Category Archives: music

by | May 2, 2013 · 7:40 pm

“Edge of Seventeen” (inches of snow)

I was on the on the edge of 17” of snow, though that wasn’t what Stevie Nicks had in mind when she wrote “Edge of Seventeen”. Several days of dire forecasts trumpeting record-breaking snowfall, freezing rain, and other wintery unpleasantness slid about fifteen miles to the south and east of me. My neighbor spent time putting the blade on his Ford Bronco last night. This morning he spent time removing it without using it.

Snowfall amounts ranged from a trace to 18” in a band about 50 miles wide and about 400 miles long. Other than some sloppy flurries, cold wind, and ½” of rain, it would have passed for a late February day. My old home area, Emmons, MN and Lake Mills, IA, picked up close to a foot of snow and saw many crushed trees and downed power lines. Weather forecasts are not 100% accurate, and one person’s good fortune is another person’s misfortune.

Not that winter has fully left the area. Normal temperatures may not visit again until Monday and there is a minor threat of snow Friday and Saturday. After that, I hope this area gets a second chance at a normal spring and that the areas bearing the brunt of get a chance to clear out and clean up. A couple of sunny days will get rid of this round of winter.

The four decent days this week have the snowdrops blooming, daffodils and tulips budding, and the forsythia finally showing flower buds. The red remains of silver maple tree flowers litter many driveways and the tree rats, er, squirrels are becoming fat, happy, and stupid by gnawing near a leaf bud and lapping the maple sap. That also causes sugary drips on driveways and parked cars. Everything is running almost three weeks behind normal. Maybe the growing season will run three weeks later this year.

I replaced my weather station without falling off the roof and only dropped one wrench. Of course, it did necessitate a trip down to get it. Lucy and I shared a strong dislike of ladders. Mine is exacerbated by a mild rupture in my right ear drum with occasionally plays havoc with balance. The top of the roof is about 14 feet above the ground, but an asphalt driveway and a concrete patio increase the likelihood of a hard landing. I’m glad that chore is done for another decade or more.

I hope you are getting the chance to enjoy some pleasant and routine weather. If bad weather affected you, I hope you are safe and any damage was minimal. Life is as uncertain as the weather, so don’t waste an opportunity to give your loved ones a meaningful hug.

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Filed under gardening, music, rebuilding, weather

by | April 28, 2013 · 9:38 pm

“Walking on Sunshine”

Many people in the Twin Cities metro are walking on sunshine because of the wonderful weather change since Monday. Of course, the 1983 song by Katrina and the Waves has received ample airplay on a couple of the radio stations. Between Monday and Friday, the landscape changed from sooty gray on dirty white to mostly green on khaki. Wardrobes consisting of parkas and Sorel boots now are tank tops and sandals. Car washes and nail shops are insanely busy and Dairy Queen has a steady stream of cars in line from 10:00 am to 10:00 pm. The furnace is getting a rest and the air conditioner surprised me by kicking on late this afternoon. Sun and blue sky replaced the slate gray gloom. We have a surprise thunderstorm underway now rather than freezing rain and sloppy snow.

All my snow melted off Friday and the last of the ice in the backyard shady spot was gone Saturday morning. The temperature had not risen above 60°F this year. Friday was our first 70°F day and today (Sunday) was our first 80°F day. I took advantage of the weather and got the gardens prepped and seeded for the season and did some brush trimming and chipping. I am kicking myself for the wonderful mild sunburn I have on the top of my head from spending eleven hours in the sun between yesterday and today. It shows that I’m not as young as I once was. I am also very thankful for ibuprofen and Powerade.

May could still play a cruel practical joke on us. The weather forecasts for Wednesday night and Thursday night mentioned the dreaded “s” word again. Monday is the last 70°F day for the next week, and Tuesday that last day above 60°F. While the normal high is about 63°F, Wednesday will struggle to make it into the 40’s. The weekend might rebound to the mid 50’s.

I know eleven hours doing garden prep and brush removal sounds like a lot of work. Lucy would help and we would get it done in about half the time. I know she would be disappointed with the late start to the growing season, but she also knew many things were beyond her control. Our reward for a busy day of gardening was dinner at Romano’s Macaroni Grill or Don Pablo’s, then sit in porch on the glider. We savored these warm days with low humidity and no pesky bugs. We would also do some brainstorming and get ideas for the next project (or seven).

We thought ahead and went with low maintenance perennials. The spring readiness and fall clean up were the only two periods of hours of work. Watering, weeding, and cleaning the birdbath amounted to about two hours per week. Mowing takes about 1½ hours when needed, twice per week during the rainier spring and every other week in the drier summer. Thinking ahead gave us more time to enjoy the weather by going for walks. We would average about 200 miles per year walking. By not being in the backyard constantly, it gave the birds a chance to find the birdbath and nesting spots and keep us entertained.

The earlier sunrise time is giving the cardinals more time to sing loudly. I have two males that are in the midst of a territory dispute. One likes to perch in the ash tree outside the bedroom window and sing his own praises at the top of his lungs, usually at 4:30 am (it is still better than an alarm clock!). About a dozen bluebirds used the birdbath today despite my making a terrible racket with the chipper. A crow and a great horned owl had a dust-up, with the crow losing many feathers. The online falcon cam shows peregrine falcons nesting on the Black Dog power plant smokestack about two miles southeast of me. They may have hatchlings because of the flyovers at treetop level. I think they’re ready for spring, too.

Tomorrow is another delightful day, around 75°F with a slight breeze. I have to replace my weather station tomorrow, assuming the new one arrives, and that requires climbing up on the roof. The old anemometer took a hit from an ice chunk Monday. It lost so much weight that it dropped a cup! I know, don’t give up my day job to be a comedian. That will also give me a chance to clear the branches and twigs that fell on the roof after the ice and snow Monday. The old weather station is over twelve years old and the anemometer registered too slowly, even when it had all its cups. The new one accepts data on a USB port and not a serial port, and it has a more accurate anemometer.

My hope is the weather is wonderful where you are. Please give your loved ones a meaningful hug or two, let them know you love them, and take a few minutes to do some “Walking on Sunshine”.

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Filed under gardening, music, nature, rebuilding, weather

by | April 22, 2013 · 9:37 pm

“A Hazy Shade of Winter”

Looking out of my living room window reminded me of this Simon and Garfunkel song from 1966, although there is much more than “a patch of snow on the ground”. A steady light rain changed over to moderately heavy snow rather quickly. April is becoming a cruel month, at least concerning the weather. The weather forecasts for today have been in a state of flux for the past two days. Blending all the forecasts would mean the Twin Cities will get somewhere between 1″ – 10″ of snow. Nevertheless, once we make it through this latest wintry disruption, we supposedly will see temperatures approaching normal and (gasp!) maybe our first 70°F temperature of the season. We keep hoping this is winter’s last stand.

One coping mechanism humans have is the ability to anthropomorphize objects like the weather. Once we imbue the weather with human-like qualities, it becomes easy to assign blame. It gives us a sense of power in trying to make sense of something we are powerless to control and a focal point for our frustration.

My attempt at anthropomorphizing is probably similar to many others in this area. Winter is like the unruly guest that shows up to a party a couple of hours late, heavily intoxicated, moody, obnoxious, and refusing to leave after the other guests have departed. Trying to usher winter out the door leads to another unpleasant temper tantrum. Each tantrum is a little less intense and the cleanup is a little less disgusting. We can only hope that winter finally staggers out the door and keeps stumbling and weaving down the sidewalk without stopping and launching rolls of toilet paper into the trees.

I hope this is the last weather gripe for a while. It will be nice to get in the gardens, out on the hiking trails, putting some miles on the bicycle, doing anything but looking out the window and seeing snow come down. Chasing a snowblower is not as fun as chasing a Frisbee in a park. The only advantage about the snowy nights is for the people with someone to cuddle. I hope you are taking advantage of that!

Cuddle if you have someone, give your loved ones a meaningful hug, and let them know how much you care about them. They might be more inclined to help you clear the driveway.

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Filed under music, philosophy, rebuilding, weather

by | April 19, 2013 · 7:25 pm

“Riding the Storm Out”

Many of us “of a certain age” remember REO Speedwagon’s 1973 hit song. The upper Midwest is currently caught in a cycle of weather temper tantrums most of this month. Last night the Twin Cities metro area officially picked up 6.4” of sloppy snow. This was after a steady rain that turned to sleet in the early afternoon. Our snowfall set a record for the date, and the 1.02” of water content just missed tying the 1.04” record. Today’s snowfall of 0.9” fell short of today’s record of 1.2”. I posted a few pictures of the storm in my photo gallery. Other than a spate of traffic accidents today, there did not seem to be much ill effect from the storm. No one needed generators or chain saws.

I can tell the lateness of the snow falls are getting to people, but I have heard that the robins are hitchhiking to some place warm, and that the Minnesota DNR is considering eradicating groundhog weather forecasters. The human ones are getting uneasy in public places, though one has kept a sense of humor with his #BlameJerrid Twitter hashtag. Facebook is littered with posts, some humorous, some darkly humorous, and some with high levels of profanity and frustration. Judging by the number of restaurant offers I am getting, I believe people are hunkering down waiting for a day or two without snow. We may not break 60°F again until May 1, which is a little over two weeks from now. Our normal high temperature is in the low 60’s, but we will stay 10-20°F below that for the next week. “April showers bring May flowers” but only if the showers are not of the frozen variety.

Our coping mechanisms are getting quite a workout this month because of our unusual weather. Compared to the horror in Boston on Monday or the tragedy in West, TX on Wednesday, our weather has been an annoyance. Dealing with loss of a loved one is somewhat like dealing with unpredictable weather. About the time the weather seems to calm somewhat, a sudden storm whips through causing damage and havoc. The cycle of raising hopes followed by an unpleasant set back is commonplace. We persevere through hope and we strengthen our resolve with love. Someday the storms will subside and chaos will diminish.

This week’s events bear witness to the fact that life has a degree of risk. For some, parachuting is an acceptable risk while others enjoy juggling sharp objects. Some people work in dangerous professions and take whatever precautions they can to reduce risk. Others prefer not to travel by plane. We cannot eliminate risk because we cannot control randomness. The more we try to control randomness, the more it seems that randomness finds a new way to keep us off balance. By the same token, we cannot predict or stop loss. We have to keep on living and to keep moving forward.

With the sadness and uncertainty of this week, please take time to give your loved ones a meaningful hug to two. Let them know you care, so they have the strength to endure, and so they remain hopeful that things will get better. If you see a busload of robins heading south, please tell them to turn around. The weather will get better sometime, and if it doesn’t, we can #BlameJerrid.

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Filed under music, philosophy, rebuilding, weather

by | January 13, 2013 · 7:23 pm

“Melancholy Man”

The bad part about having a music player on shuffle while getting housework done is sometimes a song hits one right between the eyes. Today’s song was “Melancholy Man” by the Moody Blues from 1970. Today marks nine months since Lucy left this life. I had not heard the song in quite some time, so it added to an already emotional day.

A few days ago, I was at the VA hospital in Minneapolis saying goodbye to an old acquaintance. I met Marty in 1979 when we worked together. He flew helicopters during the Vietnam War and sometimes I could pry a story out of him. Marty didn’t like talking about the war; I found out later that is typical of combat veterans that saw too many of their unit come home in flag covered coffins. He was also a bit of a loner, an only child who never married. Through the years, we would occasionally bump into each other on a contract job or at a restaurant. Towards the end of his life, Marty had ALS and severe dementia. I think he just turned 70 in September. I had heard from a mutual colleague that it was time to say goodbye to him. I’m quite certain Marty didn’t recognize me, and he seemed mostly unaware of his surroundings. I don’t know if that was a blessing or curse for him. Afterwards, I went to Minnehaha Falls, which is really close to the hospital. It was nice getting some fresh air and seeing how wonderful the falls look even though they are completely frozen at this time. Marty died Friday afternoon.

I did squeeze in a quick trip to visit Mom and Dad. By quick, I mean getting there Thursday afternoon and leaving early Friday afternoon due to impending freezing rain. There were a couple of things I wanted to do for them while I still had time. I hadn’t counted on a trip into Sioux Falls to pick up some stuff at Home Depot that the local Ace Hardware didn’t carry.

Julie, Suzy, and Brady came over to visit today. I was very happy having visitors, especially people I love deeply, and who aren’t soliciting donations for a charity. We had lunch at the new (in the past six months) El Loro’s restaurant on 84th and Lyndale. I was surprised at all the different items were on the menu. Lucy wanted to take me to the El Loro’s in Savage, but we never quite got to it. It was very emotional for me when they left, and Julie saw me starting to break down. Poor Julie, I feel bad for doing that to her.

I was lucky that in the past couple days I got to spend time with loved ones. It helped get the new year on the right track and it was very good for the soul.

Let your loved ones know you care. That has helped brighten many a sad day for me, including today. Enjoy some time with someone you want to spend time with, and give that person a meaningful hug if your relationship permits. In the meantime, I have to start separating my songs into playlists so I am not hit hard while driving.

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Filed under family, friends, music, rebuilding