Beware of the Dreaded Pogonip

Friday, January 21, 2011

It was close to 0 this morning. I'm not sure of the exact temp because I forgot to look at the thermometer when I first got up and by the time I did look the morning was already half over and it was a huge 7 degrees. LOL.

Bitter cold, dangerous wind chill factors, snow, sleet, freezing rain, winter mix, ice pellets, sneet, snain, etc. - that's our forecast for the next week. Okay, I made up the last 2 but have you ever been watching something fall from the sky and had no idea what to call it? If it's not quite sleet and not quite snow and not quite rain but a combo of two of them what is it? I call it sneet or snain. LOL.

As many of you know I'm a NOAA Storm Spotter. I've been into weather since I was a young child as my grandmother was petrified of storms. As a teenager she was in the worst tornado in history - the tri-state tornado of 1925. Her home town was the worst hit. It was pretty gruesome and several schools were demolished in southern Illinois. A lot of children were killed. My grandmothers entire family of 11 survived but she never forgot the resulting fires and hearing people scream who were trapped in their houses while they burned alive.

So at an early age it was my desire to find a way to control the weather and it's still a goal of mine. LOL. I liken it to being a demi-god. I want to be the goddess of weather, Caillech. LOL. I built my own weather station in 8th grade and gathered my own meteorology information. I'm sure my teachers were thinking at the time, "This girl is a freak!" But I still like weather.

Meterorology is very interesting. One of my favorites weather conditions is the pogonip. It's a Shoshone native American word for cloud which refers to an ice fog. A pogonip is something that occurs in the Rocky mountains. A pogonip killed a lot of people in a Colorado wagon train many years ago. Fog ice crystal "needles" entered the wagon train members lungs when they breathed and shredded their lungs. TOTAL SCREAM!! I've been paranoid of Colorado and pogonips ever since.LOL. We don't have pogonips here but I'm always wary anyway. Beware the dreaded pogonip.

Now that I've scared you half to death I will just say nightie night, don't let the bedbugs bite, see you tomorrow night.....................Yes, bedbugs.....................another thing I'm paranoid of. Total freak.

(Disclaimer - Pay no intention to this blog. It's insanity precipitated by S.A.D.)

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I'm Going to Make It To 106!!

Thursday, January 20, 2011

The winter weather advisory started here at midnight and it actually started snowing shortly before then at 11:30 P.M. It snowed all night and all day without a break until almost 3:30 P.M. It was a very fine, dry, thin snow or we would have been buried alive. LOL. About 20 miles west, 20 miles northwest, and 20 miles north of us they got a lot of snow so we are really fortunate. We only got 3 inches. The roads here are slick though and IDOT was telling people to avoid the interstate. I called my friend at the post office and the main county road from Texico to Dix hasn't been cleared yet. Of course hubby went to work anyway. Nanook of the North. LOL.

The bird feeder has been wall to wall birds all day and plenty were waiting in line for their turn at the feeder.

I went for a nice walk in the late afternoon. I walked down to the road and it still had not been cleared yet. I wonder if they plan to do it this time. The county road budget is pretty slim and these snows are causing a lot of man hours. Snow? What snow? LOL.

The snow was fairly pristine in most places and I saw where a squirrel had been out and some deer. One deer keeps going to the pond a lot trying to get water but it's frozen. I gave up on breaking the ice on the pond long ago.

I took a life expectancy test today and my life expectancy was 106 years old. LOL. I wasn't really planning on living that long so I may have to start smoking or something. LOL. Of course I probably won't remember the last 20 years and will be wearing Depends and eating pureed food.

www.livingto100.com/

Right now my latest project is fighting insanity. LOL. My S.A.D. is in full swing and I need to have my face shoved into my light box because I find myself fantasizing about eating a container of icing or a gallon of ice cream. I've never done either so I know I probably need some sun therapy.

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Musical Cars

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

BRRRRR!! It sure was cold today. The high didn't even get close to getting above freezing. The ground and the partially-thawed pond are frozen again. The back porch steps were glazed and as slick as snot this morning. But.................don't worry, be happy. LOL.

Last night my son's former dorm mate called and they talked a long time. They really got along well at college. His friend moved to Ohio after college.

The snow is on the way and my son was called at 6:15 to sub for junior high P.E. I'm so glad they called early!! He is often called at the last minute when the weather is going to be bad and they are so ridiculous that they call at 7:30 and want him there by 8. We live 10 miles from the school. LOL.. They must hire fair weather teachers here I guess. LOL. To be fair, in our areas they often hire teachers who live 80 miles away and they can't possibly be expected to make it here in bad weather. To me it's poor planning. My son was offered a job 85 miles away and turned it down because of this very reason. It isn't right for the taxpayers to have to foot the bill for this. I think teachers should have some kind of residency requirements like certain other civil servants.

So this morning I had just gotten out of bed and started breakfast when I had to switch to making breakfast and lunch and snacks at the same time. When my son works on Mondays or Wednesdays he has to go directly to taekwondo at the end of work so he didn't get home until this evening around 7:30.

As it was slick this morning and my son's little truck doesn't do well on slick roads, he took my hubby's van, my hubby took my Prism, and I was left with the FX4 with a couple of low tires. So I ended up having to take my son's truck to get the mail. LOL. On the way there I saw the "school hawk" sitting by the road eating some fresh kill. He is the school hawk because he hunts right by the school. My husband told me last night when he got home from work that there were 10 deer in the yard and close to 100 turkeys. PARTY!! LOL. The squirrels were really busy again today. And the birds. They know when storms are on the way.

I got a lot of my extra outdoor chores done today. I really needed to pick up some limbs in the yard before it snowed, had to get the trash burned, the feeders filled, and the wild life fed before the snow arrives. Lots of deer tracks in the yard.

I went for a walk alone and talked to Baby. I asked her, "Baby, where is Hondo at?" She looked to the west. I talked to her some more and asked her again, "Baby, do you know where Hondo is?" She again looked to the west. So I went looking for Hondo to the west in a field but saw no sign of him. I really want to find that dog.

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A Good Egg

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Breaking News!! Yes, it happened. The temps here were in the 40s for 2 days and we got rid of ALL the snow. It's the first time in weeks!! I can actually see all the ground again. Amazing!! This is a big deal for someone with S.A.D. The snow doesn't help my winter funk at all. Now if only I could have a little sun too. LOL. I know, I know. I want too much. I was hoping the pond would completely thaw out but there isn't enough time............. I want, I need. Right now it's raining but a front is going to go through this evening and the cold air is returning with a vengeance. More snow will be here on Wednesday/Thursday so I better drink in my bare ground while I have the chance. We may get 3 to 8 inches.

I reminded myself for days that yesterday it would be Martin Luther King Day and that the post office and banks would be closed. Did it work? NO!!!!!!!!!!! Of course not. I'm senile. Beyond hope. My son even asked me if I went to the post office and, of course, I had to admit that I did. He put a positive spin on it for me and said I had to go to town anyway as we were low on eggs. It helps to have sympathetic relatives when you have advanced senility. LOL.

Every week my trips to town almost always revolve around my need for eggs. The incredible edible egg. I won't go into a big deal about why eggs are good for you as you most likely already know they are and why. The cholesterol mumbo jumbo has been disproved and you can safely eat the yolks if you want. Even the most conservative M.D.s will allow you to have 1-2 yolks a day and unlimited whites. I usually only eat the white unless they are deviled but my husband and son eat the whole egg.

We are egg people. We eat eggs for breakfast and lunch every day and sometimes for supper too . I have a minimum of 108 eggs on hand by the end of the my weekly shopping day. I really need my own chickens but my hubby says no.

We had an egg shortage here once and I was preparing to leave town in search of the illusive egg. I was afraid I would have to revert to a life of crime as a chicken thief - furtively sneaking through people's backyards, breaking into their chicken coups, putting my hand under some protesting chicken's bottom, getting my eyes pecked out. LOL. At any rate on the day of the local egg shortage I finally found eggs and I bought all they had. The check out clerk was a little taken back and said, "Hmmmm, you have a lot of eggs." I explained. "Shhhhhhhhhh, don't tell anyone. I'm an egg hoarder." She was okay with that. There are a lot of hoarder shows on TV. Besides, I'm sure she will have another interesting story to share with her fellow clerks.

What would you call people that love eggs? Eggholics? There are actual online Eggholics Anonymous groups. I'm really not interested in a 12 step cure for this though. Maybe you would call egg lovers Chinese? - The Chinese supposedly love eggs. I don't have a single Chinese gene that I know of but I do love their food. Maybe an egg lover should be called a fox? LOL. Of course, I'm not very sly really. How about a snake? - snakes love eggs but as you know, I'm not a fan. Or a weasel, skunk, mink, otter, raccoon, crow, gull? They are all eggs lovers too. The term for egg lovers is definitely not Ovaphilia. Ovaphilia is a fetish involving the simulated laying of an egg or eggs by a female human. LOL. Do people actually get this? I have some weird habits but simulated egg laying?? What does this involve? Building a nest? Sitting on it? Waiting for an invisible nothing to hatch? It's problems like this that caused the development of pharmaceutical psychotropic meds.

Did you know there are Facebook groups for people who love eggs? And there is an actual egg lover's song. Sing along with me. LOL.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNndX9qua1o

At any rate I got most of my errands and shopping done yesterday. And I am "with" eggs and not "without" so all is right with the world. I won't have to freak out and get shot in a chicken coop by some peeved farmer or be spurred to death by an irate rooster.

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Chow, Baby

Monday, January 17, 2011

I'm not sure if people were inspired by it being Martin Luther King Day or what but there seems to be a lot of blogging today. Some individuals on sparkpeople have written 4 blogs today alone.

I've been reading a lot of them but I'm not feeling quite that chatty. LOL.

I'm feeling very Kojak today. So in that vein - Chow, Baby! LOL.

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