Juslivn

Hi Mass and NEw, thank you for your greetings and back to you! Hope to get a greeting around later. Working on the house today and cleaning for the holiday. Good Friday Services begin later this evening. Family in from Michigan and we'll actually celebrate tomorrow because they have to leave right after church on Sunday.

If I don't get back, we have a chance of spotty frost tonight. It's beautiful out, but clear and chilly again today.

Have a wonderful holiday all!

Thought I heard about someone driving with a baby zipped in her purse, too??? Oh my. Wow.

Well, have a wonderful Easter and hope you feel the meanin of the season...
Be kind, go to the ends of the earth for the ones you love. Give, forgive. And keep rising up!


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Hi Alley, Gamms, and Oz! Thank you for the wishes. Wow we had a feast tonight at my Mother in Laws! We had so much fun, too. Son brought lil boomer over to play with everyone. That was really fun. The kids got such a kick out of the puppy :)

Oh my they had so much good food and I am already gaining sooo much weight lately. Will have to really start a workout of tennis or yardwork or something soon.

(I think the nieces got some cute pics of the puppy with all of them and I'll post those soon) Couple of fun things though. Son went to the circus later in the evening and took this photo.

I think everyone should LIVE, LOVE, LAUGH, AND GO TO THE CIRCUS!

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Then, Boomer was watching TV. Like his big sister Molly used to do. It was hysterical! I guess it is a circus every day around here, now that I think about it :) LOL.

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We'll have Church tomorrow, then actually a quiet day because we did most of our family stuff today. My kids will go to their Dad's family and Significant Other's for Brunch and Dinner. They now are doing the holiday three visit thing. (I'm so happy we don't have to do that all in one day any more, whew!) But, I sort of miss having everyone here. It will be my turn again soon.

Anyway, hope you all have a nice Easter or had a nice Passover.

Weather??? Ok, well we have a FOG WATCH (yeah that weird Significant Weather Warning Green Vague Stuff on the Warning Map, LOLOL) out in NorthWestern Illinois.

Then tomorrow we have a FIRE WATCH. That one is surprising, because we actually had a tad drizzle of rain here today for a while. Conditions will have to pretty much flip 100% to go to a fire watch.

Night all ships. Have a nice day even if you don't celebrate. Hope you relax and enjoy. And, hope there is no foul weather. See ya Monday!

Hi everyone. At the office and it has been busy (as this whole Spring has been) so not a lot of time to come online. Final Continuing ed tests tomorrow, so I'm doing some studying, too. Thanks for all the visits though as I pop in and have read most all of them :)

WOW that severe alert map up top o da blog looks like dog meat with all those watches and warnings! Freeze warnings, special weather statements (lovely mint green-new color for NWS? LOL) and that firey orange. Not liking it one bit! Will also be looking at Oklahoma for dau and friends out there later this evening I guess.

Stay safe all if I don't get back here, have a great Monday!

P.S. starting a brand new diet and exercise program tonight with dau! Should be fun! More later.

Hi Ozgalah, that is hysterical about the dog watching tennis! Oh, a four year old grand-daughter with chicks! That has to be just adorable. Easter here was very nice, thank you. Hmmm, I haven't gone to Taste of Chicago for a very long time, but it is a lot of fun and very good food and music. Worth it for someone there to win the trip!

Ylee :) No sarcasm. It was fun the first day LOL.
We DID work out. We started a new diet and workout plan.
Boomer did the warm down walk with us. He was awesome! He will really be a great workout/run or walk dog. He didn't even start to pant and didn't get tired OR distracted by barking dogs or anything. Son has had him out walking before, but for a 9/10 week old, he is awesome!

Molly and Meatloaf did the rest of the hard core walking with us. With both dau and I, it was fine. I usually can't walk them by myself together.

But, dau helped me learn some new tricks on the bowflex, too. I have never touched the darn thing. It's my husband's toy. So, day 1 went very well.

Gamms - of course boating is the choice ;)
Pros, very pretty. An apple blossom?
Hi Alley thank you
Skye - ha ha about the circus! Glad you had a nice time with family. The weekend was very busy in a good way.
Tony - what are you doing up at 5 am? LOL
Sandi - a beautiful lil prayer and photo. Be by soon. Probably after testing tomorrow.
Mass - That is such an adorable photo and I'm glad you dropped it off because haven't been able to get over to see the recent WU photos. Ty! Hoping yours was very nice, too.
Pat- thank you and hope yours was nice, too.
Spathy - that was too funny. I read it late last night and cracked up.
Bogon - Palmettobug - GG - Cal - this is getting quite looooong lol, but thank you for stopping and enjoying! I'll be by to visit you again soon!

JanesVacation - You were very close by! Hope you enjoyed your nostalgia trip to Lake Forest, IL. Did you think it had changed much? It is so pretty there. Glad you had a nice Spring Break.

Well, time to go and check on Oklahoma and then hit the hay! Good night all, especially if I missed anyone. Stay well!

It is just coooold here. Someone turned the winter machine back on.

Done with tests. I'm tested out. 5 exams today and passed all. Finally through with all of the requirements for renewal of the license.
Brain dead, so I may just lurk for a while until I recover. Going to look at what is shaping up for Thurs, Fri, etc... severe.
Hope everyone is having a nice Tuesday.

I haven't really learned how to predict these outbreaks yet, but there is talk Illinois could really have some severe this weekend if we warm up. I am going to try to learn what they see, or maybe just regurgitate it, until I do see such factors myself.
In any case -- GET THE NOAA RADIOS READY, no matter where you are.

Fermilab Severe Weather Seminar is this weekend here in Chicago. They will discuss the 1967 Belvedere/Oak Lawn Twisters of April 21, 1967, among other topics of interest.
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Last year, April 10, was when I learned there was no possible way to keep up with the tornadoes in an outbreak. (I had never been on the Wunderground for an major outbreak of any sort at that point, just spotty tornadoes) I tried to keep up with posting all the Wisconsin tornadoes, etc...Yikes was I naive then.
I believe there was a record amount of tornado warnings, and severe warnings in those few days which signaled the beginning of what would be a devastating year.

That April 10 event scared me enough to pay close attention and try to learn more. Plus, I bought like four Noaa Radios because of that event for my loved ones. ramble ramble...lol

Oh Add: Also, that Harvard, Illinois Train -Vs- Tornado video Dr. M posted on the main is from my area, not far away here in McHenry County. (Remember me talking about the Cow in Harvard and Harvard Milk Days?) just a few corn fields over ;) Yikes.

lil boomer is a tank. he doesn't even break a sweat on our walks, ha ha. Day 2 with dau. (she's killin me smalls!)

Freeze Warning and see map above for alerts.

Statement as of 3:37 PM EDT on April 10, 2012

... Freeze warning in effect from 1 am CDT /2 am EDT/ to 8 am CDT
/9 am EDT/ Wednesday...

The National Weather Service in Chicago has issued a freeze
warning... which is in effect from 1 am CDT /2 am EDT/ to 8 am CDT
/9 am EDT/ Wednesday. The freeze watch is no longer in effect.

* Temperature... potentially at or below 32 degrees for a few
hours late tonight into early Wednesday morning.

* Impacts... with the record warm March spurring vegetation
growth much earlier than normal... sensitive vegetation may be
damaged or killed by the freezing temperatures.

Precautionary/preparedness actions...

A freeze warning means sub-freezing temperatures are imminent or
highly likely. These conditions will kill crops and other
sensitive vegetation.

Hi Rob and BF, and lurkers. Rob, I hope we don't get into the severe this weekend. If I get some time, I will try to post some of the effects of these freezing temps from our news in the mid-west. The poor grapes in the vineyards! Ouch.


34 degrees here and falling :(

Check out the photo in this Spring 2012 National Weather Service Chicago Office Newsletter (I can't post the picture because it is really sort of gross!) Wow. Ewe...

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Good articles in here. Jim Allsopp will be at Fermilab. I'm probably going to go.

Off for a jacuzzi, my muscles are sore, lol.

I'll try to get pics of boomer working out with us tomorrow. Molly and Meatloaf have been very good also. They're old pros!

Northwest Herald April 11, 2012
By CHRIS CASHMAN - ccashman@shawmedia.com
Created: Wednesday, April 11, 2012 5:30 a.m. CDT
Updated: Wednesday, April 11, 2012 7:23 a.m. CDT


Recent frost concerns McHenry County farmers

WOODSTOCK {IL} – “Maybe this will be a year off.”

Mike Downes, owner of More Than Delicious Orchard near Woodstock, is worried frost will kill his entire apple crop.

“We lost quite a bit of crop last week; we could lose the rest of it tonight,” Downes said Tuesday.

The National Weather Service issued a freeze watch that was in effect for McHenry County through this morning.

A freeze watch means sub-freezing temperatures are possible. “These conditions could kill crops and other sensitive vegetation,” the weather service said.

Bill Nelson, observation program leader for the weather service, said temperatures were expected to get down to 30-32 early this morning in McHenry County. “Some low-lying areas may get down to 28 to 30,” he said.

“It doesn’t look like it’s going to be a hard freeze,” Nelson said.

Downes said part of his crop was lost Good Friday morning when the temperature got down to 26 degrees.

“It’s hard to get a handle on it. But we’re definitely having losses,” Downes said.

Downes has owned the orchard off Route 120 for 30 years. He grows more than 80 varieties of apples and pears on 5 acres.

Downes said the apple blossoms just started opening last week.

“The blooms are early. They should be open the last week of April or the first week of May.”

He said the crop damage depends on how cold it gets and for how long.

“If it gets to 25 or 26 degrees and stays there for three or four hours, it could kill everything,” Downes said.

“We work on the orchard all year, pruning, putting money in to it,” Downes said. “You lose your crop, you lose your money. No income.”

“Northern Illinois is susceptible to this,” he said.

“It looks like it’s going to be one of those years.”

Nurseries and landscape businesses also were bracing for the freeze.

“We’ll protect the flowering shrubs by covering them with a tarp,” said Heather Moister, a manager at the Barn Nursery and Landscape Center in Cary.

“Other smaller plants sensitive to the frost we’ll bring in the greenhouse and cover,” she said.
Brenda Dahlfors of Woodstock, the Master Gardener program coordinator for the University of Illinois Extension, said fruits and vegetables are at risk.

“Everything is so far ahead this year,” Dahlfors said. “Trees are a good four weeks ahead. If there’s a hard freeze now, it could affect fruit crops.”

She said strawberries and grapes are among the other locally grown produce sensitive to frost.

Diane Handley, a manager for the Illinois Specialty Growers Association, said everything “was premature this year. Blossoms are early and would be at risk from frost,” she said.

“No blossoms, no apples.”

“That happened about five years ago with the state’s peach crop,” Handley said. “The whole peach crop was destroyed by a late frost.”

At All Seasons Apple Orchard-Pumpkin Patch-Corn Maze, west of Woodstock, spokeswoman Cathleen Harder said the 150-acre orchard has come up with some novel solutions to minimize damage from the frost.

“We have surrounded the orchard with evergreen trees. That creates a micro-climate,” Harder said.

She said the orchard also sets up large, 4-by-6-foot concrete blocks on the corners and the middle of the orchard. The blocks are arranged around low-grade fires that are tended all day and into the night.

“After we put the fires out, the blocks are red hot and remain warm for 10 hours,” Harder said.

That system worked well last weekend, and the orchard reported only minimal damage to blossoms. “No more than from a rainstorm,” she said.
Harder said the orchard was planning to set up the concrete block fires Tuesday in preparation for the freeze.
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Add Update:
Statement as of 9:58 AM EDT on April 11, 2012

... Freeze warning remains in effect from midnight CDT /1 am EDT/
tonight to 8 am CDT /9 am EDT/ Thursday...

* temperatures... will drop below 32 degrees again away from
downtown Chicago for several hours tonight into early Thursday
morning. Several locations will also drop below 28 degrees for a
few hours... producing a hard freeze.

* Impacts... with the record warm March spurring vegetation
growth much earlier than normal... sensitive vegetation may be
damaged or killed by the freezing temperatures.

Precautionary/preparedness actions...

A freeze warning means sub-freezing temperatures are imminent or
highly likely. These conditions will kill crops and other
sensitive vegetation.

********
SW Michigan wine industry braces for Tuesday night freeze warning

Berrien County, Mich.
Local farmers are bracing for our coldest night in five weeks.
Posted: 6:59 PM Apr 10, 2012
Reporter: Kevin Lewis
Email Address: Kevin.Lewis@wndu.com

{{Really Good Video Here I Couldn't Post}}

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Hi NEw, wrote a note on your blog.

Real quickly--three sort of cool things happened here:

I was at that really cool McDonalds on Fox Lake (the one with the piers and docks for boaters) and there was an SPC NOAA Storm Monitoring Vehicle there! It was pretty cool looking with the radar thingy spinning on top. Good looking car. Wonder what it was doing in Northern Illinois though :? hmmmmm

Then, also, I wanted to thank WU and the blogs in general for all your Climate Change stuff. Yes, I know, I know, probably the first time anyone came on and said thanks for talking about green issues, climate change, conservation, etc...
But, I passed a test yesterday with a 96% (27 questions) on 'Green Housing', LEEDS, Etc...and some of it was information I learned here on WU! So Thanks Gang!

Ok, then today I also had a gal (first time homebuyer) start to tell me she felt silly because she had a phobia. She said she really wants a home with basement. (I knew it was for storms right away :) Immediately made her feel comfortable and said that is not a phobia, that is a great way to think and told her that I was sort of a weather geek. She said she has always watched all the tornado shows and having a basement is important to her.

I also shared information about how one of the seminar speakers in Norman at the Severe Weather Workshop indicated there should be more promotion of using crawl spaces, too. A crawl space will also save your life if you need to get underground in a tornado or severe storm.

But, we are going to do our best to find a nice house with a basement. (I may check for hurricane clips, energy star appliances, on-demand hot water tank, and xeriscaping, too LOL ;)

Ok that is all...see ya'll later. Hope you are having a good day!

So...I'm trying to ignore that we have this coooold weather again tonight and just hope for the best for our farmers and orchards :(

And, I'm not going to get into those severe risks until I see if we are getting into the hot seat for naders with the central plains. Oh boy. Prayers up!

Here are some pics to cheer us up. I promised some work out pics and our little trooper 'Boomer' puppy. He really does a mile and doesn't even flinch. But I don't take him more than that. He's too little. He is learning to heel very nicely. With a command to 'step off' or 'go' (continue walking). He seems very, very smart. But, he's all boy!

I'll post a lil good night slideshow w/a tune in a few minutes if I can get the pics done :)

(P.S. I didn't see the meteorite over Chicago, darn it)

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Hi Ylee, I'll try to fix those so you can see them, sorry :)

I'll try to do a Smilebox of this, with the music if I get time. But here's the gist: Play the song with the slideshow. 'Nap Time for Molly and Boomer'

You know, I completely did not address the earthquakes today. Man, the world was quaking. It was awful and more than once, could not believe the magnitudes people around the world were experiencing. I don't have much to say because I just watched like all the rest of the world. It was on the news. Not much more for me to add, except--wow! Holy Crud.
It appears, appears to have calmed a bit. Let's hope so.

Goodnight all ships. Hope you fall sweetly asleep with the pics, lol.

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Sometimes these don't play well with Firefox, sooooo hit the 'big screen' thing in the upper right hand corner pretty quick when it opens and you should be able to see it. Night (for real, lol)

Personalize a slideshow

But...the photo of the week goes to my daughter (Big Rapids baby; aka Wandering Gypsy :) She's in Colorado. Not sure when this was taken, but she just posted it.
This is actually quite a photo. Kudos to the friend photographer.

She's hangin with some artists, no doubt! Awesome, on soooo many levels.

Really, goodnight with this one :)

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Yesterday was a very horrible day in McHenry County. I can hardly write this.

Just South of me on the other side of Pistakee Bay, 16 horses perished in a horrible barn fire.
3 are still missing.
It has been incredibly dry which no doubt played a role in how fast the fire spread. (Record dry for the first weeks of April)
I apologize to anyone who reads my blog from my area. I did not know about the fire until this morning.

And I wish to extend my condolences to all heartbroken owners today. You can read the very sad article here if you would like, but I caution you, it is very sad.

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Hello, BF and Mush, glad you enjoyed the pics and vid.

Thanks for dropping off the discussion. Have been keeping an eye on what the mets around here are saying. Link to Skilling:

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Rain/Severe event? Maybe.

Add: These are the readings from yesterday from a station close by. However, probably the closest is actually one in Eastwood Manor which I can't seem to find right now.
The fire broke out at approx. 5pm. Winds were approx. 16? Dew point was low. We had had elevated fire alerts for a few days prior, but I can't remember and will try to look that up.

:( But, Madison is one brave girl. Way to go girl!

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The horses who are lost could be in the Volo Bog area or in a very large area of farmland, protected park land, or trees.
Anyway, it has been a hard day. I can't even watch a movie if an animal gets hurt much less think about this too much or I'll get overwhelmed. Prayers up. Night all ships and Good God, stay safe this weekend pleeeeeeze!
May start a new blog tomorrow.

I am still up watching the hockey. (did I just say that?) Well that was some game. Hawks didn't win.

Hi Ylee, She was snow boarding today out there. She said she has a bit of cartilage build up (bump) by the spot and it is tender, but healed completely. She'll come back here for the summer soon.

Ylee, it is really sad, and a horrible accident. (And, in part, actually I'm blaming the dry weather :( I had baaad feelings about those fire warnings. We were soooo dry up here)

That situation is going to change. I believe we are going to get the high side of the estimates of rain for the weekend storms 5+ inches with the system assisted by what is pushing up from Mexico, too. But, that's my hunch. 2" is fine with me and would take the edge off.

Ylee, most of the horses were probably for pleasure. There were some show horses (as the vid says). Did you also hear of the bad barn fire in Michigan? Rough week.

Yes...so it begins

810
WUUS56 KMTR 130314
SVRMTR
CAC081-130345-
/O.NEW.KMTR.SV.W.0001.120413T0314Z-120413T0345Z/

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN FRANCISCO CA
814 PM PDT THU APR 12 2012

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
NORTHERN SAN MATEO COUNTY IN WESTERN CALIFORNIA...
THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES OF...SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO...SAN BRUNO...
PACIFICA...MILLBRAE...DALY CITY...BURLINGAME...

* UNTIL 845 PM PDT

* AT 809 PM PDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING QUARTER SIZE HAIL. THIS
STORM WAS LOCATED NEAR EL GRANADA...OR 7 MILES SOUTHWEST OF
PACIFICA...AND MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

DOPPLER RADAR HAS INDICATED SOME WEAK ROTATION WITHIN THIS STORM.
WHILE NOT IMMEDIATELY LIKELY...A TORNADO MAY STILL DEVELOP. IF A
TORNADO IS SPOTTED...ACT QUICKLY AND MOVE TO A PLACE OF SAFETY IN A
STURDY STRUCTURE...SUCH AS A BASEMENT OR SMALL INTERIOR ROOM.