BS: Ice Storm!

Subject: BS: Ice Storm!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 01:04 AM

It's raining out there tonight! This, after yesterday's reasonably heavy snowfall which I finished clearing by about midday today. I got my first hint of the rain when there was a brief power interruption half an hour ago. Went out to take a look. Well, it's about 1 degree below freezing out there and the rain is coming down steadily and freezing all over everything. I will not be surprised if the power cuts out again soon. It's 1 AM now, and all the branches on the big pine trees in the backyard are bowing down to the ground under their heavy load of ice.

Tomorrow I will go out and assess the damage. It must be slippery as hell on the roads right now.

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 02:04 AM

Our favorite family trucker left Wichita yesterday for Toronto. Weather maps I've found thus far look like he's got a whole lot of nasty stuff to get through, even before he gets to the Canadian Border people; but he assured us he'd checked his specialsupertruckerweatherservice¹ and they assured him there's no problem.

¹ Say it really fast three times with a chili pepper in your mouth and at least once it'll probably come out consistent with my very special respect for the service - based on past observation.

Stay warm, and don't argue with the slick stuff. It can jump up and bite ya'.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: Bee
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 05:57 AM

Ooo, Little Hawk, hope it ain't coming here. My neck o' the woods (in Nova Scotia, Canada, you snow bound southerners) hasn't seen more than a few whirling flakes of snow yet this fall. We may get a wet nasty mix of snow and rain this aft, but the weather people are not well agreed on what and how much.

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: gnu
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 05:59 AM

Ouch. Ice is nasty stuff. I don't heat with wood on a regular basis, but I keep at least a month's supply on hand just for ice storms. Of course, around here, from December to March, a month ain't necessarily a month when it comes to heat.

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: SINSULL
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 08:13 AM

Snow and sleet here in Maine - YUK.

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: ranger1
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 08:24 AM

Good luck, LH. Been there and done that in '98. It's no fun.

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: Rapparee
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 09:23 AM

Saturday, my brother and his youngest son went off deer hunting. Cold and icy mist, the deer were smarter and stayed inside. Finally, he went into Ye Olde Huntinge Former Sugare House, built a fire in the stove, and started some hot coffee.

Then he called my other brother to tell him to forget it. Brother 2 told BRother 1 that he'd started, slid about 400 feet on an icy road, spun 360 degrees, barely missed going over a 20 foot embankment, and said, "F**k this sh*t!" and went home.

He called his wife, only to learn that HIS son had skidded on the highway on the way to hunting and rolled his pickup truck. Completely totalled it. The driver side roof is even with the bottom of the window. The kid threw himself flat on the seat when he realized what was going to happen and survived with only a slight bruise on his back. He did go to church on Sunday, however.

This was in West Central Illinois. If you'd like to buy a two-year-old pickup truck cheap, let me know and I'll set you up.

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: SINSULL
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 09:32 AM

Glad no one was hurt Rapaire. What are you asking for the pick up truck?
SINS

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: Beer
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 09:50 AM

The Storm of 98

In the year of 98 when folks were sleeping and would not wake.
The Ice storm came at our front gate and would not go away.
Well people in the morning would not believe,
When they woke up to the bent down trees.
The lights were out there was no heat.
Yet the children played.

Now the news man said, don't be late,
Gather up candles at the market place.
It's not to late if you want some heat,
But the stores will be empty soon.
I couldn't believe when I ventured there,
Candles, batteries the shelves were bare.
Said " My God", what am I gonna do.

Yet the children played, as we prayed.
Yes they played, as we prayed.

Two, four, six more days, still no heat but yet we prayed.
Branches, trees, all broke down.
Streets of the city was a big ghost town.
Hydro lines and telephone poles.
"Oh my God but how it's cold".
Generators breaking down,
Yet the children played.

Chorus

Help came from far and wide,
Without their aid we'd not survive.
Death came it was not surprise,
To the old, weak,and lame.
My neighbor who at 85,
Lost his love yet he survived, ( strum, but a pause. No words. As if thinking.)
Yet the children played.

Red Lake and the Sagunay, How they suffered yet they came.
Newfoundland to Halifax, P.E.I. did their best.
Friends to the South and the great out West,
Jumped in their trucks and shared our stress.
The army left their babes asleep,
Yet the children played.

Oh yes they played,
As we prayed.
In the storm of 98.

Adrien Doucette
1998

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: GUEST,number 6
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 09:51 AM

Ice Storm .... it's a big fear around Saint John here ... the old power grid here is just getting older.

If the power goes out for any considerable lenght of time I guess Ann and I will have to gather the hounds, one of my geetars and head over to the community centre here in the South End hood of Saint John.

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: GUEST,Kt not logged in
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 09:57 AM

5 degrees here (-15 C) accompanied by 70 mph winds!! Brrrrrr......Baby, it's cold outside!!!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: Peace
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 10:04 AM

Good song, Adrien.

We have snow and cold--yep, lotsa cold. Snow is nothin' to write home about: two/three inch. The cold however . . . . Think it got to -28 last night. Gonna be a real sonuvagun when winter comes.

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: Amos
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 10:23 AM

Yeah, we're suffering too; it rained for two days, and the temperature was down below seventy (F). I dunno if we're gonna make it, really. I had to wear a sweater to work this morning, before the sun came up, and it was too cold to wear sandals so I hadda put on socks. I hate winter.



A

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 10:41 AM

Snow falling steadily, over a nice coat of ice and sleet. No school today, a good day for me to wrap my SS prezzie and get it ready to mail!
(Amos, notice how I'm ignoring you??!)

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: Bill D
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 10:46 AM

Oh, I know how it is there, Amos....I visited there many years ago, and suffered thru 2 or 3 ft. of party cloudy.

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: Leadfingers
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 10:51 AM

I COULD brag about living in a Temperate Climate - But I wont - I'll just sympathise with you hardy Ice Bound catters !

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: katlaughing
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 10:51 AM

Well, I sure don't miss those Wyoming winters! Here in the valley, it will get into the 40s and 50s this week, maybe drop down to the 20s at night. The high altitude sun makes it warm enough to go skiing in shorts up on the mountain if you're careful about using sunblock!

Adrien, great song, thanks for posting it.

I remember a few storms like that when we lived in New England. I do NOT like ice storms! During one of them, downtown Bridgeport, CT had to be blocked off. Huge sheets of ice were sliding off of skyscrapers, crashing to the ground and shattering.

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: Bee
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 11:00 AM

I like the song, Beer - I remember that ice storm, though for us it was more pretty and less disastrous.

I'm glad we have a bit more than our usual winter supply of wood, though - meteorologists are predicting a very cold winter. If so, I hope we also get a good snow blanket to insulate the ground. Makes a difference, come the cold spring.

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 12:26 PM

It doesn't pay to get too cocky about nice winter weather here in North Texas--because it can also have some really nasty winter weather. I have my fingers crossed that the temperatures stay nice until they finish painting my house (today should be the last day). It also doesn't feel real holiday-like when it's this warm. I seem to always let the warm weather pass before I get out to put up the lights. :-/

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 12:41 PM

Well, I've been cleaning ice off the cars. It wasn't so easy getting inside them to start the engines. The power was out for about 5 hours last night but is now restored. The dachshunds, of course, were in a panic through the night...their keen senses told them that all the life support systems had shut down and they were envisioning turning into little frozen sausages, but they survived! ;-) As for the trees, no major branches seem to have broken, they're just bending down to the ground. Most of the more vulnerable branches got broken last year when we had a similar storm, only it was worse than this one. The forecast is for colder weather and some snow.

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: Bee
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 12:56 PM

Hang tight, LH - and tuck a sausage dawg or two inside yer parka while working outdoors - keep you warm and give the dawgs something to think about.

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: open mike
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 12:59 PM

peace is that -28 celcius or fahrenheit?

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: Charley Noble
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 01:40 PM

Maybe we should initiate a bake sale on the Mudcat Auction for blizzard relief for such souls (?) as Amos.

Here in Maine there is about 6 inches on the ground with another 6 to follow. There's also a nice sheen of ice underlying the snow. I got everyone out on the road (out the driveway) who needed to go this morning, including JudyB. She just called me and the powers that be decided to close down the State of Maine offices at noon and she's on her way back home. The snowplow fella who does our driveway (when there is more than 4 inches) is ready to make his run late this afternoon. We still have power but it won't surprise me if we lose it for a few hours. There is quite a wind, in addition to the snow and sleet.

My 90-yer old mother down on the coast had a scare when she discovered yesterday that her back-up propane generator needed a new battery. Now everything is working properly again.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 01:58 PM

Amos is definitely in need of help. I've been telling him so for years. ;-) I think that all of us in more fortunate climes than his should pool our resources and send him some emergency supplies, just in case!

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: Peace
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 02:11 PM

Celsius, OM. It translates to -18F.

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: Rapparee
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 03:17 PM

Wind last night caught the storm (outside) door of the side door to the garage and literally broke it in its casing. We couldn't shut either door until my wife went out with a crowbar and levered it enough to get them shut and locked. We're looking at a whole new door frame and door.

And when I went to the basement workshop to get the crowbar...there was water running down the wall from the toilet above. The plumbers came this morning and replaced the wax seal between the toilet and the waste pipe. Now I have to clean up that mess, and it wasn't all water that came down the wall.

Sins, from what I've heard to have to be an elf or a dwarf to drive the totaled pickup. Or maybe just really, really short. Anyway, he's one lucky kid -- he's already had a pickup drop on him while he was under it and all it did was pin him into the mud. I hope that the third time for him ISN'T a charm!

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: number 6
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 03:39 PM

snowing big time here right now in downtown saint John ... er, I should say uptown saint John.

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: Amos
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 04:05 PM

Hard times all around. Right now we are experiencing a false lull, with 70-degree sunlight, but a bit pale, and light breezes. But any minute it could go bad on us and throw us into a wild winter storm, like with even 1/2 an inch of rain and 40-knot winds and daytime temperatures in the 60's or low 70's. Makes it hard to surf, all that wind, and ruins life around here in other ways as well, but we mean to hang in there, and tough it out. Mama didn't raise no damn sissies...


A

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: number 6
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 04:08 PM

"Mama didn't raise no damn sissies..."

Damn right she didn't Amos .... just remember to wear lotsa suncreen on when you go outside. :)

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: Charley Noble
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 04:18 PM

Amos-

Looks as if we've got a lull here as well. The driveway is nicely plowed out. There's a little sleet coming down, which if it continues all night should provide a inch of two of ice on the ground, and cake all the tree limbs so they fall on the electrical wires, taking out the power and the phone. But whatever! We're currently cooking up some magic brownies for the benefit bake sale. Would you rather have the cash or the brownies?

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: gnu
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 05:04 PM

Great song, Beer. Thanks. I remember that storm. We didn't have it nearly as bad here in Moncton. Lots of trees down, but no major or prolonged power outages. Western New Brunswick got hit, but not as bad as Quebec.... three weeks without power in the winter cold IS "nasty".

Here, we are just on the edge of it as I type. Forecast is 40cm with wind only 50 gusting to 80kph, so, just a mild Nor'easter. Of course, with temps rising and hovering at zero, the darn stuff will be heavy and messy... there'll be lots of sirens on the go from about 5AM until tomorrow evening.

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: Amos
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 05:13 PM

Charlie, I'd have to knwo the definition of the word "magic" in your post above to be able to answer you in a, um, meaningful way. My guess is brownies. With a tall glass of cold mik and a long weekend.

A

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 05:21 PM

Altogether now....

Just hear those sleigh bells jingling,
ring ting tingling too
Come on, it's lovely weather
for a sleigh ride together with you,
Outside the snow is falling
and friends are calling "Yoo hoo,"
Come on, it's lovely weather
for a sleigh ride together with you.

Giddy yap, giddy yap, giddy yap,let's go,
Let's look at the show,
We're riding in a wonderland of snow.
Giddy yap, giddy yap, giddy yap, it's grand,
Just holding your hand,
We're gliding along with a song
of a wintry fairy land.

Our cheeks are nice and rosy,and comfy cozy are we
We're snuggled up together,like two birds of a feather would be
Let's take that road before us, and sing a chorus or two
Come on, it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you.


(sorry!)

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: ranger1
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 05:33 PM

Liz, I'm going to tell your Santa(s) on you! That was cruel and uncalled for!

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 05:42 PM

Dammit! I would live in California myself if it wasn't for that awful unpredictable winter weather they have. You hang in there, Amos, we are all pulling for you!

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: Amos
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 06:00 PM

Ah, LH, you would be a natural. You could start a Temple of some sort, and you'd have them kissing your kneecaps and donating Lexuses to your retirement fund in no time!!



A

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: Peace
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 06:18 PM

I'll open a bar, OK? Seems you require something with ice in it to keep that body heat at a non-harmful level.

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 06:31 PM

If I could just hold Winona's little hand in mine, Amos.... (sigh)

That would be enough.

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: Peace
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 06:48 PM

LH needs LOTS of ice.

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: topical tom
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 07:48 PM

That's a good song, Beer.Tell me, do you by chance have or can you get the words to "The Ice Storm" as sung by Roads Scholars and written by Bill Welburn and Richard Rice? For those who may not have heard the song, it concerns the great ice storm of 1998 as it affected the Chateauguay Valley of Quebec.

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: Amos
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 08:06 PM

HE needs more than that; the boy has no business sense. Why he could be the next Aimee Pherson McSimple!!!


A

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: Beer
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 09:15 PM

I'm afraid Tom that I only heard it once and that was when they sung it at the festival. I almost liked it as much as mine. he! he!.

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: TRUBRIT
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 10:40 PM

Leadfingers -- temperate is the perfdct word for British weather. I have been foul tempered and grumpy all day -- in a mere 8 years if I had woken up to this in early December I would know I would be on a plane in four weeks to more temperate climes.

(Amos -- I'm in the crowd that is ignoring you......!)

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: KT
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 10:56 PM

okay, it's dropping here......now 2 degrees, TWO! still with those TAKU winds a blowin' wild! But it's okay....we're tough here! May have to keep the car runnin' all night.....

KT

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: Rapparee
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 11:06 PM

Oh, come on KT! Juneau's a hot spot compared to Fairbanks!

But it's colder here right now than it was when I was in Fairbanks.































It was early August, the temp was 91 F.....

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: GUEST,Homey
Date: 04 Dec 07 - 12:01 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsp-LiqZOQ4&feature=related

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 04 Dec 07 - 03:42 AM

Sorry.... it was too good an opportunity to resist...

I hang my head in shame...



































smirking behind my hand.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: gnu
Date: 04 Dec 07 - 02:01 PM

Well, we have 40cm+. The drifts are up close to my * and the snowbanks are well above that. It's still snowing and the wind is still blowing. I have a big beef stew on the go and have been cleaning and such all day. Kinda relaxing when ya know ya CAN'T do anything outside or go anywhere.

We had two power failures this AM. Both for less than 30 seconds. Just enough to fould up the clocks and such. And the email I was almost finished proofing.

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 04 Dec 07 - 02:31 PM

Where are you, gnu?

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: Amos
Date: 04 Dec 07 - 02:41 PM

You guys can ignore me if you want, but don't forget that Californicators have feelings, too. If you prick us, we bleed. If we lose our loved ones, we weep. And if the temperature goes below 60 degrees F, we shiver!!


A

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: Bee
Date: 04 Dec 07 - 03:03 PM

I've been ignoring you too, Amos, but now I remind you that, year round, if you step outside your pampered human-centric environment, you will be eaten alive by kinds of insect life we cold-climaters only see in our nightmares! Airplane sized mosquitos, chiggers, eighty-two kinds of evil ticks, brain eating amoebas... and that's just a few I've heard of! You pro'lly have scorpions and tarantulas as well.

And earthquakes. Don't forget earthquakes.

Gnu:

I sympathise - we were lucky, just about six wet cm. I've pushed most of it off the driveway, cause it will freeze to six cm. of ice tonight, likely.

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: Amos
Date: 04 Dec 07 - 03:09 PM

Not only that, but with the waters slightly warmer than usual, the sealions and seals along th ebeaches are coming in greater numbers. And do you know what feeds on the sea lions?

Great White Sharks, is what.

A scuba instructor holding a class yesterday in the waters off La Jolla Shores beach, where the bottom is level and sandy for 700 of yards and then drapes suddenly downward into a canyon 100s of fathoms deep, was interrupted in his operations by the arrival of a twenty foot Great White.

Needless to say he ushered his charges the hell out of the water promptly.

And fortunately, no-one from our species got et that day.

I can't count the times I have dived that canyon, or paddled over it in an eight-foot kayak.

Makes ya nervous.

But not cold.



A

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: Charley Noble
Date: 04 Dec 07 - 03:59 PM

Amos-

If you would kindly provide your mailing address, I'd like to send you something special, like a giant snowball!

Actually, I do have an address for you. Do you still reside on Ducommun Avenue? If so, you might get an advance copy of my new CD for review or whatever.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: Metchosin
Date: 04 Dec 07 - 05:24 PM

According to reports I have heard, all of Canada is going to have a colder than normal winter because of the effects of La Nina.

Now the odd thing is that unlike the previous two years, I have no birds at my bird feeder and neither does my neighbour. All the chickadees and nuthatches seem to have disappeared around the end of September. We both dumped the seed and loaded it with fresh stuff, thinking that it had perhaps gone mouldy and that is why they were not about.

I'm beginning to think our little feathered friends know something that we in Canada's banana belt don't and have flown off to California. Please treat them well Amos.

I'm going to check back on this thread come spring, to see if the birds were as good at predictions as the weatherman was.

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: Rapparee
Date: 04 Dec 07 - 05:26 PM

Upon Hearing the Prediction of Snow for the Washington, DC, Area, Written by One Who Has Lived There for Nearly a Quarter-Century

Bread and milk and toilet paper!
Snowshoes, hats, and skis and poles!
Snow is coming! Snow is coming!
Buy some salt and stir the coals.

Snowplows parked with blinkers blinking,
Students lined up in the hall,
Radios announce the panic
As the flakes begin to fall.

Metro's open underground,
Outdoor stations will be closed.
Thousands trapped on escalators!
Things are worse than we supposed.

Drivers sliding on the Beltway
From the dusk until the morn,
Must get somewhere in a hurry,
Brakes don't work, so use the horn.

Bread and milk and toilet paper!
A phrase to chill you to the core.
Snow is coming! Snow is coming!
At least an inch! and maybe more!

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: maeve
Date: 04 Dec 07 - 05:43 PM

I love your poem, Rapaire! Even here in Maine the expectation of a snowstorm is enough to send locals as well as folks from Away charging over to the grocery store for supplies.

I'm not ignoring poor li'l Amos. Look at him shiver over in the corner.

And just you stay there, Amos!

maeve

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: Rapparee
Date: 04 Dec 07 - 06:11 PM

I did not write the poem; I am but the conduit.

As for Amos, I think that he should have to burn all of his matches in a futile attempt to keep from freezing to death, another victim of global cooling.

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Jan 08 - 08:20 PM

The ten year anniversary of the Ice Storm of the Century approaches....

Lyrics to "The Ice Song" by Bill Welburn and Richard Rice as performed by The Road Scholars were printed in the Gleaner this week.
This was the view from Howick, Quebec, Canada 1998

The Ice Song

It's never been so dark here in our homeland
Black triangle's where they say we are.
Twenty days it's been and still no power;
That ice is causing damage everywhere.

Melting ice and snow brought on more trouble
Strangers reaching out to show they care
Folks we hardly knew became our saviors
When someone needed someone, one was there

No power, rising water in the Valley;
Barely surviving with my kin.
Generators, sump pumps were a luxury;
Don't ever want to live that way again.

Water swiftly rising in the river;
Saw my neighbour's house go floating by.
Pussy cat perched high upon a chimney;
It almost brought a tear drop to my eye.

The sound of crashing trees will never leave me;
They lie like broken match sticks on the ground.
Fifty years of growing gone to tinder;
I think I'll sell my house and move to town

No power, rising water in the Valley
Barely surviving with my kin
Generators, sump pumps were a luxury
I don't ever want to live that way again.

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 05 Jan 08 - 02:42 AM

Metchosin -

I haven't heard much talk about small bird migrations in Kansas, although I can offer assurance that more than sufficient Canada Goosies are in residence here. In a few residential areas walking is unsafe due to slime layers.

Reports that the annual migration of bald eagles has arrived in some force in some of our nearby "wetlands" (?!) has had a happier reception. At least a dozen pairs reportedly have "established their nests" according to recent newsrag reports.

While the arrival of a couple of dozen noble bird-brains likely has raised the average IQ here (of the nearby counties, if not of the state as a whole) by a couple of points, their failure to actively participate in entrepreneurial activities is not considered a real "boon to the economy." Somewhat to my surprise, the local "moral guardians" appear not to have (yet) noticed there may be objections requiring voices of protest about what the birds might be doing in "their bedrooms" - but that may come later.

It is somewhat amazing that they'd come here to do that, but maybe the eagles haven't been watching the news.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: skarpi
Date: 05 Jan 08 - 03:10 AM

hi all , got this weather all the time up here in the north
Atlantic , but what is strange now and now I mean this has not been
like this for about 120 years or so that the wind is stronger
than ever , we are getting speed up to 124 mtr pr sec thats alot
its almost a hurricane ? up here In Iceland of all places .


This winter is no winter , its raining and heavy winds
heat and cold never more than 24 hours then its heat again ,
and many people are sick becouse of this .


so yes this weather world is something we should be worry about .

All the best Skarpi Iceland

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: Barry Finn
Date: 05 Jan 08 - 03:32 AM

Amos, don't listen to all this whining from these here whimps. Some of us hartier bred folks looks forward to this type of wintery weather. It's a windfall to them that's sterdy enough. One really bad winter I made enough money to buy that expensive 20" bodhran that you've seen me totten about. Even written a song about it (se below). I know how you feel though. I lived in Caliphonie one winter, wouldn't live there again. Damn place always shaking & making burpin noises & the goddamn heat nough to make snap, krackle & pop the state theme song. Got up to 30 today, maybe 40's tomorrow & even 50's or low 60's the day after. I'll have ta brake out the summer clothing, had to put on some underware under my dungrees today. Can't be caught havin ta go ta the hospital without the warming breeches on. Went ta a session bout 2 weeks ago with a fur hat with the big ear flops, the Russian type, well got laughed at something awful, but I was like buttered toast tonight. Here's the song & don't pay ant tension to these here wooses.


Ice Damming (by Barry Finn)

It's winter in New England and throughout the land
The trucks will start rolling with all available hands
It's a party, a picnic, a past time, a plan
Over mountains of snow they attack the Ice Dams

    Chorus:
    And you hear everywhere the cry Ice Dam
    Down the flue like a fever it spreads through the land
    Man your pickups, your axes, every woman and man
    And answer the call and the cry Ice Dam

Blaze a path round a house in snow that's waist deep
Take a snow rake or shovel & clear up 3 feet
Crawl the edge of an dam on a roof that's too steep
And start pounding on ice and let nobody sleep

On a 40 foot ladder that slides on the ice
Out comes the homeowner who tries to be nice
I like what you're doing but I won't pay you're price
For a few dollars less would you still risk your life

Some shingles may break & the ice will sure fall         
But no more will the water run down your walls
So pay us in cash & don't call our hall hall               
Is it legal to be paid cash to have such a ball

Like ants, like termites we're all over your roof
We sing ice dam and drink 100 proof
It's our tough winter windfall & that's the dam truth
When ice damming is done we're a winter recluse


Copyright, 1996 (winter)

Enjoy the weather while it lasts Amos, you may be swimming with the fishes in the near future, then finially I'll be able to afford some of that west coast beach front property. There'll sure put a fix to the housing industy's funk too.

Barry

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: gnu
Date: 05 Jan 08 - 06:15 AM

Skarpi... 124mps (446kph = 277mph = 241ktph) would not be a hurricane. A Class 5 hurricane is 120ktph. Above that, there is no standard classification. I would offer that 124mps might be termed a Class "Kiss your ass goodbye."

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: topical tom
Date: 05 Jan 08 - 03:21 PM

You may already have heard "The Ice Song" but for those who haven'there it is

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: skarpi
Date: 05 Jan 08 - 04:51 PM

jeee gnu , , I still have my ass thank you very much ,
but never than less , this is like it is .

At the moment we good weather for now but how long ?
thank god we build strong houses ,

All the best skarpi

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: TRUBRIT
Date: 05 Jan 08 - 10:27 PM

Barry -- no offence but I supsect you are as wimpy as the rest of us when it comes to this weather.........'hardy souls' my ass..........

Subject: RE: BS: Ice Storm!
From: Barry Finn
Date: 06 Jan 08 - 03:52 PM

True, at best I hate the winter, always perfered the summer heat, ever up on the roof, but there was a time that I did take onthe winter without much bother. I blame it on Hawaii Calif weather (like everything else that's not Bush's fault). I worked in Calif & then Hawaii winters & when I came back to New England my blood had thinned forever, I was never as hardy, got soft. Time to get a boat & sail off to the tropics.

Barry