How is the weather?

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Seems to be on the light and fluffy side.

Oh good! 

PD

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Boy, did the temps ever drop last night!  I haven't heard yet as to how low it dropped, but it was 34F when I arose this morning.  Brr!  They had been issuing frost advisories throughout the day yesterday.

I had intended to cover one of my plants last night, but forgot about it after dinner.  For the moment, it doesn't look any worse for the wear; however, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see some leaves drop off it over the next day or two.

PD

[drogulus]

    It's bunny weather. They're chasing each other around the yards. Since the Cowcat disappeared (presumed dead) they think they can get away with anything.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

It's bunny weather. They're chasing each other around the yards. Since the Cowcat disappeared (presumed dead) they think they can get away with anything.

Cowcat disappeared?!  Oh, no!  I'm so sorry to hear that! 

PD

[drogulus]

Cowcat disappeared?!  Oh, no!  I'm so sorry to hear that! 

PD

    It ruled the neighborhood for many years, but it was getting old and not in the best of health before it just vanished.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

It ruled the neighborhood for many years, but it was getting old and not in the best of health before it just vanished.

Hope that you had many good years together.

Is your new one settling in well?  He or she reminds me a lot of the Wegie that I used to have (in terms of coloring).

TD

Back to gorgeous spring weather here.  I hate it when it suddenly turns hot--I want my spring!

PD

[LKB]

May has been MUCH better than horrid March or annoying April. Should be a nice couple of days off from the job, starting with my favorite steak and eggs Sunday breakfast.

[vandermolen]

Water shortages in the village. The water company has had to deliver bottled water to the village hall. This now seems to happen every year. We will get an email/letter from the water company telling us how much they are spending on the infrastructure so that it doesn't happen again next year. And then, guess what, it happens again next year. A BBC TV van is currently broken down outside our house as the situation featured on the local TV (BBC South East) News.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Water shortages in the village. The water company has had to deliver bottled water to the village hall. This now seems to happen every year. We will get an email/letter from the water company telling us how much they are spending on the infrastructure so that it doesn't happen again next year. And then, guess what, it happens again next year. A BBC TV van is currently broken down outside our house as the situation featured on the local TV (BBC South East) News.

Oh no!  Sounds like everything is falling apart there! How often has it happened that you are facing water shortages?  Are you able to bath and to water your veg garden?

PD

[BWV 1080]

Heat index is 104/40 right now, glad I'm inside

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Heat index is 104/40 right now, glad I'm inside

Yuck!  Hope that you have some good a/c?

It's around 80 here.

PD

[krummholz]

We're enjoying some pretty ideal temperatures, about 22 ºC (~72 F), but it's damp and sticky. Had about 24mm of rain last night, approaching a full inch - so things are still pretty wet.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

We're enjoying some pretty ideal temperatures, about 22 ºC (~72 F), but it's damp and sticky. Had about 24mm of rain last night, approaching a full inch - so things are still pretty wet.

Have you perchance heard about any recent rains in Quebec (areas where there are wildfires)?

PD

[vandermolen]

Oh no!  Sounds like everything is falling apart there! How often has it happened that you are facing water shortages?  Are you able to bath and to water your veg garden?

PD

Hi PD,
Yes 'falling apart' is a good description. It was the main item on the South east evening TV news. I had a bath yesterday before the water disappeared. No use of hoses so I just watered the garden including the vegetable trug with a watering can. It seems to be happening every year sometimes twice if the pipes freeze in the winter. Although the UK's climate is considered temperate we are very badly prepared for hot or cold weather. The BBC engineer has just been rescued from outside our house by the breakdown company. He's been there for over 4 hours following the broadcast.

[vandermolen]

Wow that's really crap.  I am sorry to hear about that.

The issue we have every year is when the water main outside our house springs a leak that works its way up to the surface and forms a sizeable pond, that then empties in a stream down the hill, which runs for weeks.  It's very hard to get anything done about it - last year it took months of continual complaints, and several fruitless visits by engineers, before eventually a couple of blokes turned up to dig down to find the cause of the problem.  Which is the same as it always is:  the village is supplied with water through a single ancient pipe of remarkably narrow cross-section - really it doesn't look like more than about an inch across - through which the water is forced under incredible pressure in order to meet ever increasing demand.  Inevitably something breaks.  Gets replaced.  Works for a while.  Breaks again. 

Meanwhile they go on building ever more houses, all with many bathrooms, some with swimming pools - and you might suppose that at some point someone might think of upgrading the whole water supply infrastructure - but that's not how things work.  I did point out to the local council one time, when they were considering another large development, that already the water supply was frequently reduced to a trickle, and was told that that was "not a planning matter."  The water company would deal with the issue as they always do, by cranking up the pressure even more.

Needless to say, the pond reappeared outside our house about a month ago, and is growing steadily.  Last year it got the point that I put a gnome with a fishing-rod next to it and sent the photo to the water company.

Thanks. I sympathise with your situation. A developer want to build 90+ new houses in the village which will not cope if this happens.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Hi PD,
Yes 'falling apart' is a good description. It was the main item on the South east evening TV news. I had a bath yesterday before the water disappeared. No use of hoses so I just watered the garden including the vegetable trug with a watering can. It seems to be happening every year sometimes twice if the pipes freeze in the winter. Although the UK's climate is considered temperate we are very badly prepared for hot or cold weather. The BBC engineer has just been rescued from outside our house by the breakdown company. He's been there for over 4 hours following the broadcast.

Oh dear.  Sounds like there needs to be some serious thought/planning about how to deal with things:  re more building but also figuring out what needs to be done in terms of insulation for cold temps and how higher temps are affecting things?  And yes, that calls for money to be spent on it...and lots of digging and repaving.

In my neck of the woods, things are normally good though there are sometimes water main bursts.  Thankfully not often (or affecting me) in my area, but older cities with (also I suspect) tighter budgets, well, one can hear about frequent water main bursts in them (causing street flooding, water issues for the residents, etc.).  Have to allocate money for upgrades vs. just repairs. 

It's the same everywhere.  Houses and more houses, and never mind the consequences.  The reason the water main always goes in that one place is because it's at a junction with what used to be just a track but is now the access road to an estate, and years of heavy construction traffic have caused the road to collapse at that point more than once.  This too is apparently "not a planning matter".  Quote from the Council (with a laugh): "That's Highways." 

Sigh....sorry to hear of your troubles.  Would attending any town meetings by you and others possibly help the matter (as in holding the PTB accountable?)?  Perhaps you've been doing that already?

PD

[krummholz]

Have you perchance heard about any recent rains in Quebec (areas where there are wildfires)?

PD

Yes, a couple of days ago (or maybe more), it was mentioned that expected rains should help the fire fighters trying to contain these blazes. I haven't heard anything more though. It does appear that the crisis of smoke over northeastern cities is over for now, though that doesn't necessarily mean that the fires have been extinguished - it could just mean that the upper air currents are carrying the smoke elsewhere.

[pjme]

At the Dutch/Belgian border: not a drop of rain for a month. Temperatures around 25-30 celsius. Code "yellow".
I find it all very unpleasant and, frankly, frightening.

Meteo Belgium

[Pohjolas Daughter]

At the Dutch/Belgian border: not a drop of rain for a month. Temperatures around 25-30 celsius. Code "yellow".
I find it all very unpleasant and, frankly, frightening.

Meteo Belgium

Very sorry to hear this.  Any near-term forecasts for some rain?

We went through a dry spell which ended, I want to say, maybe about a month ago?  Or perhaps less?  It was pretty bad--though unlike Jeffrey's problems--there was no water-rationing in place (perhaps watering restrictions that I missed hearing about, but I wasn't needing to water outside, so didn't check into it).  I did hear regularly on the local news about various areas being in the yellow to red in terms of lack of rainfall and dangers of wild fires.  Thankfully, it's improved a lot since then.

PD

[krummholz]

At the Dutch/Belgian border: not a drop of rain for a month. Temperatures around 25-30 celsius. Code "yellow".
I find it all very unpleasant and, frankly, frightening.

Meteo Belgium

I hope things turn around for you soon! We were in a very concerning dry spell toward the end of May with highs in the low 30s C, but have not seen a totally dry day in the last two weeks. Have had nearly 30mm of rain over the last 36 hours or so, and temps have not gotten much above 20 for a while, save only this past Sunday when it hit 26º. So stay hopeful, weather patterns can change on a dime with little warning.