Well, the crazy Christmas work schedule is finally over for us, and so Kelly and I have been relaxing somewhat today. I did manage to get some pictures of the setup for Lessons and Carols.
Tag: weather
Winter kitteh bundles
As the weather grows cooler, Kelly and I can always tell the nights it is getting really cold because we will suddenly see more animals at bedtime. Rerun and Thumbelina are always with us, but as the temperature outside drops we start seeing Scratch curl up with us at bedtime. The last animal to join in is Bucky, and so when we see him it usually means the temperature is going below freezing. But it also means we get to see lots of cuddling little kittehs and puppehs, like this shot of little Scratchling.
Kitteh photos always make things better.
-Geoff
Why backups are important…
and I am not just talking about backing up your data. I am talking about having backup plans for emergencies. And now that some time has passed I can talk about Hurricane Sandy and some of the terrible things that went wrong in New York and New Jersey.
Boy, winter sure came early
Mark Twain had a lot of wonderful witty things to say about New England weather, and the most relevant (and true) for today would certainly be this one, from a speech he gave in 1876:
One of the brightest gems in the New England weather is the dazzling uncertainty of it.
Oh, boy, is he so right. Although the cold and rain was predicted, as was the high winds, I don’t think anyone thought that we would have any appreciable snow here in Boston today, and yet we got enough to turn the roads into quite a slushy mess.
Autumn in New England
My favorite season is autumn, especially here in New England. I love walking and hiking in autumn, when the trees are turning and the weather is just perfect for being outside. And in the fall you have all these wonderful holidays, one after another. This year is a bit different because we are working so much, and so many holidays will be work days for us. Working for a church as I do means that most big holidays are work days. Even Thanksgiving. Still, I love fall, and I will try to take advantage of the season when I can.
-Geoff
About that whole “chicken little” thing
New England weather is notoriously unpredictable. Even with the vast improvements in technology and knowledge, no forecaster is going to be able to predict the weather with absolute certainty, especially far in advance. But when virtually all the meteorologists I read start sounding really concerned about a weather event, it might be time to start paying attention rather than poo-pooing it.
U.S. military trains for zombie fighting
In time for Halloween, the military put on a joint training exercise that features… a zombie attack. While I am amused to no end, I do respect the attempts by the government to get people interested in emergency preparedness by using zombies as a training tool. It’s just like what the CDC did not too long ago. And as Hurricane Sandy should be making apparent to everyone, some basic emergency preparedness is a good thing. I may get to spend some more time outside in the rain like I did for last year’s hurricane, trying to make sure people don’t drive into downed power lines. We’ll see.
-Geoff
So long, DirecTV. We’ll miss you.
This past week Kelly and I ended our service with our satellite provider. Kelly had been a customer with them for some six or more years, and she loves them. But we have been unable to get them to fix our problem for us, and so we ended our service. No point in paying for something that isn’t working, especially when you are as poor as us.
It’s getting cold outside
That means that it’s time to save a life.
What will this year’s winter be like?
I have been reading some of the long-range forecasts for this upcoming fall and winter. Generally speaking, it seems they are predicting a pretty mild fall with temperatures above normal, and then it looks like this winter will most definitely not be like last winter.
The Books are Taking Over... 