Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => General Forum => Topic started by: TheOnionMan on September 03, 2010, 05:07:27 PM
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Hurricane Earl is getting close, although its track is a bit further east than first predicted, at this point with the eye just off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, with Nantucket Island bearing the brunt of the storm. Found a good site for hurricane tracking, it is:
http://www.stormpulse.com/fullscreen/current
You can zoom in and pan around, and turn clouds on/off, and radar (showing the bands of precipitation).
The storm has weakened, so it looks like we'll get some much needed rain, but will be accompanied by winds in the 39-57 mph range, enough to possibly knock some trees down and disrupt power. Thankfully, I don't think it's going to be that bad in Massachusetts, although the coastal areas will be battered by high surf and waves. landfall still appears to be in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, Canada.
I post two screen captures of the projected track, one with clouds turned off, the other with it one, illuminating to see how far reaching the cloud cover and rain effect reach. On the maps, the red dots indicates my location.
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It's a busy "hurricane preparadness" time for many folks here in Nova Scotia----I did most of my work with the obvious this morning (moving everything light weight into sheltered locations). I noticed that the botanic garden here was putting visitor benches and signage into storage just in case. However, there is only so much one can do. So as the saying goes, one prepares for the worst, and hopes for the best.
Although it now seems that likely landfall will be Cape Sable, near Halifax, anything is possible, including the second scenario, which could bring the storm fairly close to home (landfall near Yarmouth). I am expecting mostly very high winds and plenty of rain here, and hope if the electricity goes, it will not be for too long. Hopefully John Weagle and other Halifax area members here will stay safe.
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Large Earthquake here in NZ, no deaths but lots more rock gardens made :)
Seriously though I think Christchurch was lucky to escape any more damage, it was rocking pretty good here in Dunedin
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Good to know you are okay, Kees.
Just seen on the news about the earthquake..... 7.1 magnitude 30 mileswest of Christchurch worst hit, I think.... how dreadful. Hope that no-one is killed...... here we were worrying about hurricane Earl and Forumists on the East coast of N. America and wallop! chums in New Zealand are hit with this...... not good at all to have so many folks in trouble.
I'll be offline until tomorrow evening so I will be hoping for better news then.
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Good to know our friends in the NZ seem OK. Heard on our news that there were no deaths but lots of water mains broken. I would have through that more water is the last thing you needed!!
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And now our news is saying that 9 killed in a plane crash in South Island in NZ.
Dear oh dear oh dear.
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Terrible news about the earthquake in New Zealand; I spent some time catching up with news and videos after hearing about this. I hope that all of our NZ friends are safe and without injury or property damage.
Waiting for the hurricane tonight, it continued to be pushed further east into the Atlantic due to an west-to-east air front converging on the area, so not only are we not getting much influence from the storm, I believe we will miss most of the rain from the storm too (rain still desperately needed here). Hurricane Earl is now demoted to Tropical Storm Earl (sustained winds < 74 mph). With all windows open and the air conditioner off tonight, the air is still warm, terribly humid, and uncomfortable... the hot weather pattern now continues into next week. :'( Again, the red spot indicates where I'm located... we got a trifling amount of rain, not enough to even puddle up.
I hope our SRGC friends in Nova Scotia get some good rain and temperature relief, and have an uneventful passing of tropical storm Earl.
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And in turn, I'd like to wish the best possible, for you Mark, Kristl, John, Helen and all others in the affected regions. I hope any damage is not too devastating for you and your homes and gardens.
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And in turn, I'd like to wish the best possible, for you Mark, Kristl, John, Helen and all others in the affected regions. I hope any damage is not too devastating for you and your homes and gardens.
Lesley, thank you for your concern, although we ended up having virtually no effect from the storm. The storm passed us further out to sea than initially projected, and it was far enough away, that we had no wind, and only a trifling amount of rain (unfortunately). The storm was also running out of steam and downgraded to a tropical storm (sustained winds < 74 mph), and it moved on to Nova Scotia. I'd like to hear from our SRGC Nova Scotia friends to see that all is well, and while the storm was potentially a direct hit, hopefully it was not terribly bad or destructive given the storm's diminished intensity.
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Frustrating for the Americans who were hoping for at least the rainfall from Hurricane Earl to relieve their drought situations. :-X
Such a relief that the NZer forumists are at least unhurt after the earthquake. I don't think we have any Guatemalen forumists, where mudlslides are a problem... but there are plenty Forum Friends in Victoria in Australia where there is very bad flooding.... our best wishes to all of you for a safe passage through all these weather hazards.
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Power just came on here after 18 hours and just cleaning the refrigerator out of suspicious stuff. At last it has cooled off to 23c and the house finally too. If it takes a hurricane to get rid of that nasty heat so be it. I vow never to live in a place where you can sit outside in shorts and a teeshirt after 8pm. It was hellish here for 4 days though no plant damage from the heat, a few Astelias got a bit of a toasting and alpine Primulas torched.
Hurricane Earl was bad enough but nothing like Juan in 2003. While Juan was a borderline Cat3 this one was still a One went it hit (there is a difference between the US and Canadian standards for categories by a few knots). Juan did its damage in less than 3 hours, this one lasted a good 6 hours at significant strength, starting around 8:30 am and still blowing at 10 pm. It supposedly was a staggering 650km across, and moved at 75km/hr on arrival. Happily is now off the radar near Greenland. Waves at the entrance to Halifax Harbour were measured at 23.3 metres, some as high as 30 m close by. Winds at 123 km/hr here. A mere 53mm of rain. 220,200 without power.
Any idiot could have predicted the landfall would be well east of what was predicted what with another low pressure system coming in from the west. It came ashore near Lunenburg just 100km south of here and we closely missed the eye here. In typical fashion as the Hurricane passed by Cape Cod CNN reported it has now gone out to sea so everyone it out of danger, apparently their map for Atlantic Canada still reads "here bee wilde beestes".
The Hurricanes that go up the Bay of Fundy don't lose steam and are exceedingly dangerous - one notable one in the 1800's left Nova Scotia as an island.
Everything here papered with leaves, many branches down and quite a few trees. Every second street blocked off due to huge branches and powerlines blocking roadways. Last night we went over to check a friend's house as she is away. They live 3 streets up from here. A tree crashed into the house next to hers. Only minor damage to hers, mainly eavestroughing along the gangway. see photos. Her house is to the left with yellowish railings. The blue house had huge holes in the roof and as you can see the balcony was devastated. I've seen sidewalks like that before - as a teen on the way home from the pub.
Now to move 200-300 flats back outdoors along with countless tubs. Getting very sick of these storms and they are bound to become more frequent, time to start thinking about somewhere else to settle - someplace cool, mild and calm - maybe the Hebrides.
All this pales in comparison to the horrors in New Zealand and we wish them the best.
johnw
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Crikey!
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Frightening stuff John ! :o
Glad to hear it didn't do as much damage as was predicted - though it's bad enough as it is.
At this moment we're still enjoying our Indian Summer out here : 21°C - virtually no wind and sunshine all the way.. :D
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good to hear it wasn't worse, though bad enough.... summer is definitely over here--highs 11-17 this week, lows into the frost zone, clouds more days than not this week and showers likely several days..tough getting a chance to get out and do yard/garden stuff and seed collecting bike trips!
rarely big storms here, john, and rarely hot, though mild is not likely a word you'd use for our winter ;)
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John, those tree shots look dreadful. I had a similar fall a few years ago but only onto my tunnel house and incredibly, no plants underneath were damaged, the plastic cover had enough bounce to protect them.
It's so easy to get bound up in one's own tragedies and forget what is happening elsewhere. Last night on the news after the 20 mins of earthquake stuff, there were very brief mentions of the Guatemalan mudslides and the flooding in Victoria, both devestating to the many people involved. And the appalling situation in Pakistan has gone off our radar altogether since the weekend. I suppose it's because we simply can't do a thing about those "other" problems, only our own. We shouldn't forget them though.
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Yes there was at least one death here so far in Nova Scotia.
Eating at a friend's outdoors last night it was 20c at 10pm and we were all in sweaters and feeling quite chilled. Could it be we were getting acclimatized? The humidity has dropped considerably with its passing.
Yes 30 metre waves off the coast near Hfx. I found this on yoube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVDVUGM-e6A&feature=watch_response (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVDVUGM-e6A&feature=watch_response)
The sound of the wind of a hurricane is unbelievable.
john
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Lesley - The last thing we heard before the tv went dead was that Christchurch was to get exactly the same weather as here the night after the quake - 130km/hr. wind +75 mm rain. I hope that didn't materialize as those damaged buildings will have been obliterated. I can't seem to find any indication it happened.
Felt like a week of Götterdämmerung - hurricanes, oil rig explosions, mine collapses, landslides, floods, earthquakes, plane crashes and wild fires. I hope people are not getting as they say, "donation" weary.
Glad to hear you're safe.
johnw
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The wind in Christchurch was less than expected fortunately and I'm not sure if the rain came at all, through it will at some stage. The equinox is a nasty thing here with weeks of rain, gales and the like so it's a matter of how much repair can be done in the time. I think all the damaged brick buildings will have to be demolished and some of the stone as well. Wooden buildings seemed to fare best.
We had trees down last night but not much other damage.
As to "donation weary" there comes a time when one just can't any more but so far as Christchurch is concerned, we have the Earthquake Commission (used to be Earthquake and War Damage Comm) and that will fund most of the damage and clean up. PM said it has $15 billion available for claims up to $100,000 when private insurance kicks in. The earthquake is expected to use up about 2 billion, so plenty for other disasters when and if.
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Lesley - How long will it take to repair the severed sewer, water and gas lines? It will be a huge undertaking.
johnw
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... but there are plenty Forum Friends in Victoria in Australia where there is very bad flooding....
Fortunately we are only halfway down the valley, but the river is a lot closer than it used to be!
[attachthumb=1]
The above is a pic of the bottom of our street and the Campaspe River is not usually visible from this spot!
We had to drive through quite a lot of water over the roads on Saturday but it had all receded by this morning (in this part of central Vic). There is still the threat of more flooding today in other parts.
We only suffered a little water damage when a torrent must've come from the overflowing gutters to pour down our driveway and through part of the garden gouging some furrows through our sandbeds. We no longer have a "dry" creekbed and "Snake Gully" is now "Snake Lake"!
We're expecting a locust plague later this month!http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2010/s3001111.htm (http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2010/s3001111.htm)
cheers
fermi
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Christchurch was lucky Dunedin got 175kph winds so not sure exactly how they missed out.
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A reminder that there is also this thread on the NZ erathquake, in case anyone reading the weather page missed it: http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=5979.0
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Yes there was at least one death here so far in Nova Scotia.
Eating at a friend's outdoors last night it was 20c at 10pm and we were all in sweaters and feeling quite chilled. Could it be we were getting acclimatized? The humidity has dropped considerably with its passing.
Yes 30 metre waves off the coast near Hfx. I found this on yoube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVDVUGM-e6A&feature=watch_response (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVDVUGM-e6A&feature=watch_response)
The sound of the wind of a hurricane is unbelievable.
john
20oC at 10 p.m.! Positively balmy. That is T-shirt and shorts temperature here. I wish we could have that during the day!
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20oC at 10 p.m.! Positively balmy. That is T-shirt and shorts temperature here. I wish we could have that during the day!
Fair enough, but it wouldn't be quite so attractive a proposition if the price for that was to be 30metre waves at the coast.... though perhaps living inland that doesn't come into your reckoning.
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Any idiot could have predicted the landfall would be well east of what was predicted what with another low pressure system coming in from the west. It came ashore near Lunenburg just 100km south of here and we closely missed the eye here. In typical fashion as the Hurricane passed by Cape Cod CNN reported it has now gone out to sea so everyone it out of danger, apparently their map for Atlantic Canada still reads "here bee wilde beestes".
johnw
Sorry to see of all of the damage and devastation from various storms and catastrophic events around the globe; it does seem as if lots of adversities happening at once.
John, your follow-up posting is what I feared as I was tracking Earl, that it was going to make landfall in Nova Scotia. I share your sentiment about the dunderheads at CNN weather, or for that matter, American news outlet in general... it seems that our interest is only concerned about American soil, not beyond it. Watching the weather reports tracking Hurricane Earl on cable (the Weather Channel), with constant visual maps showing the Northeastern USA region, they consistently fail to mention these huge chunks of land that wrap around and conjoin Maine along the Atlantic Coast, namely New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, Canada... it's as if they don't exist and have no name. And I think to myself, hey people at the weather news station, at least do a small exercise to educate us geography-challenged Americans, and please say the names of these mysterious land masses where Hurricane Earl is going to hit.
Not once, over several days and many hours watching the weather on a variety of TV stations, did I see New Brunswick and Nova Scotia ever get mentioned ::). With our grade schools not even teaching geography anymore (apparently a luxury item, one of the first things cut when schools here were facing budgetary funding cuts), and the news reporting so dumbed-down to ignore massive land areas adjacent to our own, no wonder we have such a reputation of being geographically ignorant. Map uploaded, showing how the eastern Canadian provinces dwarf the New England States in size, but are intrinsically conjoined.
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Mark - I have to say I was watching one Boston Channel which wished "our friends in the Maritimes" the best of luck with the approach of the Hurricane and its potential landfall there. Boston and Halifax have traditionally been close, they had a supply train entroute to Hfx within hours of the famous Explosion here and rebuilt an entire section of the city known as the Hydrostone.
The CBC Newsworld Channel should be taken to task for their sloppy coverage. They had reporters in Yarmouth and Pubnico and interview the latter as if it were to make landfall there (which a few hours before it was to). All the while their super-imposed map was showing the eye riding south and east of Pubnico and head north eastwards. Their scroll bar at the same time was warning Digby as the landfall. The local CBC Radio Station as usual had the best and most factual coverage and pre-empted all programmes until about 3pm.
Did you get any needed rain?
johnw
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Did you get any needed rain?
johnw
Got only a trace of rain from Earl; the ground remains completely dry under trees and shrubs. Thankfully, a west-to-east cold front (a stealth or quiet front; e.g. no rain nor clouds associated with it, just an air mass) pushed out the hot humid air and it's been cool and dry since then. All three days after the storm, picture perfect weather, today's high is 77 F, (25 C) sunny, dry and breezy. 50% chance of rain showers predicted for Wednesday, but I'm not counting on it.
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We seem to have some severe gusting here tonight. Put everything movable away.
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Thanks for that map Mark. I hadn't realized how close NB and NS were to the USA. In fact, they were lucky (unlucky?) not to be included at all. ::)
John I imagine the repairing of water, gas and sewer lines will take months. Not something I'm up in at all of course but the damage is so widespread and much is yet undiscovered, or only found out by accident. Many streets are having eruptions of mud with no warning, where the subsoil is suddenly breaking through already cracked pavement. One woman in Kaiapoi fell into a hole outside her door and the apparently solid surface suddenly liquified and within seconds she was buried to her neckline in liquid mud. Her husband was able to get her out but with great difficulty. It really frightens me to see little kids playing in the crevices that have appeared in so many streets. I hadn't thought, until last night's TV, how it would affect children, assuming they'd be happy enough with Mum and Dad doing what was required but some were really deeply shocked and terrified, but trying to be brave and not cry for the TV cameras. Some others seem to take it all as an opportunity for new games and adventures.
Chch had more aftershocks in the night, one of 5.2, then two more of 5.4 in quick succession. The airport was closed down for a time. I can imagine that people will never go to bed again, without fearing what might happen in the night.
NZAGS Spring show is to go ahead though, on 18th and 19th Sept. The Hort Soc hall where it is held is undamaged.
Kees, yes, we did get some good wind didn't we? and it teamed here all day as well but I'm glad Chch apparently missed out.
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We seem to have some severe gusting here tonight. Put everything movable away.
Wish I had Anthony, lost some pots last night and it just as windy today, I suppose being so near the coast is always worse. Away back in my polytunnel where at least I am not blown away...pity I couldn't cover my whole garden in a giant polytunnel ;D
Angie :)
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they consistently fail to mention these huge chunks of land that wrap around and conjoin Maine along the Atlantic Coast, namely New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, Canada... it's as if they don't exist and have no name.
this makes me think of a cartoon i saw in a collection of 'banned'/no longer circulated looney tunes cartoons, a few years ago--it was quite a wonder of twisted geography--no doubt some for fun and some out of ignorance? it involved a ship sailing north from new york into 'uncharted waters' (err, canada??) en route to alaska! where there were polar bears, figure skating eskimos, and--penguins!!
we wont talk about another cartoon that showed a journey to africa :(
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Lesley I was playing golf in that wind, was fantastic-hit a good straight drive to see the wind catch it and throw it up and over the road, still 91 for first game in 4 years was not bad :P
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Where were you Kees that you were able to stand up? I had to hang on to the fence at the height of the gale.
I stay indoors during these winds. Here is why. A pine branch embedded in the ground!
Large Olearia traversii taken out - they were rather rotten at the base so their time was up.
However Coprosma virescens survived unscathed and shows its colours on a drizzly day
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The divaricating plants like many coprosmas seem able to absorb strong winds without damage. Perhaps that's WHY they have evolved to be divaricating. That is great winter colour David.
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david, that coprosma is wonderful--i don't know these, but its a very cool fuzzy thing :) the view of the hill beyond is very nice too--is this a side view of your garden?
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Cohan,
The view is looking down my driveway. I have a border on the other side of the Coprosma hedge with Rhododendrons Hellebores etc. It is a bit untamed at the moment so I am not taking photos.
Coprosma virescens is a shrub/small tree found on dry hillsides. It is semi-deciduous and in winter the branches are exposed giving various shades of red through to orange on different plants. It looks its best in light rain or drizzle. It is a marvellous shrub; it does not require trimming and as an added bonus bears a heavy crop of small berries which keep the birds from starving during the winter. If you don't want the heavy crop of seedlings that result you can grow only male plants. I doubt if it is in cultivation much outside New Zealand though some one may tell me otherwise. New Zealand has about 60 species of Coprosma. Some have large normal leaves but many are small-leaved divaricating shrubs and some are prostrate mat-forming alpines. Many other New Zealand genera also contain small-leaved divaricating shrubs eg Melicytus, Melicope, Myrsine, Raukaua, Pittosporum, Olearia, Sophora. Many of them have spectacular growth forms. Pittosporum obcodatum forms a tall columnar shrub that would make a splendid garden specimen. Myrsine divaricata has a dramatic weeping form with decurved branches. The pictures were taken a couple of days ago on the margin of a small forest remnant south of Dunedin at Akatore showing typical habitat for these divaricating shrubs.
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Out of interest David I had a look at one nursery in England, they sell the following
COPROSMA acerosa 'Red Rocks'
COPROSMA 'Beatson's Gold'
COPROSMA brunnea 'Hawera'
COPROSMA 'Cappuccino'
COPROSMA 'County Park Plum'
COPROSMA 'Fireburst'
COPROSMA 'Karo Red'
COPROSMA x kirkii 'Variegata'
COPROSMA 'Pina Colada'
COPROSMA repens
COPROSMA repens 'Marble Queen'
COPROSMA repens 'Painters Palette'
COPROSMA repens 'Pink Splendour'
COPROSMA robusta
So perhaps a little more grown than you thought.
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Thanks for the information Brian.
I see we have given that horticultural abomination Coprosma repens 'Painters Palette' to the world. The species itself is an environmental weed in this part of the country being outside its natural range here.
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Cohan,
The view is looking down my driveway. I have a border on the other side of the Coprosma hedge with Rhododendrons Hellebores etc. It is a bit untamed at the moment so I am not taking photos.
Coprosma virescens is a shrub/small tree found on dry hillsides. It is semi-deciduous and in winter the branches are exposed giving various shades of red through to orange on different plants. It looks its best in light rain or drizzle. It is a marvellous shrub; it does not require trimming and as an added bonus bears a heavy crop of small berries which keep the birds from starving during the winter. If you don't want the heavy crop of seedlings that result you can grow only male plants. I doubt if it is in cultivation much outside New Zealand though some one may tell me otherwise. New Zealand has about 60 species of Coprosma. Some have large normal leaves but many are small-leaved divaricating shrubs and some are prostrate mat-forming alpines. Many other New Zealand genera also contain small-leaved divaricating shrubs eg Melicytus, Melicope, Myrsine, Raukaua, Pittosporum, Olearia, Sophora. Many of them have spectacular growth forms. Pittosporum obcodatum forms a tall columnar shrub that would make a splendid garden specimen. Myrsine divaricata has a dramatic weeping form with decurved branches. The pictures were taken a couple of days ago on the margin of a small forest remnant south of Dunedin at Akatore showing typical habitat for these divaricating shrubs.
thanks for the added info, david--interesting plants, for sure.. makes the native shrubs here look positively sparse by comparison!
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I see we have given that horticultural abomination Coprosma repens 'Painters Palette' to the world.
I must agree to thinking much the same about houttuynia cordata 'chameleon' :-\
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Pouring of rain here today, got up really early thought today would be sunny so I would get a good day in the garden but no so heading of to the greenhouse, somewhere to garden without getting soaked.
Angie :)
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Don't want to to make you envious Angie : 23°C here and wall to wall sunshine.
After the 45 liters/m2 of rain we had last tuesday and wednesday the warmth is making the weeds pop up like mad !! >:(
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Don't want to to make you envious Angie : 23°C here and wall to wall sunshine.
After the 45 liters/m2 of rain we had last tuesday and wednesday the warmth is making the weeds pop up like mad !! >:(
23 c 8) it did stop raining and the sun came out so it was warm for a wee while.
Hope you enjoyed your sunny day Luc.
Angie :)
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I see we have given that horticultural abomination Coprosma repens 'Painters Palette' to the world.
I must agree to thinking much the same about houttuynia cordata 'chameleon' :-\
I don't know this particular Coprosma (and probably don't want to by the sound of it, but I'm delighted to have been able to replace Tovaria (Persicaria) 'Painter's Palette' from a recent Chch plant catalogue. Lost it in one of many droughts. The nursery though, has been hit by the 'quake and is well late in getting orders out.
My favourite Coprosma at present is a Tasmanian endemic called C. moorei. I hope to have fruit soon, small berries of a brilliant, rich blue. Unlike ours, it has fruit on a single plant, doesn't need another of opposite sex.
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Ski weekend at Invercargill -16cm of wet snow to sea level and more forecasted. The roof of the Invercargill stadium has collasped as well as the roofs of some other commercial buildings. Usual pictures on TV of frozen lambs though wet cold weather is more lethal to them than snow. We have had some snow showers from the same storm here in Dunedin yesterday but it did not lie in the city. There is snow all round on the hills.
Here are a few pictures
1 Sunset last night
2 Similar view this morning
3 -8 Views to south with southerly squalls passing out to sea.
I am pleased to report that through all the inclement weather our newly-installed solar hot water kept operating over 70 degrees C at the collector at times!
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Lovely pictures Dave,the skies remind me of the view out of our windows.
Since we got back from our holidays on the 12th July it has not rained(I cannot use the words-been dry) on only two days. Today the garden at the bottom end is under 6 to 8 inches of water which makes the hydrangea villosa which is in full flower look strangely odd as it's branches rise out of the water. No doubt the fritillaria meleagris planted near it are happy.
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Here are some pictures I took yesterday morning on the sixth day of the storm that is causing havoc over various parts of New Zealand. Invercargill and places south of here have borne the brunt of it with a lot of snow and very strong winds.
1,2 A dusting of snow that had fallen overnight on the hilltops round here.
3. Looking south into the heart of the storm with more squalls coming in from the south. Lesley lives up on the hill in the distance in the murk.
4. Not withstanding the bitterly cold conditions and wind chill my newly installed solar hot water system kept on working whenever the sun appeared!
There was a moderate westerly gale this morning but it cleared up a bit later. The fronts are continuing to come through but with less ferocity.
This has been a quite an unprecedented storm in its duration with very strong southwesterly winds. The western part of the North Island has copped a lot of rain while the southern part of the South Island has got the snow.
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David,
You might want to explain to some here what a solar hot water service is? I'm not sure that the scottish folk would ever have heard of one would they? I mean, after all, you'd need to actually see the sun for it to be useful, so I can't imagine they've ever heard of one. ;D :P :P
;)
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Still bone dry here, it just doesn't want to rain. After some nice cool (yet dry) fall weather, we're back into moderately hot temperatures (mid 80s F, 30 C) with drying winds. The one beneficial side effect of dry years, is more intense autumn leaf coloring, which is already starting. The Virginia Creeper vine (Parthenocissus quinquefolia), which covers much of the stone wall in my front yard, and travels to the very top of an ancient (and dying) Sugar Maple, has turned brilliant red; some years it is more of a mahogany red color.
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David,
You might want to explain to some here what a solar hot water service is? I'm not sure that the scottish folk would ever have heard of one would they? I mean, after all, you'd need to actually see the sun for it to be useful, so I can't imagine they've ever heard of one. ;D :P :P
;)
Ah! but they have porridge heating systems :-X
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Yep and it sticks to your ribs ;D today felt like winter, don't know what's happened to Autumn.
Angie :)
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David,
You might want to explain to some here what a solar hot water service is? I'm not sure that the scottish folk would ever have heard of one would they? I mean, after all, you'd need to actually see the sun for it to be useful, so I can't imagine they've ever heard of one. ;D :P :P
;)
We have solar panels of various sorts here in Scotland, including those that heat water. We also have double glazing. We don't have air conditioning, though I could do with some in my classroom. Black out blinds so that I could use my projector. I missed out on one of the two interactive white boards that will be installed in science soon. Had to wait 10 years for just two. Only another 10 science rooms to be kitted out. School will have fallen down by then!
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I have been exercising my mind for uses of solar technology- all that free heat. A solar-powered still would not be out of place in Scotland.
A mild sunny day today so had a chance to catch up on some outside jobs. However the wind has picked up this evening with the prospect of another front on its way
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David,
You might want to explain to some here what a solar hot water service is? I'm not sure that the scottish folk would ever have heard of one would they? I mean, after all, you'd need to actually see the sun for it to be useful, so I can't imagine they've ever heard of one. ;D :P :P
;)
We have solar panels of various sorts here in Scotland, including those that heat water. We also have double glazing. We don't have air conditioning, though I could do with some in my classroom. Black out blinds so that I could use my projector. I missed out on one of the two interactive white boards that will be installed in science soon. Had to wait 10 years for just two. Only another 10 science rooms to be kitted out. School will have fallen down by then!
What about tapping in to some sponsorship funding. Must be some high tec industries in your part of the world Anthony who would like to be associated with science teaching in schools given that it doesn't seem to be a popular subject with some kids these days.
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We have no problem attracting kids into science David. Intelligent kids in Scotland tend to want to do something useful with their lives and want to be doctors, dentists, vets, solicitors or teachers, not go off to do some Mickey Mouse history and politics degree and then off to make a killing in the city for a fortnight, bleeding the country dry, before retiring to Guernsey or The Bahamas. >:( Alas, there is no money in Science or state education! If I wrote down our science budget for this session year down on a piece of paper it would be smaller than the figure for 25 years ago! :(
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after the first half of september cool to downright cold (we had some days in low single digits C, and frost to at least -6C) and wet (i have a big set of fungi pics coming that tell it all...) we have finally been having some sunny days, and temps managing to crack 15C--in fact we have been above 24C at least twice! and have a forecast 27 on the weekend.. today is at least partly cloudy with 30% chance of showers--wouldn't want things to get too dry ;)
poor farmers may have some hope of getting some crops harvested if this weather holds a bit... been so cold things have been slow to ripen, and too wet to harvest if they did.....
david--a 6 day storm, wow!
mark--our fall colours are good too, in spite of lots of wet-i think frost helps ;D (though they are nothing like eastern north america here, except in artificial plantings, we just don't have the maples etc that get those great reds--aspens are mostly yellow, understory shrubs etc have more reds and oranges; parthenocissus in front of my house turned to mush already a week or two ago)
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.......not go off to do some Mickey Mouse history and politics degree and then off to make a killing in the city for a fortnight, bleeding the country dry, before retiring to Guernsey or The Bahamas..................
Didn't seem very "Mickey Mouse" when I got mine. Must have got it all wrong though, no killing in the city; don't think my pension so far will have bled the country dry, and haven't managed either Guernsey or the Bahamas. If I come back for a second life maybe I should be a scientist :P
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Not sure what I'd come back as David. Certainly not a teacher, not because I don't enjoy teaching, but because I don't like the way teaching is going.
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Snow here last week (I was elsewhere) and today our outside thermometer says 25C. I'm having to water some things! We live near Saddle Hill, as in David's picture.
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We had frost on Saturday morning. Supposed to be -4oC somewhere in Scotland last night, which (I heard) is the lowest September temperature for decades.
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we were talking about fall colour, here are a few shots from my acreage and onto the edges of the farm beyond...not the blazing reds and oranges found in the east (or in exotic trees here) but still nice this year..understory plants are more colourful here than the trees (mostly aspen and balsam poplars; larix have not changed colour yet, birches are scattered and usually same colours as the poplars, as are willows, here all small trees/shrubs found in mostly low spots)