Spring Sprung Too Soon #WeatherGeek Wakeup!

Another morning below freezing. It's once again bear hibernation cold ...through this morning, at least. By the afternoon, it'll be in the mid-50s --- and then only dropping into the 30s overnight (the upper 30s, staying above freezing). By tomorrow, this crazy late Winter cold spell will all be mere memory, I hope. And by next week, it will be back in the 70s. Spring. But at the moment, it's frigid. (Of course, in spite of this, I crave ice still. My teeth chatter.) I think, I'm going back to snuggle under the blankets. My biological clock is off. Later...

The #Weather Gods Are Haters. #WeatherGeek #Tornadoes #Thunderstorms

Boy howdy was it one heck of a weekend! In case you haven't heard, the Southeastern United States got pummeled on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. (There were a reported 15 tornadoes in the state of Georgia alone on Saturday. Fifteen!) Seems we're experiencing our normal Spring weather instabilities in January. We saw thunderstorms, wind, rain and flooding in the metro Atlanta area.

This, came right on the heels of a record nine straight days of 70+ degrees temperatures. We needed the rain, because of the ongoing drought, but the rest was overkill, and we didn't get the worse of it. Places to the south and east of us were really put through the ringer, on repeat, with the Georgia coast getting kicked in the gonads for good some measure. (My thoughts are with all those around the globe affected by the crazy storms and natural disasters of late; it's been a beast of a weather year already.)

Personally, I'm still out of sorts. Pup hates storms and as we had several roll through during the overnight hours, this meant little to no sleep for several nights in a row. (She comes to find me whenever a storm gets going and we sit curled up, riding it through together.) During lulls we'd venture out to canvas the neighborhood, checking on neighbors and inspecting for damages. We were pretty lucky around here (sadly, others were not).

There will be a Wind Advisory in effect until 7:00p, but today is predicted to be drier eventually --- after a few morning showers. (Mere rain doesn't usually rile pup, but the last three days of high water storms proved stressful for her, thus, when it suddenly started pouring down around 2:30a, pup hopped up and came down the hall to get me and we've been up ever since.) Hopefully, I'll be able to crank things up a notch once she heads back to bed --- the rain sounds as if its finally tapering off --- and get stuff done. At the moment, however, all I want to do is crawl back in bed and do crosswords until the sun rises.

No such luck for me though. No rest for the wicked er, weary. Guess, I'll make coffee... On the bright side, the Atlanta Falcons are headed to Super Bowl LI --- a legitimate excuse to throw a party --- and I made Overnight Oats for breakfast. Small steps, small steps....

Will it #Snow? Sounds Like a Good Impetus To Stock Up on Extra #Bedding. #SYWR #WeatherGeek

There may be an accumulation of snow in the metro Atlanta area this weekend! As Winter is finally upon us (for a spell), I thought it was a good time to acquire more stock for the bedding closet. It's always good to have extra blankets, quilts and throws at hand. Besides, I had some limited-time Shop Your Way Rewards (SYWR) points that were due to expire today.

Thus yesterday, using the SYWR points I'd earned from several Sweepstakes Doorbusters Prizes and a few (small denomination) Sweepstakes Prize Points Wins --- approximately $8.00 in points, when taken together --- I ordered two free Cannon Fleece Throws (50" W x 60" L), a Blue Plaid one and a Grey Plaid one, that were $3.99/ea. on sale utilizing the free store pickup service, and which will be lovely for snuggling while reading or watching movies.

Cannon Fleece Throw, Blue Plaid

Cannon Fleece Throw, Grey Plaid

I don't like being overheated, whether it's Winter or Summer. In Winter, I generally keep the thermostat set at around 64 degrees unless somebody is ill or we have guests, in which case I will adjust it accordingly. (There's a decent amount of research regarding how long-term mild cold exposure helps with metabolism by forcing the body to activate brown fat (BAT) in order to expend white fat as energy instead of storing it, which in turn works to keep one lean.) I'd rather snuggle in a blanket, if need be, or add layers of clothing, than be in sweltering heat any day of the year.

Scoring free blankies makes me feel a bit like Linus, though Schroeder is my favorite Peanuts® character. (It's all good, however, because I like Linus, second best. Poor old Charlie Brown.) Perhaps subconsciously, I gravitate toward the blue and the grey colors because of my avid interest in Civil War history. Then, again, I tend to like cool hues in home decor. Who knows really? The mind is a terrible thing....

#Dogs and #Thunderstorms Are Not Friends. #WeatherGeek

As a weather geek, I used to like thunderstorms, but this was before I got a dog. Having a pup who does not enjoy booms, claps and rumbles, changes a perspective. (And this, quick on the heels of the "bombs bursting in air" which constituted New Year's.) We need the rain, because we're still recovering from extreme drought, but... Thunderstorms have become a source of trepidation. But alas, pup is tucked in and finally off to sleep, I hope, as things seem to be settling down. Last night into this morning was a crazy, rainy, cold, clammy, foggy, thunderous mess --- and as I also got little to no sleep due to my sitting up with a worried pup, I am off to bed.

May the Sun gods shine today!

What's Your Name? Call Me Procrastinator #LastMinuteShopping #Movies #WeatherGeek

Dinner + Movie Night was a roaring success! I'm still in recovery mode having only gone to bed a few hours ago. Lack of sleep isn't my problem, however, because my natural sleep cycle is only four hours. No, most often my day simply does not have enough time available within it to accomplish everything I need to get done.

Today is an exception. I haven't planned much beyond doing some last minute shopping --- Egads! I may actually need to venture out to a store. Oh, the horror --- and watching a few flicks (need to use some expiring Redbox Playpass Credits).

Due to various relatives heading this way for the holidays, things will likely be crazy for the next 10 days. We'll have to play it by ear. (I'm trying to keep to a posting schedule... Good luck with that, says a little voice.)

By the way, our odd weather continues. It's supposed to get up to 70 degrees on Christmas day. December? Where are you? I don't mind the mild Winter, except for the preponderance of bugs still giddily flying around. An amateur entomologist, I like bugs generally --- when they aren't dive-bombing into my eye, which has happened quite a lot of late. Perhaps, their sense of direction is being skewed by the weather, for these insect varieties aren't used to being active this late into the year. (To bastardize Yaz: How Winter Kills... or not.)

Well, I should get my gear together. It'll be time to brave the wilderness soon. Crowds. Ick. Wish I had a magic wand to wave and make them disappear.

On the bright side, I picked up French fries and Ranch Dressing (this week's Free Friday Download) at my local Kroger store to munch on while watching movies later. Not certain what I should rent. I'm interested in seeing Florence Foster Jenkins, but may lean toward something Sci-Fi or Fantasy based to unwind, depending on how the day has gone. Guess I'll take a chance on whatever is in the Redbox kiosk.

Winter Is (Not) Coming

I could have told you, prior to the release of any scientific data bolstering the point, that this past Winter was one of our warmest on record (in modernity). And pray tell, how would I know this other than the fact that I barely needed a coat all season?

Well, first there was my unceasing allergies — it was so mild naughty things kept blooming right on through the Winter. "Winter? We don't need no stinking Winter," said the Flora.

And second, the backyard chickens kept by two different neighbors never ceased laying eggs. You heard me right. This is significant.

Normally, most chickens "in the wild" — as in, those not in an artificial daylight environment commercial operation — will cease laying eggs with the coming of Winter as the days grow shorter and it stays cold and dark for longer periods. However, the seasonal changes were so slight this time around that these chickens never received the necessary cues to wind their biological clocks down. They just kept on ticking all year! Poor chickens!

We know humans have issues galore when our circadian rhythms are knocked askew, so what happens when we reach the point where the chickens don't come home to roost?

It's this week's "Sign of the Apocalypse".

NOTICE: This post is a reblog from (the now defunct) castlemodern.tumblr.com. It was originally published 24-Mar-2016. Post may have been edited or updated from its original text.

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Author's Note: The above post is the reason I moved CM to a platform with full commenting features. I admit the post is a bit tongue-in-cheek --- I had recently read Sports Illustrated's Sign of the Apocalypse blurb, after all --- but really... the post garnered several "notes": one is someone pointing out there are chicken breeds which lay eggs year round so it wasn't due to climate change and another is someone reposting it to his tumblr with the addition of this little tidbit: "Chickens' egg-laying cycles respond to light cues, not temperature cues, as far as I know. People who want their..." 

I wanted to respond but had no desire to keep reblogging the post merely to make a comment. In my opinion, there wasn't an easy way to start a back-and-forth discussion on tumblr. I needed to rethink things and eventually decided to move my website to a different platform so that I would be able to engage readers, discuss, and even argue points in-line.

My comment is this: 

Climate Change is an important topic to me; however, even though global warming has been observed to interfere with the normal lifecycles (and breeding cycles) of various bird populations, I honestly didn't believe that one or two cases of our neighborhood's chickens laying eggs year-round meant the world would implode tomorrow. The post is mostly an interesting observation that all the neighborhood chickens, though different breeds, were oddly in sync and not be having normally. (One neighbor has kept chickens for over 20 years and has never before recalled her chickens not stopping laying eggs in Winter.) More data would need to be collected to determine causation, obviously. 

My second point is a direct response to the comment above regarding light cues vs temperature cues being the key to chickens' egg-laying cycles. Have we forgotten as much basic science as this? Light and (heat) temperature are often nearly interchangeable. Light has an inherent temperature gradient. Light cues include temperature cues by default. (Oversimplification, yes, but apparently it's needed.) 

If you think chickens do not respond to temperature changes or that said response can affect their ability to lay eggs.... urgh! Be very afraid, World, for we are actually doomed.