Tag: Weather

Weather and Wedding

The reason we’ve traveled up to Bar Harbor, ME is to go to a wedding. The wedding is late this afternoon. Right now it’s 8:40am and I’ve been up for three hours. Jen and Bellana are still asleep. I showered, had my morning vitamins, had my breakfast protein bars, and have watched a couple of Doctor Who episodes (new series, season eight, episodes nine and 10, and 11 is running as I type this).

We’re more or less shit out of luck for touristy things today. It’s raining out. Lots of rain. Serious rain. No Acadia National Park sight seeing today. No wandering around downtown today. I’m not sure what we’re going to do, apart from getting ready for the wedding and all that fun. It’s going to be a good time tonight, but until then it might be a little on the extra low-key side.

weather be damned, it’s going to be a good day.

4:15AM

Good morning sunshine.

It’s quarter past four in the morning. I am up and at ’em. My cameras are packed in a backpack (I don’t have an actual camera bag big enough to fit three camera), the cats’ food bowl has been topped off, I have a full water bottle and a protein bar in a lunch bag, I am finishing off my morning vitamins as I type this, I’ve checked the weather forecast for both Hampton Beach and Salisbury Beach and it’s the same partly sunny for both.

I guess the only thing left to do is decide which beach to drive to and hope the horizon is clear there. Fingers crossed. Also, where do I want to stop for more pictures on the way home? I’m thinking of the Plumb Island lighthouse again. It’s not very impressive as a lighthouse or as a lighthouse setting, but it is a lighthouse and there are some interesting places to stop on the way there and back.

Okay then… I am making the call. We’re going to Salisbury Beach. Time to load up the car and head out. Wish me sunrise luck!

Ocean Visit Tomorrow

The sunrise at Salisbury Beach will be at 5:27 AM tomorrow. Same with Hampton Beach. The forecast is calling for partly cloudy conditions at both locations. Given the horrid luck I have had with sunrise conditions on days when I don’t have to go to work, I think this is good enough to take a shot.

The battery on my Z5 is charged. There is film in both the K1000 and the FG-20 and I have all three cameras and a couple of extra rolls of film in a backpack all ready to go. My broken tripod is packed up too. Google maps says the drive to Hampton Beach takes 34 minutes without traffic. That means, if I want to be on the beach before the sun comes up with enough time to get everything ready, I need to be on the road by 4:45, which means I need to be out of bed by 4:15 or so.

Holy shit that’s early. I am planning on trying this, but there is a better than even chance that I will sleep right through it and then be mad at myself for the rest of the summer.

We’ll see how it goes.

The Land of Never Ending Rain

I wanted to cook a hamburger on the grill for lunch today. When I went upstairs to start prepping it started to rain. Figures. No cookout for me. I thought to myself, maybe I’ll cook dinner on the grill instead.

After I punched out of work I went upstairs to start prepping for dinner. The sky was almost pitch dark. Within minutes we were in the middle of a major thunderstorm. The sky opened and the rain fell in sheets. The lightning was close by and nearly constant. The thunder shook the entire house. No cookout for me.

Friggin’ rain. Mother nature is a complete jerk.

Rained Out

I had two plans for my lunch break today. Jen and I were going to go for a short walk. Just to the end of the street and back. Then I was going to cook a hamburger on the grill again. I was hoping to break for lunch around 1:00pm.

At noon I went upstairs for a minute. I had opened all of the windows in the house this morning and it should have been glorious up there but it wasn’t quite. It was really humid and the sky outside was almost completely dark. Like post-sunset dark.

In other words… there was clearly a thunderstorm brewing. I closed the windows. Just in time. Five minutes later the sky fell. Massive, crazy downpour. My lunch plans were completely rained out and I am quite sad about it.

Tonight after work I have to go to the Apple store. I checked the weather. The thunderstorm and the rain ended by about 2:00, I think. The forecast is telling me that there’s a chance for a second round of thunderstorms… right about the time that I get off from work and have to go outside.

Son of a…!

Random Thoughts on a Random Friday Morning

It’s Friday morning again, thank goodness. 8.5 hours of work day left until the weekend. My team at work is at half strength today (and Monday too) so I am a little nervous about what might happen today. I’m sure we won’t get slammed with urgent, critical issues or anything. It’s going to be a nice quiet day (he said while knocking on wood and crossing his fingers and all of that kind of stuff he doesn’t even remotely believe in).

I’ve been having a bit of a physical issue when I wake up in the morning. It’s happened at least four times now, including yesterday and today, and I am not sure what to make of it. When I wake up and get out of bed, the base of my left thumb is ever so slightly numb. It lasts for a good chunk of the morning. By lunch time or so it’s passed. It’s not a problem. It doesn’t limit me at all. It’s just there and I am not sure what it could mean, or what could be causing it. I don’t think I sleep on my hand in any funny way or anything. I’m sure it is nothing, but maybe I’ll try to see what position my left hand is in every time I wake up. Maybe there’s a pattern.

Speaking of annoying little health things, my right ear was completely blocked up when I woke up today. I slept on my right side for most of the night last night so that’s probably why. It was partially cleared within a few minutes of getting up and walking around, but it’s not 100% open yet and it’s been three hours. Maybe it’s time to invest in some ear wax softening stuff. Uh, I hate having blocked up ears.

What other random thoughts can I spew out at the universe today? Hamburgers. Yeah, that burger I had for lunch yesterday was so good. It was like a lunch time treat or something. If the weather is okay today I might do it again.

Speaking of weather, we rented a dumpster to help me clean up about a year and a half’s worth of junk that has accumulated in the cellar (mostly) and in the kids’ rooms. It is being delivered today and picked up on Monday morning. We chose this weekend because the weather forecast wasn’t bad. Now though, the forecast is showing thunderstorms over the weekend. I just checked the AccuWeather site and it says to expect storms in the afternoon both Saturday and Sunday. I guess that means I should plan on morning cleaning and afternoon music then? Something like that at least. Our dumpster delivery window opened over three hours ago and still no word. How long before I start stressing about the possibility of them not coming today?

I just got a spam email from Nextdoor on my work email account. Insert a hearty sigh of frustration here.

Okay, I am punched into work now. My exercise is done for the day (no running, just yogging) and breakfast is done and everything is set for a good start to Friday. Except music. I didn’t do any pre-work music today. Maybe after work I’ll sneak a little in. It’s time to start the day. I’ve got some stuff to get through today. Wish me luck.

Two Hours to Go

The weekend is about two hours away. 123 minutes, to be exact. I’m finding motivation a little tough to come by this afternoon but I will get everything that needs to be done today done today as far as work goes.

Jen is planning on spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. How good does that sound, right? I will go grocery shopping afterward. I’m a little behind on my protein intake for today so I may need to eat something substantial after I get home. I am ahead of the game on hydration though. My post-lunch one hour pause before having anything to drink will end in about three minutes and I’ve got a 20 ounce bottle of Gatorade Zero upstairs in the fridge with my name on it. After that my daily liquid intake goal will be obliterated nicely.

I put out four mouse traps in the cellar. The cats don’t come down here so it should be okay. Let me rephrase, the cats are not allowed down cellar. They very much want to come down here, I just don’t let them. One trap went off but I think that was due to a ghost, or an Earthquake or something. No mice were involved. I did see one running past the base of the stairs. I was upstairs and opened the door to come down and there it was. Asshole. Was it the same mouse I saw earlier? How the hell should I know, it was a mouse. I wasn’t checking for identifying details. Sheesh.

Reminder to myself: Write lyrics tonight. Record vocals in some random empty parking lot tomorrow morning. Maybe take the cameras to the ocean for sunrise on Sunday. The forecast at Salisbury Beach looks promising. We’ll see. Sunrise would be great, but music is what’s important. I also need to clean the kitchen and do a little work straightening out the kids rooms this weekend. That’s important too, but a different kind of important, you know? Health and well being and happiness vs musical mental health. Simple. Speaking of, when’s the next band practice?

Okay, Robert. Go get that Gatorade Zero and finish your work projects. You’ve got this, red head. No problem. 110 minutes until the weekend.

Post script: There was just a blast of thunder outside that was loud enough to shake the walls a little. It didn’t set off any of the mouse traps though. That’s good.

How’s the Weather?

Checking on the weather forecast at Salisbury Beach tomorrow.

Sunrise is at 5:22am. The sky is going to be clear at that time and the expected temp will be in the high 40’s.

Yeah, tomorrow sounds like a sunrise at the beach day. My Nikon Z5 is charged and ready. Dad’s Pentax K1000 has about half a roll of film in it, and I want to finish it before Bellana’s graduation next week. My Nikon FG-20 has a fresh roll too.

If I go, and as of right now I would very much like to go, I’ll bring all three cameras and see what happens. The focus will be the Z5. No tripod and no long exposures, because I don’t have an ND filter that fits the Z5’s 40mm prime lens, or technically any of my current lenses.

Yeah. Let’s do this.

Notes

Sunrise at Salisbury Beach tomorrow is at 6:14 AM.

The temperature around sunrise will be 29-30 degrees. Brrr.

The sky is forecast to be mostly clear.

Are those conditions good enough to go take some sunrise pictures? The time and the sky look good. 29-30 degrees is a little off putting, but if I wear a warm jacket and take gloves with me… it’s doable.

I remain undecided though. We’ll see.

If I go I will take my Z5 and the 40mm lens, and Dad’s K1000 with the 50mm lens. I would bring a second roll of film in case I get into it and crank out the last 20 shots in the current roll and still want to shoot more. The current roll is color (Fuji Superia 400 at box speed) and a potential second roll would be black and white (Kentmere 100? Or should I try a roll of 400 instead?).

In the immortal words of Commander Data in The Best of Both Worlds Part II, “processing… processing…”.

Another Long Day

Another long day filled with a gaggle of long, frustrating meetings and problems. 18 minutes until the weekend. I think we’re in a position right now where we will be able to call it a day at quittin’ time, but I’m not going to count my chickens until they hatch.

What’s in the queue for the weekend? Not sunrise at the ocean pictures because the weather forecast is crappy. Tonight we’ll have our third Hello Fresh meal. The first two were excellent and I expect good things from the turkey meal we have lined up for tonight.

I have to mix a song. It’s the last day of the month so I need to finish off the second of two songs I worked on this month before midnight so that I can complete my personal write and record a single challenge. The first song was done a couple of nights ago. The second song isn’t as good, and the performance is worse, but it’s still worth finishing. Tomorrow is April 1st so the Record Every Month challenge resets and I can start working on something new. I’m thinking about using the tremolo built into my amplifier this time. I never use it… so maybe I should.

Jen has a project in her office that we’re going to work on. She wants to change a bunch of things on her desk. We haven’t done that in a while so it will be fun to mix it up. I am thinking of changing things up on my desk too, but I think I want to wait a month until the window replacement project is complete. I don’t know why but that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

My exercise and calorie (move) goals are done for today. My liquid intake goal is also done. I have a few more hours before my stand goal is done, and almost half of my protein goal is still outstanding. I’m behind on that one, by quite a bit. I’ll hit it though.

Okay, time to sign off. I still have nine minutes left in the work week. The weekend is so close… so very, very close. I’m ready for it.