Becalmed

I do find myself a little underwhelmed tonight...the weather has reached monotonous territory around the Tahoe Sierra. I feel like I've been watching the midsummer weather on Bay Area TV...the very textbook definition of monotony...I even saw the telltale signs in Thursday afternoon's Reno AFD!

Searching in vain for a little meteo-stimulation, I looked at the January 90 Day Climate Outlook Discussion. Wadda know? All the new to me acronyms are there in black and white. Some of these weather discussions can be a little dry, and this one in particular is.

The sad thing is it's calling for continued dry weather, and calling the La Niña moderate to strong.

I jumped to the Northstar Weather Discussion Blog and found a tiny ray of hope. It seems the models are starting to suggest that the ridge over the West Coast may be retrograding soon. If the ridge moves west, temps will fall in the High Sierra, and the storm door may open again.

I guess you could say I'm feeling a little like I imagine a sailing ship's captain whose mighty sailing vessel is dead in the water, becalmed by the lack of tradewinds somewhere adrift in the Horse Latitudes.

I've surely been overstimulated by all the adrenaline producing early winter and late fall heavy weather. I miss my adrenaline! Not to mention my Hero Snow!

Streaking

Well, my streak of good nights continues...as does this streak of zero snowfall. I heard the weatherdude on KCRA3 say another week ahead without rain or snow. Tuesday nights steady East Wind put the punctuation mark on his remarks.

My tractor continues to run like a gazelle, the cab of my pickup is finally drying out, and I've deployed sunglasses every morning this week...these are the Good Old Days!

Now, about the weather...I found another Tahoe Sierra Blog, Northstar Weather Discussion. I see more alphabet soup weather cycles cited in this blog...right up my alley!

As is always possible with La Niña events, Winter could end early...not what the boater in me wants or needs...lots of winter snow means wet boat ramps in October!

Skiing is good, the resorts are above the valley fog, but helmets are a very good idea....

My Mountain is still grooming out nicely, and with the East Wind back, afternoon high temps are back to normal...Mid-January is way too early for the Corn Snow and Concrete Regime to set in!

So I guess I'll bone up on the new to me weather acronyms...MJO, PNA, NAO, so I can better understand the forecasts.

Cold weather will be good for ice fishermen...I gotta get a day on the ice in this season!

A Good Tired

All this family togetherness, and my lingering chest cold have taken their toll on me today...It couldn't be the frenzy of errands and chores I churned out once the Siskiyou Wing and Sister Sweetly headed home to the Great Green North this morning. Sister K made her exit Sunday afternoon...the better to get home to Hubby and her Birthday Dinner!

So, the trip to COSTCO, Trader Joe's, Smart & Final and Safeway are behind me. The Christmas Tree has been undecorated, moved outside and limbed so that it will fit in the Green Waste Recycling Bin.

I've managed to get an hour of packing some of my books and files in, so that my life may once again be lived in a single location. On my "To the DaveCave" list are a bunch of hobby stuff...Sewing Machine, fabrics, and sewing notions. A bunch of my Builder's Tools and Kayak Building goodies, too. My seedstarting stuff and my seed collection for the Diggins.

Part of the joy of starting your own plants from seed is the extension of your "Personal Growing Season" Over the years, I've learned to start my tomatoes around the Daytona 500...mid-February. I used to warm my seed flats for a few days atop my aquarium, but my last anemone fish dissapeared a few years ago, so I broke down the 30 gallon marine aquarium...the freedom to travel without enlisting an aquarium service has been wonderful, but I miss the atmosphere generated by the salt air and full-spectrum lighting...my own personal slice of The Tropics, as it were...

Mr Clownfish was over 11 years old when he went missing...I'm guessing that he lived two or three times as long in my little tank than he would have in the wild...not that he ever lived in the wild, Anemone Fish are among the first marine fish to be bred and raised in captivity...no coral reef ecosystem was raided for my enjoyment!

So, come seedstarting time, I just re-purpose some aquarium heaters to heat some flooded Rubbermaid Totes, and voilà, heated seedbeds! Before you know it, you've got a little garden crowding all your windowsills!

Though I won't be building anything before Summertime, and my sea kayak is already seaworthy, I have developed a re-purposing habit over the years...or more accurately a sort of cross-hobby hybridization habit.

I've kept aquariums since I was a teenager. In the ensuing decades, I've applied aquarium tech to Homebrewing as well as gardening. The old "Rubbermaid and Aquarium Heaters Algebra" made my chilly, second bathroom into a very controlled, consistent Alehouse, where I turned out 10 gallons of all-grain IPA and Porter every three weeks for an entire Ski Season. I filled the extra bedroom with cases of Ale...I finally had to procure a hand truck to move all my "product"

I brewed a batch of "Celebration Ale" and "Porter in the Snow" every three weeks, all winter, and as a bonus, the spent grain went into my three-bin composter and produced a whole cubic yard of the best compost I've ever seen! More hobby cross-pollination.

Looking at the remote sensors this weekend makes me think of gardening and summer sports...damn, it's been warm! Monday's Reno AFD all but promised record High Temps for the Reno/Tahoe Region...they even mentioned that meltwater runoff would be up for a couple of days.

The 6 O'clock news showed heavy traffic coming out of the High Sierra into the valley fog...glad I'm goint the other way Tuesday!

A Weekend Well Spent

I have the night off...our early exit from the hill Saturday morning eased my escape to the Ancestral Digs.

We celebrated Christmas at the Digs, though both Husbands were MIA...one On Call, and one back in Florida for training.

We all have the crud! Chest colds all around! Ugghhh!

It was fun and cliche all rolled into one!

Take-out Chinese Dinner (Hello "A Christmas Story")

I managed to sleep through most of both NFL Playoff Games.

The tree looked great...

I got some nice photos, and it's always great to hang with the Family!

Checkin' In

I'm between sleep shifts. Thursday night's shift looked to be a grinder from the outset...freezing rain made the highway treacherous, and the piste difficult. Call it "Candy Coated" with a cream-filled center...I called it diabolical...

Swing shift said the skies cleared around 9PM and the mountain set up shortly thereafter.

After negotiating the glacier that has transformed the shop road and parking lot, actually getting out onto the mountain was a relief, though slow going.

My crew shone brightly, and we made the best of the Sow's Ear we were dealt...we did everything on the Work Orders with some changes, and were off the hill before the lifts turned...Silk Purse! No small miracle given conditions!

When I woke up this afternoon, I did a little tech housecleaning...It's been just over a month since I got my new Naked DSL hooked up at the DaveCave...still no bill in the mail or in my inbox...I called AT&T twice before I actually spoke to a human...

As I suspected, my bill had been mailed to the DaveCave, where I don't receive mail service. Everything about setting up the DSL service has been screwed up from the get-go...After the first week of snafus, I had to cancel the whole shebang and start over! Now, with CS Agent Jason's help, I may finally have everything straightened out...I'll know when my bill arrives next week...

Thanks, I needed that!

Finally a whole day's sleep!

Out early Thursday morning, I went straight home and collapsed. I woke up at 4:30, watched the weather and got up to check my pickup's window, (I thought I left it open a crack)

I was raining however lightly...window was secure...they say memory is the first thing to go...

I launched iTunes and went back to bed...woke up at 8PM, checked the alarm...smiling, I rolled over and closed my eyes again...I woke up 10 minutes before the 10PM alarm.

Fully rested up...I'm looking forward to tonight's shift...I'm trying not to think about the rain...fresh podcasts to listen to...lox and cream cheese on a garlic bagel, M&M Peanuts, and a banana in my lunchpail, and a thermos of French Roast...gonna be a good night!

Revelations

Not the Bible book...no tablets from on high...just some ah-ha moments from my world this week...

I've been enduring a long two week siege from my chest cold...so I'm extra weary every day...fortunately, Mother Nature gave us a break in the weather, no new snowfall all week...less snow shoveling, more shuteye time...plus my fever broke after a week.

Then this massacre in Tuscon Saturday lit up the TV and radio with the non-stop drumbeat of partisan politics...four endless days of (dare I say it?) Vitriol...arrrgggghhhhh!

Let me up...shut up...just another crazy person who shot up a bunch of innocent bystanders while trying to kill the object of his twisted stalking mission...the shooter snapped when the congresswoman didn't give enough credence to the shooter's concerns about the lax attention to grammar by the Federal Government!

I, like most Americans was relieved when the polls closed on the first Tuesday in  November...the cacophony of the almost endless Campaign reaches the pain threshold about a week before Election Day.

The overwrought politicking in the wake of the Tuscon Massacre brought me straight back to the peak of the campaign caterwauling...not a place I'd voluntarily return to.

Time Out!
Enough of politics...I can't take it anymore!

I had a revelation at the the fuel dock the other morning.

I was chatting up the Vehicle Maintenance Boss, Nick. I said the new pumps and motors had my old BR350 running like a cheetah...Nick said the pumps and motors weren't new, just the splitter box and track belts were renewed in the off-season...What? I'd been hearing about the "new pumps and motors" all season!

My good ol' BR350 has nearly 9000 hours on the clock, but it's running like a thoroughbred! This tractor is the best cat I've ever driven, and I've run more than a few big hearted groomers in my time!

Last night, even with less than Hero Snow conditions, running my old BR350 was a pleasure...my crew did it in spades overnight, too...extra trails galore...no machine woes, good skiing today, and we were off the hill an hour early.

So it was revealed to me that my cat is still delivering despite it's advancing age...once again politics reveals itself as America's Favorite Blood Sport...damn the yin and yang revelations...I need another nap!