Happy 2012!

Happy 2012!

In case you don’t believe that Syracuse, New York is devoid of snow, here’s a couple of pics I just took on Montgomery Street, outside of work (Onondaga Historical Association), a few minutes ago:

Unbelievable. It’s supposed to go up to 53 degrees F today. Enjoy your day!

Scenes from the Week

Last week, as we all know, there was a beotch of a heat wave, and with the sun feeling like spikes driving themselves into your skin, we sought water and cool places.  We caught the tail end of a car show – there were some awesome cars there, but this one really caught my eye, a 1960 Thunderbird:

And this is why it caught my eye – my Dad had one: (that’s me in my Mom’s hat)

After walking around the car show, we jumped in the water for a night-time swim:

The water was freakin’ hot! Hotter than bath water. So the next night we went to another, much cooler lake. And I wore the mask and am getting used to not being able to breathe through my nose, so I could see the remnants of the steamship The City of Syracuse, which was burned in 1917 and sunk. No pics, sorry.

We went to the Antique Truck Show, and quickly walked around since it was my lunch time:

There were lots more very cool looking trucks!

That night we went to Tinker Falls, where we used to go when I was a kid, and the last time I went was with my parents in 2006. It has greatly changed since I was a kid:

Not much in the way of water coming over the falls, and there were tons of mosquitoes and deer flies, so we won’t go back until those things go away (or bring lots of herbal bug spray).

Then we went for a swim in this water:

Where there were ducks hanging on the edge eating:

It was cool, refreshing, and nice to have the sun go down on a way too hot week:

My New Work Digs

Oh, was I really working? I sure didn’t feel like I was, and that there is the sign of a good for me job, right?

I have to get a close up of the big painting behind my desk – it’s very cool and I know you’ll like it too.

My first task, besides learning the various aspects of my new job, was to help decorate for Christmas. In order to do this, I had to dust the tops of the bookshelves, and then dust the bookshelves because the dust was an inch thick (not really).

This is a work in progress, I’ll take more as we progress. And see the angels and various berries / greens on top of the bookshelves?  That’s part of what I did.

Remember I told you you’d see more of the City Hall? Well, here it is all decked out in it’s Christmas finery. I *love* it!

And as I was getting into my vehicle, I noticed the MONY building’s weather advisory. I’m not sure what rising red means. I’ll have to ask. And then I spotted Venus and Jupiter near the moon. Awesome! I wanted to see this in person!

Sorry, the photo isn’t that great of the planets.

Back to the work thing – I get to go back and do it all over again tomorrow! Yay!

Snow and Flowers

Last Friday I awoke to the sound of a snow plow going down my street. What the heck? There were five inches of fresh, spring snow that fell overnight.

Lovely, really, it was lovely on the trees in my backyard and on the ones all of the way to work. I wanted to take photos the entire way there, but you know, traffic was an issue.

Then Saturday it was blue skies and beautiful. My daffodils are just a little taller than the last time I showed them to you. They’re trying!

And while I was looking around for plant growth, I heard this beautiful red guy making all kinds of racket in the red maple across the street:

On Sunday my Mom and I pruned her ornamental trees and shrubs. I always forget that I need to keep my mouth shut (no talking) while pruning (sawing) because sawdust flies into my mouth! And as I went to prune her weeping cherry tree, I spied this single little crocus, and it made me smile wide, because it exudes such happiness all in one little flower.

Here’s a side view of the same happy little flower:

And my Mom’s daffodils are up a little higher than mine. Which makes sense, because even though we’re only 20 minutes apart, I’m in a different zone (growing, not time). So my spring starts a little later, but the flip side to that is my fall lasts a little longer.

Happy Wednesday everyone. And I’m sorry I’m cutting down on my blog time, but my time is really at a premium these days!

Acting All Innocent

Uh huh, the sky is acting all innocent this morning, like it didn’t do this

View of my deck that I have to clean off.

Or this:

Don’t worry, this is an old bike that I’m getting rid of.

But after all my work is done clearing paths, I’ll still think it’s pretty and be thankful for the extra moisture to take us into the springtime.

These photos were taken when I first got up.  The sky was clear and sunny.  Now it’s clouding over again.

Best Laid Plans Changed By Snow

So, I had at least four places I could be at today. And I was going to do two of them. First the things I couldn’t do. I was invited to be a judge at the Central New York History Day again this year, which I would have thoroughly enjoyed. But I also have to get a specific number of hours of training at work to meet the state requirements, and there was a seminar scheduled for today to help meet those requirements. So I had to decline the CNYHD offer. Then we got about 8″ of snow since yesterday/overnight, with more coming, and the seminar was cancelled.

View out my window this morning.

After the seminar I was going to go to the Outdoorsman (woman?) show to see Birds of Prey among many other things since it was right down the road from the seminar. Or I was going to go to a movie at the Planetarium. Which I’ll talk about later because I still am going to go soon. Instead, I’m staying home shoveling and raking snow and doing laundry and cleaning house, and I’ll see what I can cook up. BTW, while I was shoveling, I heard all kinds of birdies. Yay! *They* know spring is coming. More later! Enjoy your day, whatever the weather is doing around you.

On The Edge

On the way home tonight I was enjoying the sunshine while traveling towards the lake (Lake Ontario). There was a very distinctive weather system generating over the lake. Like a wall of clouds coming up from the lake. I wish you could have seen it, it was pretty scary looking (I tried photographing it but didn’t get anything good because I was driving). I was hoping my home wasn’t on the wrong side of that wall of clouds, and thankfully it wasn’t. The sun did make the clouds on the edge a pretty peach color.

On the edge of the lake’s scary looking weather system

I’m glad I don’t live on the east end of this lake with this system going across the lake. This really cold weather is enough to deal with for now!

Wimpy Wimpy Wimpy

So I woke up to the news on the radio this morning and heard schools around the area, including the ones we serve at work, were closed. I’m thinking ‘oh great, there must be tons of snow outside.’ So I rip open the curtain and there was nothing. It was a beautiful morning. WTF? Turns out it was too cold for kids to go to school. Already then. Sounds a little wimpy to me, or should I say, real wimpy. My Mom used to bundle us up to wait for the school bus in all sorts of weather. The only time school was closed was when the road was closed, like my Dad had described here.

People these days have NO spines. I sleep with my window open every night and have ever since I was very little, no matter what the weather. So to say cold air hurts kids is, IMHO, bunk.

Ice, Not So Nice

I’m tired of ice. This is New York State. We’re supposed to have tons of snow. Not ice, slush and rain every other day. I have ice two inches thick on my driveway. I can’t even wheel my garbage containers to the curb because of the ice. I’m done with it. I’m staying inside until it stops. That’s not a threat, it’s a promise.  Because nobody knows how to drive on ice.

I am requesting a melting of the ice on my driveway, then some real winter snow. It doesn’t need to be deep like when I was a kid, but just sufficient so it can protect plant roots and so I can play in it for a little while.

March 6, 1971, LaFayette, NY

The Weather, Boring? Nope!

You know I’m overdue for an article on something of an historical nature, and you’re right! I have a few potential articles swirling around in my head that I’ve been researching, and as soon as I can get a good handle on at least one of them, I’ll write it up for you. In the meantime, I’ll talk about the weather. First it got really very windy this week. I would have taken photos of the sideways traffic lights, but keeping both hands on the steering wheel was essential. Then it got icy and slushy and it took me an hour to get to work (because of all of the slow pokes who have vehicles that can’t handle the snow, why the heck do they live here with vehicles that can’t handle snow, did I write that out-loud, grrrr)? And last night we finally got some snow. But still not enough to do some real snow shoeing in. Sigh.

Just barely enough snow to cover the evergreens in my back yard.

Spring can’t come fast enough here!