Settler words&music in S'ólh Téméxw, (leanpub.com/upsun) living where privilege meets precarity in MST country. she/her/they———– Novels: Midnite Moving Co., Upsun; Sweep Off Those Waves coming soon, Hair Sinister after that. —Restore All Indigenous Lands!
Tony the landpeer just came over and told me to stay the hell off the back porch – the posts and the roof are buckling under the weight of the wet snow and he’s afraid I’ll get caught out there. Now I’m wondering if I should move the bikes off the back deck but there’s no place to put them. Also, what about the barbecue?
Urk.
The Dalai Jarmo looked at the forecasts a week ago and calmly said, “They are wrong. It will stay cold until the 28th”. So I am not surprised by this….
From Envrionment Canada
5 to 15 cm of snow can be expected today.
This is a warning that significant snowfall is expected or occurring in these regions. Monitor weather conditions..Listen for updated statements.
A frontal system approaching the coast will bring strong winds and a mixed bag of precipitation today through Saturday. Strong winds up to 90 km/h ahead of the warm front will prevail over the coastal sections of the central coast through this evening. Heavy snow has already been observed on the north coast although it will change to rain near noon. As the front moves southward snow is spreading to the Inner South coast. 5 to 10 cm of snow can be expected for metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley, Sunshine Coast and East Vancouver Island. Snow will change to rain this evening as the warm front nears. Rain will become heavy tonight through Saturday for the Fraser Valley with up to 60 mm of rain expected. Snow will persist over Howe Sound tonight giving with near 15 cm accumulation before changing to rain Saturday morning. Over inland sections of Vancouver Island snow will change over to freezing rain this evening and finally to rain overnight as temperatures rise.
Environment Canada saith:
10 to 20 cm of snow expected tonight and Wednesday.
This is a warning that significant snowfall is expected or occurring in these regions. Monitor weather conditions..Listen for updated statements.
A pacific frontal system will approach the British Columbia coast tonight bringing snow to the area. Total snowfall amounts of 10 to 20 cm are expected tonight and Wednesday. The snow will taper to flurries Wednesday night. Strong winds will also develop as the system approaches and visibility will be locally reduced in blowing snow.
Arctic air will continue to push through the coastal valleys and inlets producing very strong northeasterly winds giving wind chill values below minus 20 for the inland sections of the north and central coast today.
I don’t mean to be inhospitable, but Jeff, stay the hell in Victoria an extra day! It’s supposed to rain and snow and blow on Christmas, which means that ferry cancellations for icing and wind that day are possible, maybe even likely. I will take good care of kitties.
And until the weather resolves out to rain, I am not coming to Victoria; to be clear, unless it’s raining Thursday morning I’m staying hunkered down in Vancouver. I may come Sat/Sun instead of Fri/Sat, and I may or may not bring Katie.
Okay, check THIS puppy out for weasel words.
A rapidly deepening low pressure system will move inland over northern Washington State today. Rain will begin this morning, then change to wet snow over most inland areas and higher elevations with a rain-snow mix closer to the ocean. Fluctuating freezing levels and precipitation intensity add to the complexity of snow amount forecasts for this storm. However higher elevations of Metro Vancouver can expect 5 cm of wet snow with a mix of rain and snow likely near sea level. Snow amounts of 5 to 10 cm are forecast over the Fraser Valley and 2 to 4 cm are expected over Greater Victoria and East Vancouver Island except 10 cm over higher terrain and inland sections. Strong northeast winds will develop over East Vancouver Island in the wake of this system, with winds rising to 60 km/h gusting to 90 this evening. Winds are expected to ease below warning criteria Saturday morning. An Arctic front moves onto the coast from the interior for the weekend. Strong outflow winds combined with cold air will give wind chill values below minus 20 to inland sections of the north and central coast beginning this evening. Strong outflow winds may also produce localized snow squalls along the east coast of Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands through Sunday while the rest of the coast remains sunny, very cold, and locally windy.
I mean, they say it’s gonna snow, and I work at higher elevations. (No, not because I rolled something up, thanks – although I was reading George Carlin in the can this morning). Yesterday at quitting time we checked the weather again and it wasn’t as bad as this, so sometime in the last 12 hours the meteo folks decided all crap was breaking loose.
So, everybody stay home if you can; every year in Vancouver 40000 new drivers who’ve never driven in snow take their baloney-skin tires, shitty driving skills, sense of entitlement and strabysmus out of the garage and lay it out for all to see during the first snow of the winter. IT IS NOT A PRETTY SIGHT. So I gotta make sure I load up batteries in the camera, this should be good. Also, must sweet talk men with cars, I may need a lift down the hill if the buses can’t make it up the hill to take me home, and forget about getting a taxi. As for Victoria, it’s even worse. It’s time to hunker down with a couple of good movies.
Working backwards, I am ‘staying above the fray’ as Tammy and the exterminator battle with termites (this part of Toronto has them, and what can you do, eh?), I ate her goat cheese and garden picked oregano omelette (and it was nommy) with fruit and nut bread; I slept great, and in fact about two hours longer than I normally do; we had a very pleasant evening (she bought me Tuborg, the saintly creature, as she never has beer in the house); we figured out where I’ll be spending at least part of my restaurant money in Paris; I arranged to see Dave JD at Jump today around supper time (but nobody else in Toronto, I’ll make a special trip back for that) while Tammy’s at choir practice; I had a pleasant trip by transit from the airport (this being possible because I got to sit the whole way even though it was rush hour when I arrived) and then Tammy picked me up at Pape Station; I had a very pleasant flight because at the last minute I changed my seat selection from 34 row to 44 row (767-200, but Paul probably already knew that) so I had nobody sitting next to me fore. aft, port and starboard and I was close to an aisle and washroom AND I’d never been on an aircraft with functioning video-on-demand in the cheap seats, so I was actually SURPRISED when they called ‘we are starting our descent’; I got my money back from the WORST breakfast sandwich evar and by way of apology the server brought me a free bottle of water; Jeff very kindly dropped me off at the airport; I got a reasonable night’s sleep the night before.
Anyway, I’ll only be going near a computer or screen in the most minimal way for this time off, as it’s obvious my internet addiction is hijacking what’s left of my life, so if you don’t mind I’m off to abuse Pentium and George, two of the nicest and most sucky middle aged cats I’ve ever met, both of whom think I’m kinda keen. George slept on my feet last night and emitted never a peep. Happy sigh! Also, and this if for Keith, Tammy of Surpassing Excellence has Alan Moore’s Lost Girls in hardcover… can such things be? Who needs the internet? PS it’s snowing…. that desultory November snow….
The house is shaking on its foundations and the branches are all sighing and whistling.
Watched Margot at the Wedding. Lots of lying and yelling. Jack Black saved that movie from B+ TV movie mediocrity. The kid who played Claude was so cute I wanted to pocket him. Nicole Kidman’s accent wandered the screen like a drunk man’s fancy. Everybody else was reasonable and in good order.
Prop 8 takes one in the goolies.
The cats, each in his own way, mourn Jeff’s absence; one by pissing copiously all over the chair he normally occupies in the kitchen, I’ve already Feliway’d it, and the other by voluntarily sitting in my lap for the first time in six months. Gizmo was sitting in my lap when Eddie started howling piteously at the back door (the wind is rattling the doors and windows) so I had to stand up and push him off my lap. He sat in the kitchen doorway, tail switching and with a miffed look. He let Eddie have a cuff on the way by for good measure.
I won something worth $720 and I gave it to a coworker after briefly toying with the notion of selling it.
I support the United Way, which is I why I won the above noted item.
I’ve been up very early every morning since the time change.
Patricia and I brainstormed a problem at work and the results were high five worthy.
I’m shopping today for my France trip.
Haagen Dasz Mayan Chocolate ice cream is REALLY good.
I have a very long list of things to do.
Flying Spaghetti Monster made a Pastafarian out of me.
There’s a new Youtube video in my account of the little waterfall next to work.
It’s so rainy that it’s actively dangerous to walk anywhere except pavement. Wet leaves, slick grass.
It’s so rainy that the ground is exploding. What the hell is it?
I had to take shots from different angles.
These guys at least are cute and not reminiscent of inimical alien brains.
Found art in the ladies can. This one’s for daughter Katie.
Barack Obama’s family is going to adopt ‘a mutt, like me’. bwa ha ha! We’re all mutts, Uncle Rocky.
I already sent this link to Paul. Folks like this should get taken out behind the hangar and shot.
Some people study psychopaths, and I guess that’s a good thing.
I have an offer of a weeklong stay in a bungalow in Belize, and I’m seriously considering it.
Eddie and Gizmo demonstrate vertical superiority.
Doug’s contribution to the art of pumpkin carving.
Sandy P at work took this awesome pic when she was in SF.
Death by black hole and other astrophysical meditations; I especially like the notion that Apophis could have been called Bambi. A physicist explains it all for you.
I am just finishing making waffles.
We watched Objects in Space again last night. Honestly, it’s in my top five hours of tv ever. (Along with Restless, Michael Moschen’s special, the moon landing, and the episode of Band of Brothers where they parachute into Normandy).
I am messing around a lot with Garage Band.
I found the sound of a door on freesound that was so good I put in on LOOP and listened for half an hour.
My digestion is much better since I started taking acidophilus.
Keith is supposed to turn up later today.
We are very SF positive in New Westminster.
That should hold ya for a while, I guess. I’ll be off shortly to commit myself some serious retail therapy.
Some of my favourite cloud formations are shown here.
I’ve been trying to get hold of Katie for the best part of a week now. She’s moved in with Daxus and her last communiqué was a “Okay just need to get away from everyone”.
Part of me wants to phone Rogers to shitcan her phone. It’s costing me $50 a month to not ever get to talk to her in a meaningful way. Daxus will get her one because part of his control freakery is texting her every thirty seconds when she’s out of his sight; I can’t imagine he wouldn’t run out and get her another one, or swap out the SIM card and get her a pay as you go phone. Another part of me wants to cry, and I’ve been crying on and off since about 10:30 last night.
There’s other stuff going on that as usual I can’t talk about, and of course the thing that’s hurting worst is the thing I have to suck up the most thoroughly. I’m really sad right now. It won’t last. It must be lived through.
The weather sucks so bad, we’re breaking 50 year old suckage records.
Jeff and Katie are home from their trek to Victoria; the cats appeared to have survived my tender ministrations, but Gizmo was so intent on keeping Jeff in view that he accompanied him to the landpeer’s house and would have gone inside if not restrained. Foolish feline! There be dogs there! Not but Gizmo doesn’t like the occasional scrap with dogs.
Bob Asprin has died. He is memorialized by Tom Smith, one of the handful of people who make a living in filk, here.
From Patricia I have wonderful news which I cannot repeat, as the explanations would be tedious and lingering; suffice it to say that for once the wheels of justice have ground the ingredients for a tasty loaf instead of hard tack.
I sure hope the weatherpersons are wrong – it’s setting up for another partly rainy weekend.
I am now double booked for June 14th. I don’t plan anything for weeks and then it starts piling up.
By noon yesterday it was so hot in the house that I started thinking that it’s gonna be a very hot summer, and time to get a small window fan. By about two, I was sitting with Mike in the Mustang – top down, of course – heading over to Wreck Beach, which was full but not packed, if you know what I mean. Mike brought a UV blocking cabana (made for Spalding, it weighs less than a pound and keeps the sun off ver’ nicely) and then it was homemade music, surf, kids laughing, startlingly vast gusts of fattie smoke, a nice breeze which died around 4 pm, and the goddamned RCMP creeping up and down the beach several times, forcing me to hide my beer, the bastards. Yes, I know, what am I doing drinking on the beach? Well, it’s all part of the ambience. I even went in the water. Twice. The first time I thought that somebody was stabbing me in the feet with icy knives; the second time, basically just to make sure that I hadn’t had a physical hallucination, the icy knives were stabbing in all directions up to my navel. Don’t think I would have done well in Bastogne. Mike and I conversed about a number of things, but it was not a day for heavy conversation.
Left the beach to hook up with the kids to watch Narnia II, but (oh look, Gizmo is sniffing the barbecue in a hopeful way) unfortunately the 7:20 was sold out, so I bought them a snack and Keith headed out to my place with one of my parcels and I hung out with Katie briefly and then headed home.
Left the beach – I laugh to see that effort compressed into three words. I have been climbing a lot of stairs lately because I changed my route to work a bit, so I’m actually in good shape to climb stairs. I just couldn’t because of how hot I was. I stopped five times on the way up those 375 stairs (normally I stop once); but there were people skinnier and younger than me doing the same, so I didn’t feel bad. One middle aged guy (I must have been VERY red) asked me if I was okay and I just nodded. I didn’t push; I just climbed when I could. Got a shuttle bus almost instantly, then made the Big Mistake of the day and got on the 41 instead of the 25. The bus, which was driven by a woman in the first grip of a manic episode (I wish I was exaggerating) went mechanical (speedometer, a no go item), so I get tossed off my nice comfy seat and forced to stand in the blasting heat for twenty minutes until the replacement bus came, which was not a replacement bus, but just the next bus, which already had standees. That’s when things seriously fell apart. It took ten minutes of haranguing on the part of the bus driver (another female, this one justifiably testy but quite sane) to get everybody onto the bus – I lost sight of my bags – and every goddamned stop was accompanied by yelling to allow people on and off the bus. When I hit Joyce Station I learned that the movie was sold out (I was late anyway) and that’s when I met up with the kids (they appeared just as I pushed the door open at the mall, a wonderful feeling) and fed them a snack.
The sun (yes, the sun, I only had two beers) having had a wicked effect on me, I collapsed. Really, I should have had a shower first, but the way things have been going I figured the only way to make sure I actually wash my sheets today is by bringing the beach home with me. Out of courtesy to the other people who use the laundry machines I’m going to shake them out off the back deck first.
My back feels great. I like the sun. I even like moderate amounts of exercise. But the best part is coming home and thinking that I’ve lost a dress size off my butt from the exfoliation. I really love the beach.
The fourth building block of circuitry built and tested.
Chipper sent that link.
Defining atheism – harder than it sounds.
Stuffed bats. And other plush toys. From one of my LJ buddies.
Sleepy bear. Sorry about the commercial first. And the Nepalese demonstrators getting truncheoned afterwards.
How mad was this guy? Mad enough to buy his adversary’s company’s name as a domain name and post a lot of really angry, and quite justified, comments. For anyone who’s ever been screwed in a used car transaction……
I have conquered an ongoing, crazy-making, recurring low grade bacterial issue with a simple household substance. Given that it’s been bugging me for 18 months and I got rid of it in 48 hours, I am REALLY HAPPY. No, I’m not going to provide details, but believe me, you would be happy too.
Daughter Katie made a date with me to see the next Narnia film when it comes out.
Paul and Keith here last night. Paul dropped off Ginger Chicken (which is funny, because I was talking about it at the lunch table yesterday) and we all watched The Name of The Rose which we quite enjoyed. They went home after the movie around ten.
Raining buckets…. Eddie woke me up at 5 yowling on the back deck.
My back really hurts. I want to go walking someplace today, but see previous paragraph re rain.
Today I have to go get a new bank card, and do some other boring bank stuff, put away laundry, try to find my tax stuff, shove some things into boxes for the storage locker, restring my guitar, itsy bitsy oddsy sodsy stuff.
This dude takes on ‘bittergate’ – supposedly Obama’s bitter misreading of middle America. As is frequently the case, the post is excellent and some of the comments are even better.
What kind of strange middle class fffreak am I turning into? Going shopping at IKEA? Yes, we bought a kitchen table and some kitchen shelves. I rented the Montana (finally learned how to put the back seats down and up again, with some struggle) and we went to the Richmond IKEA and I have to say Monday evening around supper time is a way better time to shop there than the weekend. The last time I was there on the weekend I thought I’d died and gone to a special corner of hell. I’m glad Patricia suggested eating in the cafeteria at IKEA. The food was excellent (they have a license! but of course I had a CAN car so I stayed off the sauce) and with milk and cookies and meatballs included it was 16 bucks for the two of us.
The car smelled funny. I am almost inclined to get it detailed to try and offload the curious “what the hell is that?” aroma that is in the car. The Prius was like that too, especially on a warm day.
After much delay, I’m off to see Katie K tonight. What with her staging her condo and me moving, it’s been ages since we’ve seen each other and we are long overdue for an earflapping.
There was snow at the same time the sun was out yesterday; then snow pellets; then this morning a skin of ice on everything. Winter is clinging like a cast off lover with a personality disorder. Except, of course, you can’t call the cops on the weather. Even if you could, I can’t hear Mother Nature saying, “Don’t tase me, bro!”
Eddie has been to the vet, and now he has medicine. The vet at Petcetera is pretty good and his staff are too, so says Jeff.
When I come home tonight, the furniture will be assembled. I asked if I could help, and Jeff just looked at me like I’m nuts; being my brother he gets to do that a lot, since I provide loads of evidence that it’s true. Let us hope all the hardware is in the fracking box.
Man, is BSGs4 going to a dark place or what???
Watched Breach last night. That was a damned good movie. I may want to see it again sometime. If you want to see a movie that has very little swearing, no graphic violence whatsoever and only one little bit of violence, no explosions and no car chases, but a gripping plot, good acting and a great script, check it out.
Shoot. It’s 7am. Time to don the gay apparel and grab the next shuttle to the mothership.
Last night at about 8:30, Keith and I were watching Cool Hand Luke (Keith’s first time, my fifth at least) when someone outside the house fired the biggest flashbulb ever. At least, that’s what it looked like. Both windows in my field of vision lit up like daylight for a fraction of a second. I had time to look quizzically at Keith, then turn back and shrug, before the thunder arrived. We estimated that it was about four seconds after the flash; long enough for both of us to dismiss the flash as something other than lightning. We were wrong. The thunder was like an earthquake; the house shook violently and I felt the shaking throughout my body. I couldn’t figure out how the thunder could be that loud if the lightning strike was so far away; Keith suggested that it had indeed been far away, but right above us. That would explain what we observed. Of course, what made this particularly interesting for us was that it occurred at the point in the film where – you guessed it – there was a thunderstorm. Anyway, soon after this event, it started to snow. And this morning, snow covers the ground. This is going to be a weird year for weather.
