Category Archives: Weather

Another Rainy Weekend

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Another Rainy Weekend

The forecast is for high winds and torrential rains. Warnings of possible flash floods. This is the rainiest start to July in 100 years! Last weekend wasn’t a wash out and I had all good intentions of writing a post but somehow by the time I got 5 minutes (and believe me it takes me more than 5 minutes) the weekend was gone. So I had big plans for this weekend so I would have something interesting to share. But it looks like mother nature has other ideas.

Rainy weather, the inscription rainy on the sweaty glass.

How Do I plan my Weekends

If it ever stops raining I have plenty of ideas for weekend adventures. I bought 2 “Adventure Books“.  One is Lighthouses of New England and the other is Massachusetts State Parks. Both books are huge. If I went to every lighthouse I’d have years worth of places to visit. Add in the State Parks and I don’t have to travel to find something new to see. Toss in the Sand Castle events from Hampton Beach to Cape Cod and a whale watch or two and I’ve just booked myself for the rest of my life! 

So what’s up with This Weekend?

A friend of mine bought a farm recently. So far they have chickens and donkeys. They almost got a horse but that didn’t work out. Today they are having an event of some kind with crafts and vendors. I planned to drop in, say Hi and check out the goods for sale. But so far my day has not gone as planned. I woke up to no electricity so that got my day off to a slow start. I stuck my nose outside for a temperature check and wow! It’s a jungle out there. Hot and steamy and not even 7 am!

I need a haircut and have to do some grocery shopping. Then I’m free to head over to my friends event- if the rain hasn’t started by then.  So I’ll just play it by ear. Sunday is supposed to be a washout so I really hope the rain holds off so I’ll have some pictures and stories to share next week.

 

May be an image of horse and nature

There’s Always the Cats

Of course I never mind being stuck at home too much. I always have entertaining company with Banner & Balboa!

 

 

Where Have We Been?

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Where have we been?

I don’t mean travel. COVID still has us locked down but where have we been the last couple of weeks? Well kitten duty is time consuming. Even with toys Banner is a demanding little bugger! I try to play with him for at least 30 minutes before work every day. If I don’t he is so wound up I can’t get any work done. It took him only about 2 seconds with my back turned to tear into my work laptop. Yup he pulled the F2 key off. I lucked out because I snagged it back from him before he he swallowed it and I don’t use the F2 key. I didn’t even know what it did so other than a white spot I guess there was no real harm done.

We Got Our First Snowfall

It snowed here yesterday and then the temps dropped so we still have snow on the ground today. I read that the Farmer’s Almanac has predicted a snowy , cold winter. Why not?  2020 has thrown everything else at us!  I tried to get Banner interested in watching the snow come down but he had no interest at all, A kitten after my own heart. He’s more interested in the feather trim on my witch hat for Halloween.

 

You need to arch your back a little more , Banner , to get that scary Halloween witch cat look! At least he’s got the tail thing mastered.

New York Wildlife

On a more photography/travel related note I got my New York Wildlife Viewing guide. Hopefully this will help me choose some trips in 2021. I couldn’t just buy the book. The only way to get it was to subscribe to Conservationist Magazine. I’ve gotten one digital issue so far and it was really good. I hope some of my issues will be print because the color photos are gorgeous and the articles weren’t boring at all!

The first thing I checked was Adirondacks and the first place on the list was “The Wild” in Tupper Lake. If you recall my brother and I visited “The Wild” in August. 

From the description in the book it sounds like there is a lot more to it than what we saw. Of course we were there while the pandemic was still in full force so half the exhibits were closed. Once this COVID is all over I’ll have to go back. We might have missed some other things there too because my knees were  really limiting my mobility.  I’m working on possible solutions to improve that too.

Puzzle Update

The Puzzle is still laid out on the table but I picked up the loose pieces and put them in the box.  So far Banner has not tried to eat them but I don’t want to tempt him either. So there’s been no progress to report but no damage from curious kitty either. It’s just waiting for me to get some time to work on it again.

 

 

Another Heat Wave On The Way

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Another Heat Wave

Another heat wave! It’s Hot Hot Hot.  90+ temps for at least 3 days in a row. The tropics are stirred up. There’s a hurricane headed to Waikiki. Hurricane Douglas , the strongest storm on the planet has Hawaii in its sights. Meanwhile Hurricane Hannah is en route to Texas. Here in Boston we just plan to melt as heat and humidity continue to climb.

2020 Continues to Torture

If Corona Virus wasn’t bad enough we’ve got race riots, police protests, Australia burned, volcanoes exploded and  hurricanes are everywhere! What’s that you say? Don’t forget the killer bees? What else can possibly go wrong in 2020? 

On the South Rim, Grand Canyon 2008

Travel

Believe it or not I’m starting to really miss travel. I’m not sure I’m ready to squish myself into an airplane yet but I’d love to revisit some of my favorite places such as the Grand Canyon. Get a 2nd chance to get a spectacular photo. Or maybe just see what I missed. Even a day trip or long weekend to my neighbor state to the north, New Hampshire. I haven’t gotten a picture of a loon yet but I know where to find them on Squam Lake, NH.  Did you know that Squam Lake is where they filmed On Golden Pond?

But here we are, still in lockdown, wearing masks and social distancing which brings me to my most recent update. I know you are all wondering. Have I finished the puzzle or did I give up. What’s new in the jigsaw puzzle world?

Jigsaw Puzzle Update Time

I am still plugging along. Making some progress. I’ve got a lot more bits put together that I have no idea where they go but I also have the beak. It was easy. It was red, and I’ve added more to the border. I can recognize part of a leg. But now I’ve got a lot of very similar colored pieces without unique marks, colors or stripes. This part is going to be really hard.  But I will persevere.

 

 

 

 

 

Guess What Day It is!

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Guess What Day it is? 

Mike Mike Mike, Guess what day it is!? Nope not Hump Day. It’s February 2nd – Ground Hog Day. Today’s the day we find out if the groundhog will see his shadow. So what you ask, Why do I care? Well if tradition is right when the ground hog sees his shadow he’ll be  scared and run back into his burrow. He’ll hide and we’ll get 6 more weeks of winter. If he doesn’t see his shadow then we’ll have an early spring. As you can imagine everyone is hoping  “No Shadow”.

Punxsutawaney Phil

Punxsutawney Phil is a groundhog in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania and they go all out for Ground Hog Day. There are lots of local ground hogs and mini ceremonies but Puxautawney Phil gets the lime light. And according to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, Phil’s opinion is the only one that matters. He was even the Ground Hog in Bill Murray’s movie Ground Hog Day. As I write this I’m waiting to hear if Phil saw his shadow this morning or not. It’s quite overcast here in Massachusetts but who knows what it’s like in Pennsylvania? 

Meanwhile in Punxsutawney PA

The top hatted, frock coated, officials are leading a chant…Phil, Phil, Phil. They have to wake him up to get him out of his den. I guess you could say that’s the original rude awakening! Phil has a “Handler” and he’s approaching Phil’s home. He looks a little hesitant to me. Maybe Phil wakes up grumpy?  As he reaches in the crowd quiets and there’s Phil! 

Did The Little Critter see his shadow?

Groundhog Day results 2020: No shadow! Phil predicts early spring is coming.

This is only the 20th time out of 124 in his recorded history (there are 10 years where no record remains) that Phil hasn’t been able to find his shadow. That’s only a 40% successful prediction rate. Still at this mid-point of a New England winter it’s nice to think we might get an early spring.

The Volcano Tour Begins

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Evidence of Volcano Activity  is Everywhere

As we made the rounds to the various resorts we passed remains of past volcanic activity. Lava turns into very rich topsoil but it doesn’t happen overnight.  The Big Island is the youngest of the Hawaiian Islands. There are six volcanoes that have worked together over the last (give or take) one million years to create the Big Island. These volcanoes formed one after the other and partially overlap. From oldest to youngest their names are: Mahukona, Kohala, Mauna Kea, Hualalai, Mauna Loa and Kilauea. Three volcanoes are still active: Hualalai, Mauna Loa and Kilauea. Kilauea is currently erupting while the other two could erupt at any time. Mauna Kea is dormant, Kohala inactive and Mahukona has probably never breached the ocean surface.

The lava flows we passed on the Kona Side were from Mauna Loa’s last eruption is 1984

 

Lava flow to the ocean

Kona Coast

A Snow Capped Volcano

Halfway to Hilo we pulled into a picnic area. This was a former boy scout camp. It was clean and well maintained. The only negative was another tour had arrived before us and took the only handicapped table. Zane, our tour guide , and the young Aussie men pulled another table over to the edge of the paved walk way. This worked to allow our handicapped guest a way to wheel up to a table. Lunch was a excellent boxed lunch. The sandwiches and cookies were amazingly fresh. Zane explained that everything in the lunches from the fruit to the bread to the cookies were all local grown. In fact he had to wait for the cookies to come out of the oven this morning before he picked us up. It was cool while we picnicked. We were in the saddle between the 2 volcanoes, Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea. We could see the snow on the mountain tops.

Snow Capped volcano

 

Rainbow FallsHilo and Rainbow Falls

Zane told us that it would rain once we got to Hilo. Hilo is part of the rain forest and it rains every day. We skipped Akaka Falls and headed to Rainbow Falls. Sure enough it started to rain. When the sun is out there are rainbows over the falls caused by the spray, hense the name, Rainbow Falls. We’d just have to settle for the falls today, no rainbows.

tour bus