Rain

 

I celebrated by checking
the weather many, many times.

Rain, about eight inches! Indoor recess, cold water in the pool (no complaints from me), and

time inside with the baby.

There was also time outside with the baby.

It is hard to capture, but here is an attempt.

There was twice as much water earlier, but I like this photo because if you look carefully you can see the 1928 stamp in the concrete in the center of the picture.

There are different types of mushrooms in the yard.

The plants look great,

but the weeds are growing, too.

As the sun rose on Wednesday I could see the mountains. I went home to get a camera and to snap a few pictures before it got cloudy again.

D joined me and took this beautiful picture.

Our rain barrels,

watering cans, and buckets are all full. I remembered to take off the lids off the compost bins so those are well watered, too. 

Sunshine is in the forecast so we'll need water sooner or later.

Weather!

Tuesday morning

This one is probably not accurate, but it is good for bragging rights.

Ice on the slide

Monday morning

 

Bonus

One good thing about living a place without snow is the lack of salt on the streets, which is known to damage cars. I do like seeing the old cars out on sunny days.

I think the top and bottom cars have their original plates and the middle one is a replica and the most popular specialty plate.

Weather

When we were in Denmark and using Celsius instead of Fahrenheit like we do in the U.S., R. taught me this ditty.

Quick digression - what is the difference between Centigrade and Celsius?  Below is what I learned from about.com.

Depending on how old you are, you might read 38°C as 38 degrees Celsius or 38 degrees centigrade. Why are there two names for °C and what's the difference? Here's the answer:

Celsius and centigrade are two names for essentially the same temperature scale (with slight differences). The centigrade scale is divided into degrees based on dividing the temperature between which water freezes and boils into 100 equal gradients or degrees. The word centigrade comes from "centi-" for 100 and "grade" for gradients. The centigrade scale was introduced in 1744 and remained the primary scale of temperature until 1948. In 1948 the CGPM (Conference General des Poids et Measures) decided to standardize several units of measurement, including the temperature scale. Since the "grade" was in use as a unit (including the "centigrade"), a new name was chosen for the temperature scale: Celsius.

The Celsius scale remains a centigrade scale in which there are 100 degrees from the freezing point (0°C) and boiling point (100°C) of water, though the size of the degree has been more precisely defined. A degree Celsius (or a Kelvin) is what you get when divide the thermodynamic range between absolute zero and the triple point of a specific type of water into 273.16 equal parts. There is a 0.01°C difference between the triple point of water and the freezing point of water at standard pressure.

This all started because I checked the weather last night and saw this forecast.

I thanked R. for teaching me the poem, which R. learned from Q is for Quark: A Science Alphabet Book.  It was under the section S for Système international, also known as the metric system.  There are people who support the adoption of this system in the U.S. (to improve patient safety and education), but those people do not seem to have much influence.

¿Dónde está el niño?

They are telling us to be patient, that El Niño is still coming.  We had a few storms over a couple of day and that has been it, unless you count the raindrops that are falling right now, but they are so few that you probably could count them!

The rain barrel is full, we do have a few flowering plants, and the weeds are already popping up so it is hard to complain.

Never a dull moment

Possibly more interesting than baseball statistics (because it doesn't involve people earning millions of dollars) are weather statistics.  I currently check Weather Underground and sometimes dmi.dk

Rain in July and September meant the weather section, which measures precipitation from July1 to June 30, showed rainfall significantly higher than average.

from Sept. 29, 2015

Oops, change that.  Measured rainfall from July through June.  Looking at yesterday's paper I saw that the numbers were almost back to zero.

from Oct. 6, 2015

Nothing is without controversy.  "Ideologies clash as weather service realigns the annual rainfall calendar," reads the headline from a July 2, 2015 L.A. Times article.  For 130 years rainfall in southern California was measured from July through June because when there isn't much rainfall it is good time to make a switch.  But starting in October makes sense in notthern California because runoff is nothing but a trickle in September.  Let the new record keeping begin!

Good luck this time

I am trying to be nice to myself.  When I get to the library, pick up my books from the reservation shelf, and stand in line only to realize I didn't bring my wallet, I try to hear the message, "It's not what you meant to do, but accidents happen."  When I wait patiently at the wrong gate so long I miss my flight I try to think, "Well, at least you won't make that mistake again."  And I am grateful for the person at the airport who rebooked us and said, "It happens all day long."

On the other hand, sometimes things go well.  I looked at the weather forecast and I believed it.

We had a wonderful breakfast here on Saturday morning, but on Saturday night I took down the decorations.  Normally I run on Sunday morning but I figured nothing would happen if I went out on Saturday instead (except for almost getting mixed up with a big cross-country meet).

I woke up to the sound of rain and was happy.

What they earned

It was a tough winter so everyone was outside on a beautiful day.

Lake Erie is in the background and CWRU's Peter B. Lewis Building is in the center.

I went with one my oldest friends (I have known her since first grade, D. has known her since kindergarten!) to the Garfield Monument in Lake View Cemetery.  I had been there before but it is good to learn something new every day, like the fact that he had seven children and was president less than six months before being assassinated.

I am not sure if this picture looks more spring-like than a couple weeks ago, but it was hard to leave.

Front Yard

Some neighbors have grass as a ground cover in front of their house.

Some neighbors have already removed their grass.

Our neighbors just started a project that they hope will reduce their water consumption.

Some houses owned by Scripps College are doing the same thing.

Last week

This week

Last week

This week

Even the people who live where it rains are reducing the grass as ground cover.

Even if I don't like to garden I do appreciate the variety of front yards.

Rain

It seems like an odd topic, but since it is the biggest storm in almost ten months (according to the media) I thought I'd post some rain pictures.

boots I bought while living in Denmark -
definitely worth bringing them back

overflowing rain barrel - the hose is now attached and extends into the yard

I would need a video to show you how wonderful my wipers are!
I love having wipers that don't leave streaks!
(Yes, those are buttons from the Ithaca Festival, 2001and 2005.)

Picture taken from the high school parking lot.
One lucky girl got a ride to AND from school.

The forecast is for more rain tomorrow, but I hope to post about something else.

Weather

It is logical that the farther inland, the closer to the desert and farther from the ocean, one travels the warmer it gets.  Since it was in the mid-90sF (34C) here I was less than excited to go to a 4pm (16:00) soccer game thirty miles (48km) to the east.

At least I didn't have to run around with these guys.

A real mohawk!  And my kid in goal.

But maybe I shouldn't complain about the heat because I could be traveling to Roskilde, where there is rain in the forecast every day.

At least it won't be dark.