Looking forward to this Summer...

UntamedSub wrote:

Even though we're having some pretty nasty cold spells around the states...summer will soon be here....which of course means great movies....for the most part anyway.

Untamed said it, and sitting here with it at -2F with a windchill of -20F in town, and waiting for the folks to show up to figure out why our boiler isn't working (seems to happen every other year, on the coldest day in Feb), I thought I would ask... what all are we looking forward to this Summer. Since we are already talking about movies elsewhere, let's save those for that thread, and instead talk about other things here.

Me? Well, I don't know how things will work out this summer, with a move and such, but in past years there are a number of things I have always looked forward to doing. The biggie, which we have not done in a couple of years is Pennsic War. What's that you say? Well, imagine 11,000 people, all camped out at what amounts to a Rennaisance Faire on lots and lots of steroids. We have battles where we have more than 1500 people on a side... small compared to some battles in the Middle Ages, but still quite large. It is what amounts to the annual world-wide convention of the Society for Creative Anachronism, or SCA. You want to check it out to see more, there are some great photos and even some movies at

http://www.pennsic.net

If you are curious, you can also see pictures of me in the Pennsic XXX pics for the Castle Battle, where I can be seen in a number of pics wearing a white tabard with a red chevron (i.e. a red V) on it, holding a ratan sword with blue edge tape, and my big blue war-door shield. Still trying to figure out how I can go this year.

Other things... lying out under the Summer sky, looking up at the stars... getting to ride my bike, go swimming, maybe some hiking. And of course, grilling out... YUM!

Not so fun... the heat and humidity... one reason why I love Spring all around, and only like most of Winter and Summer. And not looking forward to sunburns...

Well, going to go try to stay warm until the boiler folks get here.... thinking warm thoughts of being on a beach someplace.

I'm lookin' forward to goin for rides with my T-tops off ( and I'm not stuttering, I'm talking about my car

)

When I used to live in Ottawa, Spring used to begin in February - not the weather of course, but mid-February was when all the seed and garden catalogues used to arrive. With a hot cup of tea, I'd spend a number of evenings browsing through them, and the pictures of spring bulbs, flowers & shrubs reminded me that we'd eventually see the ground again!

Now that I'm in Oregon, I've gotten used to milder winters with little snow, and I actually dethatched my front lawn today!

Summer for us this year is going to be busy - getting our current home ready to sell, moving, buying a new place and settling in. On the plus side, we tend to winnow down our belongings this way (the N64 is out, but we're still debating whether to move the VCR & our collection of Disney tapes). We'll still have time to enjoy BBQ's, Manhattans in the hot tub, and roasting marshmallows around the outdoor fire pit...can hardly wait!

Im in Alaska and it is cold here too. I have been working on my Motorcycle all winter, waiting for that one spring day when it is just warm enough to ride, the wind in my face, sun that actually feels a little warm and 1000cc's of pure joy under my control.

Before that day, my Fiance' and I are trying to plan a winter trip to a little town in Mexico. She is going to teach me to snorkel and show me some ancient pyramids (yes I will be looking for a good place to put my trans). thinking of these things keeps me warm on the very short days and long nights.

Heres to getting your heat fixed!

Grizzled_Imposter wrote:

. I have been working on my Motorcycle all winter, waiting for that one spring day when it is just warm enough to ride, the wind in my face, sun that actually feels a little warm and 1000cc's of pure joy under my control.

That is what drives me nuts about winter in Wisconsin. Tho I ride up till the first snow in December (rode to work when it was 29 in the morning, brrrr) and get back on after the first real rain of spring ( to wash off the salt on the roads. I wont expose my baby to that stuff).

So, Griz, whatcha ride?

Flak Monkey wrote:

So, Griz, whatcha ride?

Oh, you beat me to it.

I can't wait until the days are longer when Cham and I can go hiking and cycling in the canyon again! Its time to work off the leftover 'warmth' layers from Thanksgiving and Christmas.

B_B

I despise summers (atleast where i live). Hard to sleep, sun that burns through your skin in minutes, air is hard to breathe, lose apetite, air stinks, cant go outdoors, computer heats up to unsafe levels, etc, etc.

Bring on winter...

Do you live on the sun, Mac?

B_B

I am wondering where he lives too.

On the boiler... $200 later, no parts except a couple of couplings where they cut the water line to try to figure out where the problem was, and then put things back together again, we had the heat back. Took about 6-8 hours to finally get the house back to being warm, even though we had a couple of electric space heaters and the oven going. The problem... turns out that the control valve and a filter that is in the control valve assembly were clogged. The whole assembly was changed out about this time in 2003, but our water is such that the filter ends up with a coating of what appears to be rust, and apparently something broke off and actually lodged in the valve itself. Total time to repair... 2 hours.

On the seasons... I actually love things about all of them, it is just that Summer and Winter are so far apart, and at times when you are at one extreme, you look forward to the other. As Mac says, sometimes, Summer can be too hot, and even a pool in the shade (or better yet, a nice clean stream/river) cannot make it bearable. And sometimes, this includes the night. But snorkeling/diving is a wonderful thing to do, as are the other things I mentioned... oh, and canoing (sp), fishing... Oh, and Field Day (a 24 hour amateur radio contest) And, sometimes, there is nothing quite like a thunderstorm, watching the towers build off in the distance, the smell as it approaches, etc.

Spring... it is wonderful to see the flowers come up, the trees come out, etc. Hear the birds, see the students out on campus shrugging off the effects of Winter. And again, from time to time, it is great to chase after those late Spring and early Summer Thunderstorms, hoping to perhaps catch sight of a twister out in some remote field. And the Spring sky is pretty nice. But the rain can make cycling unpredictable, and being out of shape stinks. But perhaps, this spring, I might be in good enough shape this year for TOSRV.

Fall... the colors, the relief from the heat of Summer, seeing all the costumes for adults on Halloween (more fun than the kids IMO), seeing geese flying south, school starting up, county/local fairs.

Winter... it can be sooooo cold, and storms can be nasty, just like what the Buffalo/Springfield MO went through twice this Winter. But most of the time, you can bundle up and stay halfway warm... just a bit clumsy though. And I would say that the favorite things about Winter are playing out in the snow with the family (just one thing Lisa and I had in common with each other, but not with our spouses), the silence after a snowfall, where you hear almost nothing but the sound of the wind through the trees, the similiar but not the same sounds after a ice storm, where you also get the creaking of the trees and ice. Seeing the tracks of the small animals in the snow, and the occasional large animal like a deer. If I were to go to Yellowstone or Yosemite... forget the snowmobiles and other vehicles... I would want to be back in good shape and go in on skis or snowshoes. My favorite camp-out for Scouts was a Winter camperee we hosted, which included hikes and all sorts of other activities, along with ice climbing (which I helped teach/instruct, having been into climbing/caving in my teens). And the winter sky.... so beautiful. I would have to give it just a slight edge over the Summer sky, in part because of the clarity and stability (much better than Summer), and in part because of some of the other sights, which start appearing in the Fall, but which are all visible during the Winter. I just hate it when I frost up an eyepeice, or worse, freeze myself to one.

I'm looking forward to summer as well. I don't like winters here. I can't mountain bike or road bike because of the snow. The air quality is always bad because of the inversion layer. I feel like I'm in L.A. when the air is bad. I'm also looking forward to hiking and hopefuly, if Boingo will go, backpacking or camping.

I ride a 1979 HD sportster XLCH.

Where I live in Alaska, we don't have as many roads as you may otherwise be used to. I live in the panhandle of Alaska, all of the terain is almost completely up and down, from my home the closest Glacier is 2 miles by road or the face is about 1.5 miles through the woods. If you were to look through my aparment window, you can see 6 mountian peaks that are over a mile higher than where I sit (40 feet above sea level).

Boingo_Babe wrote:

Do you live on the sun, Mac?

B_B

Southern hemisphere?

^^^Correct, Im aussie. Im also in Canberra (the capital) which is about 2-3 hourse drive south of Sydney, and its inland. The coastal areas get MUCH better weather and temperatures than the inland does. The coast get lots of moisture from the sea which helps filter some of the sun rays and level out the temperature. Here though where there is no sea, theres almost nothing to stop the sun, so when it hits you, give it about 5-10mins before it starts to feel like your skin is on fire. Most people ive seen who come from somewhere outside and have experienced a summer here like my relatives from Singapore or my brother's friend coming back from Greece, all complained about the blistering sun here. If it werent for the trees and plants around the place, you could pretty much call this place a desert...

Mac_Knife wrote:

^^^Correct, Im aussie. Im also in Canberra (the capital) which is about 2-3 hourse drive south of Sydney, and its inland. The coastal areas get MUCH better weather and temperatures than the inland does. The coast get lots of moisture from the sea which helps filter some of the sun rays and level out the temperature. Here though where there is no sea, theres almost nothing to stop the sun, so when it hits you, give it about 5-10mins before it starts to feel like your skin is on fire. Most people ive seen who come from somewhere outside and have experienced a summer here like my relatives from Singapore or my brother's friend coming back from Greece, all complained about the blistering sun here. If it werent for the trees and plants around the place, you could pretty much call this place a desert...

Australia is one of the places I've been wanting to go to. I'd like to go to northern Queensland and through the Northern Territory (Alice Springs would be nice). My brother has been to Brisbane and he said it was really nice. He kept commenting at how nice everyone was there and that is saying something coming from him.

What's the weather like right now down under?

Queensland indeed has very pleasant weather. Most agree that Queensland is THE place to visit here during spring/summer. Fine temperatures, beautiful scenery, best beaches in the country, great barrier reef, big banana, etc.

The people in the north are very friendly because life up there is fairly relaxed. They know how to enjoy life up there. Down here (Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne), its basically the big rat race every day.