Lake Erie and how it changed in a year.

I started this post on January 11 but got sidetracked and never finished it.  I'm trying to clear some stuff up and decided it's worth the effort.

What a difference a year makes.

I was surfing the net and I saw this  blog post  about the weather.  I knew where I was living in NW LA it was dry but I didn't realize how dry until I saw the bit about Texas.  I live about 30 miles from the Texas boarder so we were experiencing the same type of drought conditions too.
  But what really got me thinking about this post was the differences I saw in Lake Erie when I went to visit for Christmas.  My family has a place on Lake Erie and I love to go there to visit in Madison Ohio.  Every time I go I am always amazed at how different the lake looks.  Because of this I do take pictures of it and have some with the same reference points. Plus the beautiful sunsets make it all the more photogenic. When I look to the west I can see Madison public boat launch and use that as a reference.  Usually it is in the left hand side, center, of these photos. This is what the lake normally looks like through the years.

   Here's what the lake looked like last year when I posted this
http://rockhoundingaround.blogspot.com/2011/01/ice-froming-on-lake-erie.html
And here's some more pictures of  Lake Eire at various times during the year.

November 15 2010, Lake Erie.  Notice how low the water was, you could barely launch a boat

Lake Erie on Dec 24, 2010

 You can get a sense of where the water level was by looking at the gray area that runs through the middle of the photo below. Its in line with the drainage ditch next to the boat launch.

 Here's another image of the same area taken in August 2011.  I liked the fact that the lake was so calm so that I could get some good comparison shots.

And some more images of what the  lake looked like in August 2011.  Notice how low the water is right now but you can tell its been a lot higher in the not so distant past.

 

Notice how the water level is lower than the drainage barrels  thus exposing all of them. 
The drainage barrels were installed back in the 1920's to stop  erosion of the beach.  They've done an good job.  The property to the north of ours did not have any erosion control until the 1990's and the property was shrinking every year until the retaining wall was installed.
Again notice how low the water is and how much beach you see.

You can see that the water level has definite risen since December of 2010.  Notice here how the beach showing is a lot less.

     And here's it a year later at Christmas time.  See how its past the drainage ditch next to the boat launch.

 See what a difference 24 hours can make on Lake Erie.  That's why it can be so treacherous at time.  You can't even see the first row of the drainage barrels.

You can still see that the water level has definitely risen over the year. 
I knew my family was complaining about the weather and all the rain they were getting but I never realize how much it was.  Just look at how high the water line is now.  I'm glad I had these same shots to use for references.  When I think about how much water that must be it just boggles my mind, because Lake Erie is such a big lake. It's very usual to notice any changes in the water levels because of its size. This is what Wikipedia has on Lake_Erie. It says that the lake has "has a surface area of 9,940 square miles (25,745 km²)^[1] with a length of 241 miles (388 km) and breadth of 57 miles (92 km) at its widest points.". To see the lake rising so much is so unusual because when you think of how much water it would take just to raise it an inch let alone feet or meters it is just amazing.  I'm just glad I'm not around it all the time so when I do get to see it I am very much aware of the differences.

Cat pictures of my Shaddow

  I love both cats and dogs.  I never had a dog growing up, but only cats.  I must admit I used to be very partial to cats. But now that I have dogs I can't say I prefer one over the other.  My family has two dogs and one cat.  I've written about the dogs before here  &  KC here.  But I haven't done to much about the cat.  The reason being is when we got the cat my son reacted to it and we had to keep it as an outdoor pet.  And as an outdoor pet he's been great.  Since we've gotten him all those pestly little critters have disappear and I must admit I really don't miss them.  Because we live on the bayou before we got him we were always having to deal with them one way or another.  I'm glad he now handles that for us. But it also means he's never around the house unless its time to be feed.  And if he's had something else already that day we might not see him for awhile.
   The other day Dana  @ En Tequila Es Verdad   put out a challenge with this  'I shall now turn the battlefield over to Jen and Greta, having laid down the preliminary fire. My readers are encouraged to submit any adorable cat pictures they have, in case an escalation of hostilities is the unfortunate outcome of Crommunist’s ill-advised sortie.'
 And this was just what I needed to finally break down and try to get some more pictures of him.  I must admit it was quite funny.  I was taking some of the tulip magnolia tree (that I've already posted), when Shaddow the cat showed up.  I decided to take his picture too, only being a cat he was too dignified for that and wouldn't cooperate.  I was bending over with my butt sticking up in the air trying to get him into a poseable position when my neighbor walked by.  She called out 'where's my camera when I need it.'  I told her she could borrow mine since that seems to be my better side anyway. We both got a good laugh over how those things seem to change with age.   While we were joking around the cat decided he had had enough and proceeded to disappear.
  Shaddow then showed up on top of my car.  He likes to pretend its his and gets really upset when I decide I need to use it.  He doesn't complain too much because he knows when it comes back it will be nice and warm and when the weather is cold that's his favorite place to be -out of the weather in the garage on a nice warm car. So here's some of the pictures:

 And now the garage ones:

If he looks like a big cat its because he is.  He weighs about 17 pounds.  Here he is in my sons arms, the one that just had to have him.  My son is six feet tall.

As an added bonus.  My niece just got a new kitten for Christmas and I just had to get some of him too.  Isn't he cute.

 

  They grow so fast that I'm sure the next time I see him he'll be three times his current size.

Now I muse about the fact that I know shadow is spelled with one d but to be honest the vet aid spelled it wrong when she entered it into the computer and we've stuck with Shaddow ever since.

Is anyone else having trouble posting AW-43?

  Hollis is hosting Accrectionary Wedge #43 here.  I'm having trouble leaving a comment for this call to post and I was wondering if its just my computer or is anyone else having the same problems I am?  When I go to prove I'm not a robot the screen is blank and I don't know what to type.  When I listen to the sound  and I type the words they say its not correct.  I was able to leave a comment at the Accretionary wedge home page under who will host so I don't understand why I'm having troubles at her blog leaving it as a comment.
   By the way why are the call to posts not put at the Accretionary Wedge home page anymore?  I thought that was the whole purpose of the Wedge was to bring the blogs together and to give us topics to write about -to have one central location for everything.

If you try to leave a comment here and can't please let me know via my email.  amowillis@yahoo.com.

Pollen in air = Beautiful Sunsets

  The days are getting longer and as they do the sunset is occurring about the time I'm getting dinner ready and or we are eating it. Our kitchen table is right by a big picture window that looks to the west.  When we are eating we've been able to enjoy watching the sunset.  The last couple of days we've had some unusually beautiful sunsets. 
   On Friday we were having some unusually warm weather too so my husband and I decided to get some steaks and grill them for dinner.  As we were grilling them we were also able to watch the sunset while we drank some wine.  Again it was another beautiful sunset.  It was so pretty I just had to get a picture or two.

   As we were musing about it my husband asked me if I had any idea why the sunsets have been so beautiful lately.  I figured it had to be due to the tree pollen in the air.  He thought it was a bit early for that.  My response was 'then why was I at the allergy doctors office yesterday?'
  This past week my eyes have been really irritated and my nose stuffed up.  The doctor told me it was due to the tree pollen in the air.  Years ago I learned that the more particulate matter that is in the air the prettier the sunsets you have. ( here's what Wikipedia has to say about sunsets and its color- which confirms what I remember about airborne particles causing the colors in sunsets.). It just stands to reason that all this tree pollen that's giving me fits is also causing these beautiful sunsets.

So now its late at night and my husband is snoring which is something he hardly ever does and I can't sleep.  I know his allergies are starting to act up too due to all this pollen in the air. I know I can't complain because I've been snoring too and that's what keeps on waking me up - hearing myself snore.  Yes Spring has definitely sprung in this area.

Now I'm musing upon what are my doctors bills going to be since it seems like we are all suffering from allergies already this season.  I can't complain too much because I'm getting to see such pretty sunsets and they are free.

Buddy and KC (almost a year later)

Last year, I found out my dog KC had congestive heart failure and that she was on borrowed time. So I wrote a post about  KC here: http://rockhoundingaround.blogspot.com/2011/03/kc.html .  It was troubling to learn this and I tried to do what was best for her after all she was 13 1/2 human yrs or 95 doggie years.  For awhile she would take her medicine but then she started to refuse to take it.  I would hide it in pill pockets, she'd eat around it and spit the pills out.  I would grind it up and hide it in food.  She'd refuse to eat the food.  I would grind it up and put it in the pill pocket pouch and stuff it down her throat, and she would upchuck it.  Finally I just gave up trying and accepted the fact that this is the way she wanted things to be.  She knows she's at the end of her days and has accepted things for the way that they are.  I never thought she would make it this long. But the other day I just had to take some pictures of her and Buddy together.  She was growling at him to get off of her but he didn't want to budge.

Here Buddy looks like he's trying to talk sweet nothings into her ear, and she's trying to ignore him.

  

They sure do love each other and are so good about keeping each other warm.

My Tulip Magnolia is in bloom

Remember last spring when I wrote that it felt like spring was here and I posted this blog post.  Well that was done on February 26, 2011.  I was amazed at how early spring came last year.  Well it started even earlier this year and this has me so concerned.
Here's some pictures of the same tree.  I feel like if I didn't take them now it would be too late.  The sad thing was it started to bloom and then we got some freezing weather and it caused the blooms to turn brown and are now falling off.  It is not going to be as spectacular as it has been in the past. But it still is impressive.

 The tulip magnolia just starting to bloom on Feb 8th 2012.

 One week later
 And here's how it looks like today.

 

Tulip magnolia or Japanese Magnolia.

Tulip Magnolia or Japanese magnolia Feb 26, 2011

 See how spectacular it was last year.

 Another picture taken last Feb 26, 2011.

It used to be I never expected the tree to bloom until March because of when I first saw it blooming.

Here's a picture on March 16, 1994 showing the Tulip tree in full bloom.  We had moved into the house the year before during the summer and we never saw this tree in bloom.  We were amazed by it and had to get some photos.

 
 I just happened to write the date on them so I would remember when it bloomed like that.  Can you believe its 18 years later and blooming one month earlier than it did before.  I know the flowers will be long gone by the time March rolls around.  Already so many pedals have fallen off our yard needs to be raked.

2-25-2012 I've taken a couple of more pictures of the tree since it was so pretty.

 

 
We've had a couple of very windy days and now here's all that's left on the tree and on the ground.

 

 

Another thing I should note that we've been having record breaking weather too.  On Thursday Feb 23, 2012 the temperature got up to 87 degrees.  To me that's just plain crazy weather to have for February.

the almanac enhanced

Now I muse upon the fact I'm glad I took the pictures that I did when I did.