A couple of weeks ago it was below zero. Today it’s supposed to hit 62 degrees. This has been a weird spring, full of weird weather.
Re the photo at left: Either the greenhouse effect is real, or the remote thermometer in that greenhouse is defective. Maybe a little of each. (The temperature on the right is that of our living room.) This picture was taken on Monday afternoon, when the temperature was in the 50s outdoors – not what you would call extremely warm, but the angle of the sun hits the greenhouse just right.
About that sun: Sunday, April 18, was the first night of 2021 without complete darkness. According to the National Weather Service, the sky will not darken past “astronautical twilight” until Aug. 25.
If you, like me, are unfamiliar with astronautical twilight, here’s how the NWS explains it: “the level of light observed when the sun is 12 to 18 degrees below the horizon.”
Okay then. Until I moved here I also had never heard the phrase “civil twilight,” either. Live and learn.
Incidentally: The sun rose at 6:23 a.m. today and will set at 9:34 p.m. But thanks to that astronautical twilight, it will seem earlier/later. And, as DF points out, we still have lots of snow left on the ground to amplify that light. Um, yay?
(It’s melting. I can see nice big patches of dead brown grass in our side yard. But where snow was shoveled/blown there’s still quite a bit piled up.)
Drugs and freelancing
Not in a Hunter S. Thompson way, though. As I come to the end of the antibiotics prescribed after the bone graft, it occurred to me that I haven’t had to take antibiotics in probably…10 years? Maybe longer? There was once a time when every year I’d regularly get bronchitis, sinus infections, and pneumonia or something quite like it – and this was when I was much younger and (allegedly) healthier.
Of course, that was also when I was in an awful marriage and tasked with doing, well, everything: full-time newspaper reporting job (which mean odd hours), concurrent freelance career, often transcribing interviews for my now-ex’s books and, of course, all the housework, shopping and kid-wrangling because he couldn’t be bothered.
I’d go until I couldn’t go any more, then collapse and visit the doctor, then spend a day or two in bed (feeling guilty about all the things I wasn’t doing). The doc said she saw this over and over and over among her female patients.
That was then, this is now. I’m much healthier despite being much older. Over the past year-plus, of course, we haven’t gone many places, and when we do we wear masks and use hand sanitizer. DF and I figure we’ll keep doing this even after we reach herd immunity, because neither of us have fallen prey to those annoying little non-COVID viruses that circulate each year.
I’m also pretty sure that midlife love has a lot to do with my improved health. So does the fact that I no longer have to do everything around the house. (Or transcribe anyone’s interviews. Boy, was now-ex mad at how much it cost to hire someone after my doctor told me to stop. doing. that.) Having just one job, as a freelancer who’s able to pick her spots, likely contributes to my new well-being, too.
Speaking of freelancing: I’ve decided to offer a deep discount on my Write A Blog People Will Read course. Through April 30, you can get the course for only $77. The first five people who respond will also get a free half-hour coaching session. Visit my payment platform and use the code SPRING21 to take advantage of this deal.
COVID and entertainment
Only about 1 in 6 of us currently holds a ticket to an upcoming live performance. Or so says a recent Bankrate.com poll.
“For all that we’ve been hearing about pent-up demand and revenge spending, the vast majority of Americans are taking a wait-and-see attitude when it comes to live events,” according to Bankrate.com industry analyst Ted Rossman.
You’re more likely to be fully vaccinated if you’re older, but it’s the young’uns who are raring to go. Those ages 18 to 40 are a lot more likely to buy those tickets.
Would vaccination even make a difference? Yes and no. Almost 4 in 10 (38 percent) of those surveyed said they’d be more likely to go to a live event if proof of vaccination were required – but almost as many (34 percent) said it wouldn’t make any difference.
Still trying to figure out this stat: 28 percent of those surveyed that proof of vaccination would make them less likely to attend. The study suggests this includes those who haven’t gotten the shots or don’t plan to get them, and those who don’t want to share their medical info (including vaccination status).
The big (and expensive) chill
The February storm that froze out a big part of Texas resulted in as much as $90 billion in losses, according to Insurance Business America. Physical damage accounts for about $35 billion of that – and only $20 billion will be covered by insurance.
I expect that some folks in Texas and surrounding states will buy generators after this. However, I also expect that most people won’t buy them, or do much of anything to be ready for the next disaster. It’s true that this particular weather event was unprecedented, and many people couldn’t really prevent the kinds of damage that resulted. But at least some preparation can blunt the impact of the next hurricane, ice storm, earthquake or whatever.
However, we have an all-too-human tendency to think that nothing bad will happen to us. The fact that it happened now? Well, that was a fluke. A hundred-year storm, or a confluence of weather circumstances that will never be repeated in our lifetime, right? Right?
No matter where you live, I hope you will do at least some disaster prep: making sure you have food (including pet food) and water stored, an alternate cooking source (even if it’s only a hibachi to be used outside to heat food/boil water) plus the fuel to run it, the right kind of clothing for your region, an emergency plan for your household and, if you can swing it, a generator. In some places a generator won’t work, such as a high-rise with no balcony and/or no place to store fuel.
This doesn’t have to be expensive, or even particularly onerous. You might already have some of the things you need, and now – when things aren’t precarious – is the right time to acquire the rest gradually (and maybe even frugally).
As I noted in “Disaster prep on a dime,” we can’t control when disasters strike. But we can position ourselves to survive with the least pain and inconvenience.
Readers: Is it reliably spring where you live? Planning to attend any live entertainment in the near future? Will you spend at least part of spring/summer looking over your own disaster-prep stash?
I think I can safely say it is Spring here in Massachusetts finally. Although we sometimes do get snow after my birthday (today) it melts very quickly.
Any live entertainment I plan on attending will be outdoors. Our town has weekly free outdoor concerts by the river in the Summer which I plan on attending. My friend owns an independent book store and has author talks and poetry readings but when I attend these I will most certainly wear a mask. Ditto that for the library when events return. It’s been nice not catching anything, even the common cold! As for prepping, I prepped for Covid19 in that I wanted a buildup of food and drink in case we both became sick and couldn’t leave the house. Thankfully, it didn’t happen and we are now both fully vaccinated. Our town had a tornado about two years ago and I have been thinking about it lately. Although it hit another part of town, it has unnerved me somewhat. The trouble with those things are they often take all your belongings with them as they go so I’m not sure how prepping would help. Thankfully this area is not as prone to natural disasters as some parts of our country are although blizzards and ice storms are fairly common. Still, having supplies on hand can never hurt.
Hope there isn’t another tornado. Or that if there is, it doesn’t strike anyone’s home. Still, having supplies on hand would help if it, say, destroyed a utility substation and killed the power.
Hurrah for independent bookstores! We’ve got one of those ourselves.
Great point about the loss of power. Never fun so it would be an advantage to at least have food and water. My DH has a Rocket Pocket used when he backpacks to heat liquids up and we have used it when the power got knocked out temporarily. Hot coffee and tea feel like a supreme treat when there’s no electricity! So I guess we have started to prep with that. He has a tent too and two sleeping bags.
We’re enjoying 70-85 degree weather right now in sunny St. George, Utah. It’s glorious! Spring started in March and is really chugging along now. We have a very long, lovely spring here.
I’ve always maintained extra supplies on hand in case of emergency, as encouraged by leaders of my church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) and as a result we never struggled during the pandemic. We were getting low on a meat towards the end of May last year, but that was about the time things loosened up a little and we were able to replenish. I was grateful I’d followed their counsel all these years.
Hubby and I volunteer at a local outdoor theater – Tuacahn Center for the Arts – here in St. George. As a result, we’ve attended about 12 concerts since the beginning of March. Tribute bands for Elton John, Led Zeppelin, the Carpenters and Tom Petty, then actual bands Starship, Beach Boys, Colby Caillat, Marie Osmond, and the Oak Ridge Boys, just to name a few. Also saw comedian Bill Engvall, who was absolutely hilarious. We’ve both had two shots of the vaccine (first one January 20th and second March 2nd) and felt comfortable being there since it was outside and we wore masks the entire time.
We live in North Alabama, an area known for spring time tornadoes, high winds, and frequent, intermittent, power outages.
I have laid in a pretty good stockpile of paper products, canned goods, fresh water and other supplies to hold us over for up to a week. We also have two extra refrigerators which are stocked with assorted foods.
As for events, we will feel more comfortable attending group events after our COVID 19 vaccination immunity date. Mine is May 5, and I can’t wait.
Spring has come and gone here on the Florida gulf coast. I am fully vaccinated, but still would only feel comfortable at our door events.
Here is Florida – prepping is a last minute sport. Everyone flocks to the grocery and home improvement store ONLY when they are in a hurricanes path! You would think they would learn — but it happens every time.
So human. So foolish. But I repeat myself.
Having a generator is great when the power goes out. My $500 genny bought 30 years ago starts with one pull. Runs lights, heat, hot water, air conditioning, microwave and keeps the fridge and deep freeze cold. Makes power outages kind of fun.
I am in NC. We’re pretty solidly spring here. Weather has been in the 60s or 70s for a few weeks. This is as good as it gets. The summer will be hot and humid.
I am fully vaccinated. My husband will be soon. The kids, hopefully in a few months. We have tickets to a baseball game in a few weeks. I originally bought opening day tickets for my husband for Christmas in 2019. Last season got canceled, so we are redeeming this year. The stadium is still socially distancing, so we will not be sitting right next others. And it is outdoors, so all the better. Plus I selected a day during the week on dollar concessions night, since the kids love to hit up the concession stand.
I had to bring in my house plants which were sunbathing on the patio and put grocery bags over the tomatoes. It got down to 34 here in SC. Winter still peeks out when it can. It should be 80 though in another couple of days.
As for tickets. We were planning a Mother’s Day get away for me. I think I will postpone. My hubbie has dental work schedule Thursday. I don’t want him nursing a dry socket during the weekend. Our whole family is fully vaccinated. We have started to eat out again.
It is not reliably Spring here in the Foothills of the Blue Ridge until the danger of frost has ended. That will not be until the middle of May. Today the temperature was 30 degrees and will be about the same tomorrow.
Us too, and we’re at sea level. It’s frustrating because in early May we want to do ALL THE GARDENING. Bad idea, though. Memorial Day is typically the planting-out time.