Rain

Today, we got a good bit of rain in Maryland. I was glad we did. We can use it. It'll help wash away the heavy pollen we've been getting for starters. The pollen has been so bad, you could see the yellow stuff on your car windshield or it coating your motorbike. The pollen has also been hell for those with allergies. A lady I know who suffers from them said this year will be one of the worst because there has been so little rain to wash the pollen away. Also, the grass has started turning brown in some areas unless you watered it. I suspect due to little snow this past winter, the reservoirs were lower than normal. The rain will help bring those up some. Lastly, it is nice to breath the fresh clean air during a rainfall. To me, it can be a bit invigorating. Supposedly, we have a good chance of rain continuing to fall until sometime tomorrow morning. We'll see on that. Stay dry all.

Maryland Weather

It looks like those of us who live in Maryland are going to get off easy this winter. The temperatures have been in the 70's and have reached 80 or more this week. To me, that says winter is over and, spring has begun. We can have some nasty winters in Maryland. I think last year, we had at least 1 12 inch snow fall and, there may have been more of the white stuff. I don't remember all the specifics. For me, I'll count my blessings that we got off easy this winter. Snow may look pretty but, it is a royal pain to work in or have to shovel i.e. dig my car out. I definitely prefer spring over winter. My favorite temperatures are in the 60's and 70's which are spring temperatures. Like winter, I don't care for Maryland summers. They're far too humid. It's like stepping out into a sauna. I hope summer will take its time getting here. Let me enjoy the cool temps and the occasional shower for a while as well as the cheaper electric bills. I hope it's nice where ever you are my readers. Cheers all!

Latest Maryland Weather

We had a high of at least 62F yesterday. It's hard to believe it's winter here but, that's typical Maryland weather. It can be light jacket weather one week and the next, you'll be wearing your parka and digging your car out from the snow. I think someone said that if you don't like the weather here wait and, it'll change. For me, I like the warmer temps as it saves me money right now. I don't have to run the heat as much in my apartment. I don't know about other folks but, I like to give Baltimore Gas & Electric as little of my money as possible. Also, the warmer temps make it nicer for riding my motorbike. I'm determined to ride it year round as long as it's safe to ride it on the roads i.e. no ice or snow. As soon as I get enough free time, I plan to make my way over to Heyser Cycle and get the latest heated hand grip kit put on the bike. That should help a bunch with the cold weather. One drawback of my Yamaha TMAX is that the handlebars are very exposed to the wind. That means, your hands can get very cold very quick during the winter. The heated hand grips help alleviate this problem. Cheers all.

Final Bushnell Update

Sometime between this morning and this evening, Bushnell apparently successfully fixed their server problem. When I arrived home from work this evening, I logged on to the Internet and, the software for my Bushnell 7 day FXi weather forecaster promptly activated. I checked it and found out it was working fine. It was giving me the forecasts for the 5 different places I track weather wise. I'm glad they got the glitch fixed. That wraps up my series of blog entries on this. Cheers all!

Bushnell Update

I promised any readers out there that if I found out more on the server problem with Bushnell weather forecasters that I would pass on the additional information. Here is my first update on this.

I emailed Accuweather.com asking them if they knew when they would get their server problem fixed. They replied stating that is wasn't their problem. That it was Bushnell's problem and, they were aware of it. Then, I forwarded that email to Bushnell customer service letting them know what Accuweather said. To my surprise, Bushnell had a different story this time. They stated that they had "a technical issue" with their server that affected the information for my "local weather." Also, they stated that they are "doing everything possible to get the server back up and running" as soon as possible. That makes sense as people aren't going to want to buy their weather forecasting units if they don't work because of the server glitch.

That's all for this update. I'll post more updates if I get any more information on this problem.

News on Bushnell Weather Forecaster

I found out about 5 minutes ago that Accuweather.com is having problems sending weather updates over the Internet to those who have Bushnell weather forecaster units. My source for this is Bushnell's own technical support who I spoke with after being unable to get full weather forecasts for the past 3 or 4 days. According to the tech support person, Accuweather is aware of the problem but, they haven't given a specific date and time when the problem will be fixed. The problem is at their end and not with the Bushnell equipment. Hopefully, Accuweather will get the problem fixed as I've very much enjoyed getting regular forecasts over my Bushnell 7 day weather forecaster FXi. If I find out anything more on this, I'll post an update.

Snow Update

Here is my first update on the snowstore that socked Maryland. The snow started falling sometime around Noon. Initially, it was very light and a lot of it melted on the roads. Around 4 p.m., the snow started falling more heavily and by 5 p.m., there was 2 to 3 inches of accumulation. The snow continued to fall heavily during the night.

I tried gauging how the snow was from my apartment but, my apartment windows were partly covered with it so, I bundled up and walked out into it. At 6 a.m., I found my apartment complex parking lot had at least 17 inches of snow. Some areas around my apartment building have 23 inches plus. I walked up to the Maryland 198 road to see if it had been plowed. It had though there was only 1 stretch that was passable. There wasn't any traffic on it at that time. A good wind was blowing that blustery at times. According to the National Weather Service (NWS) (http://weather.gov), there will be gusts as high as 35 mph today.

The NWS is predicting the snow will continue to fall heavily until this evening with the possibility of another 4 to 8 inches of snow. In my opinion, people should stay home and off the roads if they can. The conditions are really bad right now. Stay tuned for more updates. Cheers!

Summer

Summer has definitely arrived here in Maryland. The temperatures have been consistently averaging 80 plus every day. Thankfully, the worst part of Maryland summer hasn't arrived yet. The worst part is the humidity. Around mid-July, the humidity will hit making Maryland something of a sauna. It's really annoying. You walk out and you instantly break into a sweat. I'll count my blessings that the humidity hasn't hit yet. Also, I'll start taking a cooler of water with me when I do a route so I won't get dehydrated. It's easy to do when you're outside for 4 or 5 hours at a stretch.

Humidity

One of the bad things about Maryland summers is the humidity. While the humidity isn't as bad as it is in Northwest Florida (I remember my glasses fogging up every time I walked outside), it still saps you when your outdoors. I feel certain it causes you to sweat more which is annoying. Yesterday was particularly bad. I was working at the Post Office and I could feel the humidity in the air as I cased my mail. It got worse when I hit the street to deliver my mail. The only good I could say about it was it sure did make you appreciate air conditioning. When I finished delivering my mail, I returned to the Post Office to turn in my undeliverable accountables (the people weren't home), packages I couldn't deliver (the people weren't home) and undeliverable mail (the people had moved). When I walked into the Post Office, the air conditioning hit me and boy did it feel GOOD! Sadly, the humid summers here last into August. So, I'll get to sweat and suffer for a good while. :-(

Heat

Yesterday, summer hit Maryland with a vengeance. The high was supposed to be in the 90's and it felt like it. One of the bad things about working as a mail carrier for the U.S. Post Office is you have to work in all kinds of weather including high heat. Because of the heat, it was a real trial delivering the mail yesterday. I hate being sweaty. Unlike the cold where I can put on an extra jacket, with the heat, there is nothing you can do but suffer through it while you're delivering your mail. The heat can also make me irritable. I had to do my best not to get frustrated. Today is supposed to be more of the same but, I wasn't scheduled to work today and I don't plan to help out on the city side. I plan to stay indoors as much as possible to avoid it. Hopefully, it'll get cooler soon. We'll see.

Maryland Weather

This past week was a showcase of how Maryland is weather wise. Earlier this week, we had sunshine and the temperatures hit the low 70's. Yesterday, the temperatures dropped, it rained all day gradually turning into a freezing rain which made a mess of things. This morning, I got to try to pry my car door open without breaking the handle thanks to the ice freezing it shut. Later, as I was delivering mail, I had to watch out constantly for black ice. It was all very annoying. I suspect the problem weather wise is that Maryland is on the borderline between the North and the South so it gets both kinds of weather. We'll get warm Southern periods of weather then the cold Northern weather will move in. One thing that is particularly hard about Maryland weather is it makes it easy to catch a cold. The constant change in temperature is hard on the body. So far, I've been lucky cold wise (knock on wood). I'm going to keep my fingers crossed and hope it warms up soon. We'll see.

SHARE Update 8/27/06

I worked at SHARE yesterday. I was delighted to get to work for them. They're really nice people there and the job is more laid back vice my jobs at Medieval Times and at the Post Office. The only hard thing about the job is when they start on Distribution Saturdays. I had to be there at 5 a.m. 5 a.m. isn't a hard hour for me to be up. What is hard about is that in order for me to be at SHARE at 5 a.m., I have to get up at 3:30 a.m. so I can rustle up some kind of breakfast (don't ask what I ate as you wouldn't be impressed by my eating habits), get dressed, and drive down there (the trip can take any where between 15 and 60 minutes depending on traffic on Interstate-295). After a long hard day at the Post Office, I wasn't keen about getting up super early. Still, I dragged myself out of bed, scoured the fridge for something readily eatable, and slapped on some clothes that were reasonably clean.

It was a typical distribution day in that things were busy all the way until 10:30 or so. After that, it slacked off and by 11:00, we had only a slight trickle of customers. We started cleaning up around 11:30. By 12:30, everything was pretty much done. I clocked out shortly afterwards and drove home. I planned to take a 2-hour nap but fate had other things in store for me. I had difficulty finding out what days I'd work at the Post Office next week and my former best friend Mark Morton called. Then, the folks at Medieval Times called and told me they'd like to come in early. Crap! It ended up being a very long day (I was up for over 19 hours) though it was a profitable one money wise.

One final note on this topic, I'll be glad when summer is over. I know some people love summer but I confess I don't. It is way too hot and humid in Maryland. I like cooler climes. Some where between 65 and 75 is just right for me. Anything above 80 gets annoying for me since I hate sweating. I particularly hate it when I break into a new sweat after I just got out of the shower. It makes me feel like I wasted my time in the shower. Yesterday, it was particularly hot at SHARE and my shirt was soaked with sweat by the time I left. I'll be happy when fall arrives. I like the beautiful colors and the slight chill in the air. (I also like spring with its refreshing rains. There is nothing like breathing the air after it has rained.)

On a different subject: just a reminder that the Maryland Renaissance Festival opened its doors yesterday. It really is a great renaissance festival with great facilities and wonderful acts. It's very affordable and not terribly difficult to get to. It runs until October 23rd (I think). If you have a free weekend, it would be worth your while to check it out. And make sure you try one of their smoked turkey legs! They are really good and fun to munch on.