CATCHING UP ON A RAINY DAY

Pictures we took last Summer on our way to Atlanta in the Kia Rio.  We stopped to see these sites on the Lincoln Highway.  Imagine driving all the way from New York to San Francisco in a Model T Ford.  We have such comfortable cars now and of course much better roads.

It has been in the 80's all week in Atlanta, while we have rain. I talked to Diane a couple of days ago.  She said the pollen count is as high as it has been in 30 years.  Diane said the little Kia Rio is covered yellow from all the pollen.  I had read before that if you have allergies that Atlanta is one of the worst cities to live in.

Diane seems to be doing real well in Atlanta.  Diane bought a house in Atlanta.  She paid cash.  She paid $33,000 including closing costs.  Isn't that amazing.  The house does need some work she said  but apparently nothing major.  She said it has a brand new roof, which is a real plus.  The previous owner did take out the air conditioning unit so that will probably set her back around $4000. at least.  But she only has a month and a half on her rental unit so then she will have money to make repairs. It is a four bedroom house.  I want her to put some pictures on Facebook so everyone can see the house.

Nothing exciting going on here.  We are all waiting to hear from Rachel about when Eleanor will make her debut.

EARLY SPRING

Just some more pictures from our little trip to Forks.  We saw a lot of logging trucks but of course, logging is not like it used to be.

On to my topic of an early Spring.  This is an educational topic I am putting on my blog. (I will probably bore everyone but I found this article very interesting)  How I love the Internet!  If I had to have looked this up in the library like we used to, it would take a long time.

Did anyone notice that Spring came early this year?
       Welcome to the earliest start of Spring since 1896.
Every leap year, the Spring will get roughly 30-45 minutes earlier until it peaks at 2096 when Spring will arrive on March 19--at 7:02 am (Pacific Daylight time)
         Why?  It's due to the same reasons we have leap years--the exact length of a year isn't a nice round number.  The length of a year is 365.2422days--or about 11minutes and 14 seconds short of 365 days and exactly 6 hours.
           By adjusting for leap year every four years, it averages out to 365.25 days.  The earliest season start times occur on leap year (because what is March 19 this year would be March 20 in non-leap years.)  Each year after a leap year, the start time of the season gets roughly 6 hours later until the next leap year pulls it back 24 hours.
          But since .25 isn't the same as .2422, the season start times drift just a little earlier each year due to this minor error.
           Remember back in 2000 when there was talk about how it was a rare leap year because usually we don't do a leap year in years divisible by 100, unless it is divisible by 400.  For example--we didn't do leap years in 1700, 1800, or 1900 but we did in 2000 (divisible by 400) but we won't in 2100.  That correction gets us closer to 365.2422.
            So in 1896, we had a Spring start time at 6:23 on March 19 (Pacific Standard Time) because they hadn't thought of Pacific Daylight Time yet)  Spring came about 6 hours later each year but in 1900--when there was no leap year, because 1900 divided by 400 requires decimal points, the Spring start time just kept getting 6 hours later until 1904 when it finally got pushed back 24 hours due to leap year.
            But in 2000, we didn't skip the leap year reset, so the Spring start time will keep getting earlier each leap year until 2096 because in 2100, we won't do a leap year, in essence allowing the Spring start time to keep pushing back another full day on our calendar.
             It's not until we complete the entire 400 year cycle that the equinox start times truly reset and the drift starts over.
             But in the meantime, enjoy this early start to Spring!  Just don't pay attention to the fact that this drift also means Autumn begins a bit earlier as well.

TRIP IN MY CAR

Downtown Forks

We had Icecream cones at this little shop.

Yesterday was such a nice day and Donna had worked on her school work all morning and about noon she decided she wanted to goof off. I have been wanting to put a few more miles on my car and give it a little more exercise than just running to Safeway.  We decided to go to Forks.  I had never been there.  It is a long way.  It was sunny when we left Sequim but as we got nearer Forks the weather really changed. There was even a little snow mixed with rain.  After we went to Forks, Donna wanted to go to La Push.  She had never been there.  It was only another 14 miles to La Push.  La Push is right on the Ocean.  It was really cold and windy there.  Donna got out of the car and took some pictures of the ocean.  My car had gone to La Push last winter with David. David went to look at a boat for a friend of his.  I was going to go but that day it was pouring rain and the wind was blowing so I told him to go without me.  That was the same day that we got the auxilary heat pump in and the worker took off part of the roof.

     Anyway,  we were able to drive right up by the Ocean.  What an amazing sight! We both had such an enjoyable trip.

I was looking through my older pictures.  I found this one of a sunset I took while I was still in Renton at Debbie's.  It made my day more cheerful looking at it.  We have had so many cloudy days lately. I love pictures of sunrises and sunsets.

 

My car is now 8 months old.  I only have 2300 miles on it but because of the age I wanted it checked.  I don't need an oil change yet.  My oil is like new,  He said come back in another 1,000 miles and have it checked again.  When I do get it changed I will have the Mobil 1 put in.  

I haven't much interesting going on in my life so I have to keep up with what others are doing.  Rachel and Michael will be having their baby girl in a couple of weeks or sometime in that time period.  That is really exciting.  

The other interesting news is that Diane bought a 4 bedroom house in Atlanta, Georgia.  She paid cash for it.  $33,000 including closing costs.  She says it has a brand new roof, which is a big plus.  The house needs some work.  She used some of her retirement money to buy it.  I think that it was a wise thing to do.  Property is like money in the bank and she can spend money on fixing it up instead of having to pay rent.

Lately I have gotten interested in reading World War II stories.  I read the "Winds of War" by Herman Wouk. It is a very long book but so interesting and so well written.  I watched the Ministries starring Robert Mitchum. If you have Netflix you can watch it on Netflix.  I know all this is history for most of you.  I was in high school when the war started so there were no history books about the war yet.

I have all my books on my Kindle. I just love the Kindle.  I can carry this "library" with me anywhere.

SNOW

I was surprised to wake up to snow this morning.  It was so clear and cold when I went to bed.  Although  all day yesterday the wind was blowing hard.  I guess it was bringing in the snow.  As you can see from the picture, there is not much snow so I expect it will be gone by afternoon.

The second picture is a counted cross-stitch I am working on.  I always seem to have to keep my mind and my hands busy.

Donna has been pestering me to write on my blog.  I have not been too good at keeping it up lately.  I will try to do better.  Maybe I can make myself some notes of things that go on during the day and maybe I will have something to write about.

We are having Book Club tonight.  I have been upstairs straightening around.  I always feel you have to straighten things up when you know people are coming.  Clayton and Richard used to tease me about rushing around and straightening up and dusting before the cleaning lady came at Merrill Gardens.

One time when the head housekeeper was short on help she called to ask if she could skip my apt. that week.  She said I always kept mine so nice.