Winter Bins

It rained yesterday and today.  This is a good thing!  Winter is on its way out hopefully.  I’m clearing memory cards and charging camera batteries to get ready for Mexico.  I’m kinda sad about deciding to leave my new camera at home, but my Olympus is full of sand from trips to Mexico and FL and my new camera is too new/nice to get if full of sand!

Here is a picture from a little over a week ago.  An hoarfrost Sunday morning. I liked the numbered bins – very Pottery Barn like.  HaHa!

18/365 ...

I came, I tried, I sucked, I quit!

I have decided to stop my 365 project. I made it a few whole weeks. Great job Kelli. Ha!

I have numerous reasons… First, it is way too much of a commitment that I am not ready or willing to make. Second, I am not taking quality pictures – it’s more just quantity, which was not my original goal. And my reasons and/or excuses continue on from there. :-)

I do see the value in a 365 project because it pushes you to find beauty in everyday situations or to find cool things to photograph each and every day. Therefore, I did learn something in my 20 days!

The hoarfrost early this week was just awesome. I remember in my Climatology class taking notes specifically about what type of weather lead to hoarfrost because I wanted to know how to predict when I could get some cool pics. I really want to get hoarfrost pics at sunrise someday!

These pictures do not do justice to how pretty all the trees look coated in the little white icicles. I was in a GIS training course all day so I was unable to get out to any of the wide open spaces. These pictures were all taken in my alley right at sunset.

Here is a photo of the night before (Monday) as the hoarfrost was forming on the trees. This photo may or may not have been taken on a late evening stroll to get junk food… I have the worst time returning home from vacation. It doesn’t matter whether it is a big vacay (like FL or Mexico) or if its just a few days in the big city eating sushi and such!



At least I made it to the gym before I had to have a late night junk food fix. :-)

6/365 & 7/365

Funny note about my 2010 word of ‘grow’.  The root of it is that I want to grow as a person on the inside…  As soon as Dylan heard my word he quickly rebutted with ‘well I hope not out of your pants!’  Yes dear, I hope not out of my pants as well!!  After all, not growing out of my pants is a default New Years resolution that does not need to be noted or stated.  Its just a given!  :-)

Snow and seashells are not typically found together.  However, this winter has brought snow to Texas and Florida residents are currently freeeeezing.  I know about those cold Floridians because Kyle keeps telling me how much everyone is complaining about the 50 degree temps.  However, I’m pretty sure he is complaining a little too even though he won’t admit it to me!

Anyway, these shells and snow signify one thing…  We booked our annual winter trip to visit the sand and sun!!!  We are off to Mexico!  Well not now, but soon enough!

We are going with three other couples to Cozumel.  I don’t think Dylan nor I would have originally chosen Cozumel, but in the end I think it’s going to be great!  I just care about the sun and sand… all the rest is just icing on the cake. :-)

Now back to our currently reality, it was finally our day to have our street cleared from the latest snow.  This may sound like nothing special, but trust me the walls of snow are dangerous to drive among!  You can’t see anything!

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I have no idea where the city puts all of this snow they haul away.  Some people think they drop it in (actually on the river because the river is frozen solid) the river – wonder if Canada knows this?  Remember the Red River majorly floods EVERY YEAR and it flows north!

I’m going to end my night by listening to Dylan yell at the tv.  He is not usually one of those type of guys but tonight is the big Texas versus Alabama championship football game. Its been a big week for sports in our house!  Hook ‘em Horns!! 

3/365

One of my favorite things about the weekend is our morning trip to Starbucks.  We usually get there about the same time every Saturday and Sunday, meaning we often see the same people every weekend.  One group of people is rather different (or at least rather different from us)… lets just say they bring dolls with them to morning coffee and they do NOT bring children to play with the dolls.  I really have no idea what it is all about, but we see this group almost every weekend!

Neither Dylan or I order anything fancy so I’m not sure why we both like our Starbucks weekend run, but we both miss it during the lake season.  However, I’m guessing I miss it a little more than Dylan does. :-)

Dylan doesn’t like this picture because the Sioux hockey headline is blurry while the NDSU headline is not. :-)  I originally tried to take a picture of the Starbucks street sign as it sits just above the 12’ snow drift in the parking lot, but it just looked like a heap of dirty snow.

I’m off to edit and upload NYE pictures.  This should be fun!

And I need to organize my new iPod for the gym tomorrow night.  That won’t be as much fun.

2/365

It’s another cold day today so my pictures were limited to the indoors due to the record low temps.   The albedo effect was very intense today making for very intense lighting and shadows.  Funny thing about the bright sun and clear skies is that it tricks my brain into thinking it is nice outside… not so much though! 

Today I wanted to take pictures of just Lizzie because there are far fewer pictures of Lizzie since Meeka joined the family.  Everyone always gushes about how pretty Meeka is and I always feel bad for our crabby, bossy, stubborn and stinky mini daschund. :-) 

But these two dogs both love the sun at the back door and they are both curious about the other’s doing at all times.  So naturally Meeka ended up in pictures too.

  

1/365

This is quintessential North Dakota.  Freezing cold temps and the oddest stores like Home of Economy or Fleet Farm!  At Fleet Farm you can buy groceries, horse supplies, tile for the bathroom, fishing tackle and somewhat normal clothing.  It’s odd.  Very odd. 

Today was my first visit to Fleet Farm and it was all about finding Dylan some crank baits (fishing tackle) for spring fishing.

These temp readings were in the car driving back from our New Years Eve activities in Lisbon, ND and then about 1/2 hour later at a local bank to verify the temp.  Currently it is –26!  Without wind chill.

Did I mention we were welcomed home to a furnace that was not working?  The poor furnace repair man (afterhours of course!) said he was very busy tonight.  Ours was an easy fix, thankfully.

you sandbagger

Please proceed, but please keep your mind out of the gutter and think happy thoughts. Remember this.

So what did you do last Friday night? I had a nice date with my husband. And the date continued on Saturday. How romantic, huh? We like to keep that loving feeling alive? Even if our ‘good old days’ are only like 3 years ago! :-)

The majority of the date I watched my husband laugh and have fun with other women. I also watched him get dirty, hot and sweaty with those other women. And, there were several other women. I watched all of this from afar and he knew I saw him.

No April Fool's joke here.

Oh, but don’t worry. I did the exact same thing with other men. I laughed, had fun, got dirty, hot and sweaty with several other men. And Dylan saw it all.

Okay enough! Just writing this is making me ill! Wow! Anyway, all of this is the honest to goodness truth BUT it was all innocent and for a good cause…

We spent our Friday night and Saturday afternoon sandbagging! If you ever need to meet a large group of the nicest people just go help sandbag. Everyone was there to help others. It was pretty awesome! Additionally, sandbagging is not an easy job nor is it necessarily the most fun thing to do, however you would have never know by looking around…

The river is set to crest on Thursday at 50’. Our town should be perfectly fine. And our outlying neighborhoods that put up sandbag levees should also be fine. Yippee!

Here is the happy couple together (at last) leaving Sandbag Central on Saturday afternoon.

PS – sandbagging is also one of the best workouts EVER!!! :-) I can still feel it days later.

the Red we know

Here is Kyle and Miranda (again) at the memorial marker. As of today we are just under the 1882 Flood of 48'. There is a possibility that the river could reach 53'. Fargo is setting all new (and very scary) records as of 1 a.m. Friday morning. AND the Red River flows north.

I tried to get a zoomed in picture of the marker as of Thursday, but my hands were too frozen to get a steady picture. :-)

The first four images have been borrowed from a flickr photoset.

back to reality

Florida was great. Leaving Grace and the 80 degree weather was not so great. (more on the trip later!) I think we were ready to return to winter but I'm not sure we were ready to return to 'Flood 2009'.

We are safe and dry (right now). Unfortunately, many around us are not. It's insane and also very heartbreaking to see the rivers in full force. Our projected crest is not until Monday however the information is constantly changing...

So here is a glimpse into our current world. Remember - we do not have it bad AT ALL compared to other towns around us. Our town built very expensive earthen dykes, pretty flood walls and invisible flood walls to protect us from floods - we are just stuck with very high property taxes for eternity to pay for that safety!

Please note, there were a couple things going on during these photos... 1. We were in a hurry because it is illegal (during floods) to be where we were to take some of these pictures. :-) 2. it was freezing cold outside. 3. some pictures were taken on the fly while Dylan was driving.

Tonight's River Level: 47'
Projected Crest: 52'
1997 Flood Crest: 54'


downtown. north of Sorlie Bridge.




downtown. at Sorlie Bridge.

Notice the sign? It says, "Watch for ICE on bridge". I think they mean the usual ice and snow... not a ginormous ice jam raging down stream!



downtown. south of Sorlie Bridge.


For comparison, summer 2008.


down stream. Kennedy Bridge looking south.




downstream. Kennedy Bridge looking north.




For perspective of how vast the river currently is... the same tree spanning west to east. And I brought the wrong lens so this isn't even the entire picture.


downstream. at the walking bridge and boat launch.

not good

I think these two images speak for themselves...

No one wants to see this forecast with less than 48 hours until their departure to sunny fun! I'm trying to think of all the positives.

1.) At least this storm hasn't hit us out of the blue. I have time to prepare myself for any bad news about flight schedules.
2.) We live in ND where storms are normal. We have plows! And people know how to function through weather like this.
3.) I have had horrible flights lately - it is my turn for things to go my way. :-)
4.) We purchased trip insurance for this very reason. I have the entire contract (20 pages) printed out and phone numbers ready.
5.) My GIS field lab on Friday has been rescheduled due to the weather. This is really good because I am not sure I could have made up this lab's field work.
6.) We are now even more grateful for our Florida vacay.
7.) Jim Cantore is in Duluth. However, during his report from Duluth he specifically talks about our little neck of the woods...

Ok, I think I have tricked myself into thinking this will all work out and everything will be just fine! :-) Positive vibes!!

Side note: Kyle taught me about the Jim Cantore factor. If Jim Cantore, from the weather channel, is in your town it is not good news! Jim's not usually in a location with desirable weather conditions. Think of those images during hurricane season where Jim is standing in the rain and roofs are flying straight toward him...!!!

perfectly stated

A few people have already seen this picture but I had to put it on here...

Dylan took this picture last week with his cell phone while driving for work. He titled it, I found the middle of nowhere. I think it is absolutely perfect!

He has driven past this sign and all around this area for 6 years and never realized how removed from everything it truly is. And I completely understand. I try to visualize the remoteness of this picture from an outsiders perspective and it just makes me shake my head with disbelief and confusion...

If there were any questions as to why we are so excited for Florida this picture should answer all of those questions! :-)

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!

# 7 fuchsia with a dot

5lb Walter!! They caught 50+ fish!! And Dylan caught the biggest and the most fish! Good Job Dylan!!!

44 with 58

44 in January! 44 degrees in January almost makes you forget about all those 30 below days - well almost. Too bad the winds picked up and gusted to 58 mph making it difficult to fully enjoy the warm temps.

Yesterday morning we went for a drive in the country (we sound like we are 80 years old!) I had hoped to get some good pics of the snow and trees, but I didn't find what I was looking for. We still had fun though.

At one point we pulled over - well actually we just stopped in the middle of the road because with no traffic in the middle of nowhere there is no need to pull over - so that I could take some pictures of a snowy path and trees. As I walked down the snowy path past a large 'No Trespassing' sign a car drives by, slows and then puts it in reverse. The car ends up being the land owner! Thankfully my husband can charm anyone and the land owner left us alone.

On the way back home Dylan drove us through a cool little town. I really liked the hills and the river that the little town was built around. We live near several large rivers that truly are quite amazing.