That's what the weather weasels call the 1st of March. The rest of us recognize that spring starts with the Vernal Equinox that will occur on March 20th. Today will be a "moving day" for those in the RV lifestyle... it happens a lot on the 1st of each month.
Here in Arizona, the local weather is full of stories about huge snowfall in the northern part of the state (schools are closed in Flagstaff), another closure of parts of I-17 and I-40 due to snow, and predictions of wind, rain, blowing dust (making for "blowing mud") here in the Valley of the Sun. We put off getting together with Mark and Cindy today due to predicted winds up to 45 mph here... yes, we will be pulling in slides to hunker down through the afternoon. Didn't want to leave Ruf alone if the weather really gets nasty.
Spring? Yeah, I'm ready for it.
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Walking Rufus last night. Well, early evening, just after sundown. A guy saw my walking the furry boy and said, "Do you have a minute? I have to go get my wife to see this - we love cats!" She came out and they both made a big fuss over Rufus. They have 3 cats and a dog in their motorhome, but none of the cats go outside. She took a couple photos of Ruf, then showed me a photo of one of their cats - who looked a lot like Rufus, without the white paws and belly. When they asked where we are from, they got excited and asked questions about south Texas - they hope to go there in the near future. Right now, they are in the "newly retired" stage, and driving 500+ miles per day. She went inside to get a notebook and wrote down things about RV parks in our home area and things to do. There are here for an overnight while passing through... can't say I envy them being on the road today.
The next door neighbors, with Morgan the devil child, are getting ready to leave this morning. Can't say we'll miss the screaming and stomping... but Joan said, "And now the unknown of who the next neighbors will be." She has a point.
Ah, spring is in the air... no, wait... that's blowing mud. ;-)
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Here it comes...
I'll be watching for an old lady blowing by on a bicycle (Wizard of Oz reference). Slides are pulled in. Wouldn't hurt my feelings if it turns out to be less than what the weasels are predicting.
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The rain has rolled in to go with the building wind. Looking across the street, I will be surprised if the slideout awning on that motorhome survives unscathed; that's why we pulled slides in and "battened down our hatches." The motorhome is made to go through the wind... but, not with the slides out. There are awnings over our slides (not all RVs have them - they keep debris and heat off the top of the slideout). Ours fit good (a built in tensioner keeps them snug), but strong wind can start them flapping. So, we put up with being "skinny" overnight to protect our equipment.
I learned a new weather term today: graupel. Well, I don't know if it is a new term, but it was new to me. Have you ever experienced "slushy hail"? Graupel: "As the snowflake travels through the cloud the droplets attach and freeze around the snowflake, helping it to grow into a tiny snowball. Those tiny snowballs are then sometimes referred to as snow pellets, ice pellets, soft hail, hominy snow or the more official name graupel." Another weather term to add to the SnowSUX® line: GraupelSUX®.
Here's the current radar on the local weather...
Towards the left of the screen, do you see "Buckeye"? Yeah, right there in the red and yellow. That's where we are. Fun. Not.
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