Category: Weather

More weather…

This time the weather is gorgeous.  It’s just hanging on the freezing point and gloriously sunny.  The sunlight is bouncing off what’s left of yesterday’s snow in a glorious way.

We ate dinner en famille last night (happens so rarely these days that I must comment… ) I baited the table with sushi.

I bought and tried an ammonia-free glass cleaner last night.  It’s quite expensive, but it really works – the soap scum was leaping off the glass doors in the shower in a most entertaining way.  The brand is Seventh Generation.  Unfortunately for me, cleaning things is going to be my highest priority until the house is sold.  Yeah, I know, cry me a river.

 

It’s snowing….

I was thinking about hanging up laundry later, but I  think mebbe not.

We saw Mike and Heather last night, they seem to be doing well considering how hard they are both working.  Dr. Filk and Keith accompanied me.  That was the first time I’ve felt good enough to actually walk over there, so we walked there and back again; we left a bit early as Mike had to work the next day, poor guy.  The paraesthesia is no better, but my mobility has improved tremendously; I can bend and twist a lot better than I could at Christmas.

Keith found the bag downstairs at Mike and Heather’s and started kicking it.  It’s difficult to describe the noise; the whole house quivered uneasily.  Keith had a particularly fine sparring session at club the other night.

Keith has registered with an agency to get film extra work this summer.  We shall see how he does.

The great chain of beer continues to expand; Burnt exposed me to Cutthroat Pale Ale, and I exposed Mike to it.  He was favourably impressed.

Wilfred Hyde-White figured prominently in my dreams last night.  He kept making guest appearances and making droll English noises.

Mixed fog and sun

We’re certainly getting a lot of February fog. Right now it’s burning off and you can see the blue sky peeping through to the west.

The bruise on my leg from where the muscle snapped is now a tiny little blue smudge. It’s still tender but I am not having any trouble walking.

I have finished the first draft of all of my coworker Valentines! There are 115 of them, including such heartfelt declarations as:

Love is like an hourglass, with the penis filling up as the brain empties. Happy Valentine’s Day to a ‘special’ coworker.

and

O Canada, where a culturally Christian atheist can send a culturally Muslim atheist a card which is in part the celebration of the martyrdom of some whacked out Christian saint. Happy Valentine’s Day anyway to a miraculous coworker.
and

There’s hearts and flowers, gifts and sweets to show my fond regard.

But I’m too cheapass for that stuff, so here’s your V-Day card.

and

Beer is cold, cocoa’s hot,

I’m sending you this

cause I like you a lot.

Happy Valentine’s Day

Garbage Day

Probably a dozen people came up to me after the service and thanked me for a thought provoking homily.  I love having John Hagen as my service co-ordinator – he is really sympatico and he always adds both gravitas and a soupçon of his own goofy charm to the service, which are two modes of being which don’t always meld that well.  I SPECIFICALLY asked for words and music that I know Peggy likes, so there, and I gave away both copies of the sermon that I brought with me and had a couple of people ask to have it emailed.  I will cross post to my sermons section.
I called and spoke briefly to Tammy (she was waiting for her date to show…) and also briefly to Paul, who phoned from Seattle to check in.

I have spent part of this weekend learning to be more accommodating.  If I explained this in any more detail I’d get in trouble, so I’ll just leave it at that.  This may or may have anything to do with my having purchased fifty bucks worth of makeup.  I had been putting it off, but as long as I’m going to be doing standup or otherwise performing, war paint is called for.
The weather is icky, there’s no wind, but it’s raining lightly and continuously.  As promised in my service, I will be changing out of my homily drag shortly and going to the park to pick up garbage.

Love each other while you can!

Ball lightning in the lab

pOp has probably already seen this, but in case he hasn’t….

Ball lightning created in the lab in Brazil.

pOp has a wonderful story about watching a very large sphere of ball lightning travel right down the middle of the Argus he was flying in. He managed to control the urge to touch it, and considering it zorched a damned bit hole in the aircraft, that’s prob’ly a good thing.
Also, proof that the FSM is indeed in us all.

Look for the post entitled FSM DNA

More rime

We had fog and low temperature again last night so the world is covered in a thin slick of ice. Careful on the way in to church this morning…

I will be at Myles of Beans on January 30 – Tuesday coming – to do some standup, believe it or else. Festivities commence at 7:30 pm. I am shuffling together my routine right now. Then next weekend I will deliver my homily about garbage at Beacon (link on blogroll). I’ve already fired off the information for the order of service to the service coordinator so at least that’s looked after. I am SUCH a traditionalist about hymns for my services; I guess it’s to compensate for wanting to play Spiritualized at top volume during the collection. I loved that cd and one of Katie’s friends stole it. Along with just about every other album in the house.

We fed Casey last night after she and Paul went for a walk on the Fraser Foreshore. I was supposed to go to Cindy’s housefilk but Tammy called and two hours went by before we came up for air. I call down the blessings of heaven upon my dear friend Tammy; she consistently listens well and gives good advice (not always easy advice, or welcome! might I hastily add). A good friend is not always an easy one…

Then we went to St. Paul’s Church to see the Vancouver Lesbian and Gay Choir perform their “Heat” concert, which was quite wonderful. They are a non-auditioned choir (can’t get much more inclusive than that) and frankly, they don’t care if you’re straight, either. If I thought I could stand commuting to the practice hall I’d think about non-auditioning; the material was broad enough (show tunes to pop music to madrigals) to be really fun, and it was great to hear “Steam Heat” and a non-hetero version of that old chestnut from Grease, “Summer Nights:. May I particularly commend the accompanist, Dan Lauterbach, who entirely rocks.

I wish I’d thought to bring a cushion. I was in agony for the last half of the concert; it was a relief to have to walk about six blocks back to the car. Also, I’m in prodrome for a migraine; light sensitivity, ptosis and nominal aphasia are the three main symptoms, along with the generalized feeling of dread which always turns out to be chemical as opposed to pointing at a real problem.

I’d better get back to work.

Fog….

East Burnaby is very subject to fog; if you look at it, it makes sense.  You can’t see the Fraser in this map but it’s due south, about 2 klicks and about a 140 metre drop down the hill.  The hills in New Westminster are pretty dramatic.

The contours hold the fog as it creeps up from the Fraser.  You couldn’t see across the alleyway at 7 this morning; now it’s twenty after 8 and the fog has crept down the hill; it’s a dayfull of glorious sunshine (and everything covered in rime.)

I read to Paul and the kids last night from my pOp’s letters to his parents; it was hilarious how my father didn’t think I beat my children enough.  However his descriptions of the children’s psychomotor development left me whooping with hysterics and Katie’s comment was, “See, See!!!! I was put on earth to destroy things.”  Ah, me own widdle nihilist.
Watched the latest rev of Pride and Prejudice last night.  It was pleasant – having recently re-read it – to be able to tell the folks which of the amazing lines of dialogue were straight from the book and which weren’t.

Bucketing snow, raining pain

And Stephen Harper is my country’s Prime Minister.  I suppose it could be worse; Mugabe or somesuch.

I am experiencing almost the same amount of pain and hobbling as I did when I first sproinged my L5S1.  Truly, it’s remarkable.  I’m off to the clinic later to see if I can get some painkillers; sleep last night was a chimerical thing.  They specifically tell you NOT to point your toes when you have this kind of muscle meshugas, but the only way I could sleep was on my stomach with my toes pointed.  I’ve called in sick and I am supposed to have a scheduled vacation day tomorrow but there’s some really weird stuff happening at work that I think I’d prefer to be there to see, and it’s Mr. Clean’s last day before a month of leave, so we prob’ly have to do the download thing.

Onelegwest is staying on until February, Hurrah.   So the Lunch Bunch Mark IV will not be sundered as soon as I feared.

I’m 17 days off cigarettes.  I’ve had two bouts of cravings, both easily managed.

Kira is watching it snow with a look of utmost distaste and a very subdued twitching of her tail. Vis is down to about an eighth of a mile.

here come a twister

Tornado Pictures, All Rights Reserved, Scott Newton, 2004 (Permission to use pictures granted. Please give attribution to Scott Newton)

This is the highest twister ever recorded in the continental US (taken at Rockwell Pass in Sequoia National Park, ABOVE 3500 feet). The streaks are hail. Much thanks to Scott for specifically allowing reprint with attribution. The rest of the pics are pretty amazing too. Please do not forward pic without attribution.

You gotta admit, digital photography really rocks. The hail was alley-sized and fell for – get this – an HOUR.

Finally finished my cloak.