Weather

There are 211 posts filed in Weather (this is page 11 of 22).

Ida takes her time

IDA

IDA

This is day three of torrential rain from Tropical Storm Ida. Ida never actually made it out of Florida but its presence was still felt. The storm’s low pressure spawned a Nor’easter. The rain almost literally hasn’t stopped in 72 hours.

When I feel like complaining about the rain I think back to the winter of 2007 when we faced a severe drought. Rain becomes monotonous and unpleasant. It causes all kinds of accidents for idiot drivers who can only passably drive when it’s not raining. It can also be depressing not seeing the sun … but, it still isn’t as scary as potentially running out of drinking water.

The really good news is the rain will all be gone in time for the weekend, which should be gorgeous.

Raleigh’s untamed greenway: Walnut Creek Trail

Walnut Creek Greenway

The beautiful morning and the promise of a sunny afternoon in the mid 70s got us itching to go for another family bike ride. After considering a trip out to Durham’s American Tobacco Trail greenway, we opted instead to explore one greenway we’d never tried before, Southeast Raleigh’s Walnut Creek Trail.

Our goal was to start at the easternmost point possible and go as far west as we could. Worthdale Community Center seemed to be the trail’s official starting point but after reviewing the maps I decided the 8/10ths of a mile from there through the surrounding neighborhood to the paved greenway was not worth riding. I know what homes and sidewalks look like: I wans the trail!

We thus drove to the end of Little John Road and parked at its dead end. The residents of the house next to us gave us long looks through the storm door, making me think that they didn’t see many greenway users parking here. Though I felt the neighborhood was completely safe I decided that parking on the narrow neighborhood street was being too disruptive to the neighborhood. Next time I’ll look for a lot at one of the nearby community centers.
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Beautiful fall morning

It’s unusually mild and breezy this morning, not sunny but pleasantly overcast. The wind is gently ushering yellowing leaves off their perches. It was extremely relaxing to walk through the breezy neighborhood streets with the dog this morning, knowing we were safe from rain for now but the showers would soon begin.

A morning like this just makes me feel so alive!

Sunset, sunrise

On my way home from the City Council meeting I saw an amazing sunset! The sun had just set below the western horizon, leaving a band of warm orange in the sky near the treetops. Above the trees was a perfect crescent moon, seemingly larger than life. Then this morning I saw a beautiful sunrise, with the same band of warm light that happens only in the cooler months. In place of the moon I saw Venus shining bright in the sky.

It’s good to stop every now and then and appreciate the beauty that’s all around us.

Post-election stress disorder

It was a long, long day on Tuesday when I volunteered to be a poll greeter for the campaigns of Rodger Koopman and Russ Stephenson. My feet hit the floor at 5 AM and I basically wasn’t off my feet until midnight that night.

After showering that morning, I threw my umbrella, a folding chair, and a bunch of campaign signs into the car and headed out to nearby polling places to make sure signs were out. Then I picked up more from Rodger’s house and headed north.

I arrived at my assigned polling place at 6:35 to find the parking lot full already. My Odom counterpart, Collin, was already there greeting voters. I set up my chair closer to the “no campaigning past this sign” limit, held up my sign and smiled in the drizzle at the disinterested voters who walked past.
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To New England

Kelly and I are on our way to New Hampshire for a three-day anniversary trip. We’ll try to do as much as we can during that time, though the weather won’t be cooperating. Rain is forecast for all day Sunday, which is a wicked pissah.

We’ll check in when we can along the way.

Yard work and other work

I’d been holding off on doing much with our yard as I was thinking we’d be getting zoysia grass put in this week. When the landscaper I’d been talking to about zoysia suddenly pulled out of the project, I decided to take advantage of today’s gorgeous weather to make the weedy mess that is our yard look like something special.

After mowing the lawn, I edged it and blew the clippings off the sidewalk and driveway. Then I got out the hedge clippers and trimmed the woodsy cut-through between neighborhoods next to our house, which was something I’d been meaning to do for weeks. Once the clippers were in my hands, it made sense to turn them on the overgrown vine quickly enveloping our front porch. Now the yard and the porch both look awesome!

And in the middle of all that, I still found time draw with the sidewalk chalk with the kids, Rollerblade (and bike) around the neighborhood, shoot a few baskets, practice juggling, help a neighbor move furniture, take home a free bed, and visit with the neighbors.

It was a very full and productive day and I made the most of it!

Taste of Fall

This morning began a bit crisper than we’re used to here. The first day of September brought some decidedly fall-like weather. Today should be sunny with a high temperature in the mid-70s. This is about 10 degrees cooler than we’ve had for the past few weeks.

Bring it on, I say.

Active weekend

We had an active weekend as we wrapped up the last one before school starts again. Saturday was sweltering, with a high of 88F and 74% humidity. We joined Travis for his soccer practice in the morning. Then it took a while for me to mow the lawn as the heat sapped so much energy.

It had begun to sprinkle here and there by the time we grabbed lunch and went to Optimist Pool to dive off their diving boards for a bit. We hadn’t put 20 minutes into it before thunder kicked us out. We hopped over to Target to pick up the game “Clue” before returning to the pool in the hopes that the thunder would pass. We weren’t so lucky as the rain began to come down. So, we returned home, showered up, and played Clue for a while.

Sunday morning we slept in a bit. I took the dog for a walk in the cooler weather. Kelly took the kids to get their pictures taken while I walked the neighboring street with a petition to get its speed limit lowered.

We all returned for a late lunch. Then we scrambled to get prepared for another pool visit in the short time we had until our dinner guests arrived. A fun hour full of dives off the board followed! Then we got home and got ready for our guests.

Last week, Kelly discovered that a high-school classmate of ours lives in the neighborhood next to ours. He and his wife have kids that go to Hallie’s school. Both our families have been living here for a year without knowing about the other. We fixed that by inviting them over for pizza and conversation. The parents and kids both got along very well, so we forsee this as the start of many such visits.

It’s nice to have such cool neighbors in our area!