Category Archives: weather

county bob, mail order, medicine, rant, rave, weather

Land of the Mini Rants and a Rave

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Today was a day of minor irritations. Most of them weren’t enough to be rant worthy on their own, but there were several that made it to the level of deserving a good mini-rant. After all, one of the crossword puzzles I did last week had “blogger’s self-indulgent prerogative”as a clue with the answer “rant”. Since I am always for self indulgency, here is my collection of mini-rants for the day. Plus, to end on a positive note, a rave is included at the end.

Mini rant #1: Weather. The air pressure fell to extreme lows today, meaning that I hurt. Remember a week ago Monday when I showed the high pressure on my goose neck barometer:

 

Notice that the fluid in the neck has been forced all the way back to the body of the barometer by the high air pressure. That means I felt pretty good. Now contrast that to the same barometer this evening:

Notice how the low air pressure has the fluid streaming out of the neck. That means I ache all over.

Mini rant #2: Medical tests and getting older. With every year older I get, the more and more “recommended” tests and tweaks happen during my annual exam. When turned fifty, it was time for the initial colonoscopy. This year I turned 55 and with that milestone came the addition of the infamous “manual rectal prostate exam” to the standard PSA blood test. I can hardly wait to turn 60 and see what else gets added. {*grin/2*} It didn’t help any that the phlebotimist had trouble drawing the three vials of blood for all the blood tests and so had to poke and jab multiple times to get enough blood.

Mini rant #3: Mail order fulfilment oddities. When you are my size and wear size 16 shoes, you seldom get to walk into a store and shop. Same goes for clothing. So you have to order from the few places that specialize in big and tall sizes. Last week I went online and ordered a pair of shoes and some other items. I specifically chose a pair of shoes that were shown to be in stock because I needed them *now*. Today the order arrived with everthing in it *except* the shoes. Instead there was a note saying that they were on backorder and would possibly ship later. Not only did the company lie about having the shoes in stock via their online order system which *should* have been tied directly to their inventory, but they are not even sure they will be able to get them to me at any time in the near future.

Rave of the Day: Kudos to Country Bob’s BBQ Sauce. Today they sent me a very nice BBQ cookbook and coupons for Country Bob’s at a local store so I could gift friends and family who haven’t yet tried County Bob’s with a bottle. What an inspired word of mouth campaign!  I think this is a great idea. Not only do they have a great product, but they really understand grass roots marketing. Go Country Bob’s!

Time to figure out what I am going to talk about on the radio in the morning. Maybe I’ll feature the radio show nude tap dancing team. {*grin*}

foster parents, garden, planting, weather

Stiff and Other Things

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Yesterday was the annual Foster Parent appreciation event. May is the month of the Foster Parent, which I duly proclaim every year. The social services department and case workers and child professionals host an afternoon event to honor the foster parents. We eat way too many calories, drink coffee and punch, and then play bingo for donated prizes. I have attended this event every year since I became mayor. This was my last such event since I am term limited out of office in November. L was in town and able to attend with me, so we had a good time and got to say goodbye and thank you to the parents and staff.

I always find it a bit sad that social services is a county department, but it is a too rare occurrence when any of the commissioners attend and say thank you to the foster parents. Foster parents have a tough (and heart wrenching) job in todays society. Many of the far western states like California have moved to an orphanage type system (under more PC names, but if it quacks like a duck, it’s a good time to get out the shotgun!) due to the scarcity of qualified foster parents. It will be interesting to see what the system looks like in another 20 years everywhere.

Today started off dull and dreary with bouts of wind and a few rain sprinkles. Not an auspicious beginning to getting the onions planted in Mom’s garden. We had originally planned on planting Friday and then Saturday, but it was too cold and windy and rainy both days. But the weather cleared by 11am this morning and it warmed up a bit, so I spent the majority of the afternoon planting onions. For those who haven’t planted onions, it involves spending a lot of time contorted into positions that would make a Sumo wrestler proud. By the end of the day, my thighs were giving out, so i sat on the ground outside the planting area and scooted along to plant the last couple of rows. Then it was time to hook the drip irrigation system up and finish applying the weed killer and fertilizer.

That led to getting mom out to the back yard to supervise my efforts. I think she was a bit surprised at her ability to manuever the wheel chair on the lawn once we got her out there. Whereas I was tired and stiff and happy to be done, Mom was sitting there and with raw hunger in her eyes, wanting to get out into the soft soil in the garden area. If her hip heals up and the bones that were operated on in her ankle continue to mend, she might soon be out there. If not, she might be a bit cranky. {*grin*}

Time to get some things done I have my annual diabetic exam in the morning and need to get some stuff ready. Don’t do anything i wouldn’t!

barometer, weather

Monday Quickie

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(Get your mind out of the gutter! I’m talking about a short post here.)

Today was odd here. I woke up to snow falling and even a bit accumulating on the ground. Quite a change from the upper 80s of a couple of days of ago. I just wish the weather would settle down to normal here, but I’m not holding out a lot of hope.

L was in town for some meetings and to take care of some business, so we had an early supper of soup and salad before she left for the mountains this evening. Along the way to the mountains, she was going to meet the Son in Denver to pass on some papers he needed and also some workout clothes he requested. Given that he will be back in the mountains for work tomorrow, it probably won’t be a major deal if the miss each other – except that they both like to talk and it does them both good. {*grin*}

The barometric pressure here has been rising and falling severely here for the last week. As a consequence, my shoulders have hurt constantly, especially the one I crushed a few years ago. I have a swan neck barometer here in my office:

 

This year is the first year it has encountered highs and lows severe enough to alternately spout out the top of the neck and suck air down through the bottom. It has been hanging there for years, but the weather here is definitely getting more changeable. Yesterday the air pressure was so low that the swan neck  was spouting out the top. Now it is so high that the swan is sucking air and bubbling. I vote for a return to some moderation.

Well, I’ve got some stuff to get done yet tonight, so until tomorrow ….

altitude, Boy scouts, music, weather

Spring Hath Sprung

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(I am trying an experiment here. I’ve included the music playing as I compose this opus between brackets for your perusal. Interesting? Or not?)

 
You know how it is. In the spring a young (and not so young) man’s fancy turns to the great outdoors. (Get your mind out of the gutter – I wasn’t going there at all! {*grin*}) On the basis of my experience today, it is definite that Spring with a capital S has arrived. The moisture from the rain and blizzards of the last few weeks coupled with the near 80 degree sunny days of recent times has caused green to break out. The grass has started to grow and turn green, the weeds are rioting, with the dandelions adding a splash of color in the front yard. Even the trees are starting to put forth some leaf buds.


It was so nice out today  that I decided to make a big walking circuit of my errands this afternoon. I walked cross town to a bank to make the monthly deposit for the Boy Scout troop (the committee meeting was last night). After that I walked to another bank to sign a form and pick up some papers for L and myself, then walked across town to the credit union to pick up some papers for Mom. It was a wonderful 80 degrees with crystal clear azure skies and just enough of a breeze to keep it from becoming too hot in the sun. The sun here can be very intense when the sky is cloudless. Even though we are in the flat lowlands of Colorado here, we are still at an elevation that qualifies for the high altitude baking directions. {*grin*} Thus higher UV levels than lubbers from down around sea level are used to.


My freewheeling mind has forgotten what I was going to originally write about, so I’l just have to make do with what the last paragraph suggests. I was interruted by the phone and then the dog and then …


First topic, the Boy Scout troop. This town was founded in the late 1800’s and the Boy Scout troop that I am on the committee for (and serve as treasurer of) was founded in the early 1920’s. It has been continuously chartered and operational since that time with the exception of a three year span in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. It is the troop I was a scout in during my youth. The people on the committee with me include several of the scouts I was a scout with. I often feel a bit left out in that crowd since I am the odd man out – I am the only one of the group who did not attain the penultimate rank of Eagle Scout. I opted to leave and go to a science institute at a nearby university and so stopped just short of completing my Eagle. It is also the troop that the Son followed a similar path through. Three of us who were scouts together in the 60’s and who now serve on the committee also all had sons in the troop at the same time. That sense of continuity and community is so rare any more. So what kind of organizations are you a part of with that kind of generational continuity?


Second topic, altitude (and cooking). Although we are at a paltry 3,935 feet here, the place in the mountains where L and the Son are is at roughly 9,200 feet. So down here there are only some moderate altitude effects on cooking, whereas up there the effects can be radical at times. Most of the effects are related to the boiling point of water and how it decreases with altitude and air pressure (lower air pressure -> lower boiling points) The relationship is non-linear and can be approximated by a quintic equation. Since I am aware that some of you are math phobic, I’ll protect your fine sensibilities. {*grin*} The pertinent data are are approximated by these boiling points of water at various altitudes:

  • 212 degrees F    Sea level
  • 205 degrees F    4000 feet
  • 194 degrees F    9200 feet

You can see that there is a sizeable effect at altitude. Anything that counts on the boiling point of water for thermoregulation is not going to work well at altitude. In fact there are some foods that it becomes impossible to adequately cook by boiling alone. Even if you can, the cook times are much  longer due to the lower maximum temperature reached as the water boils off. Do you do much cooking at altitude? Got any good tips or hints to share?



I once more got distracted, but I was essentially done anyway. (I cannot hear Layla without thinking of and missing L, so by the time my mind returns to reality, the chain of reasoning is long gone. {*grin*}) How do you like the inline music tags. Are they helpful in following my shifts of mood and thought?

bug, park, weather

It Must Be Spring

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Spring must be here even if it did attempt to blizzard again last Friday and Saturday. Why do I say that? Well, when Molly and I were out walking in the park today, I saw my first winged insect of the season. That is a pretty sure sign of the arrival of Spring in the local area. It wasn’t much of an insect as such beasties go, but it was a sign the the masses will be appearing shortly. I could have taken the cognitive leap last week and trusted that the fly I spotted buzzing the sink in the house was a harbinger of Spring, but I worried that it was a false positive since it was still snowing and blowing outside at the time. Fruit flies and other such annoyances seem to hatch out occasionally in the temperate climate indoors. But the bug that flew off today was clearly an outdoor bug.

So with the winds blowing and the temperatures back into the 60s after the attempt to join Denver and environs in the cold and snowy blizzard, a lot of people were out in the park. Molly got a chance to sniff and whine at an incredible number of dogs. Not only that, but there were a ton of kids out in the park doing everything from playing football and catch to attempting to fly kites. The winds were a bit too shifty for good kite flying, but the kids were trying anyway.

Last Friday was the official Arbor Day celebration here in town. Since the city has been a tree city USA winner for the past 21 straight years, you can count on the mayor being out to plant a tree for every Arbor Day. (Part of the criteria for being a tree city is that the forrester has to get printed publicity about trees in the local media every year. So that usually devolves to sending in the picture from the papers with the mayor planting away.)  Given how miserable the weather was here on Friday, there were only a couple of us in attendance at one of the city parks to plant the Elm cultivar. In only 50 or 60 years, it will be big enough to replace some of the beautiful trees we have lost over the last decade to Dutch Elm Disease.

The planting was in a park about a block from where I grew up. Other than the restroom and an old non-working cement water fountain, there isn’t a part of the park that is the same today as it was when I was growing up. The playground equipment has been replaced twice and is currently being replaced for the third time. The merry-go-round and teeter-totters have gone the way of the dokey bird in the mania of litigation fears and ADA accessibility. Even the swings and play sets no longer have sand under them, but have a special wood fiber product called Fibar that is both injury reductive and ADA approved.

Our town is rare in that we are small, rural, and have a lot of parks. Our four largest parks range from 40 acres down to 3 acres. Then we have a half dozen to dozen minor parks that range from a fraction of an acre to a couple of acres. The overall goal is to have every household be within walking distance (with toddlers) of a park. We succeed in general, but there are some areas where we don’t have all the parks we would like.

I will close by asking what the park situation in your area is like?  Do you have easy access to parks and facilities in the parks? How about tennis and basketball courts? Walking paths and nature trails? If not, why not?