Younger Than Springtime

Today is the first day of Spring. Yayyyyyy.  It’s been a long long time coming.

Granted, it is not actually Spring until 23:47, but the Vernal Equinox still makes it under the wire to appear today.

The winter has been a harsh one up here in Northeast Ohio.  We got our January temps in mid-November, and they stayed. And stayed.  And stayed. We had our second snowiest January – missing the record by less than 2.5″.

But March has been ok.  I know there are a few more snow storms to come before we’re done with this season.  There always are.  Sometimes even in May – but we’re always hopeful.  …and that is something you rarely hear from me.

Yesterday, coming home from work, I saw true signs of Spring…..and right on the side of our drive

Pretty cool, huh?

Before you know it, Morty will be emailing, telling us that college-aged boys are out on the South Oval in shorts playing Hacky Sack.

Maybe we can finally get him to use his digital camera!

Song by: Ezio Pinza

Weather Channel

If February and March ’09 teaches me anything, it will be to not be too hasty with posting my Site of the Month during the first week of the each month.  Some months I struggle to find one that is even palatable enough to throw up here.  And yes, you can all make the argument that none of them are, and you might be correct.

Shortly after posting my February one, I found the one for March…and had to hold on to it for another four weeks.   Ditto for March – except I had an additional two.  And now I decided I cannot wait until April or May to bring you one of them.  I just can’t.  I’m like a frickin’ kid at the holidays!

The internets have brought us Weather, WeatherBug and even NOAA for you hardcore atmospheric buffs and cumulus cloud fans.

FINALLY, they have come up with a site that I can relate to: The Fucking Weather.

A site where  you put in the zip code and it tells it like it is.   You do have to deal with an apostrophe situation, but if you can get past that, you are golden!

The site also gives you some helpful hints to deal with your weather situation, though they are in a much much smaller font.

….now you just have to wait two more weeks or so for my April Site of the Month, though I know I should hold out at least one week into said month to post it, less I forget the lessons of February and March.   Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.

Song by:  Sheryl Crow

Mr. Plow

Currently, we are about 3″ away from having the snowiest January on record.

Yesterday, though the news says we got less than a foot. They are liars. Or at the very least, they didn’t measure at our house.

Before work, Denton cleared about 4″ of snow. Not a lot, but we knew more was coming and we did not need those additional flakes when one of us got home and had to clear again.

As it turns out, when I got home, there was at least 10″ in the drive……and I know from 10″. (bada bing!) Though that would have been hard to navigate anyway, naturally, the plows and other cars had done their damage at the end of the drive.

Since we live at the end of a street, we get folks turning around in the drive. Just enough to pack it down. Let’s compound that with the street plows that covered that packed snow with the 10″ that were actually on the street, but now resided in the first five feet of our drive. Bother!

So I park in the street and trudge my way up the drive to get the snow blower. Since our drive is 80′ long, it is a necessity. But get this! The snow blower won’t turn over. I cannot get it started. Now, I said something much worse than ‘bother’. Much much worse. For miles around, women covered their children’s ears.  Rightfully so.

I call Denton, who swears he can fix it when he gets home. I know better than to wait and get out the handy-dandy shovel. I start at the bottom of the drive and dig out about 7 feet. Not bad. I had also dug out a shovel length all the way down the drive too. At this point, I’m tired so I figure, I’ll just dig another length that accommodates the width of our cars. The rest of the snow can wait – right?

Just then, I’m reminded there might be some superior being – I mean, besides Ina Garten….or Aaron Eckard. A private snow plow, truck guy is driving down the street and I hail him like I’m trying to catch a taxi. We negotiated a price. And by that I mean, I asked what he’d charge, he told me and I paid it.

Within a few minutes, we were dug out and I got my car off the street.

As for the snow blower? Well it seems when Denton was using it this morning the key had fallen out. I didn’t notice – clearly. Now the key is probably somewhere in a big big big snow pile at the end of our drive. I’ll look for it in May.

Song by: Linda Rondstadt & Barney Gumble

One

The shortest day and the longest night were joined by the coldest day.

I’m not 100% sure, but the first day of Winter I believe was the coldest day of 2008. At least in NE Ohio.

I think the high was 21…maybe, and that was early in the morning. But most of the day we were in the single digits. On the ride home from my parents, it was 1 degree – and that doesn’t include wind chill. ….and it will probably dropped more before the day ended and after I got in the house and just gave up watching the weather.

But the wind was a-howling all night long.

Cold Miser, even if he is called “Mr. Ten Below”, sings that he never wants a day above forty degrees. He’d rather have it, thirty, twenty, ten or five. Even he didn’t go down to 1 !!!!! It might be too chilly for his liking.

They said there is global warming. They said this winter would be milder than the last. WHY isn’t it happening???

Song by: Three Dog Night

Winter

It’s that time. Today is the first day of Winter.

Not be my father (but hell, it seems to be a fate I cannot and will not escape), after today, the days start to get longer!!!!   I could have conjured up a picture of a pretty winter’s day.  Not from here though.  It’s cold, but not white and not pretty either.   Lots of ice around though, as you may have gathered from yesterday’s post.

Today is also the first day of Hanukkah. (this is the spelling that I prefer.  there are others, of course.)

All I got to show for it is my Jewish Troll.   I’ve had him and his xmas pal for almost two decades at this point.  They make an appearance for about 2 weeks of the year – and then as Pee Wee Herman would say to Grace Jones, ‘back in the box!’.

…and speaking of, it is almost time for the annual viewing of the entire Pee Wee’s Christmas Special – which by the way, is the bestest holiday special of all time.  Charo, Cher, Dinah Shore, kd lang, Grace Jones, Princess Zsa Zsa, Miss Yvonne, Reba the Maillady, Cowboy Curtis, the jewish dinosaur family, Frankie & Annette (before her MS kicked in!), Little Richard, Whoopi and the Del Rubio triplets.

It does not get more star*-studded or gayer than that.  Seriously, do yourself a favour and go to amazon and order it.

*’star’ is such a relative term, isn’t it?

Song by: Tori Amos

Fall on Me

NE Ohio skirted the “big storm”.  The one that finally meteorologists are now calling a “pre-winter” storm.  Someone in editing or production must have finally got the fact we are not yet in winter.

But the inclement weather skirted us, not missed us.  I guess we got the hem.   The way to work wasn’t bad, just slower than normal.  27 degrees and something between rain and sleet.   Everyone on TV was saying how it is going to be worse as the day goes on – but it never really did except get somewhat colder – like by 2 degrees.

There was no snow, the rain/sleet stopped and the day just, well, was.   I think only the local networks are the ones unaware that their hype is just for them.

But apparently it was treacherous.  I made a brief trip outside the office building in the evening before heading to my car – which ironically was parked in a connecting garage.  It was casual Friday and I wenttres casual – right down to my favourite pair of workboots, ones with heavy treads.  As it turns out, those treads were useless.

Side-stepping a jagged small pile of slush that had turned into ice, I must have hit slick flat ice.  I went down.  I went down hard.

…and naturally, I went down on my bad leg.  For those who don’t know,  due to some surgery 13 years or so ago, I have a metal plate and nine screws in my right leg.   To add insult to injury, I was also carrying my laptop on that same side.  So I went down on that hard too.   Thank g-d, it was my work laptop.

I didn’t damage anything more than my pride, as there was a woman walking behind me.  She didn’t see the ice and I think thought I was just a klutz, until she stepped right where I had and almost tumbled 4 her, herself.

She axed if I was alright, and I bounced back quickly.  I apologized for the expletive that flew out of my mouth.  You know – the one that starts with F and ends in K…….and has a U and C in the middle.  She wasn’t phased, by the word, nor my apology.

Though coming down the stairs this morning, I am feeling a bit sore.  I’ve done worse.  I’ve felt worse.  I’ll live.

Song by: R.E.M.

Rain

I’ve mentioned in previous posts that I’ve been on the road a lot lately. I will be gone more time in December than I am home. Or maybe now it will be about equal, as I am deferring one of my trips until mid-January (or so they think – but more on that in a week or so).

As always, most of the time has been in DC.  And for the kerjillions of times I have traveled there for work, I had only encountered rain (or bad weather) twice.  Once was last summer where I was treated to a cool-ass thunderstorm on one of the hottest days of the year.

The second time was this last week.  It was the Morton’s salt tagline:  when it rains it pours.   At times it seemed frickin’ biblical.

I love getting to DC in Winter (yes, technically I know it is not yet winter!) and it’s 65.  It was last January too, and everyone was bundled in their hats, gloves and scarves.  I laughed at them aloud.  They had it coming.

So anyhoo, it was 65 when I arrived on Wednesday.  Grey, but still…….     It had been in the 20s when I left Cleveburgh.  I’ll deal with grey.

Thursday however, not so pretty.  The temps from Ohio started to follow me, but DC is south enough where that precipitation that hit New England was rain and not snow or ice.  And it was a loto’rain.  They were expecting as much in one day as they’d normally get in a month.

I’m a good business traveler.  Even with all the good weather travel I have, an umbrella (ella-ella-ella) resides in my suitcase. I’ve just never used it.  Until the other day, that is.   It made it around DC and up to Silver Spring, before it died.   The thing just collapsed with no hope ofresuscitating it.  It was D.O.A.   FRICK!

5:30 p.m. in Silver Spring on a dark and rainy night is no time to go searching for an umbrella.  At first I thought I could make it to the Metro, but it was a deluge.  So I walked towards shopping the opposite direction.  It was a deluge.  My suit was soaked.

Many a store later, I finally found a little Totes in a DSW.  The last black one.  The rest were pink and red and some other girly colour (hush all of you!).   DSW sells their rain cover gear in the women’s section of the store, I guess because real men don’t mind getting wet.

But I am a delicate flower.  Spun sugar, even.   I could melt in the rain.

Closer to reality – I’m the Wicked Witch of the West.   An evil crone…..and yet I still melt in the rain.

The temps had also dropped.  As I walked yet again in the direction of the red line, my hands were freezing and it seemed not long before the water turned to ice.  But it never crossed that threshold.

I got back to my hotel (this time, with no straight folks bumping uglies in the room) just to warm up and take off my suit and hope it dried before I had to pack it.  Either way, it’s going to the dry cleaner.   I just kept looking out the window into the dark, catching rain hitting puddles near the glow of street lights.

I ordered room service.  I wasn’t going out in that.   The food was as room service normally is: bad.  I should have ventured out into the cold and wet and just found some hole in the wall place to grab some chow.

The next morning, while New England had lost most of its power, DC was dry.  No rain.  Cold, but no rain.  And when I say cold, they were DC cold, not NE Ohio cold.

And now I was home for a little more than a day – and today I am off to Miami.   Don’t get too excited – it is all work.  Maybe a few hours to myself.  I could not find a plane to get me there before my three hour meeting, so I get to spend the night!   Whoo—–hooo?

Song by: Patty Griffin

Hurricane

Can I say how impressed I am with Ike?

Yeah, that sounds weird to say, but here it is about 24 hours after it made landfall and his remnants are already up here in NE Ohio. Rain rain and more rain (which we need) but the winds are incredible. 60-65 miles per hour gusts.

I worry about our 90 foot oak behind us on days like this, but whatta gonna do? As long as Denton and the kitties are unharmed, it’s all I care about.  Everything else can be repaired.  My heart couldn’t be.

It’s a sleepless night.  And who knows I’ll get out for DC in the morning.  I see no way where my flight won’t be delayed.  But it’s early – as you can see.  They won’t probably tell me until I’m on the way to the airport.  But as fast as Ike moves in, I can only assume it he will move out just as quickly.

Hopefully the weather won’t follow me there…..but you never know.

Song by: Neil Young

Heatwave

I try really hard not to complain about the heat – because I hate the cold so much. I figure I can choose one or the other, but can’t bitch about both. It’s not fair to Mother Nature.

But frick, is it HOT these last few days.

Over 90 on the NorthCoast. And about 95% humidity. Oh – and we have a 98 year old house that retains the heat like no one’s business. And no a/c. Well, not true, we have window units. Not that they are in or anything, but that’s another story. Yes, we store them on the 3rd floor which is about 120 degrees, so to go up there and move them has us lose 20lbs each – not that we couldn’t stand that.

Once or twice per year we talk about having central air installed. It is pricey, for sure. And it’s not the duct work kind of a/c, but the new fangled tubes that are installed into older abodes. Probably not the prettiest thing in the world, but I keep thinking what it would do for resale for a house like this in a sluggish market. Not that we’re planning on moving – but one never knows – does one?

Anyway – here is how hot it is: last night before going out to dinner at friends, I put on deodorant /antiperspirant.

It might sound gross to some, but I stopped wearing it about 5-7 years ago (for the most part). I just don’t think anything like that clogging your pores can be that good for you.

It’s not like I smell or anything – and even during high activity times, I just don’t sweat much. Granted, when I’m in DC in July and August and know I have to see clients, I’ll roll it on. But we’re talking maybe 3-4 times per year.

Dinner was great and we ate outside. It was late enough in the evening and a nice breeze kicked up, so it was all good. Grilled veggies, meat and strawberry shortcake. And lots of water – as our hosts do not drink. I wasn’t about to have them open a bottle of wine – though some alcohol would have been nice. ….but whatta gonna do?

Song by: Linda Ronstadt

Spring is Here

….well, not here!

Technically, yes, it is Spring, but we got about 3″ of snow yesterday. It sure don’t look like or feel like Spring. But that’s typical for the NorthCoast – but the word ‘spring’ just makes you want it soooo much.

The reality is – we’re still a month a way from decent weather. Note I did not say ‘good weather’. That’s two months away.

Today is also the day Blobby’s Blog turns 5. Hard to frickin’ believe. As I think I mention every year, I started this at the start of Gulf War II. Sadly, not only does this blog still exist, so does the war. My hunch is the latter will go on much longer than the former.

While I might have bored some of you to death with my writings, my rantings and my “humour” – none of it has been literal (least of all my writing!!!! ……thank you ladies and germs…).

I can’t say that about GWII. To date, there have been 3,992 american soldier deaths (and one still pending). 4,300 total for the coalition of the “willing”.   Yeah – the U.S has about 93% of all the casualties. This does not count the U.S. deaths in Afghanistan……or the 1,000+  warmonger contractor deaths.

Mind you – Iraqi deaths are past the 48,200 mark.

So I can’t bitch about the weather.  None of these guys will ever seen another Spring.   The guy who sent them there will be riding out the rest of his Springs, doing public speaking at $100,000 a pop with a lifetime of Secret Service protection.   g-d knows he’ll need it.

Song by: Rogers & Hart