A Weather Rant

I have lost all patience with this nonsense.

Yesterday, I got home from work and decided to take Tally for a walk. We had a nice stroll through the neighborhood and even ventured up into the woods for some off-roading. Doesn't that sound like a nice picture? An adorable puppy dog and a woman in a short sleeve t-shirt and jeans taking in the late morning air... I'll wait. Go ahead and reread that sentence. Um, yeah.

I went for a walk yesterday - January 20th - in a short-sleeve t-shirt. SHORT SLEEVES! SHORT SLEEVES!!! No mittens, no hat, no scarf, no boots, no freezing boogers in my nose. No frost-bitten fingers, no blustery wind, no snow, no ice, no jacket. No material covering my forearms!

That was the last straw. I want seasons back. Where the hell is winter? I am sick to death of spring weather in January. I know I know - most of you readers have been mired in frigid temps and snowy winter for months, so how dare I complain about our 50 degree days. But seriously - this is ridiculous. January should not feel the same as April, June, and October! I've worn the same clothing for the past year. There's no switching out summer clothes for winter clothes; you just add or take off a raincoat depending on the hour of the day. There's no rush of excitement when the temps reach 40 and it's starting to feel like winter may be reaching it's end. There's no scorching, humid summer day when your butt is sweating and your makeup is melting off your face, and you find an air-conditioned place that provides a solace like no other. There's no joy in the first crisp fall day when you get to pull out your favorite sweater and have some soul-warming oatmeal for breakfast.

I haven't decided on a course of action yet... but something must be done...

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An Open Letter

Dear Northwest Washington Weather Patterns,

Hi! I know we only met last October, so we haven't even known each other a full year. But I'm going to go on the record and say, what the hell! I Googled your background, like any good blind date would, and I know that you average temperatures in the mid 60s for the month of July. Typical humidity levels - less than 50%.

So what in god's name is going on around here?!?!?!?! Are you ticked off at us over something, or is this just some kind of elaborate prank to increase fan sales? It has been in the high 80s, with 200% humidity for almost a week. You've made your point, ok? My car thermometer read 115 degrees after sitting outside for twenty minutes while I was in the grocery store. Simply sitting in my bedroom elicits profuse sweating - forget about trying to actually get anything done in my sauna of a house. You, Mother Nature, are a fickle temptress. No residences in Northwest Washington have air-conditioning... which is normally fine for an area that boasts mild summers!!!! Target was sold out of fans yesterday (rumor has it most of Burlington was), but I have an ice maker in my fridge, and I'm not above filling the bathtub with ice and simply chillin' in there until this heat wave is over. I'll do it - you will not beat me.

However, if you could find it in your heart to back off just a little bit, that'd be swell. I have to pack and finish some craft projects and generally be productive the next few days, so if you could see fit to give us a little respite from this oppressive weather, I'd love you forever.

Wishing you lots of clouds and cold fronts,

NavyGirl

P.S. YellowBunnies... is there a rational explanation for this Northwest heat wave, or is this just karmic retribution for all the beautiful weather we got in May?

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3 Days!!!

Off to Madison to pick up NavyGuy!!!!  We're spending the day running errands and finishing up the last minute wedding details, and I'm psyched to see him - I've almost forgotten what my groom looks like!  Hopefully he won't be too tired from his red-eye flight...

And thanks to my friend Miss Kewi (meteorologist to the stars), I have a new site to check for the weather updates!  According to NOAA...  

Saturday: Partly sunny, with a high near 72. Calm wind becoming east between 5 and 10 mph. 

HOORAY!!!  Thanks Kewi :)

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A Small Wedding Break

Before I came back to Wisconsin at the end of April, I made several cards that I knew I would need throughout the month of May. One cousin needed a congrats card for his performance in a play, another cousin needed a First Communion card, and moms would need Mother's Day cards. Because I made them early, I had to wait to post the photos, and of course with all the wedding madness, it slipped my mind. Well, during one of the eighteen times I woke up last night with a random thought (make sure you have safety pins to attach the bridesmaids' sashes to their dresses, where did you put that piece of paper with the name of so-and-so's guest, don't forget to bring a zip up shirt to wear while you're getting your hair done on Saturday!), I remembered the cards, and figured some of you may appreciate a small break from the constant wedding posts...

Here's the one for the budding actor. Cousin K was in his school's performance of "School House Rock," so I thought the sentiment was fitting ;) The letters are foam stickers from the Target dollar spot, and I made the stars using a basic shapes Cricut cartridge. I really like the black background, cuz it makes the neon-y colors pop!


Cousin SL had her First Communion, and looked like a doll in her little white eyelet dress. She even managed to down a chocolate covered donut after church without getting a bit of it on her dress! (I'm not sure her mom was thrilled that MOH and I got her the doughnut, but what are older cousins for if not to get you into trouble...) The butterfly is Martha Stewart punch, and the orange cross is just a free-hand drawing I did. It turned out simple and clean.

I LOOOOOOVE this blue-ish paper. It's from a SEI company pack that I found on sale at Michaels. Again, butterflies from Martha, and a (cheater) sentiment printed on the computer. The colors and font seemed kind of retro to me (like 1950s ish maybe?), but it seemed to work, and seemed to please the moms. The design layout came from Clean and Simple blog.

Sorry - one wedding related item: weather for Saturday - partly cloudy, and 73 degrees! We're slowly but surely creeping upwards temp wise! (I'm choosing to ignore the weather.gov report that indicates a slightly higher chance of rain Saturday night.) (Yes, I'm checking two weather sites, and soliciting forecast information from every person I know, or see at a store, or run into on the street.)

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Nothing left to do but...

check the weather.

Every couple of hours.

Cuz, you know - the forecast might have changed.

As of 9am Sunday morning, the prediction for wedding day: partly cloudy, 69 degrees, 10% chance of precipitation.

Weather.com and I are gonna get real friendly this week...

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Rockslides and messed up blizzards...

As the federal government has decided that the best way to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy is to stop people from working or learning (or getting mail), I had no subbing opportunities today, and NavyGuy had no rockets to learn. It has been decent weather here the past few days (despite the "air stagnation" warnings - say huh?), but we're stir-crazy regardless. Too much time spent in the house with the Marines. Our solution for this yesterday was to take a hike near the lake by our house. As always, I started out gungho about the adventure, but twenty minutes in had to use the little girls' room (which is NOT, nor will EVER BE, out of doors), and by the end was exhausted, doubled over, grasping the back of NavyGuy's jacket, hoping his momentum would help pull me up the hill to our house (for those of you who are wondering, no, there weren't any accidents).

Clearly in no mood for another hike today, we opted to head north and check out the Bellingham mall and surrounding stores. Long story short - the route home on South I-5 was down to one lane because of a rockslide. A rockslide! Good grief. Luckily, NavyGuy whipped out his trusty Blackberry Storm, and while I was in my new rubber stamping Mecca*, he found an alternative - though slightly longer - route that would avoid the traffic (and, you know, the rocks).

The other blight on my day was the fact that Dairy Queen jacked up my blizzard! Hello!?! I said OREO. And you repeated OREO back to me. How did my order of an OREO blizzard somehow magically end up in my car as an M&M blizzard? Of course, I didn't check the blizzard until we were back on the highway so it was a lost cause. I know, I know. "Oh, poor little unemployed girl had to choke down M&Ms instead of Oreos in her blizzard today... cry me a river." Well you know what - those M&Ms get too cold in the ice cream and they hurt my teeth! And I almost died in a rockslide! (And this is when NavyGuy usually starts to tune out my exagerrated ranting, so feel free to move on if you'd like.)

Not much else to report on the Washington front. Must go rest up for the big to-do tomorrow!

*I'm in big trouble. Big, big trouble. How much crafting money do you think I could get for a kidney?

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Dispatches From Berkeley 2

The weather here is fabulous. Absolutely, fabulous. You can walk around comfortably in jeans and a t-shirt, with the sun shining and a cool breeze. There are no clouds in the sky, licorice grows up from the ground, and fairies float around handing out twenty dollar bills. Oh, sorry, drifting. Anyway, point being, Berkeley is perfect walking weather. So yesterday and today, I walked around the shopping streets near the campus.

Telegraph Street is a few blocks north of Sister's apartment and leads directly to the campus, so the closer you get, the busier and more State-Street-esque it gets. I checked out Buffalo Exchange, the used closing shop, but found this one to be slightly disappointing. There were too many boy clothes, not enough girl stuff. Alas. Continuing on, I strolled through Moe's Books, a mix of new and used books. They had those really comfy library stools that roll around until you sit on them, so I camped on one of those and browsed the American history section. Despite endless options, I managed to withstand the temptation and left without adding to my collection of books. Bear Basics stocks UC Berkeley apparel and other funky t-shirts. I decided to wait before buying my souvenir t-shirt, but have no fear - I will be back.

Today, I decided to explore my organic roots and check out the Berkeley Bowl Marketplace, a local grocery store that has a huge produce section, and lots of funky natural foods. It's only 5-6 blocks from the apartment, so it was a quick walk (and definitely close enough that I could buy ice cream and get it safely home before it melted). Within seconds of entering, I felt transported to a supermarket in a foreign country. I must have looked like a lunatic, slowly meandering around the store, stopping to read signs as if they were in a foreign language. I think I circled the two stands of artisan fresh breads at least five times, trying to find a basic loaf of french bread. But then it started to feel like an adventure; I put on my big girl shoes and attempted to find romaine lettuce for a caesar salad.

Besides the groceries, the store also features a gourmet kitchen/deli type area where you can get lunch; there's even a small eatery area! They offer an Asian station, soups, salads, pizza, sandwiches, taqueria, sushi, meats, cheeses, and an olive bar offering 25 different types of olives! (I know! I don't even like olives, yet this totally excited me!) I'm definitely testing this place out for lunch sometime next week.

With my romaine, salad dressing, french rolls, and chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, I headed for the check out line, only to realize I was going to be outed as a non-organic-native: I had no cloth shopping bag to load my groceries into. Oh no. They're going to throw 25 different kinds of olives at me!

Luckily, the Berkeley Bowl provides for the less green shoppers, and sells cloth bags. Strolling home with my locally grown food in an environmentally friendly bag, I finally felt like a native. (Until I couldn't find the pedestrian crossing button on the stop light, and a kind hobo had to help me. Alas. One step at a time.)

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My Hurricane Experience

Monday
3:45 am Awake to earth-rattling thunder.

3:46am Poke NavyGuy between the ribs to see if he'd heard the storm and was awake.

3:47am Debate whether hurricanes contain thunder and lightning.

3:49am Lose argument over hurricane components.

3:50am Debate merits of my 8th grade science class.

3:52am Decide my 8th grade science class - while providing me with ample information on creating a Hypercard project about the prehistoric eras - did not in fact teach me much science.

4:00am Ask NavyGuy if he's still awake.

4:10am Navigate around piles of boxes, furniture, and assorted junk to retrieve a Kleenex.

4:11am Stub my toe. Yelp.

4:15am Hear ferocious wind and pelting monsoon rain against our windows.

4:20am All storm conditions pause long enough for me to nearly get back to sleep...

4:25am Fooled ya! And the rain bands are back.

4:26am NavyGuy checks weather online.

4:27am Ponder how I can get on the committee that names the Hurricanes.

4:28am Decide I can't fall back asleep and stumble to the spare room to read my book.

4:30am Power blips for a second, but returns.

4:35am NavyGuy moseys into spare room looking disheveled.

4:36am Debate over my returning to bed instead of reading.

4:37am Won debate.

4:40am Feel guilty about winning debate and decide to return to bedroom at the next howling wind incident.

4:42am Neglect to turn on any lights during return trip to bedroom.

4:43am Successfully navigate around couch only to spot a ghost/intruder in our kitchen.

4:44am Shriek like a banshee.

4:44am Crash into piles of suitcases.

4:44am Scream even louder when NavyGuy bursts through the bedroom door into the kitchen expecting to encounter a serious accident or fatal kerfuffle.

4:45am Discover ghost/intruder was a roll of paper towels on the kitchen counter.

4:45am NavyGuy escorts me (security bouncer style) back to bed.

4:46am Discovery that NavyGuy had been in the bathroom when I screamed.

4:46am Decision that I will shriek like that anytime I need him to come from a different room to empty a trash can or reach something on a high shelf.

4:47am Discussion concerning his ability to save me from a real intruder.

4:47am NavyGuy recounts earlier dream in which he attempted to save me from a tornado, but failed to pull me under the bed in time and I flew away with the house.

4:48am Discussion concerning a suitable tornado shelter in our un-basemented house.

4:48am Decision on tornado shelter - walk in closet.

4:49am More rain and howling (wind, not me).

4:55am Am asked to stop flopping around in bed like a dead fish.

5:00am Ponder outloud why hurricanes swirl the way they do.

5:01am Pretend to listen to NavyGuy's meteorology explanation concerning hurricane anatomy.

5:05am Commence labored snoring noises in attempt to end the 8th grade science lesson.

5:06am Am told that if I don't want to know the answer to a question, I shouldn't ask it in the first place.

5:10am Am told if I don't stop flopping around in bed like a dead fish my TiVo will be unhooked before The Hills can be recorded.

5:11am Try to think of adequate punishment to counter NavyGuy's threat.

5:12am Realize he loves nothing as much as I love TV.

5:13am Resort to childish lower lip pout to protect my TiVo.

5:14am Count the number of hours we will still be living in Pensacola.

5:15am Ask NavyGuy if he's still awake.

5:16am Another band of rain and wind.

5:17am Loud bang in the backyard.

5:18am Debate over investigating said bang.

5:19am NavyGuy returns to bedroom (bang was grill tipping over).

5:25am Brainstorm better "G" names for the storm (Gus, Gerald, Geoff).

5:30am Am given a backrub in an attempt to lull me to sleep (or if nothing else, shut me up).

5:46am Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

5:47am Rain and wind return...


Of course, I can't vouch for those last couple, but according to NavyGuy the storm lessened around 5:45 and we both finally fell back asleep, having survived our first (and hopefully only) hurricane experience.

The movers arrive tomorrow morning to load all of our belongings on the truck. If things are going swimmingly, I'll be posting lots of backlogged events; if you don't see much posting activity - assume the worst.

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Hurricane Update

So far, Mother Nature has been on our side. It looks like Hurricane Gustav is not going to be a serious threat for Pensacola. It rained for about 20 minutes today and there's been increased winds, but otherwise you'd never know there's anything going on in our neck of the woods. The predictions for tomorrow are lots of rain and wind, but we are only on the very outer fringes of the storm. The CNN map below labels Pensacola (underneath the inset), so you can see the brunt of the storm is farther west.


Now, the problem comes in in that NavyGuy and I are leaving for San Diego on Wednesday. He has to be there by Sunday for his survival training, and we had originally planned to simply take I-10 West until we hit ocean; unfortunately, Gustav is throwing a kink into the works, and we are in a holding pattern as to how far north we will have to go before turning left, in order to avoid the storm (and fleeing Louisianans). I had previously had visions of NavyGuy and I singing car songs, stopping at crazy roadside restaurants named after local heros (perhaps, Big Al's Pancake Barn?), and generally taking a leisurely stroll across the Southern United States; the new picture in my head involves flooded roads, insane gas prices, bribing bellhops for hotel rooms, and ending up on a news report for fighting with crowds of hurricane refugees for gallons of water. Hopefully, the trip will end up more like the former; if it ends up like the latter - don't you dare claim not to know me when you see me on the nightly news...

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