New Year's Day

I'd love to say that I bounced out of bed at six AM to greet the dawn of a New Year with an invigorating hike in the woods. But, that would be a lie. I got off to a slow start, but I did get in a couple of hikes in my two nearby city parks for a total of 4.5 miles this afternoon. Somewhere along the way my scarf slipped from my shoulders; I'll try hiking the same trail tomorrow to see if I can find it. I liked that scarf.

It was the first time I'd hiked French Park since Hurricane Ike blew through back in September. The park was closed for weeks after and today I could see why - there is still plenty of evidence of the massive damage done by the winds.

I also made a big pot of black-eyed peas and sausage stew today - the peas and the pork are supposed to bring luck and prosperity in the new year. I could use a little of both.

I hope to get back to my regularly scheduled blog in the coming weeks. In the meantime, an inspirational quote:


"No matter how slow you run, it's faster than someone sitting on a couch"

Petrichor

I want to be able to use this word, petrichor, soon. It means "The pleasant smell that accompanies the first rain after a dry spell." We haven't had any significant rain in weeks. My rivers are running low... too low to get out and kayak much, except for the mighty Ohio, and the kayaking season for this year is fast running out.

Besides, I like rain. As much as I like to get outside and run or hike or kayak, there's also something wonderful about being inside with the rain beating down and curling up with a good book.

Rain please. Soon. Now.

Blackout

It's been nearly two weeks since the remnants of Hurricane Ike crashed through Cincinnati, leaving 90% of the city without electricity. There are still piles of branches in front of houses waiting to be picked up and mulched by the city. I tried to go hiking in both of my nearby city parks today, but the trails in Caldwell Nature Preserve and French Park are still closed due to storm damage.

Tree down in Norwood, picture by Sonnet via Flickr.

I got off pretty light by anyone's standards. As soon as the power went off that Sunday, I realized it wasn't going to be coming back that day at any rate, so I jumped in my car and drove to Bigg's, where I purchased two 25 pound bags of ice. I brought them home and put one in my freezer and one in my fridge, so I didn't lose much food and was able to have cold drinks throughout the three days my house was without power. Also, my building has gas for cooking and for the water heater, so I was able to cook and have hot showers unlike many of my fellow Cincinnatians. We were quite fortunate in that the weather following the wind storm was quite mild with no rain and neither too hot nor too cold, plus there was a full moon so there was a bit of light at night.

Now that the power is back on I've been re-assessing my emergency supplies. I had plenty of candles, flashlights, food and such, but I lacked a good lantern to read by at night and my weather radio ate 9V batteries like they were cookies. I purchased an LED lantern that will run for 60 hours on 4 AA batteries; it can also be charged through a cigarette lighter adapter or a hand crank. I also bought a Grundig emergency radio that can be powered via AA batteries, the on-board rechargeable NiMh batteries or a hand crank. That leaves me trying to decide on a non-electric space heater - being without power in my building in the winter would mean being very cold indeed. I think I'm leaning towards a propane heater since the fuel is easy to store.

Edited to add a link to this story about the cost of Hurricane Ike in Ohio. When the lights came back on and I was able to catch up on the news, I was a bit surprised that the national news hadn't made note of the damage Ike had done to the Midwest. Of course, it was nothing compared to Texas and there was a lot going on in the news (such as a major banking crisis), but I as far as I could find we only got one tiny mention, an afterthought really, on CNN's website.

Why I didn't go to the gym today...

Mother Nature decided a blizzard in March wasn't enough, so she's sent somewhere between four and six inches of rain our way. It's still raining right this minute. Both the Little and Great Miami are well above flood stage, as are any number of smaller rivers and creeks in the area. My gym is in Sharonville but two roads I have to traverse to get there were completely closed (Kemper and Main) due to high water so I came home and worked out to a video instead.

We can have spring now, yes?

Digging out

It took me twenty minutes just to clear the snow off of my car this morning. There was a good ten inches piled on the hood and the windshield, somewhat less on the rear window. Once I'd cleaned the car I drove over to Hyde Park, one of Cincinnati's tonier neighborhoods. There are always joggers in Hyde Park and today was no exception, snow and ice be damned. I saw a man jogging down the street holding what looked like a pizza box at first glance. When I got closer I realized he was jogging with a box of donuts from Busken Bakery.

The reason I drove to Hyde Park this morning was to meet a woman from Mohr's Animal Acres in Urbana, Ohio. They are regulars at the Hyde Park farmer's market and in the off season they've arranged a pre-order system and they meet their customers in a bank parking lot to drop off the orders. I picked up some lamb for my traditional Irish stew for St. Patrick's day and some smoked ham to put into bean soup.

So since I've set out on my quest for locally produced food during a Cincinnati winter I've found an untended honor system store, where you write down what you took and leave payment in a lock box, I've picked up pre-ordered winter greens from a porch in Wyoming and bought meat out of a parking lot. It seems so very clandestine for some reason and I'm having so much fun doing it. I'm really looking forward to visiting farms that will be selling peas, asparagus and strawberries this spring. Those goodies are generally in season well before the farmer's markets open, but I feel sure they'll be worth the extra effort.

Snow Shadows

Snow Shadows
Originally uploaded by lilysecret42

The great Cincinnati Blizzard of 2008 has passed and given way to blue skies and sparkling snow. I put on my coat and headed out for a bit to stomp around in the drifts and make sure my car hadn't been hit by a snow plow (it's fine). Fortunately digging out won't be too bad; it's heading into the fifties later this week.

I posted just a few pictures in my Flickr account and there's a short, silly video at YouTube taken this morning.

Blizzard!

The predicted snowstorm has been upgraded to a blizzard. It's Cincinnati's first blizzard since 1978! Staying home from work today was truly a capital idea. I think we've had four or five inches of snow so far and we're expecting up to a foot total snowfall. I'm so very ready for spring.

I spent the day studying my Intro to ArcGIS course work and I love GIS. It's so much fun playing around with maps. I see a new career blossoming before me.

Finally, I leave you with this interesting New York Times article about MSG. I worked for many years in a Chinese restaurant and the "no MSG!" people always got under my skin. So many would claim to be deathly allergic but would still order the hot and sour soup or the eggrolls after I (not so) patiently explained that those items contained MSG and there was nothing we could do about it. I still think claiming to have an allergy when none exists does a real disservice to those people who have genuine life-threatening allergies, such as those to peanuts or shellfish.

Look Before You Leap

Today I learned that that BASE, as in BASE jumping, stands for Bridge, Antennae, Span and Earth. I didn't know it was meant to be capitalized so I never noticed the acronym before. I just assumed "base" meant a stable platform, as opposed to an airplane, which of course it does.

Sadly, the reason I learned this is because this guy BASE jumped off the Perrine Bridge over the Snake River Canyon in Idaho. His jump was successful, but he'd evidently neglected to make sure he knew the way out of the canyon beforehand and died of exposure after getting lost. It just goes to show, having an exit strategy is a crucial part of any major plan.

Closer to home, we are under a winter storm advisory and it's actually snowing this time. I am mounting a defense; a hearty pot of kale and white bean ragout to stave off the chill.

Oh for crying out loud - a tornado warning? Now?

I think I'm entirely justified in feeling that I shouldn't have to worry about tornadoes in Ohio in January. Yet I just received a text message from my local news station telling me there is a tornado warning in effect until 4:00 AM. Pfft.