Ahira's Hangar

My dearly departed father would have been 72 years old today. We (the extended family) went to a beautiful reserve known as the waterworks for a BBQ and memorial gathering. The weather was unbelievably superb - it was a cloudless sky, temperature down to about 24 C, not a drop of wind. The kids played happily, it was almost like he was there making sure the evening went well. Weather can be a great catalyst sometimes...

Cool idea.

--A

Happy y'all had a great day, StevieG.

MsMary, too bad about your roof.

It's been cold here, and snowy. I bailed early on classes last Saturday because of the snow and had a horrible time getting home. Tonight we're supposed to have snow again. And another storm may be coming this Friday/Saturday. Dunno why I bothered to pay for Czech classes at all this semester, if every weekend's going to be snowed out... <mutter grumble>

Bizzarro winter continues. Another huge snowstorm brushing by us on its way east. Parts of the east coast like Washington DC are due for a couple of feet of snow - we'll get a couple of inches at most and then only in the counties on the southern borders with Indiana and Ohio.

I cannot remember a winter in my lifetime where places like Texas, Georgia, Washington DC, and North Carolina got more - a ton more of snow - than Detroit. I am not going to complain, though.

30°C in Joburg today. And the rain has largely stopped.

--A

I'm keeping in mind that for the northern hemisphere, all this snow means it is only six more days until the start of !

How close to the action are you, neo?

Heh. From what I understand Vancouver is having the warmest winter in its history, and the daffodils are blooming there!

Washington DC might have been a better choice for the Winter Olympics this year than Vancouver!

No kidding, duchess. I hear Vancouver may be importing snow for the events. That's irony for you.

Well, Menolly, I'm afraid I'm not anywhere near the action.
I very briefly contemplated going to Vancouver, but it wasn't a serious thought.
And now that I don't have TV service, I'll have to rely on the network websites for coverage.
I probably should have waited until after the Olympics to cancel cable. Oh well.
If I miss TV badly enough, I might have to crawl back to my cable company, heh.

We will be getting our first winter storm of the year tomorrow! Up to a foot of snow and possible blizzard strength winds.

I guess I should explain to those who do not live in snow country the difference between a snow storm and a blizzard. It is all in the winds and has nothing to do with total amount of snow fall.

It is like comparing a bad thunderstorm with a tropical storm or hurricane. A bad thunderstorm can cause a lot of damage if it dumps a bunch of rain - but the strong winds combined with heavy rains can make a tropical storm or hurricane a lot more dangerous.

In the case of a blizzard the strong winds whip the snow through the air sideways so you cannot literally see the hand in front of your face, much less see where you are walking or driving. So people get lost, and sometimes no one can find them until the winds subside, and by then it can be too late and they have died from exposure (especially if they are on foot).

And yeah - it will be heading right for Washington DC after us.

(Since I have to work tomorrow night and will have to drive home in the middle of the night at the height of the storm, I plan on packing an overnight bag and getting a room in Ann Arbor if the roads are as bad as they are predicting. If the storm fizzles out, or if it is just heavy snow rather than heavy snow and winds I will just come home in the Jeep).

Hopefully things are going well with your roof MsMary!

Man, I'm glad I live in Africa.

--A

The snowstorm began this morning but is already pretty nasty. They had to close the freeway intersection a few miles from my house due to a fatality accident when some poor woman in a car was t-boned by a garbage truck (of all the disgusting things) and smashed into a concrete barrier and killed. So eastbound I-94 has been closed pretty much all day, with backups of more than a mile on that freeway and the backups spilling onto the crossfreeway (US23) as well.

I am going to try to get home tonight rather than get a room. The heavy winds are not due to start until sometime tomorrow morning, and I can hopefully make it home before then. I will have to drive in about six inches of fresh snow, which is not too bad in a Jeep as long as I have visibility.

My husband pointed out that our elder son's university never closes, even though it is primarily a commuter school. Therefore he will need my Jeep to make it to classes tomorrow. So I have to get the Jeep home.