At breakfast we always check the oracle to see what sort of day is on offer, even though the gloom outside may not appear very promising. It can change in a trice around here.
You can see, in the above photo, how ice melt is running off the hill in rivers, beneath the surface of remaining snow. The accumulation was never great but the freeze was intense and this is still causing minor problems.
The oracle announced a total overcast with rain.
(And happily: “Poor conditions for fishing”.)
So that was good, about the fish I mean. On the strength of the forecast, Grant recommended bringing the bird seed tray onto the porch, but when I went to move it I was surprised to see:
Patches of blue.
Admittedly, they were disappearing at a rapid rate but far from being gloomy, the sky has been filled this morning with interesting cloud formations.
It’s as if there is a great suction device out there to the east, hoovering clouds toward it.
It’s called the Atlantic Ocean, I suppose. Or the Jet Stream. But it is fascinating to be able to watch the creation of a weather pattern.
One result of our local weather was that my cleaning lady could not come last Saturday as her car was frozen in place.
On cleaning days, I always pick things off the floor and tidy up a bit as it is really not fair to expect someone to clean a house that is all a muddle.
And since I had made these preparations, I decided that Ralph the Roomba should come out to play.
The question was, would he cooperate?
No.
He would not. I tried alternately cajoling and cursing at him….NO.
Bugger the blasted thing.
Grant popped up and took Ralph through the self same routine, launched him off…..
“Look at me GO!“
As previously mentioned, this is somewhat vexing.
However, I suspect I have worked out Ralph’s little problem only I haven’t yet dared to test my theory.
Meanwhile Rosemary, my humble robotic floor cleaner goes meekly about her job and quietly parks herself in the corner when she’s done.
What I really want is a self-cleaning house.
Why has no-one invented that?
Today my proper cleaner turned up so I raced around, quickly moving things which includes removing clutter from the kitchen surfaces.
Grant decided to take an *early lunch:
“Where’s the bread?” he asked
“In the bread box.”
Which may give you an idea of the sort of household this is. In fact, the actual breadbox contains vitamin bottles, pens; things I don’t know what else to do with.
Bread, when in favour, tends to live on top of a pair of plastic boxes, one of which is referred to as the bread box. They contain recipes and measuring spoons that Grant uses when he cooks.
Why? I haven’t a clue.
With 11 cats, life is bound to be a little topsy-turvy.
Just like New York weather.
We have come through the day with not a drop of rain and with what I would term “variable cloudiness”.
Grant has just come in from inspecting the ice melt, announcing in a subdued voice:
“I’m worried what this is doing to the foundations.”
The ground here is mostly slate and water will follow whatever course it finds.
No amount of worry will stop it.
Lakes are appearing where flower beds used to be…
…and my property now has a river running through it.
This slushy mess is my driveway.
After all this melting…tomorrow it will be frozen.
Oh dear.
But I believe we shall have an early Spring.
*The term “early lunch” always reminds me of the days at work when things were going wrong or we were under-staffed, or both usually. We could often be asked to take an “early’ or a “late” or even…a “no” lunch and get paid…45 minutes or an hour extra.
Those were the days!
Your fascination with clouds makes me think of my college meteorology course – in fact Middlebury College is not all that far from you. Anyhow, I could have gone on to pursue the subject further but my graduate courses were in urban geography and I thought more about being an urban planner.
The variable cloudiness was extremely photogenic!
The jet stream blew your weather our way overnight. By lunchtime, we hade icy rain falling for the dog-walk, and it is now almost dark and not even 4pm. I am hoping we are too far south for your snow and ice though.
Best wishes, Pete.
One thing I’ve learned over the years … you can never trust the weather man! But at least you had the opportunity of taking photo’s of beautiful clouds.