Clearing skies and clouds scudding by, chill from all the snow in the mountains.
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Leap Year Day
After a week of sunny days and mostly t-shirt weather we’re back to this:
Chilly and cool at 47.7°F. A storm is slowly making its way down from Alaska, with snowfall forecast as low as 2,000 feet tonight…
Never Forget
104.2°F – 13% and dropping
Got warmer today with a breeze from the north, but the newly insulated garage with mini-split is heaven for the furry beast, holding at somewhere around 78-degrees…
Sunday was supposed to be cooler, but it got up to 108.0°F (corrected) – and so the dog-safe protocols were followed: fresh and cool pool water, ice in multiple dog-dishes, and running through the sprinklers… Such a lucky dog!
Clouds over Kirkwood
After an unusually mild start to the Summer, we head into triple digits over the July 4 holiday. The pergola is busy with grilling and smoke, and the Ez-Up ‘carport’ is in place.
The mild (even cold, actually) weather did allow us to do yeomen’s work, and complete 15 loads of fresh Tanbark landscape dressing. At a yard and a half each load, that amounted to 22-1/2 yards – and about 9,000lbs unloaded – so I think we got our exercise! Time to get in some sunbathing and recovery.
Change in the Weather
Old Man Winter wasn’t through with us yet! The last couple weeks as temperatures ramped up, it felt like we were on the steam-train heading into Summer, with our short Spring already done; the daffodils spent, and iris already pushing up along the driveway…
And then a weird weather wave (www) moved on down like an arctic boa constrictor – the Omega pattern (not to be confused by the Omega Man) which threw a loop in the whole conniption.
After not expecting much, we still got a third-inch of rain out of the pattern – not really enough to wash all the pollen out of the umbrella fabric but it helps, and doggy is wet and nasty and happy. All is good.
89.3°F
After a long Winter with low-elevation snows and a lot of rain, Springtime is already trending to Summer.
Up here Spring seems to only last about a week or two before Summer’s onslaught, so trying to get ahead of things I decided to see about getting the garage insulated and make it a more useable space in both Winter and Summer, where it otherwise simply mirrors the outside temperature.
So far it’s coming along in fits and starts. First the insulation went up rapidly, then the Sheetrock guys showed up only to be delayed by some electrical work…and once that was completed the rock could be hung. But last Summer’s heat caused bubbles and patches of de-lamination that necessitated repairs to the walls, so the mudders had more work to do too…and that meant a re-paint was/is in order too….so the project is ongoing.
New Contraption
In the midst of rain, cold and snow…my little squirrel brain began to think of new ways to cook things – I wanted a smoker (still do) but nevermind that as a novice I never even used one, not sure how to work one, have a perfectly good gas grill – and don’t want to spend a thousand-plus bucks on something made in China, let alone two grand on something made in Oklahoma.
Furthermore, in terms of Hunter-gathering (or Driving-buying), the locally convenient rotisserie chicken that we’ve been getting at the grocery store have going up in price under Binenflation, while also shrinking in size and weight – so I thought to try a gadget: a spin-burner:
All the complaints I read about the rotisserie have had to do with the smooth notches on the spike not fitting newer grills, but fortunately all my stuff/junk/crap is old – and so it fits fine. Thing is, that you have to remove the grill grates to open enough space and fit a catch basin for drippy goo, directly on top of the “flavorizer bars” and burners, and use indirect heat – which gives me the opportunity to bring back my wood-chip smoker-box that’s pretty half-ass but might add a bit of smokey flavor…
So in pictures today it all looks sunny and nice, but that’s just because the big clouds parted briefly, and with the Sierra now crowned in snow, and the cold runs downhill – daytime temps are in the low 50’s.
And right now in the dark night, it’s raining down pretty good. Our fabulous rescue Siberian Husky turns 11 on November 11, and born 2011 … and she loves the cold and rain, and mud – she’s our Veteran’s Day doggie!
Never Forget
Twenty-one years is a long time, and easy to forget. It was the year after Grandpa died – and/but I didn’t lose anybody in the attacks. It’s been five years already since Mom and Dad died, but that seems much closer still.
Mild Weather
Sunrise on Monday was pink and orange, giving way to a low-60 degree day and the prospect of grilling, so we did.
The object of the grilling was a flank-steak “pinwheel” that rolled-up around an Ortega chili.
Yummy!
Not Clauswitz 