Monday, April 18, 2011

Told You It Would Snow!

Just another lousy day in paradise today.  It was cold and it was wet...wet snow that is.  It even covered the ground for a short time this afternoon.  Snowflakes will probably be in the air again tomorrow, but not as many as today.  It will remain chilly through Tuesday, not even getting to 50 degrees, bit things should be getting a little warmer by the end of the week...maybe 60...woohoo!

The snowflakes go back to yesterday.  After spending the morning at church, where the power went out with about 10 minutes left go in the service, Kay and I headed off to Taco Bell for a bite of lunch before the inaugural game of the St. John's Lutheran Church softball team.  While we were dining on our $2 meal deals a sudden snow squall hit, lasting all of about 37 seconds.  That was the big event of the day as after that only a few snow flurries and snow pellets were occasionally seen.  As for the softball game, we fielded a team, and not only that but we held a 5-1 lead after 3 innings.  Things went downhill from there, quite quickly and dramatically, and we wound up losing 18-7.  I was a stalwart at first base...mainly because I just stood there due to difficulties with my left knee (but that is a whole different story)...although I was part of a pretty impressive double play.  At the plate there was a fair amount of futility as well, with all three of my appearances ending in line drives hit directly at outfielders of the other team.  After the game we stopped in to see my buddy Brady.  He was doing a little angling in the swimming pool for dogfish.  Lucy the black lab was swimming around trying to corral several plastic baseballs.  Brady's luck wasn't much better than mine, as he got nary a hit.  That's probably a good thing from Lucy's point of view.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

The Natives Are Getting Restless

Here it is, the middle of April, and we are still looking for the first occurrence of nice weather this spring.  I have to admit that I am getting a little forlorn in dealing with all of the dampness, gloom and chill, but its nothing like some of the folks that I regularly come in contact with.  Some of them are getting downright hostile!  It has been nearly two years since I have been directly responsible for anything dealing with the weather, but there are some nasty people, and you know who you are, that are still blaming me for the general lousy state of the weather.  These people have lived here far longer than I, and should by now realize that spring doesn't spring around these parts until the 4th of July, so I am putting them on notice to "just shut your pie hole!  If you don't like the weather there are plenty of buses, trains, and airplanes heading out of town every day, and moving vans so that your belongings can make the trip as well.

There...I've had my conniption!

Today dawned wet...what else is new, but the rain ended early and our outdoor clean-up day at the church was well attended.  We attacked the weeds in the landscape beds and won the battle, so things are looking pretty good out there.  We wanted to spruce things up before Palm Sunday and Easter week, so the army was mobilized this morning and we went to war.  Later this afternoon a few more showed up to do the indoor work, mainly dusting and washing windows, so all is now ready.  The invitation is there...come on out and join us for worship over the next week.  That would be tomorrow morning at 9:00, Thursday and Friday evenings at 7:00, and next Sunday morning at 7:00 and 10:00.  We'll even feed you next Sunday!

Today turned out to be pretty decent.  It was still cloudy, but the sun did make a couple of cameos, and the temperature almost made 60 this afternoon.  Tomorrow will be sunnier, but cooler as we will only reach the low 50s.  Our church softball team kicks off the season tomorrow at 2:00pm, and it looks like the game will go on as planned.  I am supposed to play first base, but with my left knee blown up like balloon (that's another story) I don't know if I will be able to participate.  Looking ahead to the week ahead...guess what?  It is going to be cool cloudy and damp.  Temperatures still won't be getting very far above 50 degrees, there will be mostly clouds in the sky rather than sun, and from time to time a little rain will fall...perhaps even snow.

There...stick that in your pipe and smoke it!

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Egg Stuffin!

While I sit here at the computer letting you in on all of (well...a few of) the mundane things that are going on in my world my lovely wife Kay is stuffing plastic Easter eggs with information about our preschool in order that they may be distributed to parents of young children next Saturday at the Eagle Ridge Easter Egg hunt.  If you have never beheld this event you have certainly missed out on an important piece of Americana.  Traditionally the hunt takes place at 11am on the day before Easter...Saturday.  What happens is that the park is totally empty until about 5 minutes before the commencement of the festivities, at which time hoards of little tykes and their parents descend on the place.  At 11 straight up the gun goes off, or whistle, or whatever...but I might prefer a gun.  What happens next is a free for all in which the kids beat on each other in order to secure all of the eggs for themselves, and all the while the parents are yelling "Great hit Junior, now take out another one.  After about a minute and a half all of the eggs have been vacuumed up by the little nippers and they all disappear as quickly as they arrived leaving a mass of empty water bottles and used diaper strewn about the countryside for those of us who volunteer to help to clean up.  Typically the weather for the event stinks, always cold windy and wet, which appears to be on the docket again this year.

Did I mention the weather...I guess I did.  Today was another typical Spokane spring day, chilly and cloudy.  This evening the rain began to fall once again and I can hear the winds out there a howlin'.  Tomorrow looks like another cool and cloudy day with just a few sprinkles to keep things damp.  If we get to 50 it will be a good thing.  I am hearing questions...more like complaints...about when we might get some warm weather around here.  At this point I am holding out for June of 2012.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Sun's Up!

The sun is shining this morning and we should get through the day without any rain.  Yesterday the sun did manage to make an appearance for the afternoon, although it was quite windy, and the temperatures rose to an official high of 53.  Today, with a little more sun and a lot less wind we should do better by a degree or two, although it is pretty chilly out there now...around freezing.  Tonight the clouds come back and the rain tomorrow, although like I said the other day, it won't amount to all that much...just a few hundredths of an inch.  Cloudy cool and damp weather will be around for most of the rest of the week with the best chance for another dry day being Friday. High temperatures will continue to bump around the low to mid 50s.

Hmmm...let's see now...just what is it that I do around here?

Monday, April 11, 2011

The Rains Have Come

Just about the time I stepped into the hot tub last evening to relieve my aching left knee (that's a whole different story) the pitter patter, or rather splot splot, of raindrops began.  Overnight it has been rather wet with a slow but steady rain, good news for my yard.  We have picked up an official 7 hundredths of an inch, and a few showers will be in the area over the next few hours to perhaps add a hundredth or two more.  During the week the weather will remain quite cool, highs near 50 degrees all week, give or take a degree or two.  Today will be cloudy and windy, tomorrow dry with a little bit of sun, and then back to the showers on Wednesday and Thursday.  Friday may again be dry, but at this point there are no guarantees on that.

This morning I have to play a doubleheader.  I'll hit the tennis court (indoors) at 9:30 with the posse minus 1.  John is out with a little toe issue...actually it's the big toe but its a little issue...He has developed gangrene after a little minor surgery and may be facing amputation up to the neck.  That might be a little overstated, as I think he might return to the group on Wednesday.  Immediately following my regular Monday morning romp I will be filling a vacancy in an 11 o'clock group.  This group usually plays at 9:30, but couldn't get a court at that time, so one of the ladies can't make it.  Did I say ladies?  YES!  I'll be playing with the ladies, including my wife.  I hope they can handle my overhand smashes and 110 mph serve.

Following tennis I will limp off to the church to face this week's mountain of work.  Preschool is back in session so quite a few hours will no doubt be sucked up trying to keep the staff from killing each other.

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Bring On the Rain!

Okay...the yard is raked...the Weed & Feed has been applied...and the raspberry bushes have been contained, so I say "let it rain!"  It has gotten cloudier today, but stayed dry, and it appears as if the weather will probably be dry until the end of the day tomorrow.  Once that rain returns though its going to be hard to turn off the tap.  On and off rain and cool weather is going to be with us through all of next week.  It isn't going to rain all the time, and it isn't going to rain all that much, but it will be damp and gray.  The prospects for a dry softball practice tomorrow afternoon are looking a little better than yesterday, but the prospects of my left knee holding out aren't so promising...but that's another story.  The Spokane Lutheran Softball League schedule kicks off a week from tomorrow, so we better get some people out there to see what we have, or more likely, don't have.  Last Sunday we only got 7 of the 17 signed up to come out and "throw it around", I am hoping for better participation tomorrow.

Easter is rapidly approaching, so the busy-ness at the church is ramping up.  This week has actually been rather quiet compared to last week.  The pre-school and Kindergarten has been closed for spring break, so I haven't had to babysit the staff (did I really say that? Yes, I did) and there were no funerals this week.  Lent is always a busier time because there is always two services to plan and execute, and two sermons to write and deliver.  When you throw in a seminary course that requires 3 research papers this quarter, one of which is due during the week leading up to Easter (when there are 3 service in the week) the stress level goes up a bit, and the available hours in the day diminish.

Friday, April 8, 2011

A Real Struggle

Due to the fact that I have to write SO much for my work and for school it seems as if the last thing that I want to do is write more.  That is a weak apology for my lack of presence in this space.  Due to the well known fact that my wife, Kay, is the smartest person on the face of the planet she has come up with a solution.  She has suggested that I just post daily about the weather, and then add a line or two that might be interesting.  Well then, here it is...

Today's weather was beautiful, so I spent most of the day doing the yard work that has been neglected during  the past month of chilly and rainy weather.  All of the raking is done, the planting beds have been cleaned out, and I am about to die!  At least it feels like it.  The weather tomorrow is going to be pretty decent as well, although not as sunny as today.  Today we reached into the upper 50s, and tomorrow we should be in the same ballpark with increasing clouds through the afternoon.  On Sunday the rain should be back by mid to late afternoon, just in time for softball practice at 3:00pm.