The December storm

We got some snow last night - first big storm of the season. It's great that we will finally have a white Christmas. And despite ruining a planned birthday party, it was nice of the storm to happen on a Saturday night into Sunday morning so the road crews will have time to clear the roads before I have to go back to work.

Hot, hot, hot!

On some days, I really miss Sweden. I probably wrote the exact same thing last year around this time, but we just had an 85-degree day (Fahrenheit... hold on... converting: 29 degrees).

It is freaking April, and just three nights ago I had to drive with a coat on and the heat on in my car! I don't understand. Where is spring??? What happened to all the wonderful days of mild weather when I can walk in sandals and a T-shirt before the real yucky, humid summer heat begins to overwhelm us and I have to wear as little as possible???

It was so bad that on Saturday I drove straight to the oil-change place and got my air conditioning charged up in my car so that I could last for another hour. It now blows air at 40 degrees (4 Celsius), perhaps lower if I go on the highway. Cannot wait to try it out Tuesday on my way to work doing 68 mph on Route 8!

Just wondering what I'm gonna do to get through the night, since we haven't installed the a/c units for the season yet... (and no, opening windows does not help - it just gets worse!).

Weird winter

It's been cold here for about a week - freezing, rather. We've had several big snow storms since the new year began. Today, however, temperatures were in the 40s and most of the snow in our driveway melted away. I guess it will all start over again next week.

Driving through space

As I drove home from work tonight, snow was zooming directly at me from all sides - big flakes that made it difficult to focus on anything else. It felt like I was driving an intergalactic ship through outer space in slow motion, with millions of stars flying by my windows.

The most difficult thing during these times is to stay alert and remember that you are actually in a small car on a two-lane highway, not in the vast empty space with endless openness and nothing to crash into.

I made it home alright, and there was still no snow on the ground by the time I parked my car. I guess it was just happy floating around in the air, then melting again and leaving us with greyness.

Winter storms

So I was going to start complaining about the huge winter storm we had on Friday, but there wasn't enough time to get all my work done and blog about it. Before I knew it, it was Saturday, and I had to get up early to get the paper done before our company's Christmas party at 7 p.m.

Four times, we had to scrape the windshield of my car on Saturday, because there was just enough snow coming down to leave a light layer of freezing stuff on the glass. We also realized Saturday that nobody had cleaned the AP satellite dish on the roof, so I had to spend half an hour doing that with an old brush in order for us to have any stories to put in the paper. With an inch or more of snow, the satellite feed goes dead immediately.

The snow kept falling in my face, and little chunks of it made it in between my gloves and jacket sleeves to make my arms wet and cold. Not to mention the snow on top of the roof, which was almost knee-deep and made the legs of my pants wet for hours.

Driving home last night, I called Albie and asked him to move his car from our driveway so I could put mine in the garage. Another storm was expected for Sunday morning.

"It won't be that bad," he said. "There's just going to be an inch or so."
I told him he was wrong, but he wouldn't listen.
"I just don't feel like it," he said.

"That's fine," I replied sweetly, "but you are cleaning off both cars tomorrow after the storm."

Today, after he realized I had been right about the snow, he wasn't happy. But at least neither of us had to go anywhere. Plans to meet up with a friend got cancelled since she is snowed in as well, and I am just happy to celebrate the first day of my vacation at home with a cup of tea and a good book.

First snow of the year

It started snowing on the eve of my birthday. This is the first snow of the year that has actually stuck to the ground. Some of it melted today, but when I took a walk to the mailbox to see if there were any last-minute birthday cards, I realized there was still plenty of snow left.

There was also a birthday package for me from Sweden, so the tiring walk to get the mail was all worth it.

Humidity and hair

Some people love the summer - I don't.

I can't stand it when it's hot and humid - and look what it does to my hair! Well, ok then, that's not the worst part.

The worst part is walking around feeling disgusting all the time, feeling itchy and sweaty and dirty. Then each breath takes three times the effort. And it's not because I'm doing any sort of heavy lifting or running or anything, that's just how it is with humitidy for me.

I'm positive my Swedish lungs are not made to take in all that water vapor in the air. After all, Scandinavian's don't usually have to do that.

A little bit of warmth I can handle - give me a sunny, 70-degree day and I'll be all set. It's when the temps rise above 80 and the humidity creeps over 60 percent that my skin starts to crawl.

Thank goodness for air conditioning - at home, in the car, at the office. With energy costs continuously rising, I just hope I can afford it through September, when life finally goes back to normal.

More weather photos

I took these Tuesday night in Norfolk, Connecticut. Our photographer had car trouble, and around 7:30 p.m. we found out he hadn't taken any storm photos all day. I grabbed Albie's car keys and started driving around. The town of Norfolk was entirely without power, so I figured it would be the best place to start.

Extreme weather

Hearing about recent tornados and cyclones in the world, I started thinking about extreme weather.

Last year, we had a huge hail storm here in Connecticut (see Albie's mom's photo above). We also had about a week's worth of rain in a couple of days, which caused severe flooding for a few hours (see my crappy photo from a local gas station located next to a hill).

Then everything dried up and went back to normal.

The funny thing is, the East Coast of the United States isn't even that extreme. The weather here is considered "normal" - we have four seasons with sun, rain, wind and snow. It's when you live in the South or the Midwest you have to worry about storms that will blow the roof off your house.

A few years ago, the people in Florida were hit with three tornados within a few months. Many went back to their homes after the first one and started cleaning up the mess, just to have to evacuate again a few weeks later.

Well, that was all before Hurricane Katrina. Now storms are taken a bit more seriously.

But when will we ever learn to listen to nature? I am sure the increase in severe weather has to do with man's activities on Earth. Until we learn to live in peace with nature, she will always punish us for what we have done.