Category: Weather

Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date March 24, 2009

It’s the longest-running episodic weekly series in the entire history of this blog:

1. So far March in America’s Riviera has been windy and soggy – and that’s a good thing considering the fact that November, December, January, and February were pretty much chilly and arid extra dry. This morning I drove through a ferocious rainstorm in the dark. It lasted all but three minutes, but I thought that I was either gonna drown or blow away to Kansas during the peak of it.

2. I’m allergic to a bunch of things to include cologne and freshy cut grass. They make me sneeze. I don’t wear cologne. I don’t need to. I smell fresh and delightful naturally primarily because I take regular showers. Some people use cologne in lieu of bathing. They make me sneeze. Oh yeah – and they smell nasty.

3. I moved over to my current workplace on base almost 20 months ago. I don’t have very many ‘low’ days, but of the ones that I’ve had they’ve all been far better than my ‘high’ days at my previous workplace on base of over 13 unlucky years. My career renaissance continues.

4. Exactly 22 years ago tonight (on March 24TH 1987) I saw British musician Howard Jones LIVE in concert at London England’s historic Royal Albert Hall. That place has been standing there for nearly 140 years (since 1871).

5. Last year March 24TH was the Monday after Easter Sunday. This year Easter Sunday occurs on April 12TH. That’s because it’s the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the 21ST of March. (The full moon occurs on April 09TH.)

That’s what I’ve got for you for this week. Be sure to check out my ‘Mini Thoughts’ this Thursday night here on the big green blog. You won’t regret it pal.

Animals Career Home Weather

Thursday Night Mini Thoughts

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date March 19, 2009

– It was another crazy busy day at work for me.
– I was away from my desk for over 6 hours.
– I was mostly sitting in conference rooms.
– I actually enjoyed all of my meetings today.
– I’m in a good place at work.
– I’m in the best place ever at work.
– My 24-year D.O.D. career just keeps on reaching amazing new peaks.
– None of this career rejuvenation occurred before the journey began.
– I’ve got a mostly uneventful stay-at-home weekend planned.
– I’ve actually got a lot of things that I need to catch up on.
– My weekend was supposed to start at Lunch time tomorrow.
– That won’t happen now because I have a HUGE meeting in the afternoon.
– I even have to postpone my previously-scheduled dental appointment.
– It looks like I won’t have to issue a ‘Homestead Cold Weather Alert’.
– The unexpected heavy rains of the past 48 hours changed everything.
– I expected up to an inch of rain.
– My neighbourhood picked up about a half a foot of rain !
– The crunchy brown grass is suddenly soft, lush, and green.
– This is my little buddy Pumpkin:

– Me and my brother rescued her from an animal shelter near Jacksonville.
– That was during Thanksgiving Week of 2003.
– I didn’t pick her out of a lineup.
– I picked out a completely different cat.
– The cat that I picked out looked very much like our first cat Fluffy.
– Pumpkin was terrified of me for the first 5 years or so.
– Now Pumpkin loves me.
– She really loves me ! … when I comb her.
– She was my roommate for two nights during my parents’ move to Texas.
– She’s another Day Family transplant from Florida.
– She’ll live northeast of Dallas for the rest of her life.
– Hopefully she lives healthy and happy for at least another decade.
– She succeeds Fluffy and Barney.
– Fluffy was our first cat (1983-2001).
– Barney was our second cat (1987-2006)
– Boots was my cat here in Homestead (1995-2007).
– Now you know the history of all of my feline family members.

Weather

Homestead Wet Weather Alert

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date March 18, 2009

The drought is certainly not done and over with; however, over the past 24 hours we’ve definitely put a nice small dent in it.

Up to 8 inches of rain has fallen since St. Patrick’s Day night. Much of America’s Riviera has seen at least one inch of rain with more common rainfall totals of two to four inches across the region. This is more rain than what had fallen in the previous 162 days combined (since the first week of October) ! Some isolated portions of northern Broward and southern Palm Beach Counties received between 6 and 8 inches of rain !

More rain (several inches) is expected at least for the next 24 hours.

Animals Driving Health Holidays Money Music Politics Travel Weather

Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date March 17, 2009

Nearly 16 months of historical statistics reveals that Tuesday is by far the busiest day here on the big green blog. I think that we all know why that is so:

1. We may actually receive some significant rainfall here in America’s Rivera between tonight and Sunday as a couple of old cold fronts from the north ease closer to us. Don’t expect a flood or anything close to that, but don’t be surprised if we manage to receive up to an inch of the much needed rain that we so desperately need. There’s also a very remote possibility that I may actually issue a late-season ‘Homestead Cold Weather Alert’ for both Saturday and Sunday mornings as wind chill temperatures may approach the upper-40s for a brief period of time.

2. I’m not exaggerating here when I state that most motorists here in America’s Riviera totally ignore the green traffic light arrow that points to the left that states that you have a protected path to make a left-hand turn. I guess they don’t teach that in traffic school down here. GREEN = GO !

3. Weight Check – I’m slowly easing down into the lower-170s. I just weighed in at 172.5. My goal is to get back into the more comfortable upper-160s. Yes I can !

4. We probably won’t find out that the recession has ended until at least six to nine months after it has actually ended. It may have ended already, but we won’t really know for sure until perhaps Thanksgiving or Christmas. Politics and policies aside I’m rooting for a strong and robust economy in 2009 and beyond. How can you not root for that ?

5. It’s St. Patrick’s Day in 2009, and I wore virtually all green today. I’m proud of my Irish heritage. My ancestors on the paternal side had a last name of ‘O’Day’. The ‘O’ was dropped when they emigrated from Ireland to The U.S. back in the late-19TH Century. For over 17 years our beloved cat Fluffy – a Manx – was an integral part of our family. The Manx breed originated from The Isle Of Man in the Irish Sea. I lived in the U.K. for exactly two years from 1985 to 1987, and I did quite a bit of traveling during that time. But one regret is that I never got to visit either Northern Ireland (part of the U.K.) or The Republic Of Ireland. Some day I hope to visit both countries. While living in the U.K. two Irish bands – The Pogues and The Dubliners – joined forces to become one, as they performed a traditional Irish song about a MASSIVE ship in the sea. Check out this 1987 performance of “The Irish Rover”. It was a U.K. TOP 10 pop smash back then, and I present it to you as a very special St. Patrick’s Day edition of the ‘Saturday Night Retro’.