Friday the 13th Weather

It started snowing last night and snowed throughout the night. We awoke this morning to probably 6 inches or more of snow but it was 31 degrees most of the night so it's not too icy or anything. The streets are plowed. But it was a very wet snow and so we lost power in the night, probably due to fallen lines or trees falling on power lines due to the weight of the snow. We lost power at some point, but I slept through it. I had to reset the microwave clock before I could cook my oatmeal. Other than that, I wasn't affected too much. Walking to school was interesting, though, because there was falling snow everywhere. I walked home in a beautiful white snowstorm last night, but this falling snow was big blobs of snow falling off the trees that shade the sidewalk in summer but provide diving boards for snow clumps on days like this. It was like getting hit by lots of tiny snowballs being dropped instead of thrown. I should've used my Mr. Tumnus umbrella.

Most schools were let out early yesterday in anticipation of the storm and some had late arrival this morning. UMF canceled all classes after 5pm (I wonder if the classes that start at 4:30 but last until 6 were canceled or only met for 30 minutes or what they did). But we had no delay this morning. So I didn't have to try to pretend that Friday the 13th was a holiday to keep up with my "it always snows big on holidays" theory. There's a big storm in the west heading this way that is scheduled to hit here Monday with lots of snow. And Monday is Patriot's Day! It's a New England Holiday. So the storms hit Texas Independence Day and Patriot's Day. How appropriate is that??

But we're not the only ones with wacko weather. I just got this email on my UNT email:

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From: OfficialNotice@pres.admin.unt.edu
Subject: Be aware of evacuation and shelter plans in the event of severe weather today
Date: April 13, 2007 10:25:47 AM EDT
To: OfficialNotice@pres.admin.unt.edu

Weather forecast for today includes the possibility of significant severe weather -- including damaging winds (up to 60-80 MPH), hail, tornadoes and localized flooding -- all campus building representatives are asked to make sure the faculty, staff and students in their buildings are reminded of the building's shelter and evacuation plans.

Currently, the forecasts include projections for rain or possible thunderstorms from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. However, the greatest potential for severe weather is predicted from around 2 p.m. throughout the evening.

In the event a severe thunderstorm warning is issued for Denton, and damaging hail or high winds appear imminent and especially in the event of a tornado warning, people will need to take immediate shelter.

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Definitely Friday the 13th weather. And I'm glad I'm not leaving until Saturday morning for spring break in Texas. I can survive being in either kind of wacky weather but am not too excited about trying to fly through it.

March 25, 2007: But Wait! There's More

As if a 3 mile walk around the lake (with Benny and Cassie, the dogs, in tow) and all that traveling weren't enough, we went to a concert that night. It was actually MRM and I that attended and Creston joined us. It was really good. It was a concert by a French Canadian music group (which sounded an awful lot like Cajun music to me and they even played some Cajun music) with a local fiddling group as their warmup.

I saw Paul, who's on the Univ. Culture Comm. with me, at the concert. Turns out his daughter is one of the fiddlers. They're going to Ireland in a few weeks and this was a fund-raising event for them as well as a concert for us. The guy who plays fiddle in the quartet is a music teacher at the local school and the director of the Farmington Fiddlers.

The concert was in Nordica Auditorium at UMF, named for a famous opera singer from a long time ago. The acoustics in the room are fabulous and the woodwork throughout is gorgeous. I only wish the chairs were a little more comfortable. ;-)

I really enjoyed the music and even bought a CD!

March 25, 2007: A Walk Around Lake Minnehonk

At the second Sugar House, RBF ran into an old school chum, Christine. She and RBF literally went to a one-room school house . . . not that they're that old but that the rural area they come from is that small. We met Christine's husband, Wayne and before I knew it, we accepted their invitation to walk around the lake to the other side and see their home which is built inside a rescued old garage/gas station. It was a gorgeous walk through the woods, and the house was unique and wonderful.

Along the way, we saw the lines and buckets that their friends who own the Sugar House use to collect sap. It's not one bucket for every tree anymore. They run tubes from tree to tree to tree that then empty into a larger communal bucket.






This ATV came by twice. Look! It has a snow plow on the front (well, a front end loader maybe, but it was going to be used as a snow plow).


Check out the view of the lake from their deck:





They invited us back to do smelt fishing or kayaking or swimming. Wowser. I think I'll have to take them up on one of their offers. They were gracious hosts and a lot of fun. :-)

March 25, 2007: Maine Maple Syrup Sunday Part 2

Then we went to Mount Vernon. We had lunch in the Olde Post Office Cafe. Creston lives nearby, so we gave him a call and he joined us. The Cafe had actually had so many customers that it was out of nearly everything, but we managed to find something to eat and had a good time. Then we ventured out to find another Sap House from the listing we had from the newspaper. We found one!

Sunday March 25, 2007: Maine Maple Syrup Sunday

Maple Syrup folks all across the state celebrate Maine Maple Syrup Sunday by opening up their syrup houses and giving tours and free samples. MRM and RBF took me to two sap houses. The first one was just east of town and RBF actually knew the family.

This sap house was giving away maple syrup sundaes: vanilla ice cream with maple syrup on top. Yum!!




Above: MRM watches the process
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Check out the gorgeous scenery around us:

March, 31, 2007: Melting Snow

You would think that spring would be on its way. Birds are coming and snow is melting. Little did we know . . .

Meanwhile, here's the majority of the yard around my house being uncovered by Mother Nature.