weather | Piss and Moan

Just figures

I only work from the office two days a week, in most cases. The other three days a week are at home and I really like those days. Because of the holiday this week, I telecommuted yesterday and only have to be in the office today.

It also happens to be a terrible weather day. The temp is not going to get above 35 degrees or so, and it is snowing outside.

The commute this morning started off OK, but the farther I drove south from home towards the office, the worse the roads got. At one point along the commute, it felt like a full on blizzard (it wasn’t, but felt that way). The area around the office wasn’t as bad, but it keeps snowing here off and on which means it likely is still doing it up north.

Just figures, the one day I am in the office this week is the worst commute weather. Because the temp isn’t going to go up much, whatever falls outta the sky will likely be stuck and compacted to the roadway, making the trek home more than an adventure. I am not worried about my driving skills, just the others on the roadway.

Just figures. This “go to the office” stuff…I’m over it.

Weather balloon

Posted on February 3 by backuphill

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

I don’t want to BLOW this out of proportion, but the story keeps EXPANDING. I think there are plenty of places to POKE HOLES in this story.

The Chinese, snickering to themselves, say it is a weather balloon and there is nothing to worry about.

Uh huh, sure it is. I don’t want to BURST their…balloon, but I am pretty sure no one is buying it.

What do you think? Does their story HOLD AIR?

Tired choices

Posted on June 9 by backuphill

Northwest living can be an actual and total grind. Seriously.

The joke around here is that summer starts after July 4 and the number of rainy, cool July 4ths I have experienced in my 50 years is pretty high. Look, it’s wet a lot up here and we all know it. BUT…

Right now the grass and weeds are growing uncontrolled because the rain literally stops for like one day, maybe two, every week and a half. As such, I am forced to make choices about what activites are going to take place outside.

Do I do something fun or relaxing outside? Or, do I do yardwork in an effort to catch up after not doing yardwork for a week/week and a half? If I choose what I want to do, that which I should/need to do suffers. If I choose what I should/need to do, that which I would prefer to do suffers.

If you choose incorrectly, it could be a long while in between being able to do either outside.

I am tired of making these choices.

How about summer start now for a change?

Baked ham

Posted on June 28, 2021 by backuphill

OK, it’s hot! It’s really, really hot!

These temps, up here in the Northwest corner of the United States, are not normal. If anyone asks, it rains all the time. Don’t move here. But, seriously, there are nice days here…except the the last two, and probably tomorrow too. It’s just unusually hot.

It isn’t the hottest part of the day, but the forecast is calling for a high somewhere in the neighborhood of 104 (105 depending on where you look) today. Of course, we all know those guys are rarely correct, so it will be hotter, for sure. At 12:31pm, it is currently 95 degrees outside.

Now, if you have been reading this blog for the last year and a half you will know that I have been working from home for the time of the “flu that is known by another name.” And, you will also know that my home office is in my garage. To further give details of my situation, know that my home and garage have no AC.

So, currently, at 12:31pm, the garage temp where I am working is 88 degrees and the house is 85 degrees.

I know know what a baked ham feels like, or a baked chicken. My family would probably say turkey. A baked turkey.

Anyway, stay cool out there…

Projects, projects, and more projects

Posted on June 1, 2021 by backuphill

So, how do you know when you have too many irons in the fire? Is it that you just look at everything and can’t decide which is most important or where to start because they just all need to be done? Or is it that you look at everything and you just decide that you don’t know where to start and therefore just don nothing?

Currently, I have too many things going on that I can’t decide where to start, though there is a looking deadline of rain coming at the end of the week, so that dictates a little of the timeline.

Project one: I have a front yard that needs some attention. I have a hedge and a tree that need trimmed and some Sluggo (bait for slugs and snails) to put down. While these aren’t extremely time consuming and aren’t necessarily urgent, they are the final pieces to having the front yard cleaned up for the summer.

Project two: A garage sale purchase needs cleaned up and tested. The house gets exceptionally warm during hit weather, but there isn’t a heat pump to control the temp inside. So, while visiting a garage sale recently someone was selling a pretty decent portable AC unit for $25. It’s four years old and needs to be cleaned up. I had the guy run it before purchase and it appears to be operable, but it needs to be given some attention. Unfortunately, it won’t likely happen before the warmer weather this week.

Project three: The patio has been built in the back yard and a gazebo purchased. Spent most of the day yesterday working on putting wood sealant on it to further protect the wood into the future. Now the assembly of the gazebo needs to be done…a very time consuming task. Obviously, having it constructed before the weather comes in this weekend would be ideal as it would help to keep the water from hitting most of the wood. So, that seems to be the immediate winner of focus.

There are lots of other projects that needs to be done too, just none of those seem as pressing as these three.

When faced with a list of projects, how do you prioritize which ones get done first?

Avoidance

Posted on February 16, 2021 by backuphill

It snowed for about 36 hours this last weekend. The snow was light and fresh and was covering everything. We got about 9″ of the white stuff.

For a short time, the world was quiet. Peaceful even. There is something very comforting in watching it snow. For me, it causes me to slow down and enjoy the stillness. Silence. Fresh.

But, under that blanket of white there is a yard that just makes me cringe.

I can honestly say this is the time of year where I just think the NW is plain ol’ ugly. The trees are naked. The grass isn’t green yet. Everything feels grey and cold, not to mention sopping wet. The snow helps hide this dreadful scene.

With the snow, the yuckiness is gone. It just goes away. It can be avoided, put off, ignored. The ugliness is replaced by something beautiful, divine, perfect.

So, while the snow lasted, I avoided even thinking of all the work that has to happen in the yard before Spring arrives. Now the snow is melting quickly and the sopping, rain soaked ugliness is returning.

Avoidance is no longer something I can hold on to.

I am just gonna have to do it.

Just like home

Posted on January 25, 2021 by backuphill

I don’t want it to be just like home.

Vacation. When you leave home for vacation, especially when you live in the Northwest where it is cold and wet all the time, you want to leave for a place that will be warm and sunny. Whatever happens, you want the weather to be different than what you had at home.

Palm Springs hasn’t delivered yet, and the forecast says it won’t the rest of the week either. Last week it was in the 80’s.

Yesterday, the first day here, it was cold, wet, and windy. It was actually stormy. Today, the sun is out to some degree but the dark heavy clouds are zipping my at a high rate of speed since the wind is blowing harder than the blower at the end of a car wash.

Disappointing, to say the least. I was expecting some warm weather down here. Not so much.

Guess there really will be time to relax since I’ll be stuck inside.

Bummer.

Mass-debate

Posted on September 16, 2020 by backuphill

It seems the governor of my state hasn’t a clue and he takes every chance he can to prove it. He likes to think he is a climate change expert, but it’s just a poorly veiled attempt to tow the party line of climate alarmists.

Governor Doofus (Jay Inslee) said the other day that the fires in Washington weren’t wildfires but “climate fires.” He blamed them solely on climate change.

Here’s the thing, there are still scientists that are debating the true impact of climate change or whether it even exists. “Proven” science isn’t really, since information can be manipulated to show what you want it to show.

Cliff Mass, a professor of atmospheric science at the University of Washington, says the governor needs to put on the brakes and drive in the other direction. He says the governor’s claims about the fires are flat out wrong. While Mass broadly supports climate change as a whole, he disputes how the information is used and seems to believe that it isn’t always used in a matter that informs the public accurately.

Anyway, I’m sure we’ll hear more about the Mass-debate when the jerk off governor has more to say about climate change and fires.

Roofers

Posted on June 19, 2020 by backuphill

architecture build building construction

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

The sun is out.

It will be for (at least according to the fairly inaccurate Weather App) for the next two weeks. Of course, weatherpeople can be wrong 80% of the time and still people look to them to provide answers.

Anyway, the roof still hasn’t been done and, as of writing, I have no idea if I am on the schedule for anytime over the next two weeks. Supposedly, two weeks ago, my house was slated to be done the following week when I reached out to them, but that was weather dependent, of course. I understand that part.

Its rather tiresome that the tarp on the roof of the house has been there since mid to late November. In that time, I have contacted 12 roofing companies. Five have come out to give estimates. Two have had signed estimates returned to do the work. One ghosted me. The other is still pending…

I was hoping it would be done before the end of the month, but I guess what little optimist is in me (I am 94% pessimist) is growing tired of waiting.

Tired of the run around. Tired of climbing on the roof to check the tarp. Tired of worrying about water destroying the house. Tired of worrying about ants.

Tired.

Sometimes, not owning a home would be nice.

Dreary

Posted on May 14, 2020 by backuphill

selective focus photography of corrugated metal sheet of house during rainy daytime

Photo by Nur Andi Ravsanjani Gusma on Pexels.com

The weather is dreary today.

I feel like the weather.

I have lost any and all motivation.

Whether or not the weather makes any changes will likely also have an affect on whether or not my attitude changes. It would help if the weather was sunny and warm, but the weatherman hasn’t given me any indication on whether that will happen or not.

So, dreary it is.

But, I suppose it could go downhill from there too. Whether that happens or not will also depend on the weather.

But dreary for now.