It's Spring or at least threatening to be. And I'm getting just a bit antsy to do some antenna work and get properly on the air again, at least 2m and 70cm. HF would be nice, too, but one or two things at a time.

Of course, Jay wants to get his convertible out of storage as well, and that requires dry weather as the area around the storage site is quite muddy when wet. Between those two things, the forecast rain, snow, and worst of all freezing rain & ice are sadly predictable.

Allegedly in a week or two we'll have "normal" weather. We'll see.

And yes, I am fully aware of the quip that any antenna put up in good weather will never work right. I can do antenna work at subzero temperatures, though I'd prefer not to. I do draw the line at working in rain (esp. of the freezing variety) and blizzards.

Many places I knew are no longer there. There was a tornado (I'll take my folks word over the official non-reports of a "probable tornado" - they saw the thing.)

Their home property was, evidently, unaffected beyond the power outage and they're running a generator for now. Not that far away, the old Highway 51 Truckstop (it had ceased truckstop operation years ago when a bypass was built) is damaged if not gone. The auto dealer I bought my first car from is gone. Many buildings are damaged if they are still there at all. The area is a mess and likely will be for quite a while.

All this was just this evening. Last night there were storms in my area. From the reports I've heard (some from the spotters themselves) various bits of Iowa also aren't there any more. This morning I got an e-mail from my folks asking if things were OK here. This evening I got a call letting me know that they were OK. Not everything is OK, of course. I expect there will be more (bad) news.

In case anyone was wondering, the severe weather that hit southern Minnesota missed us. We had wind, but we always seem to have wind. The sky was nasty shades of green and yellow that evening, kind of like one might imagine a chlorine-atmosphered planet to have. But that evidently means things are nasty somewhere else. That was the case.

"Covered in snow." is how I answered the question, "How are things?" a couple times today. jmaynard and I had been planning on a trip to Merrill, WI for Christmas with my family. We would have left Thursday and returned Saturday. Would have.

It's been snowing, with the occasional lull, from Wednesday evening (if not earlier) and it's still going. I was out Thursday morning to stock up on a few things, including gasoline for the snowblower. Between the driving conditions in town, the radio reports from the Twin Cities, and forecasts/satellite photos/radar maps... we decided not to go anywhere.

I don't know how much snow we have already, nor how much more is coming, but "more than enough" applies. I do not plan on even going outside today. Even using the snowblower can wait. There is still some chance of freezing rain and I'd far prefer any ice be on top of the snow rather than on the ground.

The forecast is calling for clearing... Sunday evening. A snowplow/sanding truck just (barely) went by. It's not a good sign when something that heavy is spinning its wheels.

Tornadoes can happen all months of the year and in pretty much any location. They tend to happen more often in some times (Spring and Summer) and some locations (the US midwest, for one). Oklahoma has already had tornado fatalities this year.

The weather folks make a big deal of Watches and Warnings. Not just for tornadoes, but for other severe weather. And I suspect I am not alone in occasionally getting them confused. Does watch mean "Watch out, it might be happening." or "Watch out, it is happening."? Is a warning "This could be dangerous." or "This is dangerous."? Even after hearing the explanations that are supposed to clarify, the two definitions come at about the same time and are still apt to get confused.

There is a simple way to distinguish these two things. One is grammatically incorrect, but I think that doesn't matter too much in this case.

WatCh - "C" - It could happen.

WaRning -"R" - It are happening!

ADDENDUM: Alternately, haystack suggests the more grammatically correct:

WarnIng - "I" - It is happening!

The flat bicycle tire I didn't really fix has finally been replaced. I had the new inner tube, but new tires were on order. The tires arrived Monday. Naturally the last weekend was good cycling weather. And then I was out of town for a few days, so jmaynard picked up the tires.

I got home a few days ago, but didn't really have time or reasonable weather to take care of things. Today wasn't just too hot, and there was sufficient break in the rain that things dried up for a while, so I finally managed to change the flat. I'm leaving the other tire alone for now. New tube, new tire, and while the wheel was off of the bike, I drove to a gas station with an air compressor and got it properly inflated.

Once things were reassembled it was time for a ride. I didn't get just too far. Things went well with the bike, but the sky got dark and then I felt a few light drops so I turned around. Somewhat to my surprise I managed to get home without getting soaked. I got back just in time. There's plenty of rain and thunder now. I don't think I'll be going anywhere this evening.

After last year's great Amana Colonies Renaissance Faire, jmaynard and I were looking for to going to ACRF this year. I wanted to go back and Jay wanted to see it for himself as he had to be elsewhere last year.

We won't be going this year, because there is no there to go to:

Due to the excessive recent rain and more in the forecast, the faire has been cancelled. The site is currently under 6" of water in most areas, and there is no drainage.

Not sure what we'll do with the weekend now.

Overnight we got the freezing rain that was forecast. That, and the wind, seemed to make for some rather odd icicles. It also made for unreliable electrical service for a few hours, which was rather annoying. The freezing rain stopped and not much seemed to happen for a while, but the snow is piling up over the ice now. The forecast for at least six inches of snow overnight is quite believable. I don't plan on going anywhere for a while.

( Icicle photos )

Yesterday Fairmont got snow rather than rain. Not a staggering amount of snow, but a fair amount that where it drifted became a quite substantial amount. When it had stopped snowing for a while, and I had finished supper and my treadmill time, I went out to deal with it.

A good many folks have opined that 2006 was not a good year, and if you're one of them then that the last day of the year gave me the gift of a broken gas cap on the snowblower will seem an apt end-cap to the year. As it was New Year's Eve the problem was not solved by proper replacement, but patched with duct tape.

Between shoveling steps and other places that the snowblower couldn't deal with directly and hefting the snowblower around (it is self-propelled, but turning with fixed wheels is a rascal) I got a bit sore. Also, I was outside longer than I had expected and started feeling the cold creep into me. I spent much of last night with a heating pad on both to warm up and to try soothe the soreness.

This morning I woke up to clear skies and no new snow. I don't know if the Scandinavian bit about having pickled herring as the first food of the new year bringing good luck works, but I'm willing to try it and so had a bit. If nothing else, at least it tastes and smells better than the stinky beans known as black-eyed peas. Jay maintains that one must eat black-eyed peas on New Year's Day for good luck. I say that after having to eat those, the rest of the year can't help but seem an improvement.

The real breakfast was buckwheat pancakes. I like them, but don't have them often. They're quite good and quite filling and it's probably a very good thing I only rarely eat them. We didn't have much maple syrup left and now we're out. That's not a big deal, just something to keep in mind on a future visit to the store.

I woke to an outdoor temperature of 25 F or so and snow on the ground, at least in the grassy places. Roofs were white with snow, but streets and roads were not. They did have a bit of a glaze of ice on them. The snow was just a bit more than enough to be noticed, with lawns a mix of green and white as the grass poked up through the snow even in the deepest parts.

At Riverssance I ran out of battery for the digital camera on Saturday. I figure I'm apt to do that again at MFF (and elsewhere) and with only the one battery that's not good as recharging takes some time and isn't always convenient. Fortunately the batteries are not very expensive.

I've also gotten used to having backups of data. I might not have needed them (yet) but it's nice to know they are there. When I transfer the pictures from the camera's memory card to the laptop and then wipe the card for space, the pictures are only on the laptop. That's probably good enough, but I'll be more comfortable with a backup. Okkay, that's justification for what comes next, though I will admit to just plain wanting to have a certain something.

The upshot is that yesterday I ordered a second battery for the camera and a 4 GB USB flash stick. I figure 4 GB should be more than adequate for storing a convention's worth of images and that size can now be had for significantly less than $100. I'll probably getting another CompactFlash card for the camera as well.