The Anchorage, Part 3

[Miss B]

Fingers crossed for you, Miss B.

Mine are crossed too Lorraine. Hopefully it'll be the outer fringe of the storm that passes through here, and it won't give us much in the way of build-up. It is colder here today. I saw icicles hanging from the sides of our building's awning when I was out earlier, because the weather got colder today, and the previous snow had been melting. Now instead of dripping on my head as I pass, I could get hit with a falling icicle. Hopefully not, my brain is messed up enough already, thank you very much.

 

[Miss B]

OK, CBS news just reported 1.6 inches for us, but Suffolk County out on Long Island got a lot more.

Seems that there are several "fronts" that will be passing through at various times the next 2 or 3 days, so it'll be interesting to see how much more snow we get before the end of the week. As if we didn't already have enough. ~cringe~

 

[Lorraine]

Oh noes! That isn't nice at all, Miss B Edit: I thought this was a little person with a jumper up to his neck! But it's a barefoot person! Not at all appropriate.

On a brighter note in Opua, the sun is shining! Oh yay, oh YAY! Still cloud but lots of blue sky to the south. It's 5.20pm so it'll be gone in a couple of hours but it's soooo nice to see it.

 

[Seliah (Childe of Fyre)]

Yes, we actually have about three inches where I am now. LOL - Our first bit of a dusting the entire winter so far...

Temps are down in the low 20's now, though, so flurries have stopped. We'll see if it starts up again tomorrow or not..

 

[Lorraine]

Brrrr! That's cold, Seliah...it NEVER gets that cold here! Down south, yes, but not here. Which is one of the reasons I live here

 

[Seliah (Childe of Fyre)]

Brrrr! That's cold, Seliah...it NEVER gets that cold here! Down south, yes, but not here. Which is one of the reasons I live here

LOL! Low 20's for me, really isn't all that cold. In my area, our winter temperatures are usually in the negatives! (Remember that I'm talking Fahrenheit... silly U.S. and being a holdout on metrics...)

But yeah. Most winters in my area, temperatures around -10 to -15 happen on a regular basis. We are usually, quite literally, too cold for it to snow. It is not uncommon for my area to actually be colder than many parts of mid-to-southern Canada during the winter. So, while snow is also a rarity for us, the bitter cold is NOT.

This year, however, has been frighteningly warm. To the point that it just feels plain unnatural. I mean, seriously - up until the last couple of days, I still had chives and my onions actively growing in my back yard... growing in the middle of January and early February! It's nuts. And my strawberry plant is still green, even after the overnight freeze tonight.

So, yeah. I was actually thrilled to see a little snow today, and see the lower temperatures.

I do great in the cold. I do not, however, do well in the warmer climates. 60-65 degrees is the highest that I'm really comfortable in. At 70 degrees, I am officially hot, and by the time we reach 80 or 85 degrees, I am starting to get heat-sick. By the middle of August, when we get our 90 to 100 degree two week stretch, I live trying to keep myself from getting heat stroke. My body does not like the heat - at all! You can have all of the heat, and I'll happily take all the cold weather.

 

[Lorraine]

I'll let you have the winter, gladly! I cannot even fathom or imagine temperatures that cold. But I don't like the heat either! I like a nice temperate climate that doesn't go up much, and doesn't go down much and here in Northland that's pretty much what we get The advantage of a maritime climate. There is a however, though. However, when the water temperature gets extra warm we are in danger of copping tropical cyclones that come down from the islands. And the water is very warm this year...

 

[Miss B]

Ohhh, cyclones aren't fun at all.

I'm used to temps down in the 20s and 30s this time of year. I can, however, remember winters where we had temps down in the teens. That's no fun, and is when I drag out my Shearling coat, boots and mittens. I hate the cold.

 

[Lorraine]

Afternoon, Miss B Your shearling outfit reminded me of a quote 'there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing' I think he would approve of your outfit. But I don't think he'd ever been stuck on a boat for five days, telephone tower out of order, suffering extreme cabin fever. That was in our last really big storm and we may get another next week. There is a cyclone forming near Vanuatu which may track down here. Only time will tell.

 

[Miss B]

Well if it comes Lorraine, be sure to batten down the hatches as they say.

 

[Lorraine]

Yep, batten down the hatches, dog the portlights, tie anything down that may blow away and go to bed. With a supply of red wine, nice cheeses and some French bread...getting up at regular intervals to brush out the breadcrumbs

 

[Seliah (Childe of Fyre)]

Ugh. Lorraine, do mind your own weather and be careful, okay?

Our temps dropped down to about 19 degrees today. Now, at just about 9pm, we're gone *up* to 23 degrees, and have very slight flurries coming down once again. We might actually get a couple of days of actual winter here. LOL

 

[Lorraine]

Right now, Seliah, sitting here in my floating sauna bath, that actually sounded pleasant for a nano-second! At least I would have the fire going and I'd be cosy instead of melting. But no. The boat nor I would cope with that temp out the winda. If the cyclone does come when they say it might, I'll actually be ashore. Dogsitting for three days while my pals go off to celebrate their 50th wedding aniversary with their family down south. I did tell them that Joycie the Fluffdog would be coming home with me as they had decided she was not family. I got a very long look from her dad...

 

[Seliah (Childe of Fyre)]

Awww... poor thing. It's always tough when a pet goes to a new home and one of the humans in the old home isn't really quite wanting to let them go...

RE the cyclone... With luck you'll already be ashore! That's one storm I will admit I've never had to be caught up in. Hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes... but never been caught in the path of a cyclone. LOL

 

[Lorraine]

Oh I'm sorry, Seliah, my joke was a misfire. Joycie the Fluffdog is def one of the family, in fact she is the love of Dave's life and everyone else knows where they are in the pecking order, below her. When I said they had decided she wasn't family, it was cos she wasn't going to the family dinner. Dave was not impressed with me and that's why I got the very long look. He has no sense of humour when it comes to Joycie and I tease him constantly. I am not a nice person

Hurricanes, cyclones and typhoons are all the same thing just called different names in different parts of the world. They are all awful and to be avoided if at all possible. Cyclones never have the same strength when they get to NZ as where they form as the water is getting steadily cooler as it tracks south. But they can still knock us about.

 

[Miss B]

I don't think we've really had any tornadoes down here in the City, but hurricanes and earthquakes yeah, though the earthquakes weren't bad. In fact, the last one, about 3 years ago, happened while I was sitting here at the computer. I felt the rumbling in my feet first, and then one of the glass doors of my wall unit in the living room swung open. A neighbor of mine and her husband were downstairs in front of the building, and they didn't feel a thing. I live on the top floor, so I felt it, and knew exactly what it was.

Only other earth quakes I've felt over the years were usually very early in the morning, one woke me up a 1/2 hour earlier than I usually woke up to go to work. It felt funny, and I lay there listening to my wicker headboard and e wthe mirror over my dresser banging against the respective walls. None of them ever lasted long.

Not sure I'd ever want to be near a cyclone either. ~cringe~

 

[Lorraine]

NZ being on the Pacific Rim has earthquakes for Africa, but, not in Northland! I tell you, apart from cyclones and tsunamis, I picked the right place to live. Never have had a tornado though was pretty close to a waterspout once. THAT was interesting and very, very loud.

 

[Seliah (Childe of Fyre)]

Tornadoes... Mechanicville not too far from where I live, was partially leveled by a rogue tornado. I was carrying my girl back then, so you're going back almost 20 years here. Once you see that green sky or taste the ozone, you never, never forget it...and you can recognize a developing one instantly after that.

Since then, mostly what we get are small twisters, occasional, brief touch-downs, but nothing like the Mechanicville tornado. That one was BAD; it knocked out a large portion of that area.

I'm in the Capital District, Miss B, if that tells you anything. We aren't supposed to get them at all here; but we have seen the funnel clouds and the green skies lots of times... and anytime we see those, we usually find out that there was at least a brief touchdown in an area nearby.

 

[Lorraine]

Nasty, Seliah! I'll settle for possible tsunamis and sometime cyclones.

Haha! I just got awarded the 'Addicted' trophy! It's now official and I have the trophy to prove it..."hello, my name is Lorraine and I am a 3D addict"

 

[Miss B]

I'm in the Capital District, Miss B, if that tells you anything. We aren't supposed to get them at all here; but we have seen the funnel clouds and the green skies lots of times... and anytime we see those, we usually find out that there was at least a brief touchdown in an area nearby.

Yes, I have an idea of where you are. I took a bus ride up there when I was in high school, and it seemed to take forever, though we probably made stops along the way. It's funny, because back then I thought it was up at the northern border of the state. ~LOL~ Boy was I embarrassed when I looked at a map and saw it wasn't.