And in local weather news...

 

This is the data console for our weather station. 

Call me crazy, but for some reason, it totally amuses me when the display says,

"ITS RAINING CATS N DOGS".

Ha!  :-)

Thunderstorms!

 I'm pretty excited... Got a message on my phone today... It was my first hazardous weather outlook from the National Weather Service.  :-) That might not be something you would get excited about... But I signed up for alerts from the NWS when we went to spotter training. We have our first moderate risk of the season for severe weather over the weekend:  

Sunday evening looks to be our first chance of super cells for the year.  Hmm...  We shall see where they fire and if Hubby is up for practicing a little storm spotting.  ;-) Anyway...if you live in SE Minnesota, prepare yourself for some interesting weather this weekend, and look forward to things getting a lot greener real soon! That's something we can ALL get excited about...

Signs of spring...

I've been intently watching... for Spring to arrive. It's not coming any too quickly this year. I love getting out in the yard and looking for those first signs of spring, don't you? So far, there haven't been many to report.  Of course, not all things that emerge from under the snow are good. We recently found that EVERY...SINGLE...ONE of our cherry bushes was devoured!  

 

Isn't that awful?  We weren't pleased... Hubby looks forward to harvesting the cherries each year.  It would appear that we shall have to start over with these.  'Tis a bummer, but they were overgrown and a bit of an eyesore anyway, so I'm thinking we'll be able to find a better location next time around.  It's been a really wet spring.  There's been a lot more standing water in the outlot behind our house this year.   This is the area that we've affectionately named "The Stormy Woods": 

You might think a swampy area behind the house is a bad thing, but to us, it's an adventure.  It's fun to explore and we enjoy the sound of the frogs at night. 

Speaking of frogs, this guy came around for a visit last year:

I'm thinking this year it should be especially fun to study the water under the microscope as we're doing a session on microscopic exploration in school.

We'll enjoy the water in the spring, and then when it dries out and the grasses grow tall in the summer, Mike usually mows a walking trail.  Last year, they named it "Cattail Trail" and even posted a sign.

And you know it's a sure sign that spring is around the corner when you see Pa's golf car come out of the shed.

Last weekend, Mike and Beth (and Gretchen) took it out to make sure it's ready for him when golfing seasion arrives. 

Yep, it works good, Pa!

  So, we'll keep you updated if any more signs of spring arrive in our yard.   We can all use a little spring, can't we?

I'm ready for ThUnDeR...

Tonight, I got to do something I've been wanting to do for a very . long . time . Mike and I attended a Skywarn storm spotter training session. I've been infatuated with thunderstorms for many years already.  As a child, I was extremely--irrationally--afraid of them.  When I was in elementary school, I was the last child on the bus when the tornado siren went off just as I was about to step out of the door.  Instead of letting me get out of the bus, the driver slammed the door and drove me back to the school.  How that was safer than letting me run the distance into my own house, I'll never know.  I could hear on her cb radio that there had been a tornado spotted north of Mazeppa, and I spent the next hour or so in a corner of the school wrestling room with my head tucked between my knees. My fear eventually developed into a fascination.  I am absolutely in awe of thunderstorms as they are one of the most tangible manifestiations of the power of our Creator.I had hoped to persuade my hubby to try it with me years ago... ...but he wasn't interested. He thought my thrill would pass, but it has only grown over the years as I've tucked away to watch storm chasing documentaries, and ordered various books and videos on the study of weather. My hubby and I share an appreciation for photography, and I even tried to use that to entice him into storm watching with me, but I still didn't have much luck... Until last summer... Last summer was a historic year for our state. Minnesota had more tornadoes than any other state last year! Finally, I realized I was taking the wrong approach with my husband... What is the one thing that my engineer-hubby can't resist? Numbers.  And even better--statistics of numbers.  Data.  Records and comparisons...you get the idea. So, I suggested that he use a patent award to invest in a weather station, and he liked the idea so much that he thinks he thought of it.  (shh...)  The device arrived in September: 

If you load Weather Underground for Oronoco, MN, you will see the current weather in our backyard, and you can view all the weather data since September.  Sweet.  Now he was starting to share my enthusiasm and our common interest grew. Tonight, we finally attended the Skywarn session, and he was eager to learn.  

It was a fairly large gathering of people at the Event Center in Rochester.  There were a lot of law enforcement professionals, firefighters, and even some local news media. 

It was a 2 hour presentation of severe weather information, and the second half had more specifics on storm spotting: 

He concluded the evening with a case study of the June 17 tornado outbreak in Southeast MN--the night we almost accidentally got our first tornado intercept driving through NW Rochester!  As best we could calculate, we were driving in the path of the tornado when it was on the ground--we had to have missed it by just minutes.  We had no clue...but thankfully, it didn't come as a surprise to our Heavenly Father and we were providentially protected.  Here is the tornado's path from that night: 

So, I consider tonight the beginning of a new adventure for Hubby and I.  I already have visions of spraying the old '97 Accord with Rhino Lining and plastering it with weather instruments and radio antennas and turning it into the Amundson portable weather station.  ;-)   But remember, I'm a visionary...   So, I'm just thankful that I finally got dear Hubby to go to a spotter training session.  :-) Now just bring on the thunderstorms... 

Winter's beauty...

 For all that winter is about 2 months too long in Minnesota... ...it is very beautiful... So, it doesn't hurt to take a minute to appreciate it once in awhile, because even the "sticks" of winter sing the praises of their Creator, and are a gift for us to enjoy. Here are a few pics from around our yard today: 

The sky was so dark today, and it contrasted so beautifully with the white of the snow and the brown/orange of the shrubs...

 Beth's little playhouse--waiting to welcome her on warmer days...  And finally:   

Our friend--the disc golf goal--patiently waiting for green grass and summer sunshine... Soon...  :-)

Favorite things...

  So, where was I while Mike and Elizabeth were out in the snow?    I was spending most of my time here:    ...in my favorite chair.  One of the nice things about getting snowed-in is that it gives me a good excuse to spend a lot of time next to this:  

making things like this:

I love sewing and crafting.  But I don't have as much time for it as I would like.  So, being stuck at home for a weekend created the perfect opportunity to situate myself in my favorite chair next to the fire with a needle in hand and explore embroidery.  Actually, besides 7th grade Home Ec. class, this is the first time I have ever hand embroidered anything.  This is a sweatshirt that was inspired from a quilt patch that I saw on Etsy.  While I was there, I got lots more ideas...and I think I'll be spending a lot more time in my favorite chair this winter with needle in hand.  :-)

But I won't be there tonight...because I have a hot DATE!  You might hear more about that later....

 

bLiZzArD!!!

 We were snowed-in for most of last weekend by a bLiZzArD! It's not all that often that we get a real, old-fashioned blizzard in Oronoco.  But this one was for real.  We got 20 or so inches of snow which turned into 4 foot drifts when the winds picked up on Saturday evening.  For the most part, I enjoy being snowed in.  There's something especially comforting about sitting next to a warm fireplace in my favorite chair when the wind is blasting snow against the windows.  Then again, the 7 miles to Rochester is never longer than when the snow plows are pulled off of the roads!  At one point on Saturday evening, Elizabeth tied her ankles together and was going to attempt to hop down the stairs (brilliant idea, don't you think?).  I told her to save that idea for later because there was no way to get to urgent care that night for stitches! Needless to say, Mike spent a lot of time over the weekend with this old friend:  

In the 10 years that we have lived in our house, Mike has stubbornly insisted that he will clear our driveway with a shovel--and NOT a snowblower.  Besides 2 occasions where a neighbor has taken pity on him and cleared out the end of our driveway for us, I believe Mike has kept his resolve.  Until...the...blizzard of December 2010.  Mike got the bright idea that he would clear the driveway on Saturday ahead of the winds--thinking that maybe it would reduce the amount of shoveling he would have to do on Sunday.  Well...okay, maybe not.  On Sunday morning, the driveway was completely drifted.  It took him 45 minutes just to clear the mountain of snow where the plow went by.  Defeated, there was a knock at the door...wondering if I could call my dad and have him deliver a snowblower.  Thankfully, Dad lives right down the street and loves to help, and he is always willing to borrow us equipment.  He has been sitting by the phone wishing Mike would borrow a snowblower for 10 years!  He was thrilled to bring it up...and a 3 hour job turned into 15 minutes.  And Mike was a very happy boy. 

So...we shall see if his relationship with a shovel lasts another 10 years??

This year's heavy snowfall has given a head start to another Amundson family tradition:

The Snowhill

Our yard doesn't have any large hills, so it needs a little help from Daddy's friend the shovel.  Every year, Mike creates a large mound of snow in the front yard for sledding.

Here, Daddy and Beth are breaking in the hill.  It always takes awhile for the snow to pack down and get slick enough for a fast ride.  Last year's conditions were amazing!  We had freezing rain which made the hill so slick that Beth flew all the way from our yard, about 75 feet to the outlot space, and another 150 feet or more all the way to the west ditch.  She had to bail out before she went up in the street!  Each year is different, but this year has given us lots of snow so there should be good sledding ahead.  :-) 

Here's Daddy and his girl dominating the snowhill.  It's a nice picture, isn't it?  But you know what's gonna happen, don't you? 

He's thinkin' it...

Yep.  Splat.  She was not impressed.  ;-) Daddy explained that it was important to pack the snow so that the hill would be sturdy and slick for sledding.  So, Beth Marie got to work packing snow...  

Blizzards are fun.  :-)