Lazy reading

I think my brain is atrophied.  I have taken to using audio books to supply my craving for literature (or what passes for it).  That way I can listen to the book while doing other things...like grading papers or surfing the web or knitting.  I could pretend that I was multi-tasking, but that really isn't it.  I'm just lazy.

Currently I am listening to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke.  I couldn't wade through the book in written form--I didn't have the patience and my mind kept wandering.  However, I like listening to it on CD.  I can easily follow the story.  I can't do much for "multi-tasking" while listening because it is not unlike reading Dickens or Melville.  The most I can do is knit...but maybe my shawl will be done by the time I finish the book--26 discs!

The next books in my audio cue are The Road by Cormac McCarthy and Pygmy by Chuck Palahniuk.

I am working on a variation of the Eye of Partridge Shawl.  I am working it in a worsted weight yarn because, let's face it, I want something snuggly when I curl up.  The yarn is nothing fancy--a blue/cream/browns variegated acrylic called Retro-Modern Ombre from I Love This Yarn! [Hobby Lobby].  The stitch really helps avoid pooling and makes a wonderful texture.

Because the original pattern is a really tight V shape, I decided to modify the pattern to widen the V.  I didn't want a shawl to end up dragging around like Morticia Addams' dress just to make the width as long as I like it.  So I am adding additional yarn overs--I keep changing my mind about the pattern so I have ripped everything out four times at last count...

Ok, as I am writing this, the system snow promised to us started to fall.  We're supposed to get 2-4 inches of system snow before the lake effect snow starts to kick in.  But right now, although it is coming down steadily, it is that wispy micro snow that just seems to make the roads slick and icy.  It will have to get thicker and heavier if it wants to do more than annoy people...

Moon Report:  48% of full.  Just shy of the quarter moon.

Outside the Window:  Snow.  About 24 degrees (coldish).  Overcast.

Blizzard!

Moon Report: 3% of full. waning crescent.


Today is the anniversary of the 1978 blizzard that still holds the snow record here. It started late in the evening of Jan. 24 and continued until Jan. 29. The snow was recorded at 41". The snow itself probably wouldn't have been as ghastly (other than just clearing the roads) if all that snow hadn't come with tons of wind. Some drifts were 15 feet high!

I remember my dad dug a tunnel from our door to the neighbor's across the street so we could share supplies if anyone needed anything.
I remember my dad picked me up and swung me around and let me go sailing into soft snowdrifts.
I remember some houses had drifts up to the roof and the older kids would climb to the roofs with their plastic sheet sleds and slide down.
I remember my dad being home because he couldn't get to work for several days.
I remember a lot of wet mittens and soaked snowsuits and hot cocoa and soup.

The aging process has you firmly in its grasp

if you never get the urge to throw a snowball.

--Doug Larson

I don't chuck snowballs since I got hit and had a nasty bruise on my forehead--I was about ten. I do however love snow angels--which I still make on occasion.

Vocab lesson on "cold"

To say it is "cold" is a mistake. Cold is somewhere near 32 degrees. Ass-cold is something near 0. However, we're in the range of -18 at almost 9am. We're also under a windchill warning because those winds rushing upon us (as a light breeze) are between -40 to -45. So when I ammended the weather yesterday to say we were approaching the 9th Circle of Hell, I came close.

But, damn, the view is picture perfect! Imagine a clear morning sky with pink yellow light hitting the trees and casting blue shadows over the snow...

According to my thesaurus (Roget's International Thesaurus, 5th ed.), the listing for non-formal epithets for "cold":

cold as a welldigger's ass

cold as a witch's tit (or kiss)

cold enough to freeze the tail/balls off a brass monkey

cold as a bastard/bitch

colder than hell (or the deuce/devil)

These are common around here during the winter. I'm sure there are more colorful ones as well. However, the regular use of "cold" as an adjective produced little in the way of good description. They were usual, commonplace. I didn't like them (as I hear them daily on the news). A few: sharp, bitter, keen, frigid, icy, nasty, chilly, cutting. Sometimes I wonder if the English language is limiting or we are just too lazy to explain ourselves properly.

*****

God bless all the poor trash collectors who have to be out today as it is trash day for many in our neighborhood. All the schools in the area are closed today--buses don't run and they don't want kids outside waiting for buses or walking to school. Heck, even my dog won't go out. [I've been on the computer about an hour this morning and I haven't even seen one car drive past.]

I know the weather is terrible when I have to bundle myself up in the same manner my mother did when I was five. It almost makes me wish I had snowpants. However, I must make due with thermal leggings under my jeans and two pairs of mittens and scarves and two hoods (one a hoodie sweatshirt and one on my coat). Then the shivering commences as I step out to shovel half the driveway before I come in to have hot cocoa and warm up. But today, I say bugger the driveway. It can stay snowy and I'm going to sit inside in a blanket and be lazy.

Cold Colder Coldest

Ah, winter. Would that heaven could save us from it...

Time for the weather report. It's cold out folks. Bonecrushing cold.

The kind of cold which will wrench the spirit out of a young

man, or forge it into steel.

--Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider

Northern Exposure, Lost and Found, 1992

It is 5 degrees this morning...at 6 am. We're supposed to settle at a balmy 4 degrees for the high today with a nice breeze at 10 to 20 below. This is only because we've got the lake effect snow dumping on us. How lucky are we that an enormous body of water keeps us sheltered from the bitter winters blowing in across the Dakotas. Everyone on the other side of Lake Michigan is bitterly cold. However, once the clouds clear this afternoon we'll hit -13 degrees under a lovely starry sky.

I'm on a two hour delay this morning--woohoo! Except that it won't matter much because the temperature is what kills you...not the snow. It's so fun to walk outside and have the breath sucked right out of your lungs!



Ammended Weather Forecast: Approaching the 9th circle of hell.

Ok, sun is just beginning to set. We have had a lovely sunny afternoon with blinding whiteness blaring from every direction. If you could stay inside, it was perfect. But instead of holding, temperatures have continued to drop all day. So, tonight at 6pm it is a sweltering -8 degrees with a light wind that freezes your nose hair the moment you step outside (roughly -30 degrees).

Now the weather stations are saying we could get close to a record -22 (before wind chill is factored in).

The romance and practicality of winter

In the bleak midwinter

Frosty wind made moan,

Earth stood hard as iron,

Water like a stone;

Snow had fallen, snow on snow,

Snow on snow,

In the bleak midwinter,

Long ago.

--Christina Rossetti

Sometimes I forget how much I adore Christina Rossetti poems. Originally I stumbled across her in a Lit Survey book--one of the works was a poem entitled Goblin Market. Not long after that I found a Dover Thrift Edition ($1.00) of an unabridged version of Goblin Market and Other Poems on a clearance table at the local bookstore.

Her work always makes me feel as if I should be curled in some hidden nook watching the world from behind leaded glass and reading. Although I have no leaded glass windows, I do have a very snowy winter Saturday before me. Knitting and listening to an audio book sounds like a great way to spend the day.

*******************

Well, at 8 am, light has finally come across to illuminate the overcast and very snowy morning. I shoveled the driveway around 7 am for the second time in 12 hours. Luckily it wasn't soooo bad this morning (meaning I had about three inches instead of six). However, since the snow continues I think it won't be another twelve hours before I must again shovel. The best news: it is a light dry snow and very easily removed.

Moon Report: 99% of full. full moon.

The End

Well, we've hit the end to another year. It seemed to run by pretty quick--or maybe that's just because of all the craziness.

Wrapin' Up:

1. Election End!

Holy crap the whole thing is finally over! I swear it felt like the race started just after Jr. won a second term. The campaign ads were driving me batty and the news kept talking and talking over the same damn things for years. Personally, I think they should limit the time to run for public office to a year. Anyone intending to run for a major post (House, Senate, or President) should not announce their intentions until the week after election day the preceeding year. So, if one intended to run in 2008, it could not be announced until Monday after election day in 2007. That way the news and all the talking heads wouldn't have YEARS to run endlessly over the same information.

2. Obama.

I am very glad we have elected a President who is well-spoken and well-educated. Everyone makes a big deal because he is African American--I could care less if he were purple with polka dots. Obviously, it is a great statement of achievement for African Americans as a whole. However, I would argue that his election is an achievement for America. He is able to bring everyone to the table to talk in a rational manner rather than just mowing them down by labeling them "Un-American". Bully politics does not make anyone popular or effective. Working with all sides to find a solution is helpful and goes a long way toward spreading goodwill.

3. Intolerance.

This year has been filled with stories from everywhere about intolerance. I don't care who you are or how you believe in God. I do care when actions are designed to say to a population or group that they have no right to exist. The whole michegaas in the Middle East involving not only Hamas and Israel, but the whole area--if religion were ignored, could there be an easing of tensions? Couldn't they sit down and discuss what would help the region as a whole?

And to everyone who has voted this year on making same-sex marriage illegal, shame on you. What does it matter what people do behind closed doors? Perhaps someone could look at your life and find it also unacceptable. Who are you to judge? Who are you to make someone else live life according to your personal values?

4. Notable Passings.

CBS listings

Those listings have neglected:

Robert Prosky, actor. Dec. 8.
Harold Pinter, playwright. Christmas Day.
Eartha Kitt, singer. Christmas Day.
Freddie Hubbard, jazz trumpet. Dec. 29.

May they and their families find peace.

5. Interesting Diversion.

I just heard about Same Time 7:15 on NPR as I was waking up. This group has been taking photos of their life at 7:15pm each night for a year. Today will be their last photo. However, you can see the archives of this year posted on their site. Some of the pictures are funny, some mundane (like our own lives), and some heartwarming. Go check it out!

6. Joy and Merriment.

Father Ted

Vicar of Dibley

7. Happy New Year.

The tree man came and lopped off the two branches that were threatening to rip apart the wild cherry tree in the back yard. It took him about twenty minutes. But now any twisting wind or ice storm won't crack the tree in half and take out the fence or septic tank. Woohoo!

After a weekend warm up to 60 (and total snow melt with subsequent flooding), we had several sunny days in the upper 30s. But last night, the lake effect snow machine kicked in. We've got about an inch and it is again gently falling. C'est la vie...

I wish everyone who reads this a lovely and gorgeous New Year's Eve. I also wish you a wonderful and healthy 2009 filled with great friends and family, kind words, and joyous events.

weather again

Moon Report: 21% of full. waning crescent.

For all the fancy schmancy gadgets used by meteorology today, they still have very slim chance of predicting lake effect snow. For example, Doppler radar can tell you where precipitation is falling and where lightning is striking and the clarity can tell you where tornadoes are likely to develop. That is wonderful around here in the warmer months when we tend to have those sorts of things. But snow bands off the lake and where they will go are a creature of an entirely different stripe. Yes, we can know where they are falling currently. Fine. But when the wind shifts on the lake, that shift doesn't necessarily work into creating snow.

Ok. Maybe some people need to be worked into a frenzy about the possibility of snow. Me, I hate having my chain yanked. Why can't they just say, "Hey, wake up a little earlier than normal tomorrow before work. You might have to shovel yourself out of the driveway." The weather used to say things like a system snow was on the way or that the wind would be coming off the lake with the potential for snow. Then you knew A) to wake up and make sure to warm the car and be ready to shovel; B) to leave early for work so as to make sure you were safe and on time; and C) to dress appropriately for the cold and snow (ie. gloves/mittens, woolen hat, scarf, and big heavy coat). Now, I feel as if I get babysat through the winter and half the time they are completly wrong (not usually about temperature, just snowfall).

If Doppler can pinpoint to the neighborhood where storms are rolling through, why can't the TV stations just localize weather coverage? For example, if a blizzard is pounding through Cass County in Michigan (just 7 miles from me) but doesn't cross the state line, why can't the cable companies direct line the news coverage directly to those affected? All local advertising done through the cable companies can pinpoint the ads by zipcode--so why not weather? When localized things occur, obviously it is fine to give general warning to the whole area in case someone is travelling through. But why freak out 6 counties when only one is getting pounded by the weather?

The only time I want minute by minute coverage of weather is when we've got the big storms moving through. Not snow storms--spring, summer, fall storms. The kind with thunder so big your house rattles with every peal. The kind where when lightning strikes an electric transformer in the neighborhood it sounds like a cannon and makes you deaf for a few seconds. And those are really good at bringing tornadoes. But there are other tornadoes that just happen--the sky gets a sick green. My mom, who lived through the Palm Sunday outbreak, said if the weather is oppressive and the sky is green, go to the basement.





Although this happened several years before I was born, I am sure this is a picture taken down US 33 just outside of Dunlap not a quarter mile from where I grew up. This picture is from the files of NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). The story can be found here.

These are the kinds of things that make me scared enough to want minute by minute coverage. Not snow. Snow is cold. It shows up and we should slow down and have enough safety provisions in the car to keep warm/hydrated until someone finds us. The ass-jacks who think that black ice is a myth or that roads are safe to drive "normally" when the plow has gone through--natural selection. And you know what, 90% of the time it is safer to drive on the back county roads away from traffic because you can drive down the center of the road at your own pace. The other 10% of the time it sucks because you get stuck in the unplowed road. So bring a shovel and cat litter and ice melt.