Marc's Blog

[Book of the Day] "Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us" by Robert Hare

noreply@blogger.com (Marc) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:21:00 +0000

Chilling.

[Colorado] Melting...

noreply@blogger.com (Marc) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 16:01:00 +0000

On Marc's patio at sunset yesterday. At sunrise the snow on the chair was a full 12" deep.

[Colorado] 12" of Snow at Marc's House

noreply@blogger.com (Marc) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:04:00 +0000

The snow has stopped. The sky is brightening to the west. I think I have already received all the snow I am going to get. The TV says that Fort Collins, just 7 miles to the north of me, got 20".

[Colorado] 10" of Fresh Wet Snow So Far, Still Falling

noreply@blogger.com (Marc) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:59:00 +0000

I have between 10" and 12" depending on where I measure. We'll call it 10" officially.

I went out and knocked the snow and ice off my maple trees' branches. Many of the longer branches were bowed down by 6' to 10'. I feared they would break under the snow load of tonight's predicted additional snowfall. To reach the higher branches I had to run my 12' pole vertically. I discovered that snow falls vertically when knocked off of branches, and when one is standing directly beneath the branches in question one gets quite a bit of snow onto one's head. :-(

[Colorado] Snow Pictures at Marc's House

noreply@blogger.com (Marc) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:47:00 +0000

[Colorado] 6" of Fresh, Very Wet Snow, More Falling

noreply@blogger.com (Marc) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:12:00 +0000

I shoveled the first four inches and then decided that it was time to awaken the snow blower from here on. The first two inches were nearly-frozen wet slush about the consistency of wet concrete, and a lot heavier. The roads are poor and degrading, as the slush layer on the bottom offers no traction for stopping. If the temperature dips far enough enough tonight to freeze the bottom layer of slush into ice, travel is going to get very exciting (in an unhappy way).

[Colorado] Washed My Car Yesterday, Snowing Today

noreply@blogger.com (Marc) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 15:55:00 +0000

Just for the record, I washed my (filthy) car yesterday. Therefore, we are getting sloppy rain and snow today. :-(

[Colorado] Light Snow Falling

noreply@blogger.com (Marc) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 15:17:00 +0000

The sky is heavily overcast and I have light snow falling. I got the great juniper hedge trimming exercise finished up just in time. :-)

[Household] Hedge Trimming Completed, Borrowed Pickup Truck Returned

noreply@blogger.com (Marc) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 00:15:00 +0000

I finished the great juniper hedge trimming exercise. I washed, vacuumed, topped-off, and returned my kind neighbor's loaner pickup truck (with a 12-pack of Fat Tire beer).

7 very full pickup truck loads of blue juniper hedge clippings went to the Loveland Recycling Center to be transformed into mulch and compost.

[Household] Sun Shining, Juniper Hedge Trimming Resumes

noreply@blogger.com (Marc) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 19:13:00 +0000

The sun is shining brightly. The temperature is in the low 40s F. Hedge trimming has resumed. The new Black and Decker 22" electric hedge trimmer works wonderfully. I expect to take at least one more pickup truck load of clippings to the recycling center today, maybe two.

[Household] Rain Delaying Hedge Trimming Efforts

noreply@blogger.com (Marc) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 18:18:00 +0000

Still raining. This is most unfair. I had hoped to be done today. :-(

[Household] Snow Interfering With Juniper Hedge Trimming

noreply@blogger.com (Marc) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:48:00 +0000

The drizzling rain has just begun to convert to very wet snow. This moisture is significantly interfering with the remaining hedge trimming I had hoped to finish today.

[Household] Juniper Trimming Adventure Continues

noreply@blogger.com (Marc) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:13:00 +0000

Thus far I have taken five pickup loads of Juniper trimmings to the Loveland Recycling Center. I have at least one more load on the ground. I still have more trimming to do, though I am nearly done. I have light rain falling now, so I can't get out to use my new electric hedge trimmer to finish off the last of the detailed work.

[Household] Marc's 20-Year-Old B&D Hedge Trimmer Dies

noreply@blogger.com (Marc) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 22:04:00 +0000

Or it is on its last legs. The motor still runs but has lost most of its power. It is time to go hedge trimmer shopping soonest, as I still have quite a bit more trimming to do. "So many hedges, so little time" or something like that.

[Household] Trimming the Blue Junipers

noreply@blogger.com (Marc) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:18:00 +0000

Think of it as a work in progress. This summer has been very wet, and the blue junipers have celebrated with as much as four feet (really) of new growth in some places. Sheesh.

[Colorado] First Snowfall in Loveland

noreply@blogger.com (Marc) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 14:55:00 +0000

Italian scientist reproduces Shroud of Turin

noreply@blogger.com (Marc) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 17:27:00 +0000

(Reuters) - An Italian scientist says he has reproduced the Shroud of Turin, a feat that he says proves definitively that the linen some Christians revere as Jesus Christ's burial cloth is a medieval fake.

http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSTRE5943HL20091005

[Colorado] No Snow

noreply@blogger.com (Marc) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 02:21:00 +0000

I’m heartbroken.

[Colorado] Raining at Last

noreply@blogger.com (Marc) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 21:57:00 +0000

Now I am getting the rain I was supposed to have gotten last night. I am still hoping for snow.

[Colorado] No Snow, Vastly Disappointed

noreply@blogger.com (Marc) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 20:04:00 +0000

Skunked.

[Colorado] End of Summer, First Day of Fall, 1 Inch of Snow Expected

noreply@blogger.com (Marc) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:51:00 +0000

Yesterday was the last day of Summer. Today is the first day of Fall. Tonight I am supposed to get 1” to 2” of snow at my house in north Loveland. The foothills 5 miles to the west of me are supposed to get 6” to 12” of snow tonight.

This is the same rotating low storm that is pumping El Nino moisture eastward and drowning Georgia.

Yes, I turned off my lawn sprinkler system this morning.

[Book of the Day] Carl Sagan's "The Demon Haunted World"

noreply@blogger.com (Marc) — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 00:19:00 +0000

This book is a solid classic. I am chagrined to admit I have not read it previously so I am making up for lost time.

[Book of the Day] "Getting Things Done" by David Allen

noreply@blogger.com (Marc) — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 15:56:00 +0000

Sure, I have already read this book in paper format many times over. Today, for the first time, I am reading the book on my computer's screen as a PDF file scanned from my paper copy. I am marking up my PDF copy using Adobe Acrobat 8, inserting elecronic highlighting and typed pop-up notes.

Why read the book in PDF format on a computer's screen, you may ask? Because I CAN SEARCH THE TEXT OF THE BOOK!!! :-)

[Colorado] More Rain and Thunderboomies

noreply@blogger.com (Marc) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 21:08:00 +0000

More lightning and thunder-boomies. The rain is coming down so hard it is knocking leaves off my maple trees.

[Colorado] Serious Thunder-KABOOMIES

noreply@blogger.com (Marc) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 08:22:00 +0000

Awakened to flashes of lightening instantaneously accompanied by cover-your-ears loud crashes of rolling thunder. Pounding rain. Sleep impossible.

The storm passed over me after about half an hour, but I think I am too scared to go back to sleep.