March Is Over

   It seems the 3rd month of the year has lived up to the old adage "In like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb". While the first few days of March were relatively mild, we got hammered by a blizzard before that first week was even out

   We also got a mini-blizzard 2 weeks to the day later. Since then, temperatures have moderated, and most of the snow has now gone. Apart from the giant mound on my north-facing front yard, and a few other locations around town.
   Of course, when you get the melt, and combine that with even just slightly chilled air aloft, you get fog

   Which has blanketed the region for the past 3 mornings. Still, it is getting warmer, and the days longer, so you'll not hear me complain. At least not until our lawn starts growing, and needing attention.

TTFN

Spring?

   Yesterday, March 20th, marked the start of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, as the sun crossed the equator at 04:29 Saskatchewan time. But in Yorkton and other parts of the area you'd be hard pressed to believe it.

   That was taken from a window at our radio station just after 11:00 A.M yesterday morning. And if you can't see much, there's a very good reason for it. We had what could best be termed a mini-blizzard. It didn't last long, only 15 to 20 minutes, but it did bring heavy snow, wind gusts to 70 km/h and (as you can see) reduced visibility.
   It should be noted that up until then, it had been sunny. What was behind it all? A spokesman at the weather office says it was a small, thin, but very strong band of precipitation rolled over.
   On the back-side of the storm, falling temperatures. It was 5 C Sunday, and hovering around -4 early yesterday before taking a nose-dive. As of 06:00 Tuesday morning, it was -16 C here, but -27 in some areas.
   For comparison purposes, here's a picture taken out the same window about a year ago.

   Hopefully, yesterday's storm was winter's last gasp. I'm more than ready for milder temperatures and sunnier days.

TTFN

Fun With Danny Ismond

   I saw a rather quirky item on the status page of one of the people I'm, on facebook with, and figured it's be a great gag to play on GX94 morning show host Danny Ismond. So, yesterday I played it with, I will admit, rather mixed results.
   I told Danny I'd been in hospital the night before, and tried to explain. I told him I'd been out horseback riding that day, with the trip landing me in emergency with a sore hip. I said things had been going fine, but my horse started getting a little skittish, and unseated me. I also said my foot got caught in the stirrup.
   But the worst part was the mall manager came by and took all my change before I could ride the helicopter:

   I'll admit, Danny did laugh, but he also tweaked on the fact it was a joke right from the start when I said I'd been horseback riding. Truth is, I have been on a horse. Once. About 47 years ago.

TTFN

A Morning Nightmare ***UPDATED***

   And I've still got nerve jitters. I got in to work this morning at my usual time to start my routine. The very first thing I do when I get in, before logging on at my workstation, even before walking into the newsroom, is make coffee.
   Imagine my devastation this morning when I go into the lounge and see a post-it on the coffee maker saying "Do Not Use". Arrggghhhh!!! I'm a morning news guy. I can (sometimes) barely function as it is. I NEED MY COFFEE!!!
   Apparently, this is just a temporary loss of service, as the machine is supposedly being cleaned. Hopefully it'll be back in operational condition by afternoon. I don't know if I can go 2 days without a cup of Joe. And quite frankly, I don't think I want to try.

TTFN

***Update: As of mid-morning, the machine was back in action, and the coffee flowing.

Another Culinary First

   It's really not THAT big a deal, but I did accomplish something in the kitchen I never thought I'd do. Back in August last year, I made (and canned) a batch of salsa (again, something I never thought I'd do. This weekend, I did up a batch of beef jerky:

   And it ain't bad, either! I won't bore you with the recipe, but suffice it to say it was fairly easy (leading me to wonder why I'd never done it until now).
   Will I do it again? Absolutely. Will I change the recipe? Absolutely! I simply didn't add enough of some ingredients, and a little too much of others.
   What's next in the kitchen? I don't know, but stay tuned. You never know what me or my wife will whip up next.

TTFN

The Blizzard Of '17

   That was taken from my front window yesterday (Monday, March 6th) afternoon. It's not the best picture, I agree, but it at least shows you what my area was hammered with pretty much all day, and most of today.
   It's a good Olde Fashioned Prairie Blizzard, and it caused a lot of havoc. When the weather is poor, we announce school bus cancellations and school closures on our morning news. Today, that list was almost 2 minutes long, which is about 2/3rds of most of my newscasts.
   I got in to the office this morning...just. My normally short 2 minute drive took me 10 minutes. Getting out of my stall wasn't the issue. It was the roads. I almost got bogged down 5 or 6 times in my little Lancer, but I kept it in 2nd gear, and just gunned it. My main concern was would I be able to get into the parking area in front of our building. The answer to that was a resounding "yes". Heck, just getting into the car was a challenge, due to the drifts that formed around it. They were so deep, they overtopped my big winter Sorels.
   My wife couldn't get to work this morning because the taxi couldn't get up our street. 3 of my co-workers who live outside Yorkton all called in saying they couldn't make it. Luckily, 2 of them they have the technology they need to broadcast from their homes.
   Needless to say, highways and streets are a complete mess, and will likely be so until sometime tomorrow at the earliest, although some city plows have already been out trying to keep the main drags open.
   As for getting home today: I'm not going to even try to get up some of the streets I came down this morning, nor do I have to. GX94's Danny Ismond very kindly offered to give me a lift (and stop off for some much needed supplies). He's even offered to swing by and pick me up tomorrow morning. My car's plugged in at work, so I'm just going to leave it overnight.
   I'm just not looking forward to the shoveling chore I've got ahead of me today.

TTFN

Dang! They Were Tasty

   Regular viewers of this blog will know by now my wife is fabulous when it comes to cooking, but especially baking. In the past she's whipped up her famous chocolate cake, chocolate chip and/or peanut butter cookies and other sweet treats.
   This weekend, I think she out-did herself

   It's a Nanaimo Bar cupcake with custard inside. Rich? You have no idea. These are probably the 2nd sweetest dessert she's ever done. Eclipsed only by her chocolate pie, which was almost too much.
   This is first, and probably only, time she'll do them. It was way too labour intensive, and half of them sort of disintegrated due to what she says was the recipe for the cupcake itself. Still, they were delicious!

TTFN