Sometimes fair, but fickle weather

Woke up and did the usual before-work routine only to realize that my work had a 2-hour delay due to the weather. I was perplexed, hearing vehicles zip down the road, seemingly unencumbered by any hazardous ice. But I wasn't going to complain. It wasn't until I took Silas out that I realized the sidewalks were slightly icy and the droplets of water on my windshield were not droplets of water, but droplets of ice.

Tuesdays are my long days of work; I typically work from 8 am to about 10 pm with a small break between. At work, I am always glancing out the window at the sky and it was a pleasant surprise to see the sun's light finally sift its way through the clouds. Brian was at work in State College, a little over 30 miles north from me, and alerted me that some of PA would experience storms throughout the day. This excited me--however, I do want snow. When I told him that the sun was shining, he became excited as well, because you see, sunlight on a warm or mild, sunny day allows for the moisture we had from all the ice/rain to evaporate more quickly, which can fuel precipitation (basic science, I know). This creates the perfect equation for a storm. It happens in the summer all the time.

So, work happened and I went home and immediately hung up my bird feeders on my patio, about 12 feet from the ground. Months ago, several trees were cut down in our yard (I didn't want this, but it was kind out of my hands) but the man who cut down the giant pine tree never cleaned up the remains. So, now the yard is an eye sore to most but I secretly like it because it can become a possible habitat for some creatures (desired or not desired). But at the same time, there is no longer a canopy for which birds to make homes in the summer. Or maybe I'm wrong! Typically when birds feed from feeders, they take as much as they can in their beaks and quickly flitter off to nearby coverage to feast on it and then flitter back to the feeder again. This can be for various reasons--predatory birds may be nearby, birds may be embarking on other birds' territories, etc. So, I no longer have trees for my song birds to flit away to for coverage, but I do have my eye sore of dead pine tree. So, we'll see what happens!

I went to my next job and when I'm there, there isn't much view of the weather and the place is pretty much sound-proof to whatever weather may be occurring on the outside. But lucky me (I'm lucky because my boyfriend's a meteorologist who can tell me what's heading my way), I heard a low rumble. I hurried to a doorway only to realize it was thunder! And rain.

I eventually headed home and Brian had texted me that it was HAILING. I didn't experience or see any of this hail on my way home. When I got home, I sat on my patio and watched the rain come in waves in the street lights. The wind gusted and the cold front was coming. Today was a mild day that I would typically take advantage of if I didn't have to work for so long. Tomorrow will be a different story weather-wise with this storm bringing a cold front in. But it's winter, so I'm ready.

Today, I began reading Karl Ove Knausgaard's book "Winter". I found this book when I was in Harrisburg last month at the Mid-Town Scholar Book Store. So far, so good. I also started writing a short story that most people might not like, but that's just too bad.

I'm looking forward to falling asleep to the howling wind tonight.