The pace of the kitchen/home remodeling project has slowed to a crawl. As we all await delivery of the Cambria solid surface cabinet tops, the contractor has dispatched his crew to other jobs. I get to paint many, many feet of trim and shoe moulding to replace the old stuff, torn out during re-flooring. The painting isn’t difficult, really, and the acrylic enamel paint isn’t even smelly; the difficulty comes in handling all those 15-foot lengths of millwork as I paint them, allow them to dry, then attempt to store until they are installed — hopefully later this week! In the mean time, I clean and paint the moulding and while it dries, I pursue other activities such as preparing a postal mailing for the annual bicycle events calendar. I also hope to assemble my annual photo-calendar which will be available for purchase beginning in December. Returning from today’s errand run, I spied birds on our feeder and hauled out the Canon G11 for a quick snapshot or two. The Cardinals and Blue Jays were camera-shy and took flight but the smaller Goldfinches stayed in the tree, eventually returning to grab morsels of seed. It’s a gray, chilly day out there, perfect for indoor projects.
weather
All posts tagged weather
There’s S*** on My Car! Thanksgiving Day was very pleasant. Despite my misery from a head cold and the OTC med I took to stop the sniffles, we had an easy drive and a good visit with relatives. The day brought partly-cloudy skies and mild temperatures. Today started off damp but well enough. As the day progressed, however, clouds continued to thicken, the winds came up, the temperatures went down; when evening came it was prematurely dark and snowy-icy bits were falling from the sky. I walked from my office to the car and found it covered with a thin layer of s***. Tonight the wind is howling and, whereas we started the day with a temperature of 52 degrees (F), it is now 31 and feeling like winter. Suddenly the Christmas carols that some radio stations here have been playing don’t seem to be so premature!
A week after “Superstorm” Sandy inundated the region with days of wind-driven rain, some areas remain wet. This morning I spied a place within the Cleveland Metroparks that was more reflecting pool than picnic area. The water is slowly receding from beneath the tables and grill and, in a few days, only muddy earth with remain. In the mean time it’s no picnic.
We crossed the state of Ohio twice today, visiting family. It was today that a cold weather front collided with the northeastern-most edge of Hurricane Sandy. The hurricane is a large storm which, during the day, has taken the form of an open pinwheel. Clouds over the region were oriented north and south and took on strange, drawn-out shapes and dark colors as they rapidly evolved overhead. I felt compelled to step outside, at one point, to capture some images of the sky-show! As we headed westbound on the Ohio Turnpike this morning, across the median we saw scores of electrical utility and tree service trucks eastbound; they were, no doubt, headed to the Mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. to assist with power outages and downed trees.
The winds grew stronger as the day wore on: cold and dry in Northwestern Ohio, cold and wet in the Northeastern parts of the state. Heading back this evening, most of our journey was inside the storm — not a hurricane for us, but a tense and unpleasant trip nonetheless. The next few days promise to be cold, dark, and wet around here as we deal with the outskirts of a big storm heralded by today’s dramatic October sky.
Thursday’s sunrise, ushering in a rainy morning, was spectacular! Low-angle, warm sunlight illuminated bands of clouds high overhead — the bands and swirls actually reminded me of the cloud bands of planet Jupiter, though ours were a different color. I had high-tailed it to the closest vantage point where my camera could get a halfway decent view. In the few minutes as I watched, the sunrise colors changed from hot pink, through red-orange, to a faded yellow. This is what I got: Before the storm – sunrise over the antenna farm.
We spent a lovely late-morning on a photo-walk around the lake at the Wellington Reservation of Lorain County (Ohio) Metro Parks. Fast-moving clouds at times obscured the sun but between those clouds, bright blue sky showed. The air was brisk, fresh, and carried the light scent of fallen leaves. Yesterday was dark and wet. Today was bright and dry; a day of a different sort.
I was to have led a local event celebrating International Observe the Moon Night tonight but the weather has been unfriendly to such endeavors! There was one giant “sucker hole” that let me see the Moon briefly; it was quickly replaced by something pretty spectacular but much closer to home…













