Erin the Meteorologist

"Mom, guess what I heard on the radio??!!?  Tomorrow there's going to be SHOUTING and THUNDERSTORMS on EASTER!!!"

(Note, the before and after drawing.)

Splashing in January

Yesterday we went to the Berkeley Marina to go play at their park.  It was a beautiful day, about  54F.

Whatever the water temperature was, the girls didn't seem to mind.

Spring Rain

We've had a lot of rain recently.  The other morning brought a deluge.  I love the girls' reaction, and how even though Robin really didn't dig on it, the "monkey see, monkey do" in her couldn't resist Erin's glee.



Note: it's a little long.  Sorry, haven't been putting the effort into editing lately.

WW: Rain Fashion

February 5th

It's raining, it's pouring

Finally!

This is Winter?

This season there's been 14 "Spare the Air" days in SFBA.  On these days, it's illegal to burn wood, and it's recommended to limit driving due to poor air quality.

In Dec there 0.1" rain. In January so far, 0".  That's several inches lower than normal.  Rather it's been very cold at /night, in the 30's and below, but quite warm, sunny and pleasant mid-60's during the days.

 

	Today	Tonight	Tomorrow
Partly Cloudy	Partly Cloudy / Wind	Mostly Clear	Sunny
37°F	51°	31°	49°

Don't get me wrong, I've really appreciated being able to go to the park with the kids, minimally bundled.  I've enjoyed the extra vitamin D.  But we haven't had a winter.  At all. It's a strange feeling that we might go from a summer to a pleasant fall straight into spring/summer.

Thank you, Freecycle!

What? You've never heard of Freecycle?

This week I gave away an exersaucer for which we no longer had need. And I received a water table, which I was ready to buy. Two more large, plastic-y kid toys kept out of the waste stream.

That being said, the water table was emptied and left outside to enjoy the rains we've been having. It's about half full. We're pretty soggy here right now. *

Other than swapping cool kid toys, we've also received a microwave, crib mattresses, and have given away twin mattresses, beds, cat food, towels, soap, and lots more stuff I can't remember now.

*Revised post:  I wrote this on Wed. night.  By Thursday afternoon, the water table had filled to the top and has been overflowing.  We've received more than 10" of rain this last week.

A real weenie shrinker!

A direct quote from a local weatherperson on tonight's news:

"It's cold out there!  Many of you know it.  Had to get a jacket.  Had to even find some gloves in some cases. Up in the north bay, 47 right now.  Temperatures in the mid-50s in the south bay."

It's the middle of November, people!

Reminds me exactly of the following.  Yes, we have officially arrived in California.

Can you be more specific, please?

Overheard on NPR this morning:
"Bay area high temperatures today will range between the mid 50's to the upper 90's".

Thanks.  That was helpful.

Now I believe we live in California

Gonna need a lot more popsicles.

Snow in Orinda!

Apparently this happens every eon or so.

Sham Rockin' 2009

This morning Erin, Ash, and I met Christie and Henry for the Shamrock Run, which is an enormous event with something like a bajillion participants.

The little tykes ran-slash-were-carried for the 1K Leprechaun Lap, which they surprisingly enjoyed, given the wind and the rain and the loudspeaker and their adoring fans cheering from the course sidelines.



I kissed my ladies goodbye as they went for warmth and pancake-y sustenance, then I started the 45-minute wait for my 15k to begin. The rain was coming down so hard and so cold I had to queue up ol' reliable on the mental iPod just to keep myself psyched waiting for the race to start. Not a good sign to have to pull out my trump card even before I started running.

Even though Erin pulled her usual I'm-Erin-And-Psychic-And-I-Know-You-Have-A-Race-Tomorrow shtick of two hours crying in the middle of the night, I felt strong and finished 1:10:33. Seriously, this kid has powers -- the last time she was up at night and inconsolable was before the Hagg Lake run last month. I'm like, "Um, Erin, can we negotiate some other schedule? I'll trade you Sunday night for Saturday -- deal?"

The weather was pretty crazy. For about thirty minutes the rain was coming down sideways. I had to take off my hat so it didn't blow off my head -- I saw quite a few people running the wrong way on the course chasing after a hat (and one poor guy who somehow managed to lose his bib). The volunteers keeping cars off the course looked completely soaked. Sort of a heroic job to do on this particular day.

Wordless Wednesday #6 - Snow babies

Snow Day Recap

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Snow day!!



Snow on the valley floor is a once-every-few-years occurrence, so this is pretty exciting.