C.J. Cherryh's Blog, page 68
March 3, 2014
Six inches of snow. We have a stopsign in our yard…
We have striped weather—and this is the stripiest. We got six inches of snow yesterday and last night, and today it will start to rain and melt it all.
Our river will rise, no question.
And people, from timid, have gotten way cavalier about speed on our arterial street that runs past our house. There are tire stripes on the asphalt, but the rest is snow. They go whizzing along to the S curve downhill like lemmings to the sea.
The street that runs across our front (we’re a corner lot) is 6″ deep in snow and there is a mild downhill: you don’t think of it as a downhill if you have never noticed the fact—but last night Jane and I were engaged with Lynn in a Guild Wars melee when I hear the distinctive thump of car meeting something. I got up to look out at the intersection and dial 911 if needed. Sure enough somebody must have approached our stopsign too hot and skidded, and rather than go into the intersection and get T-boned, the somebody had swung left, perhaps hoping to turn onto the arterial by an unorthodox entry.
Didn’t work. There’s a tongue of curbed private property and a large decorative rock at that point, plus juniper bushes under all that snow.
Well, that car was bottomed out on the tongue-shaped patch, and stuck, and the driver probably shaken. I tried to dial 911, realized I hadn’t hung up the contact with Lynn, and by that time someone with a cellphone was walking across the arterial to help, so at that point, since the driver was upright and conversing with said person, I decided things were going to be under control. So we kind of watched the situation: took about an hour for the police and a tow truck to get it all cleared off, and it would be a wonder if gawkers didn’t create more problem down on the S curve, which starts right about there—but that was that.
We did get one of my window treatments hung. It looks good and is solid as can be.
One of Jane’s bichirs (African rope fish type) went over the rim into the downflow again: this requires the ladder, because the wedge-shaped tank is situated in a corner, with the downflow at the rear. Fortunately just the removal of one pipe (which can be pulled out) revealed the culprit, who is now netted and back with his 2 fellows.
Today we will put up the other window treatment and the new ceiling fan. We’re good at ceiling fans.
March 1, 2014
Now, I’d have sworn we’d just entered spring melt—the pond was melting this morning. Now…
It’s 15 degrees and spitting snow.
This is our forecast, which has been pretty well typical of February.
We get a snow coat.
Then it leaves.
A 40 percent chance of snow. Cloudy, with a high near 18. Northeast wind around 17 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.
Tonight Snow likely, mainly after 10pm. Cloudy, with a low around 13. Wind chill values as low as -1. Northeast wind around 14 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New snow accumulation of 1 to 2 inches possible.
Sunday Snow. High near 23. Wind chill values as low as -1. Northeast wind 8 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 3 to 5 inches possible.
Sunday Night Snow before 10pm, then snow, possibly mixed with freezing drizzle. Low around 22. Northeast wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible.
Monday Snow likely before 10am, then snow likely, possibly mixed with rain. Cloudy, with a high near 36. Southwest wind 6 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.
The outer solar system has some intriguing mysteries…
Sedna is one. The notion that we have a loose planet or dim companion star that’s just too far out there and too dim to spot is not a case of “it’s weird, because….aliens” —but it’s still weird.
Just one of those instances in which the clockwork heavens in which things ran predictibly was a nice model, but t’ain’t so.
February 28, 2014
Trying to simplify life, fewer to-dos, less stress…
We just need to relax a bit. I hit 4 pots of coffee a day, and that’s too much even for me. I’ve gone down to one.
We had the annual conference with the bank guy…honestly, if your bank offers free financial/investment advisors, get one. Our guy is a jewel: we can ask him planning questions and to a certain extent legal questions and which of two choices is better—and he can offer reasons. I mean, that’s what he thinks about, reads about, discusses day after day. And we don’t always take the advice, but it’s always well-thought-out.
We’re starting the annual tax monster. Today is the end of our little corporation’s fiscal year, so happy 2014 to us.
Our accountant we’ve had since the beginning is retiring this year, so we’re doing things with particular care.
And the snow is melting. I note the azaleas and magnolia are budded…spring is coming.
February 25, 2014
Jane and I both have adopted the ‘contact us to join’ policy…
…and with a few bugs, it IS working.
If you’ve had trouble joining or accessing Jane’s page, go over there and talk to her: she’s in our contact info tab above! We love our readers and we’re very happy to create you a membership.
February 24, 2014
Welcome to our new members!
I’ve put several people through today—and this is SOOOOO much easier, and really rather nice to get into communication via a letter, too.
It’s snowing up a storm out there today—I ventured out for vegetables, blueberries and half a fish, but we are now set for as much snow as it wants to throw at us!
My fish recipe is real simple: dust it liberally with Durkee’s Chicken and Fish Spice, and a little dried chili flake [aka pizza pepper flake], plus a sprinkling of Panko for crunch, and fry/steam simultaneously in a pre-heated (level 7 heat) in olive oil in a covered pan, about 4 min on one side and 2 on the other. Unfortunately the spice is hard to find locally—so I ordered a batch online. We now have the Bear’s Diet ahead of us tonight and for several days: salmon are not small fish! but I will say, I do better salmon than all but one restaurant I have ever had salmon at. (She said modestly. But it’s far from hard. The instant the skinless salmon has all changed color, flip it, and if it changed faster than 4 min, it will be entirely done sooner than 2 min in this cooking method. The fastest way to ruin fish is overcooking.)
Anyway—we are getting one of those beautiful fat-flake snowfalls.
We’re going to have to replace the back fence (the only fence) this year; we’ve engaged a guy to do it, but first he can’t come do it because he’s going on a cruise—(I’m in the wrong business!) but he will measure so we can order. An hour later—a call from him saying he can’t, a friend’s car broke down and he has to fix it. Well, the cruise is past. We’ve had days of fair weather. No sign nor sound from him. We’re now having snow again. I think one of these days we need to go over to Home Depot (his base) and ask if he fell overboard.
February 23, 2014
Thanks to spammers arriving at the rate of about 300 a day, I decided…
…that if you’d like to join this site as a member, just find my e-mail addy which I have cleverly put where you might expect it and email me your chosen screen name, your actual name, and your chosen temporary password. I will install them by hand (at far less labor than I have been spending) and that should solve it. This is subject to revision as plans meet software head-on, but I think this is the most trouble-free method. We don’t get nearly as many new members as we do people who have met tragedy in Abu Dhabi and want us to benefit from the misfortune of their husbands…
February 22, 2014
The chest arrived. So did the table-runner drapes. It’s all excellent…
…but my room is a mess that looks like Genghis Khan raided the camp…
When you start moving a chest of drawers, you pull out the drawers….
When you pull out the drawers, you notice junk.
When you notice junk, you start sorting it.
When you start sorting it you get piles of junk.
When you get piles of junk you realize the other chest of drawers also has junk.
When you realize the other chest of drawers also has junk…
February 20, 2014
Ah, 4pm…and my cat thinks it is now time to fling my necklace off the bureau…
Daylight savings time highly upset these kittehs. Time zones drive them crazy. Sei feels quite put upon because it’s 4:10 and he thought food should arrive on Oklahoma time. Hey, he visited there for a week last year. Doesn’t that count?
