24 November 2014

an atypical Sunday

Yesterday's Sunday showed no sun but plenty of rain - and morning thunder!  Several nearby strikes and a half-hour power outage made for interesting and unusual morning; any day with thunderstorms before noon is rare around here.

The freshly functioning weather station shows about two inches of rain in 2+ days.. and the next storm is again pointed at SW Washington = us!  The gutter nearest the woodpile overflowed a bit yesterday, I knew I had missed a few spots after the leaves had mostly come down :-o

21 November 2014

back to typical late-autumn weather

After several days where the low-angled sun did not reach our frost-bitten driveway we are now back to temps in the 40s and light rain.  The frozen windshield did prompt me to open more space in the large 'garage' so the car now fits indoors when conditions require it.  Both garages are a fair walk from the house so I chose the one with an opener over the nearer one with the heavy door that must be opened manually!

After discovering Reset buttons on some of the equipment, I have a fully-functioning weather system on the property.  The wind gage was not working during the strongest easterly winds but now it's up and spinning data to the base, and the replacement rain gage now works for the first time ever.  Here's a drippy shot of the anemometer with winds at zero and thick drizzle..

Now to learn if I can get any of it published to my website!  And where to stick a weather cam around here.

12 November 2014

taste of winter #1

Worse in Portland - but this will do!  Winter Storm Watch for a bunch of us.

* ACCUMULATIONS...SNOW ACCUMULATIONS COULD REACH 1 TO 4 INCHES...WITH ROUGHLY A QUARTER OF AN INCH OF ICE POSSIBLE IN THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING.

The east wind has been filling the area with cold dry air, step one in the process.  I now have the wind gage working on our weather station thanks to a base-receiver reboot.  I do wish I had thought of that earlier...

********** Snowstorm Update!! ***********
Nothing - just a few flurries and snow pellets.  No ground covered, no big deal at home.  Still not a great day to drive with nervous folks all around, but the storm did not come as far north as expected.  One of the weather models did get this right with its more southern landfall, and it was not the ECMWF this time!

10 November 2014

NWS weather spotter

I took the online weather-spotter 'webinar' recently and now have an ID.  I can now send in extreme-weather data to the Weather Service and be seen in the LSRPQR reports!  Sounds exciting but let's be honest: this is a rare deal that attributes nothing to me personally.  LSR is a local storm report, PQR means it's in the Portland office.  Maybe some day I will see a load of snow, a load of rain or a funnel cloud and check  in, but they don't want to hear reports of 'yup another quarter inch of rain' in November.

Cheap thrills but not insignificant, as such reports point out possible model errors and improve forecasts in the long run.  Everybody wins!

a good day's work

Enough leaves finally dropped last week for me to step out on a now-rare dry day to rake them up.  After about 20 minutes of work I took the Q out for an interval-movie of me raking the yard.  Forty-five minutes, 45 frames.  First the beer died, then the rake - the camera expired next then the leaves, leaving me the last one standing.  Victory is mine!

The muscles expired soon after.. and ten days later a fresh coating of the last local leaves waited their turn.

09 November 2014

welcome!

We've been in our new home for over three months, and it feels like notes about it deserve their own 'blog -- so here it is!  General home commentary and weather 'reports' will be featured; for camera commentary visit  granitix.blogspot.com, while more ethereal musings can be seen at lifenotes-jr.blogspot.com -- that's all the blogsites I have, for now!

Moving to a new place has its many stresses, and some do not end when the moving truck/container leaves.  We bought this home in midsummer when trees were green and the sun shone on the deck every morning.  Now it's deep autumn, and the leaves are mostly in a large pile on the driveway (the last bunch are now cluttering the yard for a final farewell), and the deck receives a bit of sunshine if you are willing to stand up!  No stress at this point, just anticipation - but if snow piles deep or roads fall into creeks?  Those weren't issues in the Big City, but here it needs to be considered!

Many items are still seeking a location here, but the garage(s) are less full and a bit more organized.  this is a damp location so mildew is a concern, so clothes and paperwork have priority admission into the home,  The wood stove has been pretty  busy in November, I can imagine  that by February the donated woodpile that came with the home will be looking mighty thin.  We have a fine electric furnace insead of gas, so winter bills will be fewer but it will look larger to have light and heat on the same page.

Well that's enough for the commencement post.  We have many dreams of improvements here, but other expenses must be brought into line first.  Many of those dreams are outdoor ones - so for now it's spectator time!