January 2, 2006

There were 3 posts published on January 2, 2006 (this is page 1 of 1).

Owl’s Well That Ends Well

On a trip to the backyard to watch a passing train, Hallie and I were overflown by a bird of prey. The silhoette flying over us was enough to send a chill down my spine – and I’m not even a rodent. It was flying too fast for me to get a good look at it, though.

Not long after, Kelly yelled for me to look out the back window. The bird was back, perched on a branch in our woods. I believe it was an owl, possibly the same one I heard hooting a few weeks ago as darkness was falling.

Chalk up yet another critter sighting here at MT.Net.

Highlights of 2005, Number 9: Extreme Weather

9. Extreme weather. There’s weather every year, of course, but this year had some interesting stuff. It started with a bang (though fortunately not a literal one) when a tornado whizzed by our house close enough to hear. I like to think I’m prepared for most any weather emergency but that really, really spooked me. I purchased an automatic weather radio the very next day. Now when severe weather is announced the radio will alert us – a very prudent investment.

January will live in infamy from the surprise snowfall that paralyzed the city of Raleigh. While at first I made fun of the bad driving, once I joined them my tune quickly changed. My 30 minute commute stretched to over three agonizing hours. I was one of the lucky ones, too! The city of Raleigh got some really, really bad publicity, the government put a better snow plan in place, and eventually we all moved on. It remains to be seen if anything will change for our next snowfall, however. I’m not holding my breath.

One March morning the sky got ominously dark. We were just sitting down for breakfast when a terrible racket enveloped the house. Hail the size of quarters was falling, pelting the roof, cars, and everything else. I managed to measure and photograph one hailstone before leaving for work. It was the biggest hail I’d ever seen.

We got more hail in December from a freak storm. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Neither could our local forecasters, who differed on whether it was hail or sleet which had fallen. Quite unusual.

Sandwiched in the middle of all this was a long, hot drought. Droughts are becoming routine here, unfortunately. Some experts opine that the city should enact permanent water restrictions. I say that growth restrictions would be more effective. Raleigh citizens need to stop subsidizing sprawl. We should put plans into place to ensure that new development won’t put an unmanageable burden on our overdrawn water resources. Y’all newcomers want to live in a starter castle in the boonies? Fine! Don’t expect me to ration my water so you can fill up your pool.

Here’s hoping there’ll be no freak snowstorms or searing droughts to write about in 2006.

Adopted Baby Does Well

Back when I first began blogging Hallie’s young life, it dawned on me that other parents might want to do the same thing. I reserved a domain name for that purpose, but – like a lot of web projects – I never got around to building a site (wonder why my blog’s subtitle is “A Life, Unfinished?”).

A gentleman by the name of Michael Reeps contacted me a while back, asking to purchase the domain name. After an exchange of emails, he sold me on his idea and felt I couldn’t turn him down. I gave my domain name up for “adoption,” knowing it would have a better life with someone else.

Well, that domain is all grown up now. Michael has announced the launch of Babyblogger.com and its a winner. If you’re a parent looking for a place to blog about your baby, head on over.