THE WEISS CHRONICLES

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Mouse in the House

A few days ago our cat Trina (aka, Katrina) was meowing loudly wanting to go in the basement. She kept it up for an hour and eventually Ann let her go down there.

A bit later she came up.

A few days later I was doing some laundry and found a dead mouse in a pile of wet exercise clothes.

I think the mouse may have hid from the cat in the exercise clothes and smothered itself.

Anyway, the mouse went in the trash, the clothes went in the wash and everything is well. I used the cartoon above because this happened near valentine day and cats are known for bringing dead mice to their people as a type of rent payment.

posted by Martin Weiss # 3:00 PM

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Another Disturbing Dream

Last night I dreamt I was walking in a big city. I was going to a meeting. I knew I was going to be late and tried to use my cell phone but it didn't work. I stopped a car and told the driver to let me drive and he would go to the meeting with me. Then I went through a red light (because I was trying to get to the meeting quickly) and hit an elderly woman pedestrian. Then I drove away from the crime scene and a policeman saw me do this and pulled me over. Then I woke up.

posted by Martin Weiss # 7:25 PM

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Snoverkill

This time the winds were so bad during the snow today that the plows were ordered off the roads for their own safety.

On the other hand since all the weak tree branches came down in the previous storm, there were relatively few new power outages.

Almost every weather recording station has broken monthly and seasonal records for snowfall.

The snow depth is about 30" at our house, about 35" at BWI and IAD and about 25" at DCA.

The map is similar to the one after Snowmaggedon but there is even more snow in the mid atlantic (and also some in Texas).

I put another snow cover map, this one taken on the evening of Feb 12. This one shows snow cover in at some of all 48 contiguous states - so this February snow problem wasn't just in our area.

Here is a extended quote from Wunderground:

"... As of midnight last night, here were the snowfall numbers so far for the 2009 - 2010 winter, and the records they have broken:

Baltimore, MD, 79.9". Old record: 62.5", winter of 1995 - 1996.
Washington D.C. National Airport, 55.9". Old record: 54.4", winter of 1898 - 1899.
Washington Dulles Airport, VA, 75.0". Old record: 61.9", winter of 1995 - 1996.
Wilmington, DE, 66.7". Old record: 55.9", winter of 1995 - 1996.
Philadelphia, PA, 71.6". Old record: 65.5", winter of 1995 - 1996.
Atlantic City, NJ, 49.9". Current record: 46.9", winter of 1966 - 1967...."

The Wash DC 1898-1899 record was before National Airport was built and the station was near DuPont Circle which is about 8 miles N and about 200' higher and much further from the river than the DCA site.

posted by Martin Weiss # 4:29 PM

Saturday, February 06, 2010

Snowmargeddon

I paid a gang of shovelors $80 to clear the driveway and sidewalk tonight (they were actually the employees of a company that does home repair out for some extra cash and some marketing).

It seems to be somewhere about two feet or so.

IAD (Dulles) airport got about 32"+
BWI go about 27"
DCA got about 18"

The map shows the blob of snow cover over the midatlantic and nearby area.

We lost power from about 1 am to about 7 am today (with some power available about 330 am to 345 am.

The two right images are of the White House and a close up of the west wing of the White House.

Images are from yahoo

posted by Martin Weiss # 6:45 PM

Friday, February 05, 2010

Rushing the News

Today (Feb 5) we received part of the Sunday (Feb 7) newspaper, namely, the comics, the advertising, the WaPo Magazine.

This was undoubtedly done because tomorrow and Sunday we are facing, what some are calling, "Snowmaggedon" (we had our Snowapocalypse Dec 18-19, 2009 about a 18" snowstorm which was relatively low in water content).

Snowmaggedon is currently forecast to be 20" to 30" and to have a high water content.

posted by Martin Weiss # 2:15 PM

Thursday, February 04, 2010

Long Lines At the Supermarket

I went to the supermarket to get 'just a few items' today.

The lines were long, really, really long.

That is because a snowstorm is predicted for tomorrow. Not just a snowstorm either, a big 16"-30" monster.

I started by getting some zuccini and parked my basket near the canned food. Somebody took my basket and I got another and started over. I met the person later, she was a NIH security person.

She apologized.
I said, "well, every basket pretty much looks like every other basket".
She said that people shouldn't get so much food before the storm (she had less than I did).
I said, "true, but its the way people react to impending storms."
She said, "well they should pray to God instead."
I said, "but isn't God the one who is responsible for the snowstorm?"
She said, "no. God is about love."

So there. I saw her car in the parking lot. It had three religious themed bumper stickers.

posted by Martin Weiss # 5:34 PM