Musings

Egad, this part of the Midwest is flat.

Last week I participated in a side trip to the Phyllis Haehnle Memorial Audubon Sanctuary, northeast of Jackson, which is a well-known resting place for whooping cranes during their migrations. The terrain is pretty flat, although we stood on an overlook above the marsh that attracts the whoopers, and I didn’t think any of the pictures I took looked particularly lively or interesting.

I just flipped through them again, and wondered if this bench, awaiting birders with its slowly melting cap of snow, might serve as a visual metaphor for…I dunno, life? love? lasagne?

You pick….

Posted at 7:36 PM | 3 Comments »

That’s 1.5°F (or a bit more) below zero! Brrrrrrr.

When the thermometer looks like this, and you’ve been living in the Sunny South for decades, you figure: it’s about time to hit the road. Southbound….

…and we capped off the day with a lovely dinner—mmmm, bean soup in winter, mmmm, the best!—with friends in Lexington kay-why, where we saw limbs down all over, although the destructive ice we photoed northbound is now melted.

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on Below zero

This is the day I discovered that my thinsulate gloves are excellent for Georgia cold, yet hardly put a dent in temps below 10°F. Good thing it was sunny and I didn’t have to stay out long!—only 1–2″ of fresh snow to get off the driveway….

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on Snow show

Can you see the splits where limbs have separated?

Driving north on I-75, and seeing the amazing destruction wrought by the ice encrusting the vegetation across Kentucky—and we’re far east of the places we saw on the news. This was a big, bad storm!

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on Icy destruction

I took a back way north from the Macon area towards Atlanta, and was gratified to see the creeks had been swollen, even though they look both scrubbed and a bit messy in the aftermath. These days, more water is quite good news.

Posted at 8:01 PM | Comments Off on Changes in the Piedmont

Okay, it’s not very thick, but still, ice on the lake in mid-afternoon on a sunny day in Atlanta—brrrr!

Posted at 4:03 PM | Comments Off on We’ve got ice!

Cypress knees are odd plant forms—function not quite nailed down….

This afternoon: sunny, pleasant.

This morning: rainy, overcast, grey.

Yesterday afternoon included fifteen minutes of snow flurries. No lie!

Posted at 4:29 PM | 1 Comment »

Here’s my hypothesis: when indoor plumbing came to the Sunny South, it was such an add-on, and most houses were built on pilings to frustrate termites, that many people just opted to endure freezing weather by the plumbing version of brute force—keep the pipes open by keeping the water flowing….

As a result, even at nice apartment complexes, this is the sign that greets you at the gate when the temps drop. The swimming pool is still full at this place, too….

Posted at 10:22 PM | 1 Comment »

The sky really was this blue….

Yes, 39°F in the heat of the day. Sure glad it was sunny!

Still, I had a nice walk through the park. Didn’t see Ole GBH,* although we did yesterday….

* Great Blue Heron

Posted at 4:12 PM | 2 Comments »

On this day in 2003, we flew into Seattle in fantastic weather, and had this terrific view of snow-capped Mt. Rainier. Facts:

It’s a stratovolcano (composed of multiple layers of lava and other volcanic exudations) measuring over 14,400 feet—that’s “nearly three miles higher than the lowlands to the west“.

Its Euroamerican name honors a British naval officer who lead aggressive action against American colonials, and brought swathes of the East Indies under British control.

Its best-known Aboriginal name is Tacoma (alternately: Talol, Tahoma), and that name also was used through the nineteenth century.

Also, eons ago, I had similar weather-luck when flying by Denali. But no camera….

Posted at 7:37 PM | Comments Off on Mount Tacoma