A Low Level Jet Overhead for all week for "everything"

 Yesterday was 68°F. The next five days will be 55ish  with chances of rain each day through Saturday. It  is mid-winter already under Meteorological winter (the months of December, January and February. unlike the astronomical seasons that begin with the earths circulation  around the sun by a specific date, which can change from the 20-22th . Three weeks isn't gonna make any big difference in the seasons so I enjoy the use of the December 1 to Feb 28-29 as winter. Meteorological spring is March, April, and May. Meteorological summer is June, July, and August. Meteorological fall is September, October, and November. it is just much easier than trying to remember the exact date of the current year. I don't carry my Farmer's Almanac around in my hip pocket like the farmers once did. And one of my grandfathers was a farmer. I have picket cotton on his farm as a 12-year old. My bag weighed in at 26 pounds. I remember that day after all those years as I remember walking the 5 miles into town from my grandfather's farm because I wanted to be independent and strong willed. Those were iconic moments growing up that I cherish to this day. My determination and will power were developed because my parents and grandparents were in harmony and were not helicopter-parents like so many today. Times are different today, I realize, but that's from a parents perspective. It's certainly not from the kids point of views. The difference is, my parents had trust in me, they taught me well, and I had a support group of peers and peers parents that had rules to abide by and uphold. 

Having said that, I see today some of the things that made a difference in my life growing up and I am so thankful to have had parents, grandparents and a church based upbringing.  So much of that is missing from today's youth.  I have been following the almost daily reports in the news of what I call the Golden Triangle years of well know kids, sports figures etc., in that 24-25-26 year range. Just another one today with Harry Brant, son of super model Stephanie Seymour and Billionaire Peter Brant. It was reported that he died from an overdose. He had been a model for Italian Vogue and had started a cosmetic line with his brother. He had also worked for his father's "interview" business as a writer. In other words, he had the world by the tail. Any loss of life is painful. I lost a son at 27 who had done everything by the book and right every step of the way. That pain grows, it doesn't lessen. It's just dulled a bit as time passes, but never goes away.

Of late, I have been paying keen attention of weather systems. The typical January Arctic Chill just hasn't been around so far this year. Like I mentioned earlier, we were 68°F yesterday. Our average is 55. But, today, the daily average high's officially change as the sun moves slowly northward again.  What I am saying is that I have been watching the wind patterns this year more than normal. My house is only cold when we get a Northwest Wind. I have  been considering having a storm door installed. One, I can  keep the door open in our lovely Springs and Falls and cut down on the electricity to run my heat bills during December and January. I've got an on-going battle going on with TXU Energy anyway. This year when it has gotten a bit chilly inside, instead of kicking up the heat a degree or two, I put on an extra light weight jacket and turn the knob down a degree, not up. Works well for me! I love reading the notes on my energy dashboard where TXU says: "Congratulations! your energy use for January is 39% less that other homes like your. Meteorological spring is March, April, and May. Meteorological summer is June, July, and August. Meteorological fall is September, October, and November.s." It puts a smile on my face.Call me a tree hugging nature lover, or an energy neutral person, I don't mind. I never have minded doing work one. What I do mind is having to do work twice because of someone else that didn't do their job correctly the first time. Hey Walmart---answer your phones!! You cost me my spot in delivery yesterday!

March 1 begins Meteorological  Spring and I have seen green buds on the trees open by that date. Which is right on target. In the Great Lakes, I could always count on seeing those buds and red buds flowering by income tax day, April 15th. That's 45 days to travel 1200 miles northward. Mother nature is a great calculator. So based on her perfection, I have already been on a bud discovery mission to find areas of the woodlands that have more than normal swollen buds just waiting for that first day of 70-75°F days to pop open those buds into greenery and flowers by March 1. It is closer than we think. One must observe and note their observations to be fully in tune with nature. Just as the colors in leaves in the fall in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan move south 20 miles per day, in the springtime, it works exactly the same going the other way south to north. 

So, tomorrow, I guess that I can watch the shindig going on at the Capital. It will be one for the history books for sure. I like history. I've seen my share of it. From JFK's speech on the steps of the Capital when he said," Ask Not What Your Country Can Do For You... " to Watching Oswald shot on live TV to men landing on the moon, the Civil Rights Movement, 911,the first African American President, Obama and much, much more  up to the events of tomorrow with the swearing in of the first African-Asian Vice President and woman. January 20, 1961 to January 20, 2021, an astonishing 60 years of time and hundreds of books written about it all. I would not have missed a minute!

There's Irony In Mother Nature's Guardian Time Keeper USNO

Currently, we are experiencing the coldest mornings of the season with a hard freeze in the mid to low twenties. Yet, as I go about my route routine, I find all kinds of new shoots that are breaking out into beautiful green leaves.  Usually, our trees show buds and growth around the first of March and our flowering trees begin to show white and red and pink blossoms all over by the end of March. The grasses have come out of their winter's sleep, rolling back their brown dry color for beautiful greenish color and growth.

My potted trees on the porch are beginning to show their swelling buds this season, I'm afraid that I will have to start to trim them back. If I put them out on the sidewalk, then the lawn crew's big mowers have a hard time maneuvering and they don't like that. So, I might have to look for someone who wants three free trees this fall that can plant them this time next year.

The irony, of course, is that while one bush has seed pods still hanging from last fall, it also has new growth popping out at the same time.  While I don't like to push things but rather take it as it comes, there is one (which is really 4) times a year when I do choose to push some.  That's the difference of an astronomical start vs. a meteorological start of the seasons.

Astronomical    Spring:     March 20 at  5:58  pm EDT
Meteorological   Spring :     March  1

Astronomical    Summer:   June  21    at 11:54 am EDT
Meteorological   Summer:   June   1

Astronomical    Fall:          September 23 at 3:50 am EDT
Meteorological    Fall           September 1

Astronomical  Winter:        December 21 at 11:19pm EST
Meteorological  Winter       December 1 

Nesting Season Has Begun

Blooms have started in ground cover plants

New grown shoots with old seed pods still hanging  on.

Quickly, it's easy to understand why I choose to go with meteorological rather than Astronomical dates.  First, the days are always going to vary because of the lunar cycle. Second, the time will vary as well for the same reason. Third, note eastern daylight times and one eastern standard time with the daylight savings scheme in play. It's just plain easier to go with the meteorological dating of when the sun will cross the various boundaries on its way north in the spring and its way south in the winter with the equator being crossed in spring and fall. The months don't change it's still March, June, September and December, you just don't have to spend a lot of brain cell time  with all the details involved for four days of the year. Spring is still going to happen just as it really does in March.

Now, not to lessen the importance of the U.S. Naval Observatory that brings us all this information. They have use for specific time tables, but me---I really don't need that information beyond the month and neither does Mother Nature when the new shoots and buds blossom. They are not just sitting there waiting for March 20th at 5:58 pm EDT to bring forth new growth. It's already happened where I live. And when I lived in the Great Lakes, I could always count on the trees having new grown from their opening buds by Income Tax Day (April 15th).