-than-normal conditions elsewhere.

Summer will be drier than normal, with below-normal temperatures, on average, in Washington and above-normal temperatures in California and Oregon. The hottest periods will occur in late June and mid-July.

September and October will be warmer and drier than normal.


hmmm.


This message was edited Nov 5, 2009 8:15 PM

Ack. I hope they're wrong about the snowfall. I'm still traumatized from last winter.

Come on, weather gods, don't make me regret buying a 2-wheel drive truck!

Snow is OK, right? I was here last new year's when everybody got socked & within 3 days it was gone.

K, I'm not really growing anything, just sitting & watching the weather patterns. I'm on a north slope with a hill & very tall trees to the south, so it was shocking how quickly my sunlight disappeared on much of the property. The upside is that I bought a couple hundred plants at a nursery that was shutting down and didn't need to freak out about getting them into the ground -- seems like out here you can put a bare-root plant on a pile of gravel & it looks down & thinks, "Cool! I can work with this."

Yes - I've had a few things winter over outside in pots & do well. I sure lost plenty the last 3 winters, though.
I decided to bring in a few things and grow them on - one being Manettia. I'm also doing quite a number of cuttings, and that ought to keep my mind occupied.

Pony - for that very reason i bought a 4WD truck. My other car was 4W spin...

I wanted a 4wd, but they were just not in our price range unless I chose something older and more likely to break down. But now that Tracy has plunged us into deeper debt with his Jeep (LOL?) at least we'll have one snow-worthy vehicle in the family.

My current truck is not 4WD. And, doing a LOT of cross-country driving, I'm loving the softer ride. The climate out here is cupcakes. Do not mourn the 4WD.

"the climate here is cupcakes" So speaks a true mid-western transplant!

Cupcakes... *guffaw* When the snow starts falling, I'll be out there slipping and sliding, yelling "*expletive deleted* cupcakes! Gaaaaaah!"

:D

Omigosh, maury. I was out here during that horrendous snowstorm (by your standards) to the point where we got stuck inside our oceanfront hotel room for 2 days ... and yet it was just glorious & wild & I could breathe. Such fragrant, humid air.

Then I returned to the frozen Midwest, a vast, flat expanse of snowy mud, where the temperature dropped to MINUS TWENTY-TWO on January 16th ... and I had picked that winter to go off the grid. No heat, no hot water.

Yup. Cupcakes. Bring it on, baby. It's down to 45 degrees at night & my bedroom door is still wide open.

I would never survive somewhere like that. I would die just stepping out the door. *shiver*

I grew up in Chicago, so I know the Winters there, and have had the unlovely experience of sloshing through those drifts of muddy (or worse) snow to get to school. but my experience pales before my DH's early life in rural South Dakota in a farmhouse with no indoor plumbing or electricity. Unlike some of the crazy people out here who shiver on the bus stops not wearing a hat or scarf or reasonable coat at 30 degrees (never will understand that), I know how to dress for below zero weather. Not that I would care to have to do so again. I like the balmy 30's and 40's for most of the Winter. The problem out here when it snows is the HILLS and the freezing and thawing that make them into ice roller coasters.

Oh! I grew up in Montana, where it got into the minus-20 for weeks at a time ... one year, I fell off a ... well, it's debatable what i fell off ... but i broke an arm & a leg & lay on the couch for 3 days before anyone decided that I was hurt bad enough to brave the 50 miles to the hospital .... ow ow ow ... a lot of that was along gravel roads ...

I remember my mom saying, "Well, you walked partway home, you can't be hurt THAT bad ..."

But at least Montana added drama to death, whereas Midwesterners just seem to resign themselves to death by drinking in the basement ...

Summer, I also grew up in the midwest and when I arrived here I lived on Queen Anne Hill in Seattle. I thought I knew everything there was to know about driving in the snow. Then it snowed here and I found that you don't necessarily "drive" on hills in this snow. You more likely "slide" on them, sometimes sideways. I am thrilled with having 4 wheel drive but still had to walk the 1/2 mile up my hill to get home two day last winter. It was pure ice.

Gaaaaaa! My subscription expired this morning & I got the scary non-subscriber screen. It's a bad feeling to be out in the cold. I couldn't grab that credit card fast enough.

Love the Jeep.

My in-laws used to own an eighty acre ranch in Easton (in eastern WA). We had horses for summer and ski-mobiles for winter. It was a cement block house with a small wood stove for heat and the outhouse was 100' outback. Sleeping on cots in the kitchen wasn't fun either. Rather cold.

I grew up in Fairbanks and will echo the stories of the cold. But we had insulated houses, so while it was -60 outside, it was very nice at 68 inside. Here, there's more moisture in the air and the houses aren't as well insulated, so it's easy to get cold sitting beside a window.

Driving there was not as bad as driving here. It was mostly flat and arid and we had studded snow tires. We also didn't attempt to go faster than 50 mph, unless there was ice fog, which slowed us down.

In the Sound, with temperatures hovering just above and just below freezing, hilly terrain, changes in altitude, little bodies of water everywhere, and little bridges over those bodies of water, it's amazing that there isn't much more trouble driving than there is. We make ice like nobody's business. I'm surprised that we don't have 200 words for ice . . .

I'm up in Yakutat AK and snow is on the ground. Went for a walk on the beach to check out the surf for surfing and WOW 25' waves pounding the beach! Winter here has high tides and the beach is awash with logs floating. Hoped to find a glass ball but no luck. Got lots of pictures but can't download yet.
Pony I love the Jeep! I miss mine. Say Hi to Tracy for me.
Holly I too wish I was in your class. You are a class act teacher!

Hey Steve - they were saying on the news last night that we'd have waves of that size today due to this storm. Don't get swept away!

We have huge surf as well. It has washed out all the dunes in front of my house, its blown out the mouth of the river and the beach here is full of debris as well. They are advising to stay away from the beach here, as I looked I thought it was a wasted warning, there is NO beach!! But tomorrow they are shutting the beach off for people. We lose a couple people each year in the waves but this is the first time I have heard of them closing the beach. It is beautiful to watch the waves, the sun is out now and it warm and pretty. But not going to stay that way long, I think.

I have not found a glass ball in years. Used to be so many, great big ones. I have a few my family has found, I love them and would love to have one of the ones that has water in it. I just think that is so cool, that it could get water forced in and not break. The ones with water in them are expensive, but very impressive.

I should be working but its just so pretty, I decided to work when its ugly. Could be any minute....lol.

I love watching the ocean when it's stormy. So awesome.

I got two huge wood shipping crates today from my BIL's workplace. They were throwing them out. Gonna cut them down so they're half as deep and make veggie/raspberry beds out of them. He said they throw these out all the time, so I can get more if I need them. Woot! :)

Pony, good score on the crate.

Yikes! Scary waves up and down the coast. I would not want to get too close no matter how impressive and beautiful they are to watch.

Hey folks, anyone is welcome to be in my class. I'd be happy to have you. I had a horrendous first grade teacher myself, who slammed rulers on the desks and kept us too frightened to say a word. I'd rather be in my class too.

Pony that's the cutest dang Jeep I've ever seen!

Maury, what lucky kids to be in your class. I bet they all like coming to school every day!

Maury, we're getting those waves here too! We were at Boiler Bay yesterday & a wave crashed onto us all the way at the top of the cliff. The beach at Roads End, normally quite wide, didn't even exist. It was my first view of tremendously large logs being rolled around like Pick-up Stix.

I took movies of the waves yesterday. the outer ones were silent compared to the ones roaring on the beach. but they were blowing a back wind as they broke. I am glad I get to go back there this year to surf. hopefully it will calm down a bit.
I missed my plane so I am stuck at the airport. boring!

Steve, you surf in Alaska in November!!!???

My first grade teacher graded us on our artwork. I drew a fabulous elephant complete with pink toe nails and a twitchy little tail. I got a 'c'. Sniff. She was obviously intolerant. Said elephants don't have toenails, and that they wouldn't be pink if they did. No imagination at all. Boring lady.

My first grade teacher corrected the cursive that I'd taught myself and then told me that first graders don't write cursive. This also began the left hander's battle years. Turn your paper to the LEFT. I'd angle my paper to the RIGHT-and my hand would write normally, not all cramped....But no, turn your paper to the LEFT, like all the good little right-handers....I'd slant my paper to the RIGHT like any sensible LEFT-hander.... and so it went.... why this idea was so hard for my teacher to get is beyond me.... At least I won that one-I still slant my paper to the right


Wow, those waves sound incredible! How high is the Boiler Bay cliff? Sofer, let us know if you post your video anywhere. I'd love to see it.

Elephants do too have toenails!! Big ones too.

Hopefully there is more understanding of the needs of left-handed children today, though I'm sure there are things that are still difficult, like which side of the keyboard the mouse is set up on and the crank handle of the pencil sharpener being on the right side.