Dry Slot

Good evening, Vet. You wasted no time finding your way here tonight. First post!

Maybe with enough careful husbandry by volunteers here and there, we can create a distributed ark to weather the next big flood.

Hi, BF. Thanks for pointing out your post on the previous blog. A couple of folks crept in there while I was composing this update. Don't want to miss anybody.

With apologies to Bill Blake, tigers do burn brightly. Seeing one is a surefire way to amp up your day. Depending on how they skewer you with their gaze, or just how deeply their guttural growl penetrates your viscera, you either feel very alive...

...or like a ham sandwich. I've tried it both ways.

DAM - Definitely worth a visit on a slow day. Our guide said cool rainy days like today are usually a good time to find the cats amiable and active.

If you're planning a visit, the web site is a good place to start.

Hey, Skye. Probably not as much as I enjoyed taking them!

Our planet passes through perihelion today.

It's also a new moon. I reckon new moon for perihelion is the complement to a lunar eclipse on solstice day.

Shore - glad to hear you called in an expert for your computer. It's good news, in a way, about the hard drive, too. You won't have to fumigate. Your laptop and backed up data are not at risk of infection.

Your description of the symptoms had me thinking it was a software problem. Often a problem in a subassembly with moving parts will reveal itself by making a funny noise. I suppose a hard drive must have numerous failure modes, not all of which involve squeaky bearings.

DAM - I downloaded Speedfan 4.42. It appeared to install normally. Lots of tabs and options, generally a nicer looking program than the utilities that came with my motherboard.

The S.M.A.R.T tab doesn't do anything. I don't know whether that's because I have to train Speedfan to recognize the hardware, or because my hard drive doesn't support the standard.

OBOP - Thanks. It makes sense that there would be other similar facilities around the country. There is obviously a need to be met, and our two states surely are not the only ones where people are willing to help.

North Carolina law is schizophrenic on the question of animal care. Apparently it is illegal to keep a native animal, such as a squirrel, as a pet. Exotic species like tigers are allowed. Go figure.

Winter is set to return to the Dry Slot tonight. The 'snow' word appears repeatedly in our forecast. Normally I like to support the National Weather Service, but this time I can't help hoping that they are mistaken. I've seen enough white stuff to last me for a while.

Looks like we lucked out this time. The cold air never got here. As of 10:54 PM EST it is still 36° -- too warm for snow. There are scattered patches of frozen precipitation roaming around the radar, but nothing close, and the window of opportunity is closing. The NWS says precipitation should end by 2:00 AM.

DAM, the software has a configuration capability. I can register on the web site and download a plan for my motherboard, assuming my hardware is listed in the database. Or I could open up the box, find all the glue chips and probably enter the information myself. Either solution will have to wait. I'm just not that motivated. The machine runs. If the disk crashes and dies, so be it.

I have another computer that is years older (Win XP). That machine figures to have a higher risk of hard drive failure, and there are more accumulated data to lose. Alas, my initial experience with Speedfan suggests that the software would be even less helpful on that machine. I didn't build it. I don't know what kind of motherboard it has. It works. It has been very reliable. It would be fair to say that I have a superstitious aversion to messing with it.

As I begin to type this comment, the temperature reported from the local airport is (still, or again) 36 degrees. That makes Burlington the third warmest city on my list of favorites here on Weather Underground, behind Austin (no surprise to the ardent WUer) and San Francisco (which is always, like, fifty degrees. Boring, say I, but I suppose you can save millions on your wardrobe by wearing the same clothes year round. No more time wasted in front of the mirror wondering, "What shall I wear today?" (Oops, I better watch out, I could alienate some Californians. Sorry. Perhaps I should hasten to point out that if I had to pick a single narrow temperature range to dwell in forever, the Bay Area regime would be right up there at the top of my list. (That's with typical western civilization clothing. If I were free to dress like a caveman, I would want twenty or thirty degrees warmer.))).

Obviously the NWS boys got hornswoggled.

Well, perhaps not completely. When I initiated this diatribe the sun was shining. Now a glance out the window reveals flurries flying. Not to worry, the temperature has risen to 38°.

What worries me is the forecast for the first of next week, the Monday-Tuesday time period. Yesterday Henry Margusity at AccuWeather adjured inhabitants of Atlanta to put on their ice skates, because "that's the only way you're getting to work Monday morning."

DAM - I appreciate the tune. That's a great pick.

Speedfan does detect temperature and fan speeds. It reports other data about my computer, such as operating system, power supply voltages and device memory addresses. The difficulty seems to be with figuring out the chipset. Either it can't, or it doesn't dare employ methods that would be required for success.

One of these days I'll probably futz around with Speedfan some more. Meanwhile I have the utilities that came with the motherboard. Those know all about the chipset, inside information from the manufacturer. Maybe I should revisit the CD shipped with the motherboard. There might be a S.M.A.R.T. utility. I didn't install everything.

Doin' That Advection Thing

The cold air has arrived. The wind has been blowing steadily all afternoon. One neighbor has a flagpole, and this afternoon I noticed the flag rippling and snapping straight out from the pole. I figure that's good for at least a five on the Beaufort Scale.

Our overnight forecast calls for winds gusting to 23 mph. The predicted morning low is 16°.

Waiting for snow. There's snow all over Intellicast radar, but the view out my window is green and brown, not white. Apparently the air column below the cloud layer is so dry that the snow never makes it to the ground. NWS says it may take until late afternoon for flakes to arrive in my yard.

Local schools are closed anyhow. I know, because my wife was scheduled to help judge a science fair at one of them. She got a call that she might not have to go and asked me to confirm. I googled the school's home page (I suppose that's common now. Inconceivable in my day.), and there it was.

Wife was glad to be off the hook. I told her the poor students are already scheduled for a makeup day on Saturday (length to be determined). There was no sympathy. "I've done my time!" said she.

Okay, technically the wait is over. The storm appears to have passed, and we have snow.

It's not the greatest snow in the world. It began about three o'clock yesterday afternoon. I had just climbed into my car for a quick shopping foray, when I thought I glimpsed a twinkle of white. The sensation was over so quickly and occurred so far into my peripheral vision that I resolved to await confirmation. After all, one sometimes gets floaters or flashes that originate within the eye itself. One flicker does not constitute a snow storm.

I did not have to wait long. One flake followed on another. In a minute they were peppering down everywhere.

As I say, it was not the greatest snow in the world. Individually and collectively, these flakes left something to be desired. Those first flakes were small, misshapen and bouncy. They partook of the nature of sleet. Later some larger, fluffier flakes fell, but I'm not sure they ever comprised a majority. Presumably the winter mix drizzled all night while I slept. This morning my driveway has accumulated no more than an inch of crunchy grainy whiteness.

The regional forecast from the weather service claims we have another half day of liability for winter mix topped off with "FzgRn", total accumulation not to exceed half an inch. As far as I can determine from internet radar and a visual survey of the elements, this precipitation event is over.

Blame it on the Dry Slot. Normally I think of the local precipitation ripoff tendency as a summertime phenomenon, but this could be a rare wintertime demonstration of the same effect. Is this conclusive evidence of global warming on a local scale?

Muah-ha-ha! I'll let you make that call.

Hi, BF. Thanks for interrupting what has turned out to be a three day monologue.

This afternoon I was looking at a national temperature chart. Dallas was marked at 25°, Amarillo at 15, Denver 5 and Salt Lake City -5. I assume you're sitting somewhere near the warmer end of that range. Not much to brag about, but in the heart of winter we can be thankful for small favors.

Here in the Dry Slot the temperature hovered below freezing and the sky remained cloudy throughout the day. Nevertheless there was some melting evident on the black asphalt street. The crunchy winter mix subsided into a translucent glaze on the sidewalk and driveway. Only its pebble grain texture prevents it from being slick as goose grease on snail snot. Small favors, indeed.

Tonight's forecast heralds sunshine for tomorrow. Can't wait.

The sun is up! It gleams and glistens and glares and flares across the ice. Each tree is an assemblage of prisms.

BF, I've heard the same sad story about cloudy days from former residents of Michigan. It must be a latitudinal thing. Of course, there are countervailing trends in summer. I'm thinking it would surely be cooler up by the Great Lakes in July.

Shore - we've had heavy traffic at the feeders the last few mornings, both birds and squirrels. A few weeks ago Wife deployed an electrically heated bird bath. The contents remain liquid day and night, but I haven't noticed this spa getting a lot of action. I'm thinking it's a bit chilly outside for bathing. Could be I'm anthropomorphizing.

Good news about your computer. Welcome back.

DAM - took my car for a spin today to blow the glaze off. Where it usually sits parked on the north side of our house, it would take until half past April to melt.

Quoting DontAnnoyMe:


I want a rotating house ;-)

Seventeen degrees this AM. Brrr.

Sunshine and a thing dimly recognizable as warmth — I'm headed out the door.

L8r.

Howdy, y'all!

Looks like we made our predicted high of 48° F today, not quite fifty. There should be more of the same in store tomorrow.

Here comes the sun. The ice is slowly melting.

There was a light glaze of ice on my car this morning, which was caused by drizzle falling through a surface layer of cold air. Our minimal ice accumulation represents the southernmost extent of the winter storm now moving through the Mid-Atlantic states and into New England.

This kind of chilly surface layer forms when northeasterly wind dams against the mountains. West of the Appalachians temperatures are warmer. The cold layer should erode today as the wind swings around to the west and the sun seeps through a thinning layer of stratus.

Another wave of rain currently crossing the Ohio Valley will arrive over the northern Piedmont tonight. Downhill flow promises low precipitation chances and a rare occurrence so far this year: a January night that stays above freezing.

DAM - I guess it's like carrying an umbrella as a talisman against rain. It works pretty well, but I tend to forget my umbrella in places like restaurants and movie theaters, unless it's actually raining when I step outside. The prospect of getting wet usually reminds me that I had an umbrella when I came in.

Hey, it's, like, forty-two degrees this morning. Cloudy now, but the weatherman says the sun will come out later. Awesome. Hope it's dry enough for disc golf. :o)

Hi, Shore.

Yes, I did hit the links this afternoon along with a buddy. We had a pretty good round despite frisky wind.

Actually I would say that the range of temperatures we had today (mid fifties) probably suits me better for vigorous outdoor exercise than ten degrees warmer would. In cooler weather I can comfortably wear long sleeves and enjoy better protection from the elements. I can play disc golf down to forty-five degrees or so. Much colder than that and my hands get cold. Disc golf is a hands-on activity. I don't think I could play well in gloves.

In my opinion it's harder to play in summer. I carry a towel as part of my kit. This time of year I use it to wipe mud off my discs. In summer I use it to mop sweat off my face. To the heat you can add bugs, briers and poison ivy — and plenty of bare skin for them to attack.

I still have a BS&T CD around here somewhere. There are several killer tracks on it. I think my favorite may be a Laura Nyro song, And When I Die.