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Re-newals II

My last entry here assumed Spring was finally happening. Not. Mere days later about 2 weeks of snowing, blowing, cold raining &/or just downright chilly weather ensued. Nasty. Not to mention depressing. Sigh. Both Buffy & I were suffused with warm-weather longing. Despite, or perhaps because of, knowing the unseasonable...

New National Weather Center

Something new in Dan's life. Last week (? or the week before?) his entire office moved into a brand-new, rather spiffy-looking building on the other side of Norman. And yesterday he sent me a whole lotta photos he's taken of it, both inside & outside. Naturally, there's a website (still...

Two years...

Today is our anniversary. Buffy's & mine, that is. It's been 2 years since she arrived. In her honor (& mine), I've made some changes to the photo sections of this site, mostly to make 'em more efficient & easier to maintain. Buffy's Place has been integrated into Michigosh Photos,...

February ups & downs

It's been a short strange trip of a month: A week after getting my computer back, it began to misbehave in an even bigger way than before & so the pesky thing had to go back for more rehab. It had been awhile since I'd trekked down to the lakeshore...

Finally...February!

I'm baaack, again! Had some severe computer issues that made it increasingly difficult to not only get work done, but do anything, online or off, at all. Slow, slower, slowest. Even. To. Surf. The. Web. So, held my breath, crossed my mouse fingers & brought my pc in for servicing....

Site updated...

Six months ago I wrote about finishing the flowerbed. And then disappeared. At least, from this site. So what the hell have I been doing since? Some stuff. Here's a summary: Summer: Kept the flowerbed & lawn alive, despite a season-long drought & uncommon hot weather (for here). Took some...

The flower(bed) project

Well, it may have taken the better part of 6 wks. but the good news is it's finally done. The flowerbed has landed. Lois & I planted the first two-thirds (of 19) together last Thursday, but I did the last third by my lonesome. It took me 3 days for...

Spring cleaning

Contrary to reports of snowstorming in the Midwest this past weekend, here we got a mere half-inch or so that only clung to grassy surfaces (& my deck) & quickly melted, amen. Although it was quite windy & cold, Buffy & I refused to pay it too much attention. 'Specially...

Rosy Mound thaw

Rosy Mound's melting! With the temp. hitting 50-something yesterday, a trek through Rosy Mound (my first since late October) was irresistible. While winter still possessed much of the path & stairs in the woods with a layer of slush, the dune valley & shoreline were largely bare of frigid cover....

Spring, maybe

Spring sprout After 5 days of slowly moderating temps — by this weekend it was up to 40s by day & high 20s low 30s by night — & no new snow (yay!), I think the new season has finally, thankfully begun. And Buffy seems to agree with me: she's...

March thaw?

Franklin Street melts, really It's snowing again. Snow. Again. Sigh. Which gives me all the more motivation to post a few photos I took during the all-too-brief thaw we had last weekend. As proof of life. When the temp actually went over 40 & things began to melt, some. Really....

Photo update

A Rosemary closeup Snow, snow and more snow, that's what's been happening. Oh, it's not like a whole lot at once, not like what you get in the mountains or up in Buffalo, but when 2-4 inches falls on a daily basis, it has a way of adding up, you...

Breathing space

How cute is she? Only 3 wks. this time, between posts...that's getting a little better. Spent an intense & obsessive few weeks designing & building Mac's new site. Which I finished, officially, on Wednesday. After which was able to use a little break between projects to take a few new...

Busy, busy, busy

Snowy bird feeder Whoa, near 6 wks since posting here! Which is not to say I've been idle...far from it. Since I can't let the whole month go by without a few words, here goes a few words: Bluejay @ feeder In between (& perhaps because of) bouts of frigid,...

Frigid...

Buffy in the window Did I declare 5 days ago that Winter had arrived? Well, that was nothing compared to this: It was 7° when I got up this morning & it has climbed all the way up to 10° now. And that's without considering the wind chill (a mere...

Winter arrives

Gymnastic squirrel The 24-hr. forecast from Sunday-Monday night included 30 to 40 mph winds with gusts to around 50 mph driving 14-18 ft. waves on the lake & 3-10 inches of lake-effect snow dumped on West Michigan. All of which sounded very impressive, really stunning for early December, despite the...

A day in Saugatuck

The beach at Saugatuck State Park The day after Labor Day, Lois & Mac took me down to Saugatuck, about 30 miles or so south of here. It was my first visit to this prized lakeside resort community...which, with its art galleries, quaint shops & gourmet restaurants, resembled nothing so...

Okies in MI / 08-13-04

Zoë & Jenny climb Family aboard Jenny ahoy!Day 4: Neglected to mention that late the previous night, MaryGrace discovered that my dryer had died, having ceased to function after only one modest load. Danny thought the belt had broken, not the motor, but nevertheless the result was a couple loads...

Okies in MI / 08-10 & 08-11

Sarah & Danny, 8-10-04Day 1: Those Monday night clouds turned out to be the forerunners of a cold front that hung around for the next few days, a cold front that brought cloudy skies, showers & abnormally cool temps and threatened to turn the Okies' Michigan vacation into an entirely...

July update?

Buffy, up close So you're wondering if I'm okay & what the heck I've been doing during the last 14+ days? Well, hhhmm, let's see: Naturally, just 2 days after I wrote about not yet needing to install the ac, Mac helped me to install the ac. Not that it...

Buffy's tale

Click to see show! Wow, didn't realize how long it's been since my last post! Have been busy: celebrating the 4th; rearranging the living room & buying a few new furnishings, completing some unfinished decorating; continuing yoga therapy (Gretchen's been guiding me into a more intensive involvement...god, is she good!);...

Lawn care?

Clouds over Franklin St. [enlarge on click] The grass is working on growing...I'm working on web sites...the grass is getting high...I'm getting on with working...the grass is growing, obsessively...I'm getting on, obsessively, with web sites...the grass is growing harder...I'm working harder...the grass, the grass, the grass...needs a lot of mowing..........

Summer?

Backyard flower Well, today's the first truly warm day we've had — 82° at the moment — and I'm missing the balmy 70s already. The only redeeming factor is low humidity...but this makes almost a full week without rain or significant cloudiness, which is saying something! I hope it doesn't...

May weather update...

Record Report — Statement as of 5:38 PM EDT on June 1, 2004 ...Record May rainfall at Lansing and Muskegon... The 10.44 inches of rain at Lansing in the month of May 2004 breaks the record for the wettest May... which was 7.97 inches set in 1943. This was the...

Damp holiday

Rosy Mound Natural Area Friday turned into a good weather day, continued cool (temps in the 50s & 60s) but with a clear & brilliant blue sky. I took advantage of the opportunity & managed a good long hike through Rosy Mound (see new photos here). Am so glad I...

Dry, for now

Buffy in the sun River view Despite the forecast, there was just a little shower overnight & no storms on Tuesday, which was still mostly cloudy but a little warmer than Monday. And although yesterday returned to cool, with a chilly breeze, on both days the clouds broke up in...

Respite...

Having a temporary respite today from the recurring thunderstorm syndrome...to just plain cloudy & quite cool, down into the 40s & not hitting 50 'til about an hour ago. But not to worry, the NWS says we'll be back to the new "normal" (of storms & mid-60° temps) tomorrow....... Nevertheless,...

Once more, with feeling

More storms coming...the sky is glowering, again, and there are new watches & warnings posted for today. But at least the Grand Rapids doppler radar is functioning again (as of early this morning)...turns out it's been down since a lightning strike Thursday morning...I'd wondered why the website image wasn't updating...

Enough already!

Have lost track of the number of thunderstormy days we've had...am beginning to revisit gloomy January-like feelings of neverending, perpetual precipitation...sigh. Have been trying to take it all in stride but unfortunately that led yesterday morning to a certain complacency that nearly cost me this computer when I failed to...

Rainy day birds...

Grand Haven lighthouse Cardinal [click to enlarge] Heavy thunderstorms after dawn this morning...poor Buffy hid down in her safe place, the cellar...followed by several hours of rain followed by a generally cloudy, damp & foggy day. Which didn't deter the birds at my feeders even though they too got wet....

More (bird & cat) pics

Tried for half-a-day to get some shots of the repeated visits of an Indigo Bunting (I think) to my feeders Sunday, but most failed...well, just weren't very successful, either being unfocused or marred by extraneous shadows & window smudges...very frustrating...at left is the best of the bunch. Meanwhile, Buffy's third...

Starting over

Wednesday was a good deal warmer & sunnier than Tuesday...very warm, too warm, humid even...perfect for taking more pictures and giving Buffy another go at the great outdoors. She stuck it out a bit longer this time, even venturing up on the deck (but not before thoroughly inspecting the entire...

Stormy

Tree at Rosy Mound Hard to believe that just over a week ago we had heavy frost...'cause now we've had heavy thunderstorms (see below for more details), every day or night for the last 5. Have been forced to shut pc down daily to avoid potential problems, which has been...

Frost, redux

Another cold night (click here for the latest NWS statements)...but all my plants survived...I hope it will be the last for awhile...please, please? Temps are forecast to rise into the high 70s(!) by the weekend. The craziness continues.... Happily, it's already up into the mid-50s despite being breezy & cloudy....

Safe

Yay, my plants (& the backyard lilacs) survived the freeze and now, with temps edging into the low 40s and a brilliant blue sky, I can only hope spring will proceed unimpeded...and please, please, please warm up again. Have spent the last few days obsessively, busily building a website for...

Freeze warning

The crazy weather continues...the high winds gradually died down through Thursday, followed by 2 mostly rainy & coolish, 50° days, but although temps remain chilly, the sun did emerge today, thankfully. We needed that rain, but we don't need the even uglier, chillier temps predicted in the forecast for tonight/tomorrow...

Dust bowl blow

This weather is crazy...yesterday it snowed, today it's 20° warmer but 30mph windier (click here for the details of the National Weather Service report). When Lo & I planned a trip to a nursery near Allendale to buy flowers, I didn't know we'd be driving through a dust storm! It...

Snow!!!

Woke up to a powdered sugar sprinkling of snow on the grass, almost a ½-inch sitting there on the deck...really...32° & snow showers! And if you don't believe me, click here for the report(s) from the National Weather Service: ***Record Report*** — Statement as of 9:17 am EDT on April...

Clearing?

Made a trek down to the river/lake around 2:45 in the afternoon, just in time for the previously sunny day to turn cloudy & begin raining lightly — still amazed how fast the weather can change here — but decided to stick it out & wait to see if &...

Another record temp...

Record Report — Statement as of 8:38 am EDT on April 19, 2004 ...Record High Temperature In Grand Rapids Tied Sunday... Sunday's high temperature rose to 86 degrees at the Gerald R. Ford Airport in Grand Rapids. That tied the record high for the 18th set in 2002.

More weather statements

Pretty intense thunderstorm before dawn this morning.... Severe Weather Statement Statement as of 6:05 am EDT on April 18, 2004 ...The Severe Thunderstorm Warning For Ottawa County Has Been Canceled... At 605 am EDT National Weather Service radar indicated that the severe thunderstorm that prompted the warning had weakened and...

Warmer still...

A rather hazy day (very unusual here), but with no wind & temps in the mid-high 60s, had to make a trek down to the lake/river for another, bigger dose of Spring. Inevitably, a lot of other people had the same idea.... For a weekday, there was quite a crowd,...

March weather stats

Statement from the National Weather Service as of 8:15 PM EST on April 12, 2004 ... March climate summary... The first week of March was characterized by wet and unseasonably mild conditions across southern lower Michigan. Severe thunderstorms produced several reports of three-quarter-inch hail across the western portions of Oceana,...

Record temps...

Statement from the National Weather Service, as of 4:25 PM EST on March 28, 2004: ...Record High Temperatures Set For Muskegon... The high temperature recorded today at Muskegon County Airport was 73 degrees. The previous record high for this date was 69 degrees from 1905.

After the thaw...

Photos from yet another expedition down to the river/lake...only this time, refreshingly, the majority of snow & ice on land, pier & promenade was gone, although some remained along the beach.

February weather stats

Statement from the National Weather Service as of 12:35 PM EST on March 4, 2004 ...Rather Quiet February Across Much Of Lower Michigan... February began rather quietly after an active January. The first half of the month temperatures were running on the cool side of normal across much of west...

More January weather data...

Found the following on the Weather Underground site this afternoon & thought you all might be interested, at least insofar as understanding what January was like here, 'cause it provides a comprehensive summary of the whole month's weather: Statement from the National Weather Service as of 3:10 PM EST on...

Weather stats for Muskegon in January

From the National Weather Service office in Grand Rapids: At Muskegon...the monthly total snowfall of 47.0 inches ranks as the 17th snowiest January on record. Here are the top 18: Year — snow (inches)Year — snow (inches)Year — snow (inches)1982 — 102.41918 — 72.61962 — 66.61979 — 65.71963 — 64.71977...

The sidewalk thingy...

After waiting days for the opportunity to get a shot of the sidewalk tractor, the moment arrived this morning...caught a glimpse of it passing by across the street. Quickly realized it hadn't yet done my side of the street, so grabbed camera & waited for its return. Lo & behold,...

Digging out

Yesterday's storm added about 10-11 inches of new snow, the most at any one time so far this season. They closed the schools today...but not yesterday when it was actively snowing, I have no clue why. The plows finally went down our street about 3 hours ago, but there's no...