Another Snow Day!

The University of Michigan-Flint will close at 12:00 p.m. today, Monday, February 22, 2010 due to the anticipated winter storm. All late afternoon and evening classes, events and activities that begin at 12:00 p.m. or later are canceled. Only essential personnel should report.

Woo hoo! Another snow day! The barometer change is making my sinuses hurt, so it's a good day to curl up by the fireplace (among the boxes) with a good book and a snuggly cat. This the third time U of M has closed this winter; since we hardly ever close, that must be some kind of record!

Snow Day, Packing, and The Bismarck

I'm doing my happy dance because I had a snow day today AND Lost is on tonight! The only way this could be better would be if my husband also had a snow day. The poor guy has a night class and has to drive home in crappy weather.

I spent my afternoon packing, with much feline assistance from Sophie. We packed photos, games, and models. When I found the model of the Hood, guess what song got stuck in my head? Let me share it with you:

"Sink the Bismarck" by Johnny Horton

In May of 1941 the war had just begun
The Germans had the biggest ship that had the biggest guns
The Bismarck was the fastest ship that ever sailed the sea
On her decks were guns as big as steers and shells as big as trees

Out of the cold and foggy night came the British ship the Hood
And every British seaman he knew and understood
They had to sink the Bismarck the terror of the sea
Stop those guns as big as steers and those shells as big as trees

CHORUS
We'll find the German battleship that's makin' such a fuss
We gotta sink the Bismarck cause the world depends on us
Yeah hit the decks a runnin' boys and spin those guns around
When we find the Bismarck we gotta cut her down

The Hood found the Bismarck and on that fatal day
The Bismarck started firing fifteen miles away
We gotta sink the Bismarck was the battle sound
But when the smoke had cleared away the mighty Hood went down

For six long days and weary nights they tried to find her trail
Churchill told the people "put every ship asail
Cause somewhere on that ocean I know she's gotta be
We gotta sink the Bismarck to the bottom of the sea"

CHORUS

The fog was gone the seventh day and they saw the morning sun
Ten hours away from homeland the Bismarck made its run
The Admiral of the British fleet said turn those bows around
We found that German battleship and we're gonna cut her down

The British guns were aimed and the shells were coming fast
The first shell hit the Bismarck they knew she couldn't last
That mighty German battleship is just a memory
Sink the Bismarck was the battle cry that shook the seven seas

We found the German battleship t'was makin' such a fuss
We had to sink the Bismarck cause the world depends on us
We hit the deck a runnin' and we spun those guns around
Yeah we found the mighty Bismarck and then we cut her down



What can I say? I was raised on WWII movies...

A Snow Day at Last?

The eastern US has is still digging out form a blizzard but here in mid-Michigan we have no snow. SIGH. I'm never going to get a snow day at this rate. I do have hope though! The NWS has issued a Winter Storm Watch for Tues morning through Wed morning, possible accumulation of 6-10 inches. It's time to do my snow dance...

Cul de Sac by by Richard Thompson Monday, January 18, 2010 (click to enlarge)









(read it at http://www.gocomics.com)

Beautiful October

After killing frosts on Oct. 9 and 10, temps have stayed in the 50s F (some days going up to 60!). Apparently these conditions, coupled with our cooler than usual summer, have led to a long, beautiful autumn. Even at the end of October, we still have leaves on the trees.

For my fellow Tolkien geeks: it's like spring in Lothlorien! For everyone else, here's the quote:

"There are no trees like the trees of that land. For in the autumn their leaves fall not, but turn to gold. Not till the spring comes and the new green opens do they fall, and then the boughs are laden with yellow flowers; and the floor of the wood is golden, and golden is the roof, and its pillars are of silver, for the bark of the trees is smooth and grey. So still our songs in Mirkwood say. My heart would be glad if I were beneath the eaves of that wood, and it were springtime!" (Legolas, The Fellowship of the Ring).

I took this photo in Davison Regional Park, Fall 2005. It looks about like this now, too!

Woo Hoo! Frost Advisory!

There is a frost advisory most of Michigan's lower peninsula tonight. Woo hoo! Come on, frost. Kill the evil ragweed and solve my summer allergy problem!

Waiting for Frost

Last night the upper peninsula and the northern part of the lower peninsula had a frost warning. I can hardly wait for the frost. Here's why:





































In case you can't read the maps, those are the ragweed and mold levels (the things I'm most allergic to). Pollen is not killed by having a lovely, cool summer (that I can't even enjoy!), it's only killed a killing frost. I think that's 28F for several hours. Since the summer has been so cool, I'm really hoping for an early frost this year!

A Long Winter

Ooo! Look! The first sign of spring in Michigan: the deer are starting to move around:


















Several people e-mailed me this funny picture and I couldn't resist including it here.

This winter has been unusually cold and snowy, like "winter when I was growing up" everyone keeps saying. I found the reason why in meteorologist Mark Torregrossa's column in Tuesday's Flint Journal (Feb. 3):

We know it's been snowy this winter, and it was certainly very snowy last year. The two combined have made for a record. For the calendar year of 2008, a record was set for the most snow in one year. MBS [Midland Bay City Saginaw] Airport near Freeland had 102.5 inches of snow. To do what I attribute this large amount of the white stuff? I believe we are in what I call a cyclical stormy pattern caused by the temperature pattern of the Pacific Ocean. I'm talking about the north half of the Pacific. This pattern is thought to last over 20 years by researchers. That doesn't mean every year is going to be snowy, but we may have above-normal snow for another 10 years or so.

That makes sense! It was very snowy when I was growing up but it hasn't been for the last 20 years, until now. I don't mind, after all this what winter is SUPPOSED to be like.

Yesterday the February thaw hit. It was 45 and everyone was out enjoying the weather WITHOUT coats. Today it's still warm (in the mid-30s) and the most of the snow has melted. I took advantage of the weather and finally took down my outside Christmas lights. I know spring isn't really here (colder temps and more snow are predicted for the end of the week) but winter gets really hard after a taste of spring.

A Winter Poem

The temperatures have plummeted from the 40s to the 20s with a single-digit wind chill. (Translation for our metric-using friends "temperatures have plummeted from 8 C to -4 C with a -14 C wind chill.") In honor of this freezing weather, I would like to share a poem sent to me by my friend Bob in England.

'WINTER'

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

SHIT, it's COLD!


The End

Stay in and stay warm!

Come On, Frost!

I am doing a frost dance! According to Weather Underground, the low tonight will be 27. Three hours at that temp and all the ragweed will be dead!

UPDATE Oct. 22: Yup! Got it. That should be the end of the ragweed. Hoo-ray!

Remnants of Ike in Kalamazoo

Kalamazoo got about 10 inches of rain after the remnants of Hurricane Ike blew through Michigan. A friend in Kalamazoo sent these pics of the downtown area.

Kalamazoo Kings Battlefield:

















National City at Crosstown and Park:

















Downtown near Bronson:

Fall, At Last

At 11:44:18 a.a. EST the sun will cross the Equator, marking the Autumnal Equinox. Happy Fall! Now if the darn frost would just get here to solve my allergy problems...

BTW, it's also Bilbo and Frodo's birthday. If you don't know what that means you need to read The Lord of the Rings. The story starts in the fall, with Bilbo's magnificent birthday party, so I always want to read it at this time of year, when I'm not reading Ray Bradbury.

Ah, Fall... cool weather, beautiful colors, and good books. If only it lasted longer!

Remnants of Ike

Last weekend we got at least four inches of rain (a lot for us) thanks to the remnants of Hurricane Ike. The ditch behind our apartment building looks like a creek!




















Black Creek in the Davison Regional Park is also unusually full.




















No news on how the new Davison storm sewers, which are not quite complete, are handling the excess rain.

Why I Love Frost

These are yesterday's allergy maps (courtesy of Weather.com) showing the levels of the two things I'm most allergic to: mold and ragweed. Look at Michigan! Now you know why I hate summer and am counting the days until the first frost (usually the first week of October in mid-Michigan).

Winter as it Should Be

For the first time in years, I have a snow day today! (U of M closing last Friday, a day we don't have class, in anticipation of bad weather we did not get, does not count!)

Yesterday we got a foot of snow. One report said we were getting an inch an hour but judging by the amount of snow each time I cleared off my car, I'm sure it was faster than that! It was so heavy I couldn't see a block away. It was so heavy that snow accumulated on the roof of my car, then slid down on the windshield in an avalanche so heavy the wipers couldn't move. I was so glad to get home and out of the mess! All the schools, including U of M, closed early.

Since a snow day is an unexpected gift from God, and rare indeed at U of M, I decided to enjoy my holiday. I mostly spent it cuddling with my cats and reading The Bradbury Chronicles by Sam Weller.

So much for global warming, eh? :) This is winter as is should be, the kind of winters I grew up with: lots of snow with an occasional snow day. I just wish the meteorologists would stop acting like snowstorms are something new!

6 More Weeks of Winter

In case you missed it on CNN: "Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow Saturday, leading the groundhog to forecast six more weeks of winter."

For more on this quaint superstition, follow the CNN link above or visit:



Groundhog.org - Official site of the Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, Groundhog Club

Groundhog.com - yet another site about Phil

#$%& Ragweed!

Summer's here and the time is right for Ragweed pollen. Crap. I hate this stuff! The mold level has remained relentlessly high all summer, now there is also Ragweed. I don't need to see an allergy report to know it's here. The first clue was when I woke up earlier this week with swollen, itchy eyes -- and that's with prescription allergy medicine and central air conditioning (my friend, the big pollen filter).

SIGH. Only two more months until my friend Jack Frost shows up to kill the Ragweed. October seems unbearably far away right now.

Weather Radio

I bought a Midland WR 100 Weather Radio (only $30 at Kroger). I've always wanted one but had the impression you got every county in the state, not just your own. This radio was easy to program. You can set it for up to eight counties, but I set mine so I only get weather alerts for Genesee County. This radio has a battery back-up so it would be great for camping (not that I do that any more!).

According to the manual the National Weather Service sends out a weekly test message every Wed. It's text only (and the yellow light comes on) so I missed it. I guess I'll find out if the audio alert works when the next thunderstorm hits!

UPDATE: July 27.
We had a severe thunderstorm warning tonight and the alert never sounded on my weather radio! I double-checked the programming, took out the batteries and re-programmed it, and had a friend (who is familiar with weather radios) double-check it for me. Neither of us could find anything wrong. It works fine if you want to listen to a weather report any time, but doesn't give alerts, even when it's set to give alerts for all counties, not just Genesee. I'm going to return it and get my money back! If I do get another weather radio, it won't be this model and if I can find a different brand, I will buy it instead.

Early Spring?

Today on CNN: Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow today, which means an early spring. Ironically, we are expecting bitter cold temps this weekend. I hope Phil has nice, warm burrow to hide in!

October Snow

We have it all today in mid-Michigan: near peak fall color, a freeze warning (for those of us looking forward to the end of ragweed), and snow. Yes, snow. It's unusual to get snow this early in this part of the state but in the upper Great Lakes they were getting a winter storm with 6-10 inches of snow, so our bit of snow is mild by comparison.

I tried to get a picture this moring but it didn't work. How can the snow not show up in a photo when the air is full of it? And it was full of snow -- we had white-out conditions several times today.

It's weird weather but I welcome winter. I caught myself humming "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" and smiling at the beautiful snow. It's so much better than dreary rain!

Why I Hate January

The holidays are over.

The snow is gone.

It's warm, rainy, dark, and dreary.

Two days after Christmas (two days!!!) some retailers started putting out St. Valentine's candy.

God, how I hate January.