Hello again

Well, it seems like everyone is back into it, except me and Jo. But we could excuse Jo, as she is probably on summer holidays.

It's been a bloggy while, due to the fact that I couldn't possibly blog about the weather one more time, plus I have been working, and it seemed that it had been a relatively uneventful 10 days in our household. Buying a house seems to have put paid to all those fancy weekends away - but it is great having our own house again, even if it means digging up and unblocking drains in the cold rain on the weekends. We finally got the laundry out of the kitchen and into the garage, which is brillirant, so we can at least put in a dishwasher and then soon a brand new kitchen. Yay - priority number one next rotation out, to finalise ordering the new kitchen.

We did find a good source of latest movies too, to while away for hours while in Oman. Yip, back again to the Omani land on Thursday. Mike is coming to meet up with me at the end of this rotation in, so we can have some semblance of a summer holiday like those in the southern hemisphere. Long way to come for a long weekend, but it will be worth it. I have added a few extra days at the end with no work so we can do some touristy things and simply grab as much sun as we possibly can.

It was a great time at home this time. Sorry no photos of New Years Celebrations as it was pretty quiet here.

Neil Diamond - Be

We just dusted off Jonathon Livingstone Seagull tonight.

"Written by: neil diamond

Lost
On a painted sky
Where the clouds are hung
For the poets eye
You may find him
If you may find him

There
On a distant shore
By the wings of dreams
Through an open door
You may know him
If you may

Be
As a page that aches for words
Which speaks on a theme thats timeless
While the sun God will make for your day
Sing
As a song in search of a voice that is silent
And the one God will make for your way

And we dance
To a whispered voice
Overheard by the sould
Undertook by the heart
And you may know it
If you may know it

While the sand
Would become the stone
Which begat the spark
Turned to living bone
Holy, holy
Sanctus, sanctus

Be
As a page that aches for word
Which speaks on a theme that is timeless
While the sun God will make for your day
Sing
As a song in search of a voice that is silent
And the one God will make for your day"

Whiteout

Not a lot happening here if late. Sue and the doglets are housebound on account of the sub zero temperatures and snow that just will not go away, the doglets are going a little stir crazy I might add. Sue says lucky she has her work, as one can only watch so many classic movies in a day can't one!

I hear in the news that even Portugal is standing gobsmacked by sub zero conditions.

Wikipedia had this to say on the conditions of the day...ours was of the third variety.

"Whiteout (weather)

Whiteout is a weather condition in which visibility and contrast are severely reduced by snow and diffuse lighting from overcast clouds.

There are three different forms of a whiteout:

1. In blizzard conditions, the windblown snow in the air may make it too difficult to see very far.
2. In snowfall conditions, the volume of snow falling may obscure objects reducing visibility.
3. In clear air conditions, when there is no snow falling, diffuse lighting from overcast cloud may cause all surface definition to disappear.

It becomes impossible to tell how far away the snowy surface is. In polar regions this optical illusion can make whole snow-covered mountains invisible against the background white cloud, and the horizon cannot be identified, slopes cannot be judged for steepness, and snow surfaces cannot be seen. This effect is exacerbated by a smooth surface of fresh snow. It is only when a contrasting object is placed on a snowy surface that the surface can be detected.

In less extreme cases, it may suffice to break the snow surface by throwing a snowball ahead. This form is also known as flat light or sector whiteout.

Whiteout conditions pose threats to mountain climbers, skiers, aviation, and mobile ground traffic. Motorists, especially those on large high speed routes are also at risk. There have been many major multiple-vehicle collisions associated with whiteout conditions.


See also
Air New Zealand Flight 901, an air accident on Mount Erebus, Antarctica caused in part by whiteout conditions.

Climbing incidents on Mount Hood: all recent incidents have been caused by whiteouts."

Snow, Snow and more Snow in Huldenberg

Well, things took a dramatic turn last night, it had been snowing on and off the last couple of days, but last night saw the winter really show it's self with avengance. There is about 10 cm of snow out there now. It has been snowing all day today.

Saturday and Sunday saw us pottering around the yard testing the stormwater drains to see where the water was collecting and realising the storm water went out onto the road (yipee) and the system for collecting the kitchen waste was not doing it's job properly. Mike sorted out some drainage from the garage so we can now put the washing machine in the garage and lessen the load off the system for collecting the kitchen waste. Lucky he is a Mr Fixit- he also realised how much he enjoyed fitting again - or was it just fixing things - the later I presume.

What fun I hear you say? Sure was in freezing conditions, we had to go inside every few hours to let our toes thaw out again. Mike started digging a new sump and Sue moved a small old stack of fire wood, some inside and some to the larger stack and got a good tarp on it. Just in the nick of time, before the snow really set in.

Gosh we relly are country bumpkins now, sorting out waste tanks ... we even bought ourselves some gumboots last week.

Only just a tad jealous of Paula and Brett swanning around Brizzy on their boat.

Minus 5

We thought you might like to see what minus 5 looked like.

It certainly is a white new year! We took these pictures yesterday, while the frost was still on the trees, then it warmed up overnight - it was only minus 1.7 during the night and has been hanging around zero today. We decided to get out in the yard to clean up a few things things this morning and it started to snow! So now we have a nice wee white dusting - nothing too serious to screw up the roads.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE! All the best to one and all for an excellent 2009. I can feel this one is going to be a goodie. It got off to a good start with no hangovers - on account of getting into bed before 10pm last night. But we still saw in the new year as the neighbours fireworks woke us up on the dot of 00:00...mental note better get onto the new years message...

Little Britain - Anne Decorates For Christmas