Patti

[wineturtle]

Tom Fleming interview yesterday
http://www.garycohenrunning.com/Interviews/Fleming.aspx

[MoMoNoMo]

Great interview. Thanks for the link, WiT.

[Ruth Wysocki]

I usually like to rub it in when the weather is amazing here and cold other places, but I find it hard to do when most of the country is being slammed with big snowstorms!

Up to 5 miles on my runs now and determined to edge it up slowly. Just happy to be out there right now!

[KenA55]

What a difference a day or two can make especially for folks down in Zatland and Felipeville; the US snow depth map Monday morning at 6 AM, snow depth in KS & OK was nil; the after graphic, 6AM today has that blue band poking into Texas in the 10-20 inch band, the darker blue splotches are 20-39 inches

[wayne b]

Patti,
How'd you weather the last one? We got off pretty easy, but messy! About a half-inch of ice. A few trees came down in the area, but nothing like it could have been, and no real need to shovel more. And re: clearing the roof, be sensible! (Too steep for other should mean too steep for you!)

BTW - Jag is to be flying out of Chi-town today...I wonder if she'll be able to.
Wayne

[herr]

If she can get to the airport, she might be able to leave. Things are moving very slowly here on the roads, though.

Quite a storm! I live very close to the lake and we had 70+ mph winds and white out conditions with snow. My son and I ventured out in the storm-- we wanted to go out to the lake to see if we could see the alleged 25 foot waves. It turned out to be impossible to get close enough tot he lake to see the waves-- the ice pack was too big and the visibility was too bad-- but it was amazing to walk around in that kind of weather event. The noise alone was deafening. The snow was so fine it was like sand--the storm hit with temps at around 18 degrees. The wind blew the snow through any cracks-- we had snow accumulation inside of our house by the front door-- a little snow drift-- and we got alot of snow in between our storm windows and our regular inside windows. Sigh! We also lost a bunch of shingles from our roof-- which is alarming.

I am just glad that I did not have to commute on lake shore drive when the storm hit

Chicago hardly ever closes its schools, but this is the second day the kids have off. First time since 1967 that schools have been closed. The University of Chicago has also been closed for the last two days. First time that has ever happened, apparently.

[MoMoNoMo]

Well, I set at least a PR this year, if not likely an AR, for Christmas-tree-endurance... We finally took our tall, beautiful tree down yesterday, as I was told it was bad form to still have it up when Valentine's Day rolled around.

Feb. 6 dawned sunny and mild here today, so I took my first bike ride of the season, using one of the rental "smart bikes" for a pleasant ride from Union Station in D.C. to the general area of the White House. Great time to be out on a bike -- no traffic on Sunday morning, and D.C., with all its monumental sights, is quite beautiful on a sunny winter day.

[wineturtle]

I've found that every once in a while you find a tree that holds its needles for a long time after cutting.
Back some years ( a lot of my life seems to have been 'some years ago') we got a tree either Christmas Eve day or the day befor. We went into the field and picked it out in the ground. They harvested it in front of us. We kept it in a room that was always cool keeping the deep stand by full adding water every day.The treefarmer touted us on a stand I thought too big but he said the key to keeping a cut tree green was lots of water and to cut a slice off the base just before you put it in it's stand at home.

On the other hand some folks believe that being in a room that hosted frequent rituals involving the burning of c. sativa had caused this tree to fall in to a state not unlike suspended animation. One person opined it just sat in the corner staring out the window, listening to George Carlin and Cheech and Chong Albums all day and thus became too apathetic to even die.




The Nation Christmas Tree Assn says a well watered tree should last 6 to 8 weeks. Most commercial treefarms start their harvest during the first couple of weeks of November

[herr]

My youngest son is a "Mythbusters" fan. It is a great show. They did a show on techniques for keeping a christmas tree from loosing its needles--had a variety of trees, each maintained in a differnt way. None of the techniques seemed to be any better than any of the others in keeping the needles from falling off.

I think it just depends on the tree.

[herr]

I saw the toothbrush one too--ugh. We have seen many many MythBusters. Lots of cool explosions.

We had more snow today. I am dreading when the snow melts...we will then find out just how many shingles blew off our roof in the storm. sigh