Tuesday's Weather: Snowpocalypse Avoided!

We here at the gateway to the South are on the clean edge of this mania pounding the Midwest right now . . . and when I say "edge", I mean cold, stark, edge.  As I sit here and type, my little Weather Channel temperature gauge reads 50 degrees, down from 54 an hour and a half ago.  But, run up to exit 4 in Indiana like I did earlier this evening, and the temperature drops seven degrees in that six mile span.  It is probably no more than ten miles up that the rain starts freezing.  And, by the time you get up around Seymour, it's a freaking mess.  Seymour is the breaking point for most weather, right where the bodies of the systems that run up the Ohio River hit in their real glory.

You know who else dodged a bullet?  Leland, MI.  They've got some pansy-assed "Winter Weather Advisory" going right now (though their advisories are Louisville's snow emergencies).  Seems everything is just north of us, and just south of Leland.  That is some monstrous freight train of a storm, I tell you what . . . it takes me just under ten hours to drive that stretch in the hot, steaming summer (well, not quite, 'cause that includes a stop for lunch).

Ah, summer . . . can that run of brutal heat now really be a fond memory?

The cove cam pictures look relatively tame compared to the framed pictures in the shops that actually stay open in the winter.  Here's a couple:

This would be Fishtown, Winter Wonderland version.

And this would be Lake Street, just above the Harbor.

Stay safe, everyone.  Happy dreams of heat.

UPDATE: Thought it would be nice to include a couple daytime shots:

Fishtown; and

upriver from Fishtown.  Enjoy!

I'm So Effing Cold

Computer problems here persist. Posts will continue to be sporadic, mainly because I hate typing long form essays on laptops. Keep with me, though - I'll be back on my horse soon.

Notes from a recent phone conversation with Matthew Pickerill Esq.:

Running down to Etown mid January the numbers on the dash hit negative territory. I was kinda curious how the display would look below zero.

The first week of February the temps brushed up against 70 Fahrenheit. Between those two events I was nothing but cold and miserable. I understand now why old people move to Florida and Arizona . . . besides taxes, that is. I'm getting old, and I can't handle the cold.

It's not as if I were reared in International Falls or something, but Northern Indiana is a lot colder than this. I used to bundle up & hike across campus in brutal South Bend winters without much thought. Hell, I used to enjoy temperatures around zero (yes, I would even have called it invigorating). But now, the cold is killing me. It seems as if the damn Maxx will never heat up - or, more accurately, it always manages to heat up about five minutes before I get to work. The electric seat warmers help a little, but not enough. I am so effing cold.

The cold shifts me into another sphere. I used to enjoy the clean high, the adrenalin rush of the body battling the cold. Now, it's just pain. I feel like I'm in the bunker. Cold shuts me down, makes me hate.

Fortunately, there's not much of this pain left for the season. I expect one last winter blast (traditionally around tournament time), then we'll be done for a bit. After a nice spring alternating wonderful weather with horrible storms and destruction, we'll be into the heat.

Until then, I'm done bitching about the weather.

In rotation:

Conlon Nancarrow - Complete Studies for Player Piano Vol. 3
Carl Ruggles - Sun Treader, Lilacs, Portals, Evocations
Henry Cowell - Toccanta
Hot Tuna - Double Dose
Frank Zappa - The Grand Wazoo
John Cage - Indeterminacy
Arizona Amp and Alternator
Effigies - Ink
Sun City Girls - Flute and Mask
Shuggie Otis - Inspiration Information
John Fahey - Blind Joe Death, The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death, America
Skip James - Complete Early Recordings
Josh White - Free and Equal Blues
Green on Red - Gas, Food, Lodging
Gun Club - Fire of Love
Charlie Patton - Father of the Delta Blues
Scrawl - Nature Film
Deep Purple - Made in Japan
The Fall - Heads Roll, Live at the Witch Trials

2/6/09 revised 2/15/09