AllanThinks

Twins

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Mother Nature is kind of a bitch this time of year.

The weather has been glorious the past two days. Sunny, warm, an barely a cloud in the sky.

Yesterday Alison and I took our cameras, and went for a long walk down to the University campus, where we took photos and did some shopping. We ended up stopping at Pazzo's Pub, one of our favorite watering holes, where we sat out on their patio, drank a few beers in honor of St. Patrick, and enjoyed an appetizer of pesto bread.

We ran into some old friends of mine, and were later joined by some more friends who shared a couple of pitchers of Kentucky Ale, and some more appetizers with us. They were kind enough to give us a ride home five hours after we had set out on our adventure.

Today, we rode our bicycles downtown to Third Street Stuff Coffee and Gift Shop, where Alison had iced tea, and I had iced coffee. We haven't had the bikes out of the garage since last fall. It was great to ride again, despite having to navigate the terrible traffic in this town. The ride home was during rush hour, and my knuckles were white by the time we got home.

It would be nice to do it again tomorrow, but the weather is expected to be rainy, and the temperature some 25 degrees lower than it was yesterday and today.

This winter has seemed twice as long as usual for Kentucky. I am so over it. But it looks like it will be a while before the spring weather will be here to stay.

I will be so glad when winter is over.

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Despite being able to take photos like this.

The ice is gone from the trees and power lines, but there is still ice on the lawns, and on some sidewalks and streets. Our street was plowed the past two days, and is more or less free of ice.

I spent a lot of time last night and today trying to get the three inches of ice and packed, frozen, slush off the back porch. I finally cleared it, only to have the water left behind refreeze into a thin layer of black ice. And ice melter is in very short supply in town.

This afternoon, while downtown with Alison, I slipped on ice, and fell like a sack of potatoes. On my right side this time, unlike just before Christmas, when I skated off the porch and landed on my left side.

When we got home, I took some Advil and arnica, but I have a feeling I am going to be very stiff and sore in the morning. I'm already aching all over.  I wonder if bourbon would help.

And to top it off, there is snow forecast for overnight and tomorrow.

Happy Groundhog Day.

Weather Update

As many of you know, Kentucky, along with a large part of the midwest, was hit by a very severe winter storm this week. Snow, followed by 24 hours of freezing rain, followed by more snow.

From what I have read, and heard, it is as bad as, or worse than the storm in 2003.

I have been stressed out about it all week, wondering if the power was going to go out here like it did then. That was a very traumatic few days for me, and I have had flashbacks all this week. Many of my friends have as well.

Luckily, Alison and I have not lost power to our house. Many around us have though, and many might not have their power restored for 2 weeks or more. With the trees and power lines coated with a half inch of ice, we could still find ourselves in the dark.

The precipitation ended yesterday morning, and in the afternoon, we went for a walk around the neighborhood. Conditions were bad. Trees and utility lines were down everywhere, and many streets were blocked.

Tuesday night, and yesterday, I took a lot of photos. It was one way I tried to keep my fears at bay.

I also tried to find some beauty in the destruction.

You can view a brief slideshow of my photos after the jump.

One more before I try to get some sleep

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This Afternoon

And this evening.

As always, the photos are clickable. If you do click them, you will be taken to their Flickr pages, where you can see a larger version of them.

Not as bad as it could have been.

When I awoke this morning, there was about one and a half inches of snow on the ground, but the precipitation had changed back to a very light rain. Unfortunately, it was 25 degrees outside.

This wasn't nearly as bad as the half inch of ice and four inches of snow that the weather service had predicted at one time yesterday.

The current winter storm warning, which is in effect until 7 p.m., calls for a mixture of sleet and freezing rain today, with as much as a quarter inch of ice accumulating.

Right now, it is not raining, sleeting, or snowing, and the temperature is up to 28 degrees.

The radar seems to indicate the storm has moved to our northeast. I hope there isn't anything else coming in from the southwest.

Oh. Crap.

...WINTER STORM WARNING NOW IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM EST /6 PM CST/ TUESDAY... AN AREA OF PRECIPITATION WILL MOVE BACK INTO THE REGION TONIGHT WITH THE HEAVIEST AMOUNTS EXPECTED TO FALL AFTER 4AM.

ACROSS SOUTH CENTRAL INDIANA AND NORTH CENTRAL KENTUCKY A MIXTURE OF SNOW AND SLEET IS EXPECTED... CHANGING TO SLEET AND FREEZING RAIN LATE TUESDAY AFTERNOON. ACROSS SOUTH CENTRAL KENTUCKY A MIX OF SLEET AND FREEZING RAIN WILL LIKELY OCCUR WITH THE PREVALENT PRECIPITATION BEING FREEZING RAIN.

OVER THE BLUEGRASS REGION OF CENTRAL KENTUCKY A MIX OF SNOW AND SLEET IS EXPECTED TONIGHT... CHANGING TO ALL FREEZING RAIN BY MID MORNING TUESDAY. THE FREEZING RAIN WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE DAY AND GRADUALLY CHANGE TO RAIN TUESDAY NIGHT.

THE MIXED PRECIPITATION WILL GREATLY AFFECT THE TUESDAY MORNING AND AFTERNOON COMMUTE. FREEZING RAIN MAY ALSO SNAP POWER LINES AND TREE BRANCHES. REMEMBER... DO NOT TOUCH A DOWNED POWER LINE.

THIS WINTER STORM WARNING MEANS SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS SLEET OR FREEZING RAIN ARE EXPECTED. THIS WILL MAKE TRAVEL VERY HAZARDOUS OR IMPOSSIBLE.

Unfortunately, the mix of snow and sleet expected over our area tonight is actually a mix of freezing rain and sleet.

This could get ugly.

Oh Snap!

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LOUISVILLE HAS ISSUED A WINTER
STORM WARNING...EFFECTIVE FROM NOON EST /11 AM CST/ TODAY TO 7 AM
EST /6 AM CST/ TUESDAY. THE WINTER STORM WATCH IS NO LONGER IN
EFFECT.

ONE TO FOUR INCHES OF SNOW AND ICE ARE EXPECTED TO ACCUMULATE THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. THIS WINTRY MIX WILL AFFECT THE MONDAY AFTERNOON AND TUESDAY MORNING RUSH HOUR.

I don't mind the snow. It's the ice part that scares me. It's only been 5 years since the last cataclysmic ice storm here.

That's just too soon.

I hope they are wrong.

Amber Moon

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This is what the moon looked like Thursday evening.

Oh, well.

I can't remember the last time it rained all day on the 4th of July. But it looks like it is going to rain all day here. It might clear out by evening, but the radar and the forecast don't offer much hope.

I feel sure many of the planned festivities will go on, but I won't be downtown documenting the day with my camera.

It's just as well, I guess. It gives me a chance to shop for a birthday gift for Alison (yes, her birthday is Sunday, so don't forget to wish her a happy one), and for some other stuff we need before Ali and the kids get home tomorrow afternoon.

I hope your holiday is a dry, safe, and fun one.

Fob

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Exposure:  0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/22
Focal Length: 105 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: -4/3 EV
Light Source: Flash

Sorry for the lack of posts. We've been very busy preparing for a gathering of friends here next weekend. There is still much to do.

I try to take a photo or two every day. You can always see the latest on my Flickr photostream. 

For those of you who use RSS Feed readers, my latest photo uploads are fed here.

Mike is in town for the UK-LSU game, so I will be attending the game with him. It's perfect football weather, and despite the fact LSU (the #1 team in the country) is likely to win the game, I plan to enjoy the day.

I hope your weather is just as good, and that you have a great weekend.

al fresco

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It's (almost) summertime, and the livin' is easy.

Here is a view of our ersatz patio. Ali and I are sitting here with our laptops, the speakers attached to the Roku Soundbridge pointed out the window, with tasty adult beverages.

The temperature is in the upper 70s.

Life is good.

It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

Click image for a much better view. Really. Click it. You won't be disappointed.

You can see this and other photos I took at the arboretum on my photostream.

I Have A New Hobby

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This morning, Ali and I attended a basic knitting class at a nearby yarn shop. Both of us are complete noobs, but we both picked it up pretty fast.

This photo is of my needles, the free ball of yarn we received, and the 4 or 5 rows that I knitted while there.

We have plans to go somewhere this afternoon, but it has started snowing here and we are under a winter storm warning. We could get up to 6 inches of snow by midnight.

I might end up with a lot of free time today to practice my knitting.

A Different Side of Winter

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This is what we awoke to yesterday morning. We got a couple of inches of snow.

Then the temperatures dropped, and are expected to drop further. By Monday morning, the temperature should be in the single digits.

It is currently sunny and in the mid 20s, but it is very windy. But it is enough to melt the ice off the sidewalks and driveway. Hopefully the melt will evaporate before the temperature drops again at sunset.

In Her Icy Grip

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"Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice."*

This is what I awoke to this morning. This is my new worry. Ice.

The last ice storm we had here was four years ago. It was called a 'storm of the century'. It crippled the city for weeks. The cleanup after the storm took almost a year.

I lived for 4 days without electricity or heat. Many people did not get their electricity restored for up to three weeks.

It was awful. A nightmare.

Our forecast originally called for snow overnight. Snow I can live with. But before going to bed at 1:30 this morning, I looked outside and saw that it was raining. I also noted that the temperature was 30ºF/-1.1ºC.

I turned on the weather radio to hear the new warnings of freezing rain. It's a wonder that I slept at all. But I did.

The forecast claims the rain will end by noon and that the temperature will rise above freezing.

I hope they are right.

*Robert Frost

Office Space

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It was a beautiful, sunny day here in Kentucky. A one day respite from the clouds. The forecast calls for snow this weekend, so we were determined to get out and enjoy the day.

My sister had called last night to invite us to meet her for lunch today, and to ask for our help in finalizing the configuration of her new computer.

So after lunch we headed to her house (just a few blocks from the café where we dined). There wasn't much left to do. The new laptop came loaded with a three month trial of Microsoft Office, a suite of programs which she uses for her business. She could not find the registration key to activate it.

After a bit of searching, it was found and the trial activated. Since she can't do without it, we went ahead and upgraded it to the full Standard Edition.

Once it was all set up, I then exported her contacts from an old computer and imported them into the new setup. I also configured her email so Outlook would poll her mail server.

Before we left, I took this photo. Her workspace is a lot less cluttered than it was before she bought this new computer. Before, she had a monitor, keyboard, mouse and mousepad, and way too many cables connecting everything together. Those cables also snaked down below the desk to the huge tower case that held the CPU and all the drives.

She had been considering an expensive remodeling of the office to make it more efficient, but know she is reconsidering, since the area is much roomier and comfortable to use.

After we left her place, we stopped by home for a bit, then grabbed our cameras and headed out into the surrounding countryside for some sightseeing. I took Alison to see parts of Central Kentucky she had yet to see. We drove down to Boone Creek (named after Daniel Boone who established Fort Boonesborough near it).

I wish we could have gotten some photos while down there, but Grimes Mill Road, across which we drove was very narrow and winding, and there were no places to pull off that weren't private property.

We'll head back out there again soon, and see if there is a different approach we can take to that part of the creek where we can stop for photos.

Time to close. I'm hungry, and we have some Greek food for dinner this evening.

Originally posted on my Flickr Daily Photo Diary.

Unrelenting

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It's raining here. Heavy rain. There are flood watches and warnings all over the state. This is the third straight day of steady rain.

It is also unseasonably warm. I was still awake at 3 in the morning, and what did I see fly across my computer screen? A mosquito! It's January, for goodness sake! It's supposed to be winter. All the mosquitoes are supposed to be dead.

The temperature is forecast to drop tomorrow for a few days. More in line with the norm for this time of year. And the rain should end as snow flurries. I hope the forecasters are right.

I guess I shouldn't complain about the rain. The plains states had several days of freezing rain and over 20 people lost their lives due to this storm.

But still, the relentless rain and dreary skies will suck the soul out you after a while.