Renamed Blog

I have renamed my primary blog to "Live from Lake Linganore".
Not that my "numerous" readers from GFK are going to flock to a differently named blog that has NOTHING to do with NoDak, but just in case you're curious about what I've been up to...

Comments welcome :D

I Shall Return

I left Grand Forks in January (the 9th to be exact) and arrived in Maryland on the 11th. I do believe I might someday venture back into town, perhaps for the curling tournament in 2008, but don't hold your breath. Still, I may just end up passing through at some point... maybe more likely to happen in summer storm chase season :D

Thanks for reading and I appreciate all the comments!

Announcing Green & Orange Pie!

New Blog!

Prep Work

So I'm renaming this blog to post at jrgwxgfk.blogspot.com and the new one will replace the old location

House!

The move to the house is only a few days away. I am playing around with different new names for this blog. It's still fun to read the GF blogs, so I'm keeping them linked for now. I think I've got the new name ready.

Playoff Hockey

One thing I do miss about NoDak is CBC and Hockey Night in Canada. It's playoff time, and I do get to see games on VS, but I'm usually working during the NBC telecasts. If I had Tivo, I could watch the game when I got home. Will have to see about that once I get the house settled.

Road Rage and Bad Drivers

A really bad episode of road rage occurred Wednesday on 270 near Frederick. Two people ended up dying after being ejected from their rolling vehicle. They weren't wearing their seat belts. Apparently, an angry driver put on his breaks right in front of the couple, and they swerved to avoid him.

HOUSE

So, this past week was spent looking at houses. We made an offer on a house and it's looking good so far. Eventually, photos will be coming and I'll rename my blog to something more Maryland-ish.

NCAA Tournament

If you enjoy watching March Madness like I do, then this is your time of year. Jim Nance is always good (plus we get to hear him pump up the Masters). Dick Enberg is also a good commentator. CBS traditionally does a good job covering the games. If Gus Johnson is the commentator, however, be sure to get acquainted with the mute button on your remote. He makes Mike Tirico sound calm!

Dog Video!

Want some cheap entertainment to brighten your dreary day? Try watching my dogs running around when I ask the all important question,
Do you wanna go for a ride?

Weather Report & Forecast

Today's High: 77
Forecast snow possible for Friday night-Saturday morning: 2"

Thus is Spring in Maryland.

That North Dakota Blood

So, last night the mercury dipped down to near zero in Frederick, MD. It was close to 15 in Germantown. There was some thick fog last night, and up north, some amazing hoarfrost. Don't usually get that down here, so it was cool to see a familiar sight.

Anyway, so I tease my co-workers here about their reactions to the cold. Like the other day, we were up to 55 degrees, and someone remarked about how we were going to go below freezing again. So I made a sarcastic comment about that being the end of the world. It was all in good fun, of course. They called me "Miss North Dakota".

Oops, it wasn't a "blizzard"!

The blizzard criteria weren't quite realized back "home". Now THAT is what I remember. However, I am impressed by the amount of snow on the ground.

The Blizzard Back Home

I'm shaking my head at the recent blast of snow that has fallen over the RRV in the past couple weeks. In particular, this latest blizzard is the kind of epic storm I had expected to experience but didn't.

There was a storm that dumped about a foot of snow in October 2001, but I was out of town for that one and the snow all melted. It wasn't a blizzard anyway. Another storm did bring about 14 inches in February, I think it was 2003 but don't quote me on that. That was probably the closest thing to the epic

Then there was the morning I woke up in Winter 2005 where we had 2-3 foot drifts in the driveway but hadn't really had much snow. It was almost 100% the stuff from the yard (and other nearby yards).

Word is that the BSA is back in action. The BSA is the "Benevolent Snowblowers Association", and consists of neighbors who take turns clearing the sidewalks. While they're at it, they'll take a trip up and down your driveway.

Germantown Life

So, what is life like in Germantown? Well, there's a lot of traffic in certain spots. The worst is 270 with all the commuters... towards DC in the AM, and towards Frederick in the PM. The 270 exits in Gaithersburg and Germantown get a bit backed up during rush hour, too.

Since I moved here, the most prevalent crime story has been people getting hit by Metro buses in DC. I see a lot more car accidents here... about 3 in a week. The speed limit gets lax enforcement in general. It's 55 mph on 270 down here, but the flow of traffic is closer to 70 mph.

There are several huge recreational complexes around town. The towns of Germantown and Gaithersburg sort of just run into each other, so it's hard to know where the borders are. One way to tell is Gaithersburg has green on white street signs with a "G" on them.

The biggest laugh is how quickly schools get delayed or canceled. North Dakotans can hang their hats on trudging through 6 to 12 inches of snow. Around here, schools close if there's a couple inches. Part of the deal is that the snow is the wet sticky stuff that leads to icy roads instead of the light fluffy stuff that blows everywhere.

Germantown itself isn't much larger than Grand Forks. There are little shopping complexes on the main corners. For example, Milestone Center is pretty similar to 32nd St. There's a Kohl's, Target, Wal-Mart, Giant (grocery), Best Buy, Pet Smart and other shoppes and businesses.

Slushy Snow Today

It had looked like a freezing rain and sleet event, but it turned into snow today. When I left for work this morning, there was light freezing rain. A band of heavy precipitation dynamically cooled the atmosphere swiftly during the morning, allowing for all snow to fall. It was close to an inch-per-hour snow rate. Visibility was less than a mile at times.

When I went for lunch, there were already 1 to 2 inches accumulated. Streets were in pretty good shape for the most part. A few slick spots made for some interesting maneuvers. By the time the snow had ceased, we had anywhere from 4 to 6 inches on the ground. Deep enough for the dog to romp around some and deep enough to break out the big boots.

Parking lots became mushy piles of slush this evening. We also had some additional light rain (close to freezing rain... temperatures were hovering around 32) that helped create those puddles. It has stopped precipitating, although there may be a few sprinkles or flurries hanging around tonight.

So, we have snow cover once again! It will probably stay around for a while, but it has a much higher water content than the last snow, so if we really do hit the 40s this week, more puddles of water are in store.

Goodbye snow!

All that snow and sleet is still hanging around this morning, but after today and tomorrow, I suspect that it will disappear except for the very high piles in parking lots. People around here aren't used to seeing snow stick around for this long. This snow had a high water content, so I'm betting it's gonna be a wet soppy mess around town as the stuff melts this week.

Snow and Sleet

It snowed and sleeted several inches up here. I don't know if I've ever seen such deep sleet. It holds you up above the ground whereas you'd sink in snow. Some spots, I'd guess 6" deep easily. I was able to walk with the dog on top of the stuff and only occasionally break through about a half inch worth of shoe.

It took a while to dig out the car this morning. A thin layer of ice on the windows and on the front windshield about 1-3" of snow/sleet piled on. I'm happy we avoided the major ice storm, and it was interesting to see how road crews work around here.

I took some photos, so maybe later I'll post some here.

More interesting times

Work is getting more involved now that I've been here a full 2 weeks. It snowed again about an inch. It was the light powdery snow like in North Dakota. Temperatures dipped into the single digits here (low of 5), so it's not like I'm getting a free pass on winter here. Today's temperature got up to 25. Not bad!

I went to watch the Caps play the Bruins last night. It was my first time into the city on the Metro red line. I enjoyed the experience. One of these days, it'll be real nice and I'll go down to the Capitol, White House, and the Mall. I'm looking forward to the cherry blossoms... I'll definitely go during that time frame... sometime in March is what I hear.

Most of the birds I see around here are Canadian geese. They hang out in flocks on the lakes around town. There is some sort of hawk that flies around nearby. Crows like to hang out on the tree in the parking lot at the apartment complex. There's also a squirrel and a homeless black cat. Honestly, though, I haven't really tried to go bird watching yet.

Awesome!

It's a new month and we got some wet snow. Last night, it was wintry mix. A thin layer of ice was on the car, but with temperatures near freezing, it was pretty easy to get it off. This weekend will be my first Saturday-Sunday at my new job. I'll be getting my first paycheck next week.... yay!

I loved listening to the Sioux Hockey game on webcast last weekend. Beat the Gophers! Hope I can listen again soon!