Month of January 2024 (Nat’l Avg $3.704)

Thank you for starting our New Year, Gord.

 

Man, Japan has planes crashing & big earthquakes & other shocks to begin the New Year. The deaths are still mounting up from the Earthquake. Sounds like the deaths due to the 2 planes colliding at an airport (all crew members died on a coast guard plane responding to the earthquake & the other an airliner, in which nearly 400 people were evacuated) could have been much worse. The coast guard plane was much smaller than the airliner.

Out for a walk earlier this morning with only a drop or so of rain. 80% to 90% chance of rain coming, so we'll see how the weather fairs later. I'll pass on the Brussel Sprouts at the Senior Center today.

 

5:50PM.....With the sun advancing towards one diameter higher in the sky from its lowest 12PM point of the year, I've been able to notice the increasing daylight for a few days. Yes, as I've mentioned, my miles walked will decrease dramatically now. I must end my procrastination to make a doctor's appointment. Hey, I put it off today. I've put it off for 2 years. It's been raining for most of the afternoon into the evening now. Earlier, I had some potatoes & chocolate milk. I'll have some vegetables now. Yeah, yeah, I know a potato is a vegetable. But, potatoes seem so.....potatoey. Still, some peas sound good.... & oh, they are very good.

 

Today, 32 deg F in Naperville, 31 in Elk Grove.

Wind W 5

33.4 miles, fcd = 48.0 MPG

 

6AM....Slightly damp parking lot pavement this morning. Less than 50% rain till early-mid afternoon, turning to greater than 50% rain, the rest of the day. Should be a good one-off indicator of the accuracy of the prediction. We'll see.

PS, 3:55PM....Walked about this morning & there was no rain. Now looking out the window this latter afternoon, appears that a little rain wetted the pavement. No rain right now, except looks to be rain on the 600 foot ridge to the west. We'll see if some more rain falls, specially when I walk to & from the church dinner at 6PM. Looks like I should take the umbrella. So far the multiple predictions this morning are accurate.

PS I, 7:10PM....Excellent church dinner, with cheese topping on beef & twirley noodle casserole, salad plus many dressing choices, lots of drink selections, & the best Chocolate Mint cake I've ever had! Traces of rain, but not that I had to unfurl the umbrella.

PS II, 10PM....Rain has been light, but continuous. Predictions were excellent.

 

Filled up this morning for $3.199.

30 deg F in Naperville , 28 in Elk Grove

387.1 miles, fcd = 46.4 MPG

 

11:07AM.....Mid-40degF's & rain chances are in the high teens now. High fog on the hills around & higher overhead, are wetting the pavements, even enough that water very slowly moves to the street gutters. Will use the umbrella for my Senior Center walk.
Later, pavements were slightly wet, & needed the umbrella for the SC walk. Later with still wet pavements, I walked about without rain.

 

Today , 26 deg F in Naperville , 27 in El;k Grove

Wind S 4

33.4 miles , fcd = 48.0 MPG

 

6AM.....Supposed to be some cold weather coming in a few days, tho for another day temperatures should be mostly in the mid-40degF range. The Senior Center will have a great lunch of pork chops, mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet & sour cabbage, & fruit. I'll be there! You can be there too, if you hop on a jet. Oh, yeah. Making arrangements & getting thru 2 airports & Seattle traffic will make you late. Sorry. But..... I promise to eat your share for you.

PS....Excellent lunch. You guys missed out, because you were late! Hope you didn't pay too much for a plane ticket. You had to have a second place meal......maybe at the top of the Space Needle. & again, the weather forecast was accurate. No rain this morning....rain this afternoon. Now they're forecasting continuous(?) rain to well into tomorrow.

 

Its been raining for 13 or 14 hours now. Supposed to be decreasing in the hours ahead, then on & off the rest of the day. Morning breakfast at the church today & I'll take the umbrella. UofW Huskies playing today at 4 or 5PM, PST.

PS, 1:30PM.....THERE WERE decreasing chances of rain BEFORE I walked to the church breakfast. BUT, I still had to walk in the rain to breakfast. The decreasing chances of rain DID let me walk to the apt. without using the umbrella. Later, I drove both the Elantra & Accent around to give them some exercise & brighten my day with different scenery.

The predicted afternoon on & off rain, just got done being off. Now it is on. The prediction continues.....accurately.

PS, 4:30PM....The on & off rain has been on for 3 hours. Supposed to be decreasing within the hour.

 

Better rain than snow, right?

 

sright!

 

Well.....The Pacific Northwest is supposed to be warmer this winter. The prediction applied to our area starting up, seems to be accurate, averaging an overall 38.5degF for December 2023. Our area's December 2023 rainfall was 8.8 inches, 2.4 inches higher than our normal December wet.

 

Shoveled a foot or so of snow this morning over two and a half hours. Laying low and resting most of the day till after 4pm when the storm should start to wind down. Looks like it did before I shoveled this morning so the expected 3+ inches is hopefully all there is or will be.

 

Tomorrow at 4AM, the rain should be in the air for most of 24 hours. Looks like umbrella time during the Senior Center time.

 

Approaching 12 Noon, & it’s been raining near 10 hours. Rain should continue. Umbrellas are W. Washington necessities if one tries to save gasoline.

4PM……It's been raining for 14 hours.

 

12:30AM…..In the 8-10AM period, I’ll be walking. Supposed to be 50% chance of rain. That’s a prediction for sure. I’m betting on umbrella weather, because of my last post & because it’s raining now. We’ll see.

 

Snowing here. 33 deg F in Naperville and Elk Grove.
Roads are slushy and treacherous in some spots.
Nasty headwind E 12.
33.5 miles, fcd = 39.5. Today is the first time I've driven
the Fit in snow. It's not bad.
They are hinting at 4" in the next 24 hours.

 

The Fit will do very well in the snow. Relatively nose-heavy. Skinny tires. Low polar moment of inertia - meaning the bulk of the mass is within the wheelbase and not out at either end beyond the axle. All combine to make the car an efficient little mountain goat. It makes you wonder why the average Joe(sephine) is so hell bent on "all wheel drive" that Honda had to raise the Fit two inches, add a rear differential and rename it HRV while slashing the EPA estimates by 30 percent.
My humble abode is within 3.3 miles (as the crow flies) of the Atlantic ocean, which is unusually warm this year, so we're getting wet from passing nor'easters instead of buried under snow - which is happening to the north and west. Works for me.

With temps at 36 this morning and rain not coming until after lunch today, I managed a reasonable 52.2 on the fcd while sharing the road with the usual NY neurotics, narcissists and meth-heads. The only way to effectively deal with them is to get a sign on your car with large letters reading PoLiCe - and then underneath are small letters - "Polonium Lithium Cerium" - an obvious attempt to help the unwashed populace memorize the periodic table of elements. Elsewhere on the car can be another sign whose small letters would read - Flourine Uranium Carbon Potassium and then Yttrium Oxygen Uranium - heh heh heh