Note the length of the shadow from the house below me. It was but 2:00 pm eastern time in the afternoon when I took this photo out my window. Days are starting to get longer though!!
Shenango Valley Winter Photo (http://www.quickersoft.com/pictures/ShenangoValley.jpg)
that looks like a nice little town, Bill
i was raised in Michigan, but moved to Arizona in 1971
it has been almost as long since i have seen icicles hanging from the eves - lol
when i was a kid, we used to throw snowballs at them to knock them down
It really is a quiet little town Dave, about 13,000 population. Twenty five years ago before the two steel mills died the population was near double that. But if you can manage to make a buck somehow it's a great place to live.
We are reaching near record days of consecutive snow and low temperatures. Most of the snow we get here comes from the Great Lakes (lake effect we call it). Perpetual snow squalls, it snows and blows the sun comes out, it snows and blows the sun comes out, etc.
Cabin fevers beginning to set in me thinks, he, he, he. . .(http://www.quickersoft.com/foufougly.gif)
i know it gets cold there
when i was in the army, we went to Camp Drum for winter training - brrrrrrrrrrrrr !!!!
coldest place i have ever been :P
Bill,
Cabin fever sounds like an extreme case of what I get when I am geared to work but the rain will not stop. I try to put in regular time with software but I really must get more of this building work done and we have just had a number of days with really heavy rain for hours like in the tropics that makes the ground where I am working wet so you can't work there.
I like the icicles, we dont get them that long in the uk maybe 5-10 cm tops I've seen :lol
The ice sickles get so large up here if you happened to be in just the right place and one fell it would skew you from head to foot. You get accustom to looking up before entering high buildings. :bg
We received a couple fresh inches overnight so I'm going out for some exercise by shoveling more snow, ugh !! :tdown
Nice picture Bill. I know all about the damn drifting since I live in the countryside. Last weeks storm
left over 2 ft of snow with the drifting in the driveway. With snowblower not working,
it quite the bit of fun shoveling it out.
I have a small parking lot that must be cleared and I'm to cheap to have it done so I snow-blow it. Walkway and other areas I shovel. I honestly don't mind the exercise and try to stay fit. There's been a few times when shoveling away that I'd have to stop to catch my breath and I'd think,"God, hope I don't have a freaking heart attack!". :eek
Snow is beginning to get old though. :tdown
I'm losing my mind !! (http://www.quickersoft.com/foufougly.gif)
Mon . Feb . 15:
"THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ADVISES THAT SNOW MAY ACCUMULATE 4 TO 7 INCHES FROM THIS MONDAY MORNING THROUGH TUESDAY AFTERNOON AS LOW PRESSURE CROSSES THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY. SNOW FALL RATES MAY BE HEAVY AT TIMES THIS EVENING. GUSTY WINDS AND BLOWING SNOW CAN BE AN ADDED HAZARD DAYTIME TUESDAY."
:bg
Bill,
You will get over it, its called summer time. Just approach the shovelling of snow drifts like a frree gymnasium class, turn into superman for the summer time and be highly modest when the ladies notice all those rippling muscles. :P
Steve,
The old back complains a bit but you're right it is great exercise. I've lived here in the area off and on for 50+ years and I lack that big belly roll all my friends I grew up with have. Of course they are not as cheap as I am and pay to have their snow removed and lawns cut.
Life here in the northeast near the lakes is 8 months of pushing a lawnmower and 4 months of pushing snow. Another two months and things begin to green a-new. Spring time, my favorite season! :bg
:bg
Bill,
Mines feeling a little ancient as well, I have been digging out clay and rubble mixed today and I am about half way through the cleanup. Very pretty area you live in and I understand why you like it, I doubt I would survive a winter their unfortunately. I am floating around in my normal builders labourer outfit, stubbies and a T shirt and can manage such bad taste until about mid autumn.
i go for the "maximum coverage" look
the less of me that shows, the more people seem to like me
Steve,
There are days the lower back pinches my sciatic nerve and my right leg goes numb. A life of body abuse I guess. Should have know years of motorcross and hill climbing would come back to bite me.
Dave,
That was funny! :bg
I have 8 or 9 scares on my back, torso and legs from getting basal cell carcinomas removed but the lady's seem to be attracted to men with scares. Guess they think you are tough and have had a very hard life. I'm not telling them any different.
A snowy day in the Shenango Valley (http://www.quickersoft.com/pictures/ShenangoValley2.jpg)
Bill,
Means you must have been a beach bunny in your youth. I was lucky as a kid, I never tanned, just went red then white again so I never learnt the habit of getting fried at the beach. Still, if it gets the ladies, it can't be all bad. :bg
Steve,
:bg
I guess that's what I was. As a little kid you couldn't keep me my brother and friends out of the water during the summer months. As a teen my good friend had a powerboat (his dad's) and we chased the girls with it. In my twenties the ex-wife and I had one for years. Did a lot of water skiing, fishing and just plain having fun in the sun. Long hours out on Lake Erie catching them big walleye. Thing is you had to do it all within our three summer months, June, July, August while the water is warm enough to stand it. Yep, sun baked I am, too much German and Celtic blood in my veins perhaps. I should have known better, but then you never heard of "SPF 30 Broad Spectrum sun protection" back then.
Bill,
I can certainly sympathize with you, both on getting older and being tired of winter. If it makes you feel any better though heres a picture of me shoveling snow.
http://i776.photobucket.com/albums/yy43/wmsfarris/WolfCreek.jpg
BillF,
Oh my!! Now thats some snow!! :bg
Suns out here and will shine for the next couple days so a lot of this white stuff will melt away.
heh you missed a bit
Quote from: Bill Cravener on February 19, 2010, 05:48:46 PM
suns out here and will shine for the next couple days so a lot of this white stuff will melt away.
Glad to hear that. I am ready for some spring weather.
Quote from: oex on February 19, 2010, 05:55:48 PM
heh you missed a bit
Not to worry! I went back and finished cleaning up with a broom
:lol
Still more winter on the way but weathers reached a turning point I think. Heard this ruckus outside my window this morning took a look see an there was two beautiful bright red male cardinals confronting one another. Heads rocking to-an-fro, bobbing up and down. A sudden clash of feathers then a quick parting, again another clash of feathers. Man what a fight!! :bg
Cardinals don't migrate south and when the temps float around the 30's F you see them out and about. By the way, the cardinal is Ohio's State Bird.
(http://www.quickersoft.com/pictures/cardinal.jpg)
nice pic Bill - i bet Japheth will like that one :bg
i was raised in Michigan (right next to Ohio, for the "foriegners")
i never saw a cardinal in Michigan - you have to get a little further south
the Michigan state bird is the robin - when they show up, you know winter is over and spring is on the way
(http://www.charliesbirdblog.com/~charlie/amrobins/am_robin_JFK03.jpg)
here in Arizona, we have a lot of sparrows and cactus wrens - and a lot of little hummingbirds
we also have our share of dove, quail, and pidgeons (winged rats, as we call em)
but our state bird is the roadrunner - no surprise, there
(http://www.birds-of-north-america.net/images/great-roadrunner-2.jpg)
see the ressemblance ?
(http://kara.allthingsd.com/files/2008/06/roadrunner.gif)
these are one of ours, a Kookaburra and the cheeky bastards laugh at you.
(http://digital-images.net/Lenses/AFS_VR/Kookaburra.jpg)
Here is another, a sulphur crested cockatoo. Can be domesticated and can mimick people with practice. Tend to chew their way through anything including the woodwork on the high part of houses and make more racket than you could imagine. I was up in Queensland some years ago and this flock of at least hundreds used to eat berries from a tree in Hervey Bay that used to make them drunk. Late in the afternoon hundreds of them used to sit on the power lines arguing with each other while occasionally falling off the power lines. It was very funny to watch.
(http://farm1.static.flickr.com/117/288802874_dff67cf12a.jpg)
Quote...used to eat berries from a tree in Hervey Bay that used to make them drunk
Quote...arguing with each other while occasionally falling off...
sounds like they'd make great sailors :P
:bg
They are even funnier than that, years ago I tok one of our old cats to the vet and they had on an old cockatoo there that was partly domesticated and you got one of two responses, if she liked you she would let you scratch under her wings for her and if she did not she would bite you. They have strong enough beaks to bite your fingers really hard. My fatal charm with dogs, cats kids and old ladies worked, I was honoured by being allowed tro scratch under her wings. :P
Nothing out here is well behaved, I have seen so many cockatoos in the country sitting along a quarter mile of railway that it looked like it was snowing. They tear around like a mobile destruction machine and will chew their way through the woodwork fretwork on old houses, wooden balconies etc ....
Occasionally we get hit with Bogong moths, they breed up in the middle of NSW, spend the summers in the high Bogong mountain areas and fly back to breed again, just occasionally they get blown over the city and we get swamped with a billion moths for a night or two.
Nice bird pics guys! Makes me even more hungry for summer. My ex had one of them damn little cockatiels for years. She would let it run loose thru the house and it chewed up anything made of wood, picture frames, wooden knickknacks, etc. It loved to bite me, that little bugger.
I like the sound of summer birds chirping and I look forward to the robins, blue birds and yellow canary's returning. Pennsylvania like many other states does not have a state bird, it does have a State Game Bird however, the Pennsylvania Grouse.
Delicious!! :bg
(http://www.quickersoft.com/pictures/grouse.jpg)
Quote from: Bill Cravener on February 21, 2010, 05:54:46 PM
Delicious!! :bg
:U
Also, damn hard to shoot.They usually wait until you're almost on top of them before taking off.
Rags, they sure are fun to hunt though. Ever just sit in the woods and here the roosters thumping its wings calling to the female hen?
Ruffed Grouse thumping its wings (crank up the volume) (http://www.quickersoft.com/pictures/ruffgrse.wav)
Bill, I never heard the thumping while sitting waiting for the squirrels to come back out of hiding.
Most of the Ruffed grouse I did manage to get I got while they were still on the ground.
Must of been the stupid ones. :bdg
My heart rate jumps up to 100 bpm+ when they flush, and by the time I see where they are heading I barely
get the shot off. It's a great adrenaline rush.
I once tried to chase down a flock of turkey on my mountain bike on an old railroad bed.
My speedometer said I was doing 22 mph and those turkey were putting distance between me and them!
Up until then I never realized how fast they could run.
:bg
Mike,
If you had some dude chasing you on a trail bike carrying a gun you would run real fast too.
when i was very young, we were "poor folks"
we had a tiny little farm of only 7 acres and dad worked in town as a mechanic (this is before he learned electronics)
he could fix airplanes but very few people in Shiawasee county had one - lol - he worked on cars
back then, dad put a lot of food on the table with a shotgun
we had several beagles for hunting and a dachshund (at different times we also had retrievers)
several years later, i asked him which dog was his favorite for hunting
much to my surprise, his answer was the dachshund (we hunted pheasant in the corn-field and ducks and geese)
i asked him why and he told me the dachshund would sneak up on the pheasant and hold them down with his paws
he saved the cost of a shotgun shell, and that is why the dachshund was his fave :P
the only drawback - you get one bird and you're done for the day - but you get one every day
they are also good for hunting rabbit :bg
Lol Hutch!
The wild turkey here prefer to run as a means of escape if possible, rather than fly.
If you saw one trying to get off the ground you would understand.
BTW, I was unarmed. I just just out for some exercise that day.
Dave- The ringneck pheasant here are all stocked birds. Few if any seem to survive until the
following year. At least in this part of the state they don't.
must be an overabundance of dachshunds in that area :lol
Didn't want to start a new thread to talk about the weather but was wondering if the weather has been normal around the rest of the world.
Today here in PA its about 50 F (10 C) which is pretty normal for this time of year but this past winter and spring has been anything but normal here in north-western PA. This Friday through Sunday the weatherman says it will be in the low to mid 80s (30s C). At the end of April this just doesn't happen here.
Makes me wonder how freaking hot is it going to get this summer. This is not normal.
Climate change????
Quote from: Bill Cravener on April 27, 2010, 06:00:02 PM
was wondering if the weather has been normal around the rest of the world.
(http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Books/Pix/pictures/2007/09/24/rain460.jpg)
No change here :lol
Seriously though the sun should be getting cooler for like the next 11 years (solar minimum) so if the planet is heating up we are seriously f*cked.... I blame the overweight American gas guzzlers in their 8x8s :lol
(http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1290/774108651_fdc4d5bc0f.jpg)
Hi,
Well here in NW Florida we had a really cold period that
was worse (colder) than usual. But we also had some
unusually warm weather as well. Seems to be okay now.
The hot season is a drag, hope it's no worse this year.
Regards,
Steve N.
94 F today, Saturday 92 or higher. Dewpoints well in the 70's. Air is really thick, hard to breath when outside. Can't wait until winter gets here. :bg
Bill,
I though you would be out and about on your bike in the warm weather. Best way I knew to cool down is a lot of air going past you. :bg
Steve,
New job and all I do is work not much time to ride. I won't ride once the temp gets around 90 F. I wear a helmet and light protective jacket and it's hot even when you're cruising down the road when the air gets this hot and thick. We're having a long hot summer this year. The bad winter we had I knew it was coming, the heat that is. Appears more of the same next week too. :tdown
:bg
Bill,
Only one solution, stubbies, T shirt, thongs and an Akubra (Stetson will do). You may not win any fashion events but your critics will be hotter and more knackered than you are.
Yesterday here in NJ, we had severe thunderstorm warnings, and a tornado warning..think it went into NY city..I think PA also got some of that.
Steve,
If you've ever had a spill on a motorcycle you want to have some clothing on. I sure don't want any skin rash in this heat. :bg
anunitu,
It stormed all night Friday with lots of heavy rain and lightning. Kept me up much of the night. We've had no tornado watches around here in western PA yet but plenty of strong rain storms. We expect more of the same today and tonight.
QuoteIf you've ever had a spill on a motorcycle...
i spilled my beer, once :bg
how embarrasing
good to see you, Bill - we have missed you
Quote from: dedndave on July 24, 2010, 05:50:33 PM
i spilled my beer, once :bg
how embarrasing
Hi Dave,
I've spilled my beer more then once buddy. :bg
I've been a busy fellow lately, that and its just too damned hot and humid (humid mostly) for my taste. Looking forward to September getting here. :wink
Here in northeast pa we have had record snow fall for December over 50 inches with way below average temperatures. Last summer we had more hot days then I can remember my entire life. We just had the last three days in the 40s and 50s (F) and the snows completely gone. But another front of cold is on its way. The east coast has been hit really hard this year and I believe many records where broken. Is the climate changing everywhere? Natural or not it seems to by changing?
So I wonder, who else is experiencing weather that has not been seen in many years (or in your own life time)?
Seen this one about Aussie floods. Is this a common disaster about the country each year or is it a rare event? (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12102126)
Hi,
Here In NW Florida we have had some hard freezes this
year. Ugly (for here) and earlier than usual. Some years it
may not get below 32 F so many people are not prepared for
that. With the usual problems that causes. At least it hasn't
snowed. The years that we get snow kill a lot of things.
Definitely a record year.
Cheers,
Steve N.
Bill,
Flooding in OZ is cyclical and it is effected by the El Nino cycle. Wet here is dry in places like Peru where dry here sees bad flooding on the other side of the south pacific. We get the monsoons up north that bring a lot of rain, add the reverse El Nino effect and you get too much rain and massive flooding in areas that may have been dry for 20 to 30 years. the other factor that effects the OZ weather pattern is the Great Southern Ocean, particularly in Winter. Old timers a couple of hundred years ago learn not to sail under Australia in the winter as you get ferocious conditions, massive seas and very high winds. They are not called the roaring 40s for nothing.
ho ho ho, i love the snow! =]]]
Hi,
History & Almanac
Max Temperature: Min Temperature:
Normal (KHRT) 59 °F 40 °F
Record (KHRT) 69 °F (2007) 28 °F (2009)
Yesterday 43.9 °F 24.9 °F
Kind of lousey for Florida.
Yuckabees,
Steve N.
We have had over 105 inches of snow over the past 3 and a half months breaking our all time record for this area of the country. Then comes a weird warm front over the weekend and Sunday night it stormed with very heavy rain lighting and flooding. In my lifetime I can't remember having a heavy thunder and lighting storm with such heavy rain in February. January and February are our coldist months of the year. There was about 6 inches of snow on the ground when this weird weather front passed thru. I've got 2 inches of water in the basement.
There is now a small creek running thru my yard down to the neighbors who have a swimming pool that was empty for the winter (they never cover it and it did have about 6 inches of snow in it). Looking down at it now it is nearly full from the runoff passing thru my yard. I spoke to them and their house is one of those split level homes and they are seriously flooded.
From the very hot record breaking summer to this record breaking winter we've had it makes me wonder what we're in for come this spring and summer. The problem is the ground is still frozen and all the rain is just flowing on top of the ground. What a mess!!