Similiar weather here,Livy...gorgeous Spring-like day yesterday...today raining and temps will take a nose dive to about 10 degrees later today...I certainly have enjoyed our unusual warm weather this Winter...

I believe it was that great humorist and commentator of years long past, Will Rogers, who said:

" Everybody complains about the weather but nobody does anything about it ".

A.B.

Isn't it wonderful? We can have "guilt-free" kvetching about the weather, because there isn't a thing we can do to alter the circumstances!

As this following shows, it was a wild time up here a bit earlier ....

We had quite a thunder storm, actually .....

Real long and deep rolls of thunder .....

A lot of lightning ....

And sleet ...

And hail ....

And the temperature is plummeting ....

Going down cold tonight ....

This is February ....

We don't have thunder storms in February ....

But now ..

Obviously ..

We do ...

Snuf ...

If you're out there on the highway this weekend ...

Safe travels, indeed ....

High winds wreak havoc on Capital Region - Gusts up to 67 mph down trees, tear roofs off buildings, knock out power; 1 death reported"

By KATE PERRY, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union

Last updated: 1:59 p.m., Friday, February 17, 2006

High winds whipped through the area this morning, ripping roofs off buildings, tearing trees from the ground and knocking out power across the Capital Region.

In Saratoga Springs, a state Department of Transportation truck was crushed by falling pine trees and its driver was killed, according to DOT authorities.

Four Troy schools lost power during the high winds, closing three and requiring students at one to live without electricity for two hours.

Ray O'Keefe, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said Saratoga Springs experienced the highest winds, reaching 67 mph.

Details were few on the DOT truck accident as emergency workers responded to the Avenue of the Pines in Saratoga Spa State Park.

Police have closed the historic avenue and Route 50 between West and Congress avenues while they investigate, and ambulances were dispatched.

In the Spa park, city police said five or six trees blew on to the road, blocking travel.

High winds also blew off the roof at 133 Spring St. in Saratoga Springs, sending it flying through the air to the middle of Court Street, 20 to 30 feet away.

Jim Burns, president of Burns Management Corp., which owns the building, said no one was hurt and a construction worker will put on temporary roof later today.

A demolition company has been contacted to remove the roof from Court Street.

Elsewhere in the Capital Region,

** the Aramatic Refreshment Services building at 720 Fourth St. in Watervliet lost its roof and was evacuated just after 10 a.m., said Battalion Chief Thomas Holmes of the Watervliet fire Department.

** in Schenectady, fire and code enforcement officials were examining a State Street building that lost part of its roof.

Across the region, downed trees and thunderstorms caused power outages.

According to the Niagara Mohawk communications office, 94,000 people were without power before noon state-wide, and that number is expected to fluctuate throughout the day.

"There are 10,000 without service mostly in Amsterdam, Clifton Park, Glenville and Troy."

"We expect these numbers to continue to grow.''

Outages are expected to last into tomorrow.

In Saratoga power was out in portions of the city's south side.

Traffic signals were out along parts of Broadway and the city's west side.

A transformer in front of Doyle Middle School in Troy blew at 10:30 a.m., knocking out power to that school and to Troy High School next door.

School 14, located behind Troy High, also lost electricity.

"One of our employees saw it, right in front of Doyle Middle School,'' Superintendent Lonnie Palmer said.

"The prediction from the power company is it was going to be several hours before they could repair this.''

Palmer said a decision was made to close the schools because toilets could not flush and hot meals could not be served at lunch time.

The superintendent was in his office dealing with the multiple outages, though the power was out at the administrative building next to School 14 too.

John O'Malley, a spokesman for Verizon Wireless said phone service was interrupted by downed phone lines, which ruptured their cell tower connections and interrupted calls from cell phones to land lines.


In Saratoga power was out in portions of the city's south side. Traffic signals were out along parts of Broadway and the city's west side.

A transformer in front of Doyle Middle School in Troy blew at 10:30 a.m., knocking out power to that school and to Troy High School next door. School 14, located behind Troy High, also lost electricity.

``One of our employees saw it, right in front of Doyle Middle School,'' Superintendent Lonnie Palmer said. ``The prediction from the power company is it was going to be several hours before they could repair this.''

Palmer said a decision was made to close the schools because toilets could not flush and hot meals could not be served at lunch time. The superintendent was in his office dealing with the multiple outages, though the power was out at the administrative building next to School 14 too.

A smaller number of buses were available than at the usual dismissal times so students were released in shifts.

Students at the middle school were let go at 11:45 a.m.

A second run carried students from Troy High and School 14, with the last students leaving around 12:15 a.m.

At School 16, the electricity was lost at noon.

With only two hours to go until the normal dismissal time, Palmer said there was too little time to call parents and arrange alternate busing.

"We knew we wouldn't have time to make the calls,'' he said.

On the western side of the Capital Region, in Rotterdam, two power poles snapped on Schermerhorn Road, blocking the street and cutting power to an area near Rotterdam Square Mall, including the traffic lights on West Campbell Road, according to dispatcher Marie Gage.

Patrolman Keith Collins played rodeo hero on Fred Road when he responded to a call of a shed run wild.

The wind had picked up the 10' by 10' aluminum structure.

"It was blowing down the road, completely upright, like it was sailing,'' Collins said.

"Ten years in law enforcement -- what the hell do I do with a shed?''

He called the dispatcher: "I'll be in foot pursuit of the shed.''

He ran up and jumped on the shed, trying to beat it down, and a neighbor tossed him some rope.

He caught the shed, pulled it back to the lawn it had left and lashed it to a tree.

Fallen trees closed Outer Drive, off Altamont Avenue, but it is now reopened.

"It came through our west end of town, then there was a lull, and then it hit the east,'' Gage said.

The winds also caused several additional road closures.

So, amy .....

Be time to get out the rake again soon ....

Are you sticking with bamboo .....

Or did you make a permanent switch to something else ...

After all that trouble with the pandas last year .....

Eating your old one .....

Well, that's not an easy decision...the plastic and metal rakes are too rough for raking around bushes and flowers....so it will be more bamboo for me! I put out food for the birds, so a bit of bamboo for the pandas will be just fine... In fact this Spring I have much work to do in my gardens...so this year, I'm doing the usual Spring house cleaning in the Winter, so that when Spring arrives I will have the time to tend to my gardening.....I've been doing some garden cleanup this Winter on the mild Spring-like days....first time I've ever been able to do that...
Did your copper roof survive the high winds?

Good to hear you're getting a jump on the season ....

And so am I ....

Working outside this winter has been absolutely heavenly on some of those days ....

And yes ...

So far, my roof is doing fine ....

And that is a prime reason that I decided to cover the roof with copper ....

By the time the whole roof is on ...

There should be no way for the wind to be able to get a "grip" on it to do any damage to it ....

And the plywood under that is 3/4 inch tongue-and-groove screwed down with 2- inch screws every six inches ....

So if my roof does get blown off ...

Well .....

I am losing a leyland cypress to the last snow storm. Snapped in half - and the half that snapped is draped over my backyard fence into my next door neighbor's yard. Getting some help removing it today or tomorrow, but am going to lose the rest of the tree which is too bad. As for the rest, going to wait until it gets a little warmer - and the ground is still frozen.

It's been a bad time for the trees, Snuf .....

This wind that just went through up here took a bunch of them with it ...

Over quite a swatch .....

Like Hell's reaper come to bring a harvest in ....

Good morning America ....

And Mr. A.B. ....

And jeffmoskin, and amy and the Snuf ...

And everyone else ....

A fine day blooming up here in the hinterlands of civilization ....

Where life is simple ...

Some of the time, anyway .....

The sun is shining ...

And that is where it all starts ...

And so ....

I'm getting ready to head up your way sort of tomorrow. Going to Bronxville on Thursday and then headed to Rhode Island on Friday for the weekend. Returning to DC on Sun/Mon or whenever. The young son is visiting his girlfirend in New Jersey leaving Williamstown Friday afternoon. How sweet the college life these days especially when basketball season is over. His girlfriend's lacrosse season is just starting. Hope it isn't too cold in the neighborhood your way Liv.We had a smattering of snowflakes this morning to my surprise, but they are gone now. Should warm up a tad, not too much though. However, the sun isn't shining here. ITS GRAY.
And so - I'm going to the gym to get the endorphins moving.
The Snuff

Good morning to you as well, Livy...well actually it's afternoon now...a nice day here weather wise....sunny and not too cold....right about now I begin to count the days until Spring officially arrives....we could have 3 feet of snow on March 20 and it wouldn't change my attitude one bit....March 20 is the first day of Spring no matter what the weather and I ignore any meteorological facts that might make me feel otherwise....
My daffodils are starting to push through the ground....

Well, amy, the ground up here is still like a rock ....

No snow ...

So the cold pushed the frost right down ....

After a lot of years ...

I am finally finishing framing and covering the rest of my roof with plywood ...

And then that "ice and snow" material ...

Which sticks hard to the plywood ....

And makes a real good "base" to put the copper over ....

And so ...

Days like today for me are heaven sent .....

I didn't think I would be able to finish this early ...

But because of the warm days .....

I'm now almost "home" ...

And so ....

Snuf, it's supposed to drop down cold this weekend ...

From what I hear now ...

But I don't think snow is coming ....

And so ...

Safe travels ...

Like amy says, spring is definitely on the way ...

And here ...

I am relaying a message from Mr. A.B. ....

That he is alive and well .....

But that he is going to take a little time off .....

To do some other things .....

And so .....

What I told Mr. A.B. .....

Is that we would keep the home fires burning for him in here ....

Which is easy enough to do ....

Given the virtually unlimitless supply of fire wood that we have access to in here .....

Coupled with Gabrielle's wonderful stove ....

And that we would keep a light on for him, in the window ...

And so ..

Safe travels, Mr. A.B. ....

And may the road always rise upwards to meet your feet as you go .....

I hope A.B. doesn't take too long a break from here...I will miss his presence ....

me too

Well, Snuf ....

Now, there is snow on the way .....

Somewhere up here, anyway ....

And so ..

Safe travels up here in the hinterlands of civilization ....

Although actually ...

From what it sounds like ....

You might actually be cruising more through civilization itself ...

To the south of us up here ...

And so .....

Safe travels, anyway .....

The panda already misses him.



Good Night to Livy, Jeff, Snuffy, to all who visit here and to A.B. wherever you are...

Awesome, amy .....

Well ...

I just looked out the window ....

And there is the snow ....

Not heavy, yet ...

Just snow ...

And it's kind of nippy out there as well ....

How about you, jeffmoskin ...

Has the snow got to you yet?

How much snow is expected where you are? Sunny, cold and very windy here... kind of refreshing though when I had my dog out for his morning walk...

I, too, looked out the window at the snow.

It is up on the San Gabriel and San Bernardino Mountains.

Above the 5,000 foot level.

Where it belongs.

If I want to freeze my *ss off one day, I can leave my sunny 65 degree home, and drive there in about two hours.

More important to us here, there is a 30 foot snowpack in the Sierra Nevada Mountains (300 miles north) from whence we get all our water.

To be truthful, amy, it is impossible to ever really answer that question anymore up here ....

The forecasts are all over the place, and if you listen to 3 or 4 different sources, you get maybe 16 or 20 different opinions ....

They had this up to 5 inches or more ...

But its really just dusting where I am ....

Because this one is coming in from the west ...

And it is moisture-starved ....

Really light powder .....

Very civilized, actually ....

And now ...

Well ...

It's just kind of cold ...

Colder than it has been for a good chunk of this winter, anyway ...

And it will be that way for a few days it seems ....

Strange times indeed up here in the hinterlands of civilization ....

Where we are having summer thunder storms in the winter ...

And spring weather in January ..

And now winter weather at the end of February going into March ....

IS MARCH GOING TO COME IN LIKE A LION?

OR A LAMB?

The question of the morning, here in Mr. A.B.'s Corner, where the fire in Gabrielle's stove remains blazing away, at least for us people in places where it is kind of cold ...

And so ...

Please ...

Come in ...

Sit down ...

Relax ...

And take a load off .....

That is what all the comfortable chairs around the stove are for, after all ...

If you see one that is unoccupied ...

Why just plunk yourself right on down ...

And enjoy ....

And dozing is permitted ...

For that is what roaring fires are for ...

Or so I find, anyway ..

And so .....

We need Gabrielle's stove here, today...windy and cold!

I can't enjoy the fireside chat for too long today...as I mentioned in the t'ai chi area, I've waged a full scale war with the clutter that's clogging up my space! Of course, as I dispose of useless things, there's lots of trash to take out...a minor inconvenience in light of how much I will enjoy a clutter-free environment!

This author has the right idea..

This looks like me and my clutter loving husband....


And....yes! Finally, in the trash! Success..

Well .....

Over here in that north-east corner of Mr. A.B.s place that I usually plunk myself down in, because it is quiet over here, the outside temperature is reading 22 degrees on the Fahrenheit scale .....

But of course, I am over here in the shade ....

And so ...

Jeffmoskin ...

He likes that opposite corner over there on the south side of the west corner ....

I bet it's sunny and warm over there alright ....

It is always something to come out of the house on a cold morning like today ....

To hear all of the birds singing out there ....

Singing to their heart's content, is what it sounds like to me, anyway ...

No melancholy because it is cold .....

And so ...

Perhaps for me, there is some lesson in that ...

And so ....

A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package.

"What food might this contain?," the mouse wondered ...

He was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap.

Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning:

"There is a mousetrap in the house!"

"There is a mousetrap in the house!"

The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, "Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me."

"I cannot be bothered by it."

The mouse turned to the pig and told him, "There is a mousetrap in the house!"

"There is a mousetrap in the house!"

The pig sympathized, but said, "I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray."

"Be assured you are in my prayers."

The mouse turned to the cow and said "There is a mousetrap in the house!"

"There is a mousetrap in the house!"

The cow said, "Wow, Mr. Mouse!"

"I'm sorry for you, but it's no skin off my nose."

So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer's mousetrap alone.

That very night a sound was heard throughout the house -- like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey.

The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught.

In the darkness, she did not see it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught.

The snake bit the farmer's wife.

The farmer rushed her to the hospital, and she returned home with a fever.

Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard!

For the soup's main ingredient.

But his wife's sickness continued, so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock.

To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig.

The farmer's wife did not get well; she died.

So many people came for her funeral, the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them.

The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness.

So, the next time you hear someone is facing a problem and think it doesn't concern you, remember -- when one of us is threatened, we are all at risk.

We are all involved in this journey called life.

We must keep an eye out for one another and make an extra effort to encourage one another.

REMEMBER: EACH OF US IS A VITAL THREAD IN ANOTHER PERSON'S TAPESTRY; OUR LIVES ARE WOVEN TOGETHER FOR A REASON.

And so ....

"The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese." - Steven Wright

Now there is an interesting perspective, jeffmoskin ....

Sometimes the advantage does not go to he who is first .....

Better to be a foot behind .....

Than an inch too far ahead ....

The sun is shining, the birds are singing unaware that tomorrow about 5 inches of snow combined with sleet is arriving in the AM....time to refill the bird feeders, get out the ice-melt and make sure the shovels are close by....


I think I'll enjoy another cup of coffee before I get busy doing all that..

Spring IS on the way!

Jeff, please refrain from making comments about your gorgeous California weather!

"/////////////////////////////////////////////////////"

And that's all I have to say about that.

Thank you for exercising a bit of restraint...

We may live in the deep freeze, but our hats are prettier than your hats...so there!

amy is illuminating OUR world in here ...

Never know what to expect next ....

Go for it, amy .....

The world is your pallet for your colors .....

Are those pixies, amy ....

Or sprites ....

Whatever ....

They are awesome, too .....

I didn't see them as forms at first ....

I saw them as colors .....

And then ...

They resolved themselves into who they are .....

Well, I think they are some form of sprite or pixie as might be found in Irish forests....members of the "Wee People" community along with the leprachauns, of course...did you happen to meet up with any when you were in Ireland? :clover: :irish1:

Well, amy ...

If I gave a truthful answer to that question ...

People might think I had lost my wits ....

And so ....

Well, I froze my ass off in Rhode Island this weekend. Three degrees Sunday morning. I'm not used to dealing or dressing well for wind chill. But I had the most extraoridnary winter sunlight views of sunrise on Bristol Harbor and Narragansett Bay. Shot some film as well. Hope the photos turn out. Its somewhat warmer in DC - although I still feel the chill from last weekend. It was cold.

Well, Snuf ...

Good to hear from you ..

We were getting ready to send the Mounties out there to look for you ....

And you have to learn that trick of dressing in layers ....

It really does work ....

Yes, I suppose so! :irish1:

When I was young ...

Over across the creek ....

In the woods ....

There was a grove of white birch .....

And for me as a kid ....

It was magical in there .....

Those woods are mine now ...

But the birch grove is long gone .....

And it is hard for me to find where it even was ...

I always thought that if I was going to see a unicorn ...

It would be in a place like that ......

And I still do ...

Except the grove is gone ...

And so ..

If I want unicorns in my life ...

Which is never a bad thing at any age ....

I have to make that place happen again ...

And so .....

We call that "character building" up here .....

When you have to be out in the cold doing something .....

A couple of winters, I stayed with some folks who had a small herd of cattle on the east side of the Wind River Mountains in Wyoming near Crow Heart Butte .....

Good people who needed a hand that I could lend at that time ....

And I would get in hay for them ...

And then, in the winter .....

Regardless of the weather .....

My job was to help feed the cattle .....

Every morning .....

Regardless ....

Cows eat before humans do ...

And that is that .....

It got so cold a few times that the propane in people's outside tanks would not "flow" .....

So people had no heat ....

The outside tanks had to have little houses around them, to protect them from that phenomena in the real cold of winter ......

The cattle were just out there .....

They had to live or die on their own .....

And that one winter ...

They did .....

They froze to death standing up in a blizzard ......

And when the snow melted ...

There they were .....

You have to learn how to dress when it is like that ...

Or you sure can suffer .....

And that is a fact ....

And that is a fact. Right you are Liv.

Good Morning !



When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is
to be alive - to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.
-   Marcus Aurelius

You brighten up our world in here, amy .....

Which then has the effect of brightening it up out there ...

And so ....

That is not a bad thing at all ...

So far as I can see anyway ....

And what a pleasant surprise these little treats of yours are to the eye!

Well, amy, there is a thought to start the day with ....

Every day ....

Warm or cold ...

Sun or rain ....

Whatever .....

I go outside in the morning ...

And the first thing I do is to take a breath of fresh air ...

And then, I listen to what the birds have to say ....

And then ...

Well .....

Who knows?

Until sundown ...

And then ....

That day is over ...

And so ....

What's to get excited about?

Except life itself ...

And so ....

First thing I do when I wake up is check the obituaries in the LA Times. If I don't see my name, I know it's going to be a GREAT DAY.