Crazy Weather.

I guess winter is finally here. Sideways falling snow. Why it has to start at the end of February, well, only the clouds know.

Of course, that means I'd really rather sit in the easy chair reading a book than go to work. Oh well, huh? Onwards and upwards...

AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!

So there I was, dreaming peacefully, when suddenly the entire house starts shaking.  Thinking that a freight train had somehow jumped the tracks and traveled the next two and a half miles on sheer momentum, I practically leaped out of bed, blinking blearily... wind.  LOTS of wind.  I don't even know the last time I was woken by wind.

But hey, I guess I didn't need the alarm clock this morning...

Wow

So I think we're getting our first real snow of the whole winter. All the other ones haven't really left enough to make an impact. But in the past couple hours, it has gone from nothing to this:

The moisture is very much needed, I think the last numbers I saw was about 75% normal snowpack for this time of year.  Plus, a good snow day is always fun.

Sigh (or Yay, I guess)

It's currently snowing, and the weather says it will be till 8:00 or so. Probably the best snow we've had all season down in the valley (not that that's saying much). No one's gone through our mailbox yet, which is a plus.

My uncle the mechanic sent an email yesterday from Belize; it was 85, he was sitting on the beach. Meanwhile, back at the ranch:

But it's good to finally get some snow, it's been really dry so far this year. Last week we set a record high of 58 one day. Coulda worn shorts! Today, though, I think I may just leave for work a little later than usual. A body gets tired of yelling at all the morons on the highway who are trying to kill themselves and you in a single impressive piece of burning wreckage.

Huh.

Went out to do the chores this morning in just a sweatshirt, and thought to myself "Wow, it's pretty warm out today."  Then I got in my truck and saw that the thermometer was telling me 8 degrees F, warming all the way up to 10 by the time I got to work.

Must be a dry cold?

Excremental Driving Skills

Not sure if excremental is a real word or not, but I think it is accurate.

Another few feet and they would have come through the front window.  Apparently this semi-sentient excuse for humanity doesn't know the rule "SLOW THE HELL DOWN WHEN YOU ARE GOING AROUND CORNERS ON ICY ROADS!"  With the corollary, "ESPECIALLY IF IT IS RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY HOUSE!"  Hopefully they do now.

I want to know what it would take to put in a concrete barrier right there.  Maybe one with embedded tungsten-steel spikes for that extra "I love you, too."

Red Sky In the Morning

Supposed to snow tonight and tomorrow.  If old sailor's tales have anything to do with it, I'd say they're right.

Not Bad

Got a whole half an inch of precipitation yesterday. 

Hopefully no more today, as my brother is finally coming home for Christmas, and I don't think my mother could stand it if he went off the road in the middle of nowhere... again.

Yep, it snowed

Complete with all the idiot drivers who either think that the small skiff of snow means that they are going to slide off the interstate if they go faster than 50 mph or think that the small skiff of snow makes it so they can finally try out their 4WD at 80 mph.

Don't worry, I made it to where I was going aok. Despite everyone else's best efforts. And despite having a few flashbacks to the jeep experience.  But I do think I'm going to go home through town.

Added: aaaaand now it's raining.  So much for our snow.

Is it finally the day?

It looks like it might actually could snow this afternoon/evening.  After the weather service has predicted such an occurrence to happen at least a couple days a week for the past 7 weeks, and nothing has come out of it--could today be the day that I finally get to see the white stuff?

462.67 rankine

What do you think? Am I going to have to warm up my truck before I get in it tomorrow morning?

Relief/sadness

The snow last night came down the side of the bookcliffs to about 4700 ft elevation. The valley floor is at about 4600 ft elevation. And this morning the sidewalk wasn't even wet. Missed our first snow of the season by 100 ft!

Snow... Snow... SNOOOOOOOW!

It's not quite there, but it's trying really hard...

Holy Black Clouds of Doom, Batman!

We decided to walk the dogs before the storm got here. We were almost back. Then it started blowing.  Then it started raining.  Then it stated hailing.  Now I'm cold and wet and slightly bruised, and the pellet stove is doing it's thing for the first time of the season.

THE GOOD TIMES ARE OVER!

Supposed to get down to 26 tonight, and about the same tomorrow night.  So even the stragglers in the garden (still got a few peppers and tomatoes, surprisingly enough). will probably be frostbit tomorrow.  well, except maybe the kale.  It's been the star of the garden this year.

Guess I should drain out all the hoses and such--probably even blow out the sprinkler system, though it should be fine for a couple days, at least.  We're falling through fall and into winter...

Correct me if I'm wrong...

It must be fall.  Do you want to know how I can tell?

First Frosts

Enough of this frivolity!

I am going to give up shorts today and wear long pants.

(Can you tell that I am taking this whole "changing of the seasons" thing a little hard?)

But pants aren't that bad.

To deal with cold weather, add hot sauce

So remember all those peppers I picked? Well, they were cooked down and run through the food processor, then set on the counter to ferment. They now like this, a loverly spicy baby puke color:

Everything has started bubbling, and the house smells like hot sauce.  It tastes like sweeter sriracha with more of a kick--pretty darn good.  And just the thing for a day like today, since coming home from work this afternoon it was colder than when I left at 7:30 this morning, and the Mesa has seemed to have turned white...

Anyway, I think I'm going to let it ferment a couple more days, then cook it again to kill off the bugs before canning it.  And we still need to do something with all the jalapenos.

Must be Autumn

We haven't had to turn on the swamp cooler till the afternoon for the past few days, and at night I actually appreciate having my wool blanket on my bed.  The corn in the garden is turning yellow and drying up, the tomatoes are coming on like a storm, and if it's not fall then it's getting close.  Probably be able to wear shorts for another month and a half, but it will probably be time to put away the sandals sooner than that. 

It's weird, though, this past summer we only had three days where we broke 100 (usually we get strings of weeks at a time), and it seemed to never dry out all that much.  It was actually kinda nice... do I have to thank Algor for it, or just take it as a fluke?