30 March 2011

This was NOT fog on the way to choir tonight.

Obviously. When I got home.

Meanwhile, in Jamestown...

Temporary respite?

But clouding up again. Temperature was 6° when I got up. Now up to 27°. Need one "warm" day to wash the cats' blankets. Probably tomorrow.

Fall storm ahead

Snow again

Got the ice off the feeders so the birds can reach the seeds. In the distance the docks pulled up on the shore look very out of place.

Not exactly golf weather...

The Prius behaved well despite the lack of plowing. Curves was beckoning. Made it there and back easily. Whew. But choir was canceled for which I was most grateful.

Pristine again

This is the view out my front door off and on today. I need to use the ladder as the satellite dish is snow covered and won't transmit CNBC. I can get MSNBC and don't understand why. Weird.

Went to church slowly

It was a little slippery this morning but the roads were navigable with care. The snow wasn't blowing as much as it was New Years Day. 21 others made it to church which surprised and pleased us. The photo, by the way, is a color photo. Certain Christianists would love the whole world to be black and white all the time. I'm happy it isn't even tho I love snow more now that I'm retired.

NC sunset

Spring 2009, maybe

These popped up today all over the yard. They were not visible yesterday. Amazing what a couple of 50° nights will do. One more and we could have peepers.

Even the daylilies are getting optimistic.

The daffodils in front of the house are fighting their way thru the debris.

I wish people would follow the Park's instructions! The orange stakes in the distance mark the place I keep encouraging to eventually make a huge ditch across the "tracks".

The spatterdock is up, some even thru the punky ice. I'm waiting to see the turtles tho.

The remaining ice and the water are littered with dead fish. Again this year there are many large fish rotting. Did they get trapped in the ice and die? Is there something polluting the water? Or is the lake cleaner now and the fish are growing larger? A puzzlement.

Topsy turvy weather

This was the scene out the windshield just north of Columbia, SC yesterday. A really pretty drive. Columbia itself escaped the fun.

The snow on the crepe myrtle in the NC Welcome Center near Charlotte was unusual and very photogenic.

Several hours later this was the scene out the windshield in West Virginia south of Charleston - sometimes a terrifying winter drive but now all winter brown and dry.
It was the perfect day to drive north. Sun mostly and dry roads the entire way. Little traffic until Ohio. Apparently people delayed travel thinking there would be snowy conditions on I-77. The SC and NC ditches were littered with cars and trucks from the previous messy weather. I felt twinges of sadness for the families who had vacation plans disrupted. I chuckled at the people who were traveling north from Florida and were shivering in their flowered shirts and shorts at the rest areas.

Tonight I will sleep in my own bed for the first time in two weeks. Should be home by midnight. YEA!

2009 thaw

Fire comes very close

Fires in Australia are killing people as well as destroying property. One came too close to our friend Alcibiades for comfort. He hasn't blogged about it but he told us he is ok in the comments on OCICBW.

If you are so inclined, please pray for rain for the Australians, do a rain dance or implore the rain gods in any method you think might work.

More snow photos

Downtown Greenville

Jamestown

The golf course

Our road

The homestead

Feeling guilty

The last time we had this much snow I didn't have a garage or anyone to plow me out and it didn't last this long. I parked my car up at the road and walked to the house with a little plastic sled to carry groceries and other items and to ride occasionally. Now I have a wonderful neighbor who takes good care of me. He plows but I still have to shovel the car out as well as paths to the door and the cathouse for the felines. I usually also keep the spaces under the feeders clear for the ground feeding birds. Not this time. I'm not strong enough to shovel this much wet snow. So I'm feeling guilty. But the birds do have food and water just like the cats.

Weather oddity

I have a barometer which belonged to our parents. It has been amazingly accurate for a decorative item. It has a pointer which I set years ago when the barometric pressure was particularly low. (I wasn't home when the tornado went thru and didn't think to look when I got home several hours later.) Last week, our pressure went below the marker to 29.46. Today it is almost as high as I've seen it at 30.42. I know that doesn't mean much to most people but it is interesting to me.

Side yard birds

They haven't found the suet yet as I just put it out. The feeders are wearing band hats of snow.

As I was posting the above, it started to snow. All the birds disappeared. I had to use the little ladder last night but so far the satellite dish is still functioning. The one early red bract on my 40 year old poinsettia is visible. It never blooms this early. Weird.

In response to Joan's comment on bnet

Hat tip to T19 via Preludium.