Sounds of Spring

Tales of the Unlikely:
Cat with Vacuum

Usually, if we so much as reach for the horrible vacuum monster, 3 of the 4 cats scatter like a cat-banishing-bomb just went off. Catrina, the oldest (who doesn't seem to believe she's also cat) isn't much bothered by it, but Zabartik usually won't go near the thing.

So imagine my surprise when I found Zabartik taking his nap next to the vacuum cleaner this afternoon.

* * *

It's evening, and my Mister and I have just gotten home from dinner out and a trip to the pet store to stock up on pet food, litter, etc. Now he's beta testing a new MMORPG, Requiem: Bloodymare. Judging by the time it took to patch, and the amount of lag he's running into, a LOT of other people are all beta testing it right now, too.

There's a small but fast moving rainstorm passing through, and I've got the sliding glass door open. The smell of the rain is filling the living room and there's a chorus of frog song drifting in on the breeze. A welcome change after the quiet of winter. Earlier in the year that quiet was broken mostly by Canada geese honking a few blocks away, traffic on the highway a bit farther up the road, and the occasional train horn in the distance. And since it was so cold outside, most of those sounds were muffled or blocked entirely by our double-paned windows. If we were outside, it was often so quiet that when it snowed you could hear the hiss of the flakes as they hit the snow that had already accumulated on the ground.

Now the air is alive with sound. The kind of high, vibrating frog songs we get around here are among my favorite ambient noises. Mix them in with the song birds doing their evening things, the raindrops on the deck, and the rustle of the wind in the newly sprouted leaves and you have a heavenly feast for my ears.

Soon it will get hot and muggy, and we'll have the windows closed again while we run the AC. I'll still be able to go outside to enjoy the frog chorus, but it won't be something I get to enjoy indoors as well. So I'm soaking up the sounds of spring while I can.

Gozzles!

Gozzles!

It really, really is spring now! I've seen my first batch of goslings for the year. I drove around the block a second time after spotting them so I could stop the car and take a picture.

April Snow

Snow on the fence
Originally uploaded by Pockafwye

It's snowed all morning today. A light snow. Not enough to snarl up traffic or completely cover the new growth of grasses and shoots on the ground. It's windy enough that the snow is sticking to the side of our fence. I think the snow has finally stopped falling for the time being (it's mid-afternoon), and it's warmed up to 37°F (3°C), but the wind still has an un-springlike bite to it, with a windchill in the high 20°s F.

I put some food out for the squirrels again today. The buds on the trees are being really slow to pop because of the weather, and the squirrels count on those buds for their spring salad bar. They were wandering around the empty food dish, looking annoyed by its emptiness.

I've been out running around today, doing errands and going to the Craftstravaganza at the Minnesota State Fair Grounds. I've been warm enough all day, despite the wind and snow. Now I'm inside on the couch, typing, and I'm freeeeezing. Go figure.

I took a couple of photos of the crafts I saw today. You can see them on my flickr page here.

Only in Minnesota do you get 76 degrees, an inch of rain, severe thunderstorm warnings, and a possible foot of snow in 24 hours. ~ Paul Huttner, April 25, 2008, Updraft

Guess the Season

Screenshot from the National Weather Service website.

It's raining. It's late April. There are buds on the trees --some even have opened leaves-- and it was in the mid 70°s F a few days ago. So I am in complete denial about the weather forecast for next week.

Slight chance of what?
I'm sorry, "snow" is not a valid answer. Please try again.

Thundersleet

My new word for today: Thundersleet.

I read about this phenomenon in Paul Huttner's weather blog, Updraft, as something that happened yesterday in the Twin Cities Metro area. I didn't notice any of it here in my neck of the metro. But it's related to thundersnow, and according to this article in Wikipedia:

One unique aspect of thundersnow is that the snowfall acts as an acoustic suppressor of the thunder. The thunder from a typical thunderstorm can be heard many kilometers away, while the thunder from thundersnow can usually only be heard within a two to three kilometer radius from the lightning.

So if it wasn't just over our heads, I guess we wouldn't know it was happening even a relatively short distance away.

This is not something I learned about when I lived out on the Left Coast. Thundersleet. In April, no less. Welcome to the Midwest.

April Snow

I'm taking a dinner break from work. It's April 10th and we've got a winter storm warning in effect. I looked out the window and saw big clumps of snow falling where the rain was earlier. The wind is blowing the still-bare trees around, but the snow is so heavy and wet it's falling nearly straight down anyway.

Some of the highlights from NOAA at the moment:

Wind Speed - NE 24 G 37 MPH
36°F (2°C), wind chill 24°F (-4°C)
Chance of precipitation is 100%

Minnesota, Hennepin
Winter Storm Warning
Statement as of 12:49 PM CDT on April 10, 2008
Expires 8:00 AM EDT on April 12, 2008
A period of rain is expected across central and southern Minnesota
this afternoon. The rain will mix with snow for a period this
afternoon and evening. A longer period of mixed
precipitation... including rain... snow... and sleet... is expected
across east central Minnesota and west central Wisconsin... where
the transition to all snow will likely not occur until closer to
daybreak Friday.

Welcome to Minnesota. Even the locals are griping about the weather now, which is unusual. They're usually proud of their tolerance for snow. On the up side, at least it isn't very cold.

This calls for a little music.

Chiron Beta Prime by Jonathan Coulton
(excerpt)

This year has been a little crazy for the Andersons
You may recall we had some trouble last year
The Robot Council had us banished to an asteroid
That hasn't undermined our holiday cheer
And we know it's almost Christmas
By the marks we make on the wall
That's our favorite time of year

Merry Christmas from Chiron Beta Prime
Where we're working in a mine
For our robot overlords
Did I say "overlords"? I meant "protectors"
Merry Christmas from Chiron Beta Prime

Check out Coulton's listening primer on his website to hear the whole song. It's in the table labeled "4 Geeky Ones".

I think the robots sent us a pie
You know, I love my Soylent Green

Ok. Back to work.

It must be Spring

I saw our resident chipmunks out on the deck this morning, so it must finally be Spring! 39° F, overcast, and some of the snow is melting. Yay! I'm going to pretend I didn't see that NOAA is predicting a chance of snow for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.