This is not Good.

[Gary A.]

On the weekend, my wife and I drove from Montreal to the Eastern Townships to scout out a country restaurant she was thinking of taking a group to, and on the way, we remarked on how green the grass looked. Temperature was about 6-7C, whereas at this time normal is around -7-8C. Today, we had rain all day, whereas normally we would be having 10-15 inches of snow given the amount of moisture that was passing through. Tonight, it "might" get to freezing. Local weather isn't climate, but we're been setting record high temperatures for December at least six times this December. This following a November with a number of new "high" readings as well. The local squirrels are getting so fat because the ground is still not frozen and they keep on eating until everything is covered with snow and ice. If this warm weather continues we'll have an obesity epidemic among them and they won't be able to squeeze into their winter burrows and nests. I don't know whether to worry on their behalf or be prepared to be amused at their plight. Shovel still has not seen any use. I'm telling you, things are not normal.

Hey! Where have you been? I've missed you! Glad to hear from you.

Joe

Hi Joe! Thanks for asking! This little thing called "life" keeps me busy. Last weekend's adventure was having the pressure relief valve on the hot water tank malfunction and drain the tank onto the basement floor. This happened during the night, and the only thing that kept it from becoming a greater disaster than it did was the light sleep of my wife who woke up thinking "something's not right". I was promptly dispatched (because her department is the sensing, my department is the fixin'), and discovered a good portion of the basement under water. Since my home office is down there along with the computer equipment, etc., it was a long weekend drying everything off. Last Monday, the plumber came to replace the valve and check that there was nothing else that was wrong - and there wasn't. Still it's kinda incredible how much moisture is present when a hot water tank is let loose. And no, I didn't take any pictures.

Did you take any pictures?





(Okay, I'm a jerk. And Yes, it must have been terrible and I'm a jerk and I am sorry for you ... but if you lived out here I would have helped you clean up ... or at the very least taken a few snaps.)

 

[Gary A.]

Yesterday I purchased a few tomatoes, herbs and peppers at Home Depot. I'll plant them this weekend.

If you want to come up here and plant my garden for me now you are more than welcomed to.

though, we actually are expecting snow this afternoon, and freezing temps.
We are expecting warmer (40's) temps starting Sunday again.

I dunno, planting in frozen ground isn't good for the planter or the plants.

 

[pgriz]

Did you take any pictures?
(Okay, I'm a jerk. And Yes, it must have been terrible and I'm a jerk and I am sorry for you ... but if you lived out here I would have helped you clean up ... or at the very least take a few snaps.)

Actually, I thought about it, and was vetoed by my wife. Who pointed out to me that memories of this event will be enough, as she doesn't and won't need to be reminded of what happened. And I've learned over the years to trust my wife's gut feeling .