Winter 2015

A couple of random shots from last season. We had very little snow. But there were a couple of really cold snaps. Mostly however it was a mild winter for us. Briggs did manage to cobble together a snowman from the one measurable snow we had. We were stuck inside quite a bit because of the cold, and I caught 2/3 of the brothers behaving nicely at one point.

Sudden rain shower = instant fun

It started raining this evening without warning. No thunder nor lightning, but it rained rather heavily for a while, then eased off. This led to much frolicking.

The one good thing about leaky gutters.

 

The one good thing about that bare patch in the lawn. Mud.

 

Can they get any more "in" the water?

Iced in

The threat of icy weather was enough to cancel school for today for everyone, and enough to put Manna on a two-hour delay. By mid-morning there was actually stuff falling from the sky, so Manna closed. That left all of us at home. Everything is supposed to melt tomorrow. The older boys spent the day on the computer and TV. 

Calvin, for the past few weeks, has been keen on picture puzzles. He's got a couple that he puts together every evening when he gets home from school. Today we pulled out some that we had been holding in reserve for just such an occasion. The living room floor became puzzle central. Too, Libby had given me a puzzle of scenes from the Parkway for Christmas. She pulled that out and started on it and I joined in. We let Calvin put the last half-dozen pieces in. He takes puzzling pretty seriously: he was not sure he wanted me to take a picture of him and the puzzles. Apparently they are not the frivolous sort of thing that one takes pictures of, to his way of thinking. Anyway, I got a couple of pics. It was a nice day, capped off by a walk around the block to visit Miss Julia and to the bodega for a piece of candy. And, tomorrow is still only Saturday!

Weather coverage

Photo from Alabama, from Huffington Post

I was getting a little perturbed this morning by the coverage of recent weather. The storm that blew through Joplin, MO was called the "single deadliest storm in US history." I wondered, "whatever happened to the events in Alabama and other southern states in late April?" I also tried to keep in mind that coverage in the early days after such an event can sometimes tend toward the hyperbolic. On the surface it smacked of racism and disregard of the poor or of the South. I was wrong.

Alabama experienced a series of tornadoes. There were 312 reported, with 226 of those taking place in a single 24-hour period. The storm in Joplin was a single twister. The death toll in the Southern storms was 337 in 7 states. (That's second only to a weather disaster in 1925 when 747 people died.) There are reports of more than 100 deaths from the storm in Joplin.

Reporting of news sometimes worries me. Coverage of abducted white children getting more airtime than those of black kids; news from the 'burbs taking precedence over events downtown.

But in this case, I think I have to climb down off my high horse. And I'll be praying hard for those affected, and those involved in rescue and restoration.

Photo from Joplin, MO, from MSNBC.com

Stormy weather

We knew it was coming. But at 5PM it was sunny. By 6PM it was black with cloud cover. Then suddenly the wind, then hail. We were in Richmond 14 years and experienced hail once; so far we're in Black Mountain 4 years and have had hail three times. It poured for about 15 minutes then switched to rain. The whole time with the wind. It was pretty incredible. At one point I asked Libby if what we were hearing was indeed a train moving through the area, or something more ominous; it was indeed a train. Ultimately the power went out and stayed out for about 6 hours. A tree snapped down the block. Because it affected only a small number of people we were slower getting power back. The family got to enjoy a very quiet evening at home while I had a rehearsal at church. According to Briggs it was the best-night-ever!

Really big snow

The boys in the snow on Saturday afternoon.

Looking at the house from the intersection of Kerlee Heights and Old State Ten

The orange color is the lights on the deck stair handrail

We were warned. A week ahead of time word was out that snow was coming near Christmas Day. At church the big fear was that it would interfere with Christmas Eve services. We managed to avoid that scenario. But it started snowing about 7AM on Christmas Day and didn't take a break until Sunday. We did have ot cancel services on 12/26. We stopped counting at 8 inches. Plus, with the wind that kicked in on Sunday afternoon and evening, it was impossible to tell what was new snow accumulation and what was blow-off. These are some pics from Saturday. Today is supposed to be cold again with wind, but Tuesday should bring higher temps and a nice thaw.

The pecan tree and the intersection of Old 70 and Kerlee Heights

This one did not

The second weekend in December was predicted to be messy weather-wise. We tried to prepare ourselves for it. It was a "big" weekend at church with special music in the morning and our big dinner theater in the evening. The weather was supposed to be rainy Saturday evening changing to snow and freezing rain at some point on Sunday. We figured we'd have church but would have to take a wait-and-see attitude with the evening event.

We woke up Sunday morning to 4 inches of SNOW! First service and Sunday School and the dinner theater got canceled right away. It was bitterly cold. The snow kept falling and we ultimately canceled our second service also. (Though at 11AM when I awoke from a mid-morning nap, it was SUNNY! Blue sky sunny, and the snow was melting!) Luckily, for the sake of my guilty conscience, it started snowing and sleeting again in the late afternoon.

It was supposed to be rain, but this was the scene early on Sunday morning. Two-thirds of the boys decided to make the most of it. While we missed the worst of the winter weather the first weekend of the month, we got slammed the second weekend!

A simple comparison

I don't want to hear any complaining about the hardship of leaving the Outer Banks of North Carolina because of Hurricane Earl. Or having to loose a couple of days of vacation. Or about how horrible the traffic is. Just shut up.

Rainy weather

We've had rainy weather the past few days, mostly short, strong storms in the evenings. Today it rained off-and-on for most of the day. By late afternoon, though, it looked like things were going to clear off.

I was leaving to pick-up Eli from Scouts when I noticed this portion of the sky. This hill is south of Interstate 40 from us, and a couple of friends live up there. It's no more than 1/2 mile away. Also, there is a water tank about halfway up the hill. It's hard to tell but fog has settled over the topmost portion of the hill, lopping off maybe 50 feet of elevation. With clear blue skies, just a little further up. The big tree on the left is in our yard.

Eli's Scout troop meets in Montreat, a mere 2 minutes up the valley. By the time I got back, this was the view of the same spot. The clear sky is gone, and the hill across the way is completely socked in. The temperature has dropped quite a bit also. The same tree from our yard, but to give a sense of perspective, the line of trees that borders State Street as it heads toward Ridgecrest. That tree line is about 100 feet from the house. So, as you can tell, the mountain is gone!

I'll try to remember to get a picture in the morning if, as I guess, things are even more thoroughly shrouded in fog.

Click on the images to get a closer look; you should also be able to zoom in. This will help see the detail of the fog on the mountain-top in the first picture.

The day after the big dog snow

We wound up with a solid foot of snow in the middle of the yard.

Church for tomorrow 12/20 is cancelled. Also, no choir party tomorrow night.

The wagon is cleared to the street, but we haven't been plowed yet.

The snow is melting a little bit, but something more is supposed to fall tonight.

Menu for a snowy weekend: biscuits and gravy; tortilla pizzas; artichoke spread; potato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches; pancakes and bacon. And that's as far as we are right now.

The walkway is cleared; part of the deck is cleared. The picture below is before I started on the front entryway.

Libby's in the kitchen; pray for us.

Some friends have lost power already; pray for Andy.

More pictures here.

Big dog snow

We haven't had much in the way of snow since we arrived. That changed today. It started snowing before sunrise and went for 4 hours or so. It switched to sleet mid-morning, but by lunchtime was back to snow. Briggs and I made a trip out to see what was going on at church (nothing); buy a couple of food items (popcorn, snack mix and milk), and get kerosene (the fire department responded to a motorist in distress while we were there). And it's been pretty steady ever since. We've got about 3" around the house. Ray's Weather is predicting near 12" for Black Mountain and straight north of here to Burnsville.

It was pretty weird: this morning we had a robo-call from the county school system telling us schools were closed for the day. It was not snowing then. Twenty minutes later it did start snowing. It was like a scene from The Truman Show. I'll get pictures later.

There is all grade of fretting over church activities: our big music is this Sunday for both services. Not sure what we'll wind up doing yet. Kind of depends on how much snow we actually get overnight. We also have our choir party on Sunday evening. That will be up in the air until decisions are made about church services.

Our street got plowed early this morning, but it's covered over again. Not sure if or when we'll see the plows again!

Random

Libby's Uncle Reid turned 97 recently. She took all three boys with her to visit for 24 hours a couple of weeks ago to celebrate (I am still reveling in having the house to myself for that brief respite!!) She took a couple of pictures of the trio for Reid who is an historic train buff.

This is what I have to work with at church. These are a couple of shots of kids in our youth bell ensemble. Goof balls one and all! The "older" person, in blue (who ought to know better than be photographed with this lot) is our education ministry intern this year, Kathryn.

The dogwood in the front yard bloomed in early April and looked pretty nice. And then the blooms faded. And then they fell off, all at once, one night. The station wagon looked like it had been in an Indian wedding! It was pretty cool!

Weather extremes

I mentioned we had snow on 4/7. We also had an incredibly warm spell shortly thereafter. I had not yet unbolted the windows in the entry and study, so it was really stuffy for a couple of days in that part of the house. That area used to be a porch, and it was closed in on the cheap: no insulation we can find and hand-crank windows which don't do much other than keep the big drops out. So I finally got everything opened up in time for more moderate weather, and the long rainy spell we've have (rain on 22 out of the last 24 days or something amazing like that). But tonight Libby says the bolts have to go back in: it's supposed to be near 30 overnight for the next few weeks! I thought I was done with the kero-heater, but maybe not!

Some Snow

The closest thing we've had to a respectable snow since we moved to the valley. About 3 inches in part of town. I cannot believe that Richmond had more than use; that really blows. It was enough for school and day care to close, so it was just us boys at home today. We finally went out when Calvin went down for his morning nap. The boys got to use a snow board Eli's had (thanks B&G) for two and a half years! After that it was spaghetti and meatballs for lunch. Here are some pics.

The snowy day

It's not so much the snow as it is the cold: 9 degrees this morning (soaring near 20 at the time I write this). But enough snow to close everything, including the church office. No rehearsals! After 15 minutes of getting ready and putting on clothes, Eli and Briggs lasted about 5 minutes outside this morning. While all that was going on, Calvin found a soda can in the recycling and claimed it as his own. BTW: he's walking now, in that herky-jerky way beginners do.

Rainbows

Tuesday was a turbulent weather day. It rained hard most of the day and there were strong winds later in the day. There were tornado watches in places the next county over. At dusk though, the sun broke through the clouds way off to the west. It was enough to create this double rainbow near us. One end was just across the interstate and east of us. The other end was just up the hill from us in the Kerlee Heights area. We took 5 pictures in all.

Ice

Another day off from school, and a few hours without electricity. The ice fell harder and longer than the weather geeks predicted overnight. There was a pretty hefty layer on everything. We lost a couple of branches in the front, but nothing too severe. Crews were all over the place; even other parts of the county didn't get as much, or only rain. This is the arbor over the rear deck, and a tree crew working on our block. Very exciting!

Snow!

It ain't much, but it's actually snow. Other parts of the county (of course) got more; we managed only a dusting. But it was enough to close daycare for Briggs (school for Eli was still on holiday). Not so much snow, but plenty of cold: 17 degrees right now at mid-morning! I am reminded just how leaky this old house is!

Boys and water definitely mix

The valley seems to have gotten over its drought. We've had 3 inches of rain in three days. Most of the week there were afternoon storms, the kind you associate with summer. But each day they've been increasingly consistent and insistent. Wednesday I made the mistake of biking back to church after lunch: it was pouring by 4 PM and showed no signs of letting up. I had to bum a ride with Jennifer R. (thanks again!). Thursday it rained most of the evening. Friday it rained in the afternoon and evening, and then started up again in the middle of the night. And today (Saturday) it's rained pretty much all day. Our two little Power Rangers have enjoyed trudging up and down the gully at the edge of the lot near Kerlee Heights Road; water gushes through there. Some construction up the street turns the water a nifty shade of orange as it washes through! At some point Briggs apparently tried sitting in it! Tuesday evening Libby got this shot of the sky, with clouds and moon. Pretty cool.

Wierd Weather

Libby insists that I post these things! It was a noteworthy series of weather events, to be sure.

Libby here: Mike finally got up out of the chair and let me get to the computer. He already commented on the snow and cold on Easter weekend, and last weekend brought more of the same. On Sunday, the day started off fairly warm and humid, with temps in the 60s (which we enjoyed in thorough heathen fashion [it was a vacation day from church] by eating breakfast at Denny's and going food shopping). By late afternoon, though, snow started blowing down from the Craggies; here's a shot of clouds of snow wafting across the interstate from Sunset Mountain. By midday Monday, the clouds had cleared out of the valley but were hanging tough on the high peaks. This view is from Old Lakey Gap Road looking north toward the Parkway and Mt. Mitchell. Oh, and we had 2 days of 60 mph winds to boot. Toward the end of the week, matters had moderated. Thunderstorms were forcast for Thursday evening, but nothing too extreme. Ha! We got nearly an inch of pea-sized hail in about 5 minutes, nearly covering up the flip-flops Eli left out on the glider. (Click on the images to see them larger, and really get the details in each.)