The Silver Screen Oasis

Glad you are OK Lynn!

We got a pass on that storm that hit you, Chris. I feel for you and CA.

Thanks, Wendy, It's not that we're housebound but it's a pain.

I just raked the other day, it was so warm out.

We call it a false spring....

but I don't want to die shoveling.

Wendy, shoveling is the one thing I have to remind myself about. After the last storm there were two local deaths, both younger than me, from shoveling. I'm not that young anymore, shovel-wise, so it's ten minutes and take a break if it is a heavy snow.

We had great weather Saturday so this has been a real pain to get used to. CA doesn't know whether to pull out a t-shirt or a turtleneck.

Thanks for the thanks, guys!

We've had one sizable aftershock since this morning.

As I mentioned in my earlier post it was 90 degrees yesterday and most of our box turtles stayed dug in. This is the kind of weather they usually enjoy by walking around and being active. Not yesterday.

And Bo was restless Saturday night, most of yesterday and especially last night. Barely slept. Kept pacing the house.

He's sleeping now, so I'm hoping no more aftershocks happen till he wakes up.

Luckily, MrC was petting him when the quake hit so he felt a little safer. Still, it was a sizable jolt and him lying on the floor, probably felt it more than we did and we felt it pretty darn good!

News reports make it sound as though LA area is still having a few small earthquakes. Stay safe, everyone. Meanwhile, Mother Nature seems to a tad confused about the seasons here in the East....

Ah, yes, Spring! Day 10 of the season of greenery, growth and renewal looked like this from my window this fine Sunday morning.

Poor kid, looks like you received three or four inches of snow overnight. We were supposed to have snow in NYC this past week, but fortunately we were spared; some areas of New England, such as Cape Cod, got three to four inches. Nothing like an early spring snow storm! I remember one particularly severe winter in NYC, 1995/96, when our final snowstorm of the 'season' occurred on April 7.

Moira, be careful out there, don't slip! I'm hoping it's all melting off already.

We always wait until Andrew's birthday (April 6th) before we can be sure we are clear of snowstorms. May 15th is our last frost date.

At least around here, we are getting much higher temps this week all the way up into the low 50's during the day, 30's at night. Any ice leftover is melting off rapidly. This is such a relief after weeks and weeks of 15-25 degree temps.

Last night we had a rain/wind storm that came down so hard that a ton of dirty water leaked from the top of the roof in through the kitchen window sash. This dirty water from the roof left deep brown stains on my window sill and in the grout behind my sink! We only remodeled our kitchen about 4 years ago, so I was in despair for a while this morning. It was so gross! Let me tell you, if you have stains on anything in your house, Resolve Stain Remover/Carpet Cleaner with Oxy will remove ANYTHING. I've started using it on all sorts of other things besides my rugs, and it really works wonders. You just want to make sure if it's in the kitchen you clean any residue of the cleaner up. Luckily the leak was not onto any food prep surfaces but down the window and wall and tile behind the sink. The plus of having the leak is, the Resolve also accidentally cleaned the rim of sealer around the granite, which has been steadily darkening since the granite was installed, so I got bonus cleaning accomplished and I don't have to stare at the discolored rim around my kitchen anymore!

I have just seen a report on the Chilean earthquake on this evenings news. Fernando, I hope you and yours are ok.

I think the earthquake struck some 1800 kilometers away from Santiago or a 33 hour drive by car. Here's hoping Fernando and his family and friends are all OK. We're all thinking of you Fer!

I heard about it too ... I watched a bit of news this morning and I was thinking about FER and what his status is? ... I was hoping that he will check in and touch base with us ...

Fernando is fine and his family is safe. In fact, they didn't even feel the quake in Santiago. Chile is very well acquainted with earthquakes, and apparently most of their structures are built with these kinds of disasters in mind so the loss of life and injuries were contained.

A tropical low passed the Solomon Islands a few days ago causing flooding, extensive damage to housing and 16 deaths. The slow moving system is moving slowly west and has intensified to category 3 cyclone. Initially it was expected to cross the coast of Far North Queensland well to the north of here, but each update has moved the projected landfall further south so that Cairns will be affected by it. The cyclone is expected to make landfall around midnight Friday as a category 4 cyclone, the biggest storm since Yasi.

Hopefully all we will feel will be gale force winds and torrential rain.

http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDQ65002.shtml

Fossy, take care of yourself, my friend! Make sure you take all precautions. We'll be thinking about you. Let us know how you are when you can!