Samain Closing Moon
This just posted on the NYT:
“The Philae has landed.
The European Space Agency’s ambitious attempt to place a spacecraft on the surface of a comet succeeded when a signal arrived at the mission control center at Darmstadt, Germany, just after 5 p.m . local time (11 a.m. Eastern time).
Cheers erupted.
“We’re there and Philae is talking to us,” said Stephan Ulamec, the manager for the lander. “We are on the comet.””
Samain Closing Moon
Tomorrow night Cafe Zentral with Tom and Roxanne. Next Monday with the class of 2005 at Allison’s. Thanksgiving at the Capital Grille with Anne. Then, the Nicollet Island Inn on December 15th. It’s both the holiseason and a time of farewell. I’m looking forward to all these times.
Our goal is to have all of the packing that we’re going to do done by Thanksgiving and that feels realistic to me, in spite of my last post. I’ve had a nap.
We have that in the cave with a roaring fire and a hunk of early bison roasting feeling. You know, animal skins snug around us, plenty of meat and berries in the pantry, a wintry landscape outside. No raiding the local grocery stores necessary for a reasonable time. A pleasure of humankind for the last fifty to a hundred thousand years.
Come to think of it, I guess that’s why meals together bring such warmth. That kind of conviviality goes way, way back.
Samain Closing Moon
Back to packing this morning, but the heart’s not in it. It’s not a reluctance to move on, not at all. Rather, it’s a weariness, evident today. Push, push, push. Out to Colorado, home, out to Colorado. Home. Now confused about location of home. The task seems impossible, even though I know it isn’t. We’re 85% packed and the movers will do at least half of the remaining packing. Just. Tired. Of it.
Not surprised I feel this way. And, I’m ok with it. I just hope it doesn’t last. Gonna be tough to move us if we’re not ready.
Samain Closing Moon
A few shots from my recent trip to Colorado. Not sure what happened to the one of the three mule deer bucks looking at me in our new backyard. They let me get very close.
Samain Closing Moon
10″ for sure. Maybe 12-14. A lot for a first snow. Ushering in a week of cold weather. Minnesota. Ah.
Yesterday when I visited the eye doc a couple a bit older than myself came in. They both had on black sports jackets, the same, with MSRA on the front. I didn’t think much about it until they went to the receptionist to check in and I saw MSRA on the back with the acronym spelled out: Minnesota Street Rod Association. Not what I expected.
Which brings up a regular occurrence. Trying to imagine what an older person was like during the 60’s. I know from looking at myself in the mirror that you can’t tell from a persons post medicare card appearance where they stood in those days. Even the gray pony-tail crowd is as likely to be composed of veterans as ex-hippies and draft protesters.
Not many of us wear our enthusiasms so clearly as the hot-rodders gathered with me for our glaucoma check.
Samain Closing Moon
A snow quiet afternoon. A pause, an interlude between stronger bursts, then the second helping, a large white scoop to fill out the rest of the dish. Yesterday it was fall. Today, it’s January. Whiplash.
We worked hard over the last month or so at outside tasks emptying the sheds, harvesting, then fertilizing and mulching the vegetables, the same around the base of the fruit trees, cutting back the perennials, having a contractor prune and mulch, scrape away the dog’s many holes. We put up fence to protect the scraped over areas to prevent new holes until a snow. I repaired a hole dug near the firepit. We moved bee woodenware and other accessories into the garage. I removed the angel weathervane from the honey house and the Davis weather station from its post in the east section of prairie grass.
This is not so much a downsizing, though there is that element to our move, as it is a 
compression, a reducing of the outside work load. Our interior space will be smaller, somewhat, but very differently organized. I’ll be up in the air overlooking Black Mountain while Kate will sew and quilt in a former two bay garage. Our reading area will be our reading chairs facing a wood fireplace while the tv will be downstairs, outside our bedroom. The laundry room is down there, too, all just five steps from the main level.
Kate’s space is behind the double windows on the right of the house and mine is above the garage to the far right.
Samain Closing Moon
And the award for first roads driven while snowing goes to… Minnesota! Colorado, at least Conifer, is still blessedly shy of snow which means the fence posts will get in. It won’t last. Conifer gets 90″ of snow compared to Andover’s 45. More snow falls there, but the sun, closer by 8,800 feet, also melts the snow faster and the colds don’t get as intense, at least on south facing surfaces like our driveway. The result is more snow, but less snow cover.
The roads on my way to the eye doc this morning were icy, but plowed. Folks drove sensibly for the most part though there were the occasional frozen minds talking on the phone or even texting. A few also followed too closely for dry pavement. The laws of physics will not be repealed, no matter how confident a driver you are.
Not bad for the first storm, really.
At the front desk, on the way out, I signed a release for my medical records so they can be transferred electronically to the next ophthalmologist The same will happen when I visit Dr. Massie in a couple of weeks. This is much more convenient and better for me as a patient, too. Thank you, difference engine.
Samain Closing Moon
For the first time in several years, I no longer have a weather station outside reporting on the weather. I brought it in Saturday to get ready for our move. Its control panel sits over my computer and I look at it several times a day to check its data. After I brought it in, I thought, well, no more information from the weather station. It surprised me then, yesterday, when I glanced up at it, out of habit, and saw 64 degrees, 47% humidity. Oh, it was sending me the temperature and humidity in our kitchen, where it now sits on the table.
The weather station’s next assignment will find it reporting from Shadow Mountain.
Samain Closing Moon
We’ve seen storms over-hyped before, but this one feels pretty solid. Take this assessment from Paul Huttner, author of MPR’s Updraft blog: “It’s tempting to wiggle and obfuscate in winter snows, but I’m paid to make a call. Right now 8″ to 16″ is my forecast snowfall range for the metro, with heaviest totals favoring the north metro.”
And here’s the Winter Storm Warning from NOAA:
“A POTENT STORM SYSTEM WILL BRING SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL TO MUCH OF
CENTRAL MINNESOTA AND WEST CENTRAL WISCONSIN. OVER 6 INCHES OF
SNOW WILL FALL ALONG AND NORTH OF A LINE FROM CANBY TO GLENCOE TO
HASTINGS IN MN…INCLUDING THE TWIN CITIES METRO…THROUGH EAU
CLAIRE WI. THE HEAVIEST SNOW WILL FALL ALONG A LINE FROM MADISON
TO LITCHFIELD TO ANOKA IN MN THROUGH RICE LAKE WI…WHERE 12 TO 18
INCHES ARE POSSIBLE…ESPECIALLY IN WESTERN WI.” (emphasis mine)
And, finally, the National Weather Service graphic:
Samain Closing Moon
Even though we’re moving to the mountains, to ski country, the winters will not be as harsh as ours. Here’s early season proof.
