|
Post by Mini Mia on Jan 24, 2015 0:46:34 GMT -6
|
|
|
Post by Phalon on Jan 24, 2015 6:43:14 GMT -6
And Joxie wins the prize for officially ending the 10-Year Winter.
The dates of astronomical winter seem astronomically off; here anyway, weather-wise winter is much longer. Winter starts later than mid-December? Pfft! According to the weather, winter begins in early November.
But no? Meteorological winter - the official period that the National Weather Service uses to gather all its winter statistics - is from December first to February 28th.
It's no wonder the forecasters get everything wrong. They can't even get the dates right.
Sorry to hear about your Mom, Joxie. Big hugs for you, her, and your family.
|
|
|
Post by stepper on Jan 24, 2015 16:29:26 GMT -6
We had a teaser, a few days of warm - then it got cold (for here), and now it's back to "normal" - so we're in the 60's for about a week before the worm turns again. There was snow in the hill country but the ground was too warm so it didn't stick. That was close enough I guess - our weather paterns are headed for warmer ground. And my roses and trees agree. Of course, the rain has helped muchly.
Joxcee - sorry that thing got more complicated for your mom. Hope she kicks its @ss soon.
|
|
|
Post by Mini Mia on Jan 24, 2015 16:49:27 GMT -6
Thanks, guys. So far, the meds have been able to put WG back into remission every time it has reared it's ugly head. Hopefully this time won't be any different. But, it seems it's doing its very best to send Mom to her grave. Too bad none of my Aunt's (Mom's 2nd cousin) doctor's discovered her WG had come back before it was too late.
When my Aunt came down with it though, it didn't seem to make a comeback as often as Mom's has though. I hound Mom every 6 months or so to get the test. But I now have it on my phone calendar to remind me every 3 months. I pay attention to her complaints to see if it is one of the signs of WG. Hopefully we can get her a far longer life expectancy than 8 to 10 years. She has survived 8 years now, and is going into her 9th year. WG can kiss our @sses!
|
|
|
Post by moonglum on Jan 25, 2015 4:18:43 GMT -6
Sorry to hear about your mom, jox. Hope she gets better soon.
moonglum & vox
|
|
|
Post by Phalon on Jan 25, 2015 9:25:23 GMT -6
Your Mom is lucky to have you keeping check on everything, Joxie.
Speaking of keeping check - look who's checked in....
Moonglum! Vox! What a coincidence - you two popped into my mind yesterday while I was having coffee with a friend who I haven't seen in a while. She's lived all her adult life here in the States, but was born in England, and lived there into her teenage years; she still has that lovely English accent. Her sisters - all five of them - still live in England, and she's going to visit in a couple of weeks. Anyway...while she was talking about her trip, I wondered how you two were doing.
Hope all is well.
|
|
|
Post by moonglum on Jan 25, 2015 15:01:10 GMT -6
All is well with Vox and myself. We've had a few family tragedies in recent years but the pair of us are still alive and kicking. Hope all is good with you and yours Phalon. Six sisters, sheesh! I thought living with three women was hard enough.
moonglum
|
|
|
Post by Mini Mia on Jan 25, 2015 22:54:09 GMT -6
Sorry to hear about your mom, jox. Hope she gets better soon.
moonglum & vox
Your Mom is lucky to have you keeping check on everything, Joxie.
Thanks guys. It is really nice to have a place to unload. It does help me to get it off my chest. And it's really nice to see you here moonglum. We have missed you. And we miss vox. It eases our worrying when we hear from those who have disappeared.
BTW: If anyone can come up with a better title, do share, I'll switch it out. This was all I could come up with.
|
|
|
Post by Phalon on Jan 26, 2015 13:18:34 GMT -6
Sorry to hear you've had some bad times, Moonglum. Here's to better days ahead. Glad to hear though, that you and Vox are doing well. Tell Voxie Lady that I say hi, and I miss her sense of humour (spelled with the extra "u" just for her).
HA! Sounds like something Hubs would say; he frequently refers to us (LX, BP, and I) as a "chick fest" when we get to yakking.
How about "Letters from the Asylum" - no, just kidding, though I always thought it'd make a great title for something. An autobiography, for example. Mine perhaps.
There's also "Winter - Weather We Like it or Not".
"Oprah Wintry". Not sure what that means exactly, but it just popped into my head.
"Whooshing through Winter".
"Winterpedia". <shrugs> Grasping at straws here.
...and so on and so on.
|
|
|
Post by Mini Mia on Jan 26, 2015 22:43:31 GMT -6
Ooh. I like the first one best. And then the third one.
|
|
|
Post by Phalon on Jan 27, 2015 7:27:33 GMT -6
Ah yes, that winter weather. Like it or not. Not too bad here yesterday - colder than it has been, not as windy as is typical, and sunny to boot. Or not to boot, that was the question; sidewalks were clear so shoes worked just fine when I walked downtown to meet friends for coffee.
Do we have anyone on the east coast experiencing the storm? I don't think so. Spock maybe? Stay safe and warm if so.
|
|
|
Post by Mini Mia on Jan 27, 2015 18:45:26 GMT -6
He hasn't posted in a few days, but he has logged in recently. So, hopefully he is in a good place, weather wise.
|
|
|
Post by Phalon on Jan 28, 2015 7:47:16 GMT -6
Luckily for all the people in its path, the forecasters overestimated the impact of the storm.
Our snow has turned to solid ice; the dog still can't get around easily on it, but the squirrels still can...and it's given me amusement as a spectator the last couple of days. The first thing the dog does when I let her out is to plop down on her side, and paddle her legs like she's swimming side-stroke. She usually goes around in a circle, but yesterday I watched her 'swim' across the entire back yard. I waited for her to hit the hill down the ravine, but she stopped just short of it; she would have slid down the hill as if she was tobogganing without the toboggan.
The squirrels are having a free-for-all with some strawberries I threw out in the vegetable garden the other day - an entire container of them I'd just purchased at the grocery store. I wasn't thinking when I loaded the groceries in the trunk of the car. Strawberries are extremely sensitive to cold and the temperature was in the teens; they almost immediately turned to mush once I got them home. Apparently squirrels like strawberries, or are at least interested enough in them to take a nibble or two. I've been finding them everywhere - on the porch, on the porch railings, Hubs' grill, the fence posts, the picnic table on the back porch... It looks kinda like a kids' Easter egg hunt in the backyard, with strawberries instead of colored eggs.
|
|
|
Post by Mini Mia on Jan 28, 2015 18:35:54 GMT -6
You need to set up a camera and charge admission into a website to view all this comedy.
|
|
|
Post by Phalon on Jan 29, 2015 7:35:50 GMT -6
Pfft! You know what would happen, don't you? I'd set up the camera facing one way, and all the comedy would happen in a different direction.
School is closed today; we had freezing rain last night, and everything is covered in a sleet of ice. It didn't seem to bother the dog early this morning, though. I let her out and she practically flew across the ravine like a bat out of hell. Or maybe she slid across it. She treed a raccoon on the other side of the creek, and satisfied she'd done her job, she left it there after realizing it wasn't coming down anytime soon. Then she had to get back across the ravine, which was a much more tedious task on the ice than it was getting there.
I got my car back late yesterday afternoon, all shiny and new-looking. They even cleaned the inside of it - probably because they couldn't stand working in ankle-deep pine needles and nursery dirt. I only sort of vacuumed it out after the nursery closed and the holiday bazaar because it's hard to drag a shop-vac through the snow. Or at least that was my excuse.
Nobody has driven down our street all morning. The temperature has risen to barely above freezing, and Hubs just left for work, an hour late. I'll be on pins and needles until he calls to let me know he got there safely. Though we're supposed to get some snow later today, I really hope the roads are clear tomorrow and stay that way all weekend. I'm driving BP up to LX's college for "Sibs Weekend", which is a long-standing tradition at the college, and I have to admit, I'm feeling a bit gun-shy driving in bad weather after the accident.
|
|
|
Post by stepper on Jan 29, 2015 19:52:20 GMT -6
Sort of - I have relatives in NJ but they told me the storm pretty much missed them.
I won't bore you with our temps - but I've been wearing short sleeve shirts.
Find an empty parking lot with no light poles and then do a couple donuts on purpose. Or go to he nursery and do it with the four wheelers - it won't be so scary. I understand the reaction but in our world driving is pretty much unavoidable.
|
|
|
Post by Mini Mia on Jan 29, 2015 22:48:30 GMT -6
Pfft! You know what would happen, don't you? I'd set up the camera facing one way, and all the comedy would happen in a different direction.
Isn't that how it always goes? You'd have to set up cameras so that no angle went unseen. And then they'd take it next door, or across the road.
I'm glad the raccoon wasn't in the mood to attack. I hear they can be very nasty when they feel like it. Cool. I'm sure you're thrilled to have it back. You can pretend nothing happened . . . until you see the cost.
I hope Hubs made it to work and back okay. I'll keep my fingers crossed for the weekend.
|
|
|
Post by Phalon on Jan 31, 2015 9:16:33 GMT -6
You can't do donuts in a car with front-wheel drive...well, apparently you can do them on a highway that is covered in ice, but not on purpose. Don't ask how I know front-wheel drive cars aren't good doughnut makers in empty parking lots, (grin), I just do. Reverse donuts are a possibility, but I've never tried. FWD vehicles do perform nicely in controlled slides around corners on neighborhood streets, though - again, don't ask. (Another grin.)
Funny donut story...excuse me if you've heard it; I know I've told it here before but can't remember who was on-board here at the time. I can't remember either how long ago it was, but judging from the people in the vehicle at the time, I'm thinking it was about 20ish years ago...I do remember we are certainly old enough to know we shouldn't be doing donuts in a church parking lot in the middle of the night.
It was probably my brother's idea; that's pretty much a certainty. Bobby was driving Dad's Suburban - also in the vehicle were his first wife, my other brother Mike, his girlfriend, Hubs and me. Because of the sheer bulk of the older models, Suburbans probably aren't the first choice in vehicles to do donuts in. Dad's performed quite nicely though, and it's just a guess, but I'm thinking my brother had plenty of prior practice.
So there we are having way too much fun, spinning and spinning around the parking lot in the Beast, which seemed to sway precariously as it spun, when the priest comes out of the rectory wondering what the hell is going on; he's wearing a robe not-of-the-ceremonial kind, his pajamas, and slippers (not everyone can say they've seen a Catholic priest in his pajamas).
"Uhm...sorry for waking you up, Father. I was just testing the parking lot to see if it needed plowing before Mass tomorrow." Bob had a big plow on the front of his truck - which we weren't in - and plowed the church parking lot when needed. The priest bought it, or at least acted like he bought it, and no Our Fathers and Hail Marys were assigned to be repeated as repentance for lying to a priest.
Got her up there no problem. No sure about getting her back home. They've changed tomorrow's forecast; when we left yesterday 1-3 inches of snow were predicted for Sunday. Now they're saying we could get a foot.
|
|
|
Post by Mini Mia on Jan 31, 2015 17:25:21 GMT -6
Hmm . . . seems like sisters will have a longer weekend than expected.
|
|
|
Post by Phalon on Feb 1, 2015 8:34:38 GMT -6
They most definitely will, Joxie. I entertained the idea of picking her up yesterday while it was sunny and clear. Coulda, shoulda, I guess, because I'm not going anywhere today.
The storm is supposed to continue through late tomorrow morning, so I'm figuring I'll wait until about 2ish to leave - at that time, I'll miss Grand Rapids rush hour both going up there, and it'll be after rush hour coming home; I hate driving through Grand Rapids rush hour. I'm guessing BP's school will be closed tomorrow; LX will still probably have classes. They're up in the lightest band of snow; down there, we're in the heaviest. Crossing fingers tightly that there will be no ice.
I'm glad for the retailers here that yesterday was such a nice day; today will be a bust for them. It's Ice Breaker Festival weekend, and yesterday was perfect - not cold enough to keep people from coming, but not warm enough to ruin the ice sculpture competition. We walked down, and town was packed. Tasted some really good chili; there's also a "professional" chili-cookoff (professional meaning only businesses can enter). Crazy Cheryl had entered her cousin's farm - she had to make 30 gallons of the stuff. Of course, we voted hers the best...because she used a modified version of Hubs' recipe (modified because it was all veggies from the farm; Hubs uses meat in his). No word yet if it won, or even placed. Bragging rights are involved - there will be no living with Hubs if "his" recipe wins.
edit: Crazy Cheryl is also Crazy Shirley; I forgot at one time I decided not to use her real name lest she find out I call her Crazy (eye-roll). If I flip back-and-forth between the two names it's because I myself, am a bit crazy, and can't remember one day to the next.
|
|
|
Post by stepper on Feb 1, 2015 14:53:17 GMT -6
The roads will be de-iced by then? Or by 2 they’ll be plowed clear? And will you get back while it’s still light so you can see the icy patches?
When's there's a system release affecting the deploy programs, the programmers have to work overtime (they get comp time, but the gov't refuses to pay them for OT). They decided to have pot luck and bring your own food - but after a few times they reached a unanimous decision - "they" bringing in buns, chips, dips, hot dogs, and one guy makes enough chili for lunch and supper (overtime goes to between 9PM and 2AM). They've stuck to that concept for years now - and even though this happens three or four times a year they're all still enthused about it. Everybody says it's great chili - I wouldn’t' know as that's something else that isn't a part of my food pyramid.
|
|
|
Post by Mini Mia on Feb 1, 2015 21:42:16 GMT -6
I created my own chili recipe from all the chili recipes in all the cook books I have. I don't recall any of them having vegetables though. (Except beans, onions, tomatoes, of course.) I only use hamburger though, no special meats. Maybe I should look into what other veggies to add to the recipe? Food for thought.
I love my homemade chili poured over a fried beef/bean burrito with cheese on top. I don't like it on hot dogs though. I use the canned chili for chili dogs.
|
|
|
Post by Phalon on Feb 2, 2015 9:03:21 GMT -6
I'm sure they'll be plowed. Will they be plowed clear? I guess that depends what your definition of "clear" is...down to where you can see pavement, or just plowed? Most roads are still snow covered after plowing, except the interstates - I'm not sure if it's because they set the blades lower or what. The issue the day I crashed was the ice; the plows cleared all the snow, but there was a thick layer of ice underneath; road salt stops working when temperatures are below 20 degrees or something - we were hovering around the single digits that day, and no gravel was spread. Ironically, the back roads which I took home and which were still snow covered, where much safer because the snow provides at least some traction (as opposed to ice). Xena Sis's Hubs had to take her to the airport in Grand Rapids that day - he ended up getting off the interstate because he said even his four-wheel drive was "shimmying", and took the back roads instead. According to the local news, South Haven ended up with 12" of snow. According to the Weather Channel yesterday, while all around us was "heavy snow", South Haven had light snow with 1-3" possible; I don't know where the hell they were getting their information, but it was the same forecast I saw on Friday before I took BP up to the college. We're not supposed to get out of the teens today, so I don't know about the ice. The snow has stopped, and it's sunny now, so that'll help. I'll be able to leave here earlier too - which will be good, because even in the best of conditions, if I left here at 2pm, I wouldn't get home until around 7 or 8 pm, which is well after dark. Crazy Cheryl called last night and offered to ride with me, which I declined because it'd either probably make me nervous being responsible for another person, or we'd get to yakking and I wouldn't be giving all my attention to driving. But speaking of Crazy Cheryl... That's pretty much what her veggie chili had - tomatoes, beans, onions, plus corn, and multiple kinds of peppers - both hot and sweet. It was great chili, and she got a ton of compliments, especially from moms - "this is the only chili my kids would eat!" It didn't place in the contest, though, and it's probably because she used Hubs' recipe. It's a Cincinnati-style chili - you either love Cincinnati chili, or hate it because it's way different than typical chili. Hubs and I happened to love it, and so did Crazy Cheryl when she was here for a bonfire one night and Hubs had made a vat of it. When we lived there, I always ordered it as a four-way; a five-way is with beans, which I wouldn't touch at the time. whatscookingamerica.net/Beef/CincinnatiChili.htm
|
|
|
Post by Mini Mia on Feb 2, 2015 18:28:41 GMT -6
I don't recall any of the recipes in the cookbooks I have including these ingredients: cinnamon, chocolate or cocoa, and allspice. I do use Worcestershire Sauce a lot of the times when I cook meat, so I wouldn't have a problem including it. I don't thing I ever have though, go figure. Some chili recipes call for veal, ground pork, sausage, and other meats, expensive & cheap, but I have always only used ground beef/chuck.
Dad always wanted a lot of pasta in his chili. Adding a lot of pasta was his Mom's way of making a meal go a long way and fill everyone up. She carried the Depression with her long after it was over. I never could get my peanut butter & crackers to taste like hers, and Mom said I was putting too much PB on my crackers. Grandmother used a thin smear.
|
|
|
Post by Phalon on Feb 3, 2015 22:37:00 GMT -6
Mole sauce is not made from those little underground creatures that tear up my garden, but from chili peppers and chocolate - heavier on the peppers than the chocolate; some versions also have cinnamon. Given that chili (the dish) always includes some type of pepper, I would think chocolate too wouldn't be all that uncommon. Cincinnati-style chili though, has more sweet than heat; actually, it's not spicy hot at all...which is why Cheryl's may not have placed in the contest. Sometimes it seems 'the hotter, the better' is the theme of those chili cook-offs.
It snowed here again today - a nice fluffy inch or so. Quite a nice change from Sunday's version. I wasn't able to get outside much because I had a ton of stuff to get done inside, but what little time I was out, was enjoyable.
|
|
|
Post by Mini Mia on Feb 4, 2015 22:10:46 GMT -6
I've heard of Mole Sauce. I have a Mexican cookbook with such recipes in it. Haven't tried any of them yet.
It is snowing at the moment. Only suppose to get a light dusting. Started about an hour ago, and should only last for a couple more hour or so.
|
|
|
Post by stepper on Feb 5, 2015 19:17:08 GMT -6
That's true of my mother too.
I've noticed many comments about snow, cold, etc., but almost nothing about skis and cemeteries. I'm beginning to think you're avoiding that subject and maybe spending an inordinate amount of time doing other things.
|
|
|
Post by Phalon on Feb 7, 2015 11:00:56 GMT -6
That's true. I haven't been skiing at all this winter and it's bumming me out. I tried once, but the snow was too wet. That's the thing about Lake Effect snow - it's often very wet vs. a system snow, which is lighter and drier. The few times the snow has been perfect, it's either been way too cold, too windy, or I've either had other things going on...
Like this morning; it may have been a bit icy, which is good in a way, because you can glide on top, and not sink into the wet stuff which is impossible to ski on because it clumps to the bottom of your skis. I had to follow Hubs to the mechanic in my car, so he could drop off this car though, then once back home, I walked to the post office to mail a package, and now when I have a bit of time to ski, it's warmer, the sun is out, and the snow is mushy and wet.
I'm not complaining about the sun, though! It's been sunny off and on the last few days, and it damn sure feels good!
Oh, and the moon! Did you see it the other night? It was so big and bright yellow that it scared the heck out of my co-worker. Uhm....probably because we were driving home from a program and I yelled at him, "Oh-my-god!!!! Lookit the moon!!!!"
|
|
|
Post by Mini Mia on Feb 7, 2015 19:34:34 GMT -6
You're too funny. Poor co-worker.
|
|
|
Post by stepper on Feb 7, 2015 20:58:57 GMT -6
You weren't talking about driving on the ice and having the car repaired at the time were you? I can just imagine the co-worker feeling nervous and all of a sudden you start screaming. I know some of us have been enjoying winter sports, ice and snow and such, but here we're suffering through yet another Texas winter. These examples were all taken this month. Tree Buds Dandelion in the rosebed Hungry Visitor - she was being coy with me but I managed to get a picture
|
|