Snow--again.

We had a very light 3-5 inch snowfall here at the Aerie from very early Friday morning until after sundown Friday evening. So light and thin was the snow in most of the driveway that I could not use my snow thrower to remove it. That means I had to clear the drive the old fashioned way, with a shove.

It took me the better part of two hours to get the task done even with Terry’s help in clearing the area around the front door and the two vehicles parked outside. I was pleased to see that the stuff the plow left at the end of the driveway was almost as fluffy as the stuff that drifted up on the drive itself. At least I didn’t have to chip and hack away at it until I came up with blocks that could be used to build igloos as I have had to do in previous snows.

I’ve lost track of just how many of these little, piss-ant snows we’ve had this winter, but I know there have been quite a few. I can only recall one snowfall of more than six inches. I’d much rather have a foot or more and then nothing than this near semi-weekly 3-4 inch snow. At least with the deeper snow, I can make effective use of the snow thrower. When we get only a few inches on the gravel driveway it hardly pays to get the thrower out. To clear the stones that stick up in the drive, I’ve got to have the skids set up on the thrower to allow maximum clearance—which is about an inch—even then, I’m hurling stones through the machine.

Oh well, everything looks lovely for the next few days. Then we’ll probably get some rain to melt it all away into mud. That will be followed by yet another snow “storm” that will drop a few inches.

Damn, I wish Spring would get here!

(Almost forgot. Mark says there's been 16 inches and more of snow at the Bolt Hole since I left on Tuesday.)

But the RU Gals are doing great!

The RU women are a completely different story. This afternoon they defeated Providence 62-43 on the road. The victory was the 799th in Coach Vivian Stringer’s career. One more and she will become only the third women’s basketball coach to register 800 wins. (Tennessee's Pat Summit and former Texas coach Jody Conradt are the others.)

(The full story and box score are here.)

Overall, the women are 22-4 and 11-1 in the Big East. They are currently ranked No. 4/5 in the Coaches and AP polls. They have three regular season games remaining before the start of the Big East Championships. First up is DePaul on Wednesday night at the RAC. Then it’s Syracuse, also at the RAC on Saturday afternoon. Then there’s a big one on the road against current AP No. 1 Connecticut on Monday, March 3rd. That’s when the Madness begins in earnest.

Hoo-boy! It's been a bad year

You may have noticed a decided lack in reporting on the Rutgers’ Men’s Basketball season. There’s a good reason for that: it’s been quite painful. At one point in the season, the Rutgers’ Men’s Basketball team was 8-5; then they started Big East play. In 2008, the Scarlet Knights have managed just 2 victories (Villanova and Pittsburgh) while dropping 13. Several of the losses were in close contests, but far too many were in blowouts like the one against Marquette this afternoon. Playing in Milwaukee, Rutgers shot over 50% from the floor in the first half and still trailed 35-29 at intermission. They managed just three (3) field goals in the entire second half. The final score: 78-48.

(The full story and box score are here.)

Youth and inexperience have plagued the Scarlet Knights all season. Luckily, they have just three games remaining i a season they would rather forget. Being at the bottom of the Big East they are not going to have any sort of extended season. Let’s hope that everyone on the squad learns something from this season.

Wow!

The clouds were swept from the sky just after sunset last evening and as a result the view of the Lunar Eclipse was grand!

We attended a meeting of the Tiadaghton Audubon Society last night in Wellsboro and got out just as the lower left corner of the Moon began to disappear into the penumbra. By the time we got home nearly half the Moon's disk was darkened. Shortly after 10 PM totality was achieved and I tried to take some pictures with my point-and-shoot digital. (No luck with the pix. Not enough magnification even with full digital zoom.)

The rusty red of the Moon lasted longer than we did. Old fuddy-duddy's that we are, we turned in at 10:30 only to be awakened by a super bright white Moon shining through the window around 3 AM.

The Moon was still shinning brightly when I got up at 6 AM to feed the cats and start the day.

Great eclipse!

Sigh!

It looks like Mother Nature is not going to cooperate with the Lunar Eclipse this evening. I've been watching the cloud cover get progressively thicker and thicker all afternoon. Currently it covers 100% of the sky and is thick enough to hide even the sun's disk. Unless there's some quick changes, it looks like I'll have to wait until 2010 to see the next one.

Meanwhile, because of the cloud cover, the temperature never got above 22 degrees F and there is a forecast of anywhere from 3-6 inches or 6-10 inches (we're right on the border between the two) of snow from Thursday evening through Friday. Damn! But this is getting repetitive and boring!

April 13, 1968

It was spring semester of my freshman year at Rutgers University. Easter weekend rolled around and everybody on my dormitory floor headed home except for me and one other fella. I don’t recall why we were still there but Saturday night’s entertainment proved as good as any party. A total eclipse of the moon (also called an Umbral Eclipse) occurred Saturday night and we had ringside seats. We sat in the lounge of our dorm before a huge sheet of window glass that faced southeast and watched as the full moon rose in the clear sky and then slid into the shadow of the earth.

Armed with a pair of binoculars and a spotting scope we could see each feature of the moon darken as the shadow of the earth was cast upon the surface. (The binoculars proved better for viewing since the moon was in constant motion and the scope required constant adjustment to keep it in the field of view. With the binocs you could more easily adjust.) First the penumbra, the partial shadow of the earth, and then the umbra, the total shadow, glided across the surface. The moon went from being bright white to being a rusty red.

It took over an hour, but once the moon was red we got the munchies and headed out to one of the ubiquitous grease trucks parked over by the old gym for refreshment. Walking beneath the reddish light cast by the shrouded moon was eerie.

After making our purchase, we walked back to the dorm as the moon began o emerge from the shadows. First out of the umbra and then out of the penumbra.

From beginning to end took over three hours and everything was visible that night. The clear, cloudless skies that night were perfect for viewing the eclipse. In the years since, I’ve never been at the right time or place, nor had the cooperation of Mother Nature I experienced that evening forty years ago. (Jeez! Has it been that long?)

I’m hoping for another chance this tonight, but the clouds may obscure all or part of the show.


Lunar Eclipse Types (and Dates)


February 20, 2008 Lunar Eclipse

A Leap Year Red Moon Lunar Eclipse Tonight

Back to the Aerie

I left the Bolt Hole yesterday around noon and drove back to the Aerie amidst several snow squalls that marked the edge of a massive cold air mass sweeping in from the west.


After a crystal clear night during which a near full moon shone brightly, we have a low temperature this morning of just 7.5 degrees F at 7 AM. Checking the weather underground station nearest the Bolt Hole, it was about two or three degrees colder at the cabin.

Tonight's total eclipse of the moon should be a spectacular sight if the clouds permit. The current forecast is for patchy clouds with a 20% chance of some snow flurries between 9 PM and 3 AM.

If you've never taken the time to watch a Lunar eclipse, do so. It's a long drawn out affair as the Moon passes into the shadow cast by the Earth and then emerges again. because of the bending of the Sun's rays as they pass around the Earth, the Moon will never go totally dark but it will change color becoming quite red. (Red light, having longer wave lengths, is bent more as it passes through the Earth's atmosphere.) The view is well worth the time.

The shape of the Earth's shadow cast upon the Moon is one of the pieces of evidence that allowed early man to realize that we live on a sphere--something that was well known before Columbus ever set sail, despite what some "history books" try and tell us.

Bolt Hole Weather, Feb. 18

Remember that snow on the trees in the pictures I posted yesterday? Fuhgit aboud it.

It rained all afternoon and through the night. It's still raining now. It also warmed considerably thanks to the south winds. Yesterday it was 0 degrees at 7 AM today it was 40 degrees.

Snow on the barn roof is gone. Most of the snow on the cabin roof and the garage roof is gone. Water is pouring off both like there was a hidden spring somewhere near the peak.

The grass is even peeking through where I used the snow thrower although the layer of ice that formed the base is stubborn in some areas.

As long as this wind stays out of the south and the rain continues there will be melting. That's good for me up here on the hill but not so good for the folks along the creeks and rivers. Ice dams and flooding are sure to occur.

Winter wonderland...

...at least for a little while.

Here’s a peek at what I found when I travelled to the Bolt Hole. There’s 2-3 feet of snow on the ground with the higher amounts in the shaded woods. In the lawn area it’s been compacted by the sun and rains of the last week or so and as a result there’s two feet of dense snow with just the top six inches of powder. That’s likely to change this afternoon as the winds out of the south will bring warmer temperatures and significant rains that will cause more compaction. There are warnings up for potential flooding due to the combination rain and melt water.
Here’s the Bolt Hole after I’ve cleared the snow from the “driveway” and backed the Tundra up to the door.

The firs at the entrance to the yard look pretty with their pointy shape and coating of snow.

Even the normally ugly and totally worthless (unless you’re a red squirrel who eats pine cones) “scotch” pines look better with a coating of snow. Although, they do tend to suffer broken branches more than the firs, white pines and even the blue spruces I’ve got surrounding the yard.


I’ve managed to shovel the snow and ice off the woodshed attached to the north side of the cabin, but upon advice from Mark, left the snow on the garage. With the rains and warm temperatures predicted for this week that snow may go slip sliding away on its own.

I’d strap on the snowshoes and go for a walk, but the rain is supposed to start any time now and I’d rather stay inside where I can stay dry. It’ll be an afternoon for a book and a warm, dry seat beside the wood burner.

Bolt Hole Weather

It was 0 degrees on the thermometer under a crystal clear sky when I went to bed at 10 PM last night. I was ready to say the thing was busted until I checked the nearest weather underground station (it's about 10 miles west of the Bolt Hole and at a lower elevation) and they recorded about 5 degrees at midnight. i usually record about 5 degrees lower than they do so apparently it did get down to 0 degrees F.

Today it's supposed to get up into the 30s with rain showers this afternoon and evening. I better get the snow off the roofs before it becomes sodden and heavier than lead.

But first I need another cup of coffee.

Just asking...

So, I'm at the Bolt Hole where I'm using dial-up service. Since I have only one phone line, the computer is disconnected when I'm not actually online and the phone is plugged back into the jack in the wall.

Last night I checked for messages around 9 PM and then unplugged the computer when I was through.

This morning, when I woke the computer from it's slumber I got a message saying Windows had installed new software updates during the night and when I clicked for information, sure enough, the date stamp on the installation was after midnight as it bears today's date.

I'm running Vista on a Toshiba Satellite. What I want to know is how the hell it was able to download and install the updates while the computer had no access to the internet?

Forget FISA, put Microsoft in charge of tracking terrorists. Apparently they can do miracles. (Oh, wait, Bill Gates would then be the first to see all this information...Forget about it. Reminds me of the portrayal of Ma Bell in Our Man Flint.)