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Archive for the ‘Weather’ Category

Get Weather Alerts via Twitter

Twitter Weather AlertsLets face it, some of us are on Twitter more than we are paying attention to most other forms of communication. We can tell you what was recently blogged, but we sometimes have no idea what’s going on outside our window with the weather. Wouldn’t it be nice to get them to come to you, via Twitter? Now you can.

I’ve used a combination of TwitterFeed.com and Weather.gov weather alert feeds to post updates to Twitter. Now when a storm is coming, I can know!


 

Ice Block Candle Holder

Ice Block Candle

Our neighbor gave us this ice block candle holder for Christmas.  She actually made it herself too!

It’s one large block of ice that has some berries and Christmas tree pieces frozen in it.  She said that it took a few times to get right as the weather was to cold and the ice was freezing to fast.  This was the first one that turned out and it’s extremely cool!

It now sits out on our front step for all to enjoy.


 

Taking Pictures of Lightning

When severe storms rolled into my hometown of Chatfield the other night, they can with a great lightning show. So, I decided to try and catch some action on my camera.

Now, I’ve tried this before and it’s not an easy task unless your camera is setup to automatically take a picture every few seconds. Mine isn’t, but I was still able to get a few great shots due to the large amount of lighting and lots of patients.

Most of my 200 pictures turned out like this:
Black Sky

However, I did manage to catch lightning a few times:
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What’s wrong with this picture?

This is our backyard, can you tell what’s wrong with this picture?

Our Lawn

What if I said I live in Minnesota? What if I said we are in the mist of a severe drought?

For some reason, there are parts of our lawn that are bright green and don’t dry out. Not even in a severe drought. I haven’t watered but I did have to mow today and it just doesn’t make sense. How can lawns and crops be dying across the state and parts of our backyard is alive and well!


 

Weather Photos – Waconia MN 06-20-07

Yesterday, severe storms ran across the area and prompted tornado warnings for us. I was actually out watching these storms roll in as the sirens sounded. No tornadoes, but some brief decent sized hail, lots of pea sized hail and some rain and wind did come out of them.

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My ‘Best Free Mac Applications’ List

Free Mac Apps LogosOn the Mac, there are some fantastic applications that are completely free. Here is a list of what I believe to be some of the best I’ve found so far.

  • Adium – The all in one, completely customizable instant messaging program. It absolutely rocks!
  • AOL Radio – I love this because I can get nearly commercial free streaming music from all genres.
  • AppFresh* – Only free while in development, AppFresh keeps me up-to-date on what installed programs are not up-to-date.
  • Butler – Applications & Folders in the menu bar are so handy. Plus it can do so much more.

 

I Survived Insanity Atop the Stratosphere Tower!

Our Vegas trip is over and the 85 degree days have been replaced with a 28 degree Minnesota day. It’s good to be home again, but it’s to darn cold.

Stratosphere Tower RidesWhile out in Vegas I got to ride the rides at the top of the Stratosphere tower and the rides are relatively lame, but on top of a skyscraper, they are amazing. Each one sits over 100 stories above the ground and just the thought of them makes most people scared.


 

Now With HD

HD LogoOver the weekend, our TV came in stock at Target and we were all over that. We now have a nice new high definition TV for watching movies and playing Wii!

I didn’t realize that you could get HDTV over the normal airwaves too. I was delighted when I got one HD channel with the antenna on our house that was probably installed in the 1950s. With a little playing around, I ended up with 8 HD TV channels! One of which is a 24hour local weather channel. Sweet.


 

Snow Storm In Pictures

Well I asked for it, a real snow storm, and we got one. I’m not sure the exact amount but it’s somewhere over 15 inches. Maybe even 20. Here are a few photos we took this morning.

March Snow Storm
Down the street with the flash on.

March Snow Storm
The snow drift on the deck.

March Snow Storm
View off the deck.

March Snow Storm
Neighbors ice cycles.

March Snow Storm
Side of our driveway, but you can’t really see it, or the street or the car.

March Snow Storm
A look down the street. Check out the snow on the roofs.

March Snow Storm
Down the street the other way.


 

Awaiting a Snow Storm [update]

SnowflakeWell it’s been hyped all week, the biggest snow storm in years. We’d have 3-5 inches Friday night, up to 8 on Saturday and another 5 or so on Saturday night. Well here it is, Saturday morning at 9:30 and we are just getting our first flakes. I’m skeptical that we’ll get a foot. That’s what we need to have the biggest snow storm this year. To have the biggest in years, we’ll need at least 15 inches.

Something tells me, that ain’t gonna happen. However, if we do, we’ll be happy! We have lots of movies and TV shows to watch and are looking forward to be stuck in this weekend. :)