If it's Tuesday...

It was 57 degrees yesterday and sunny for most of the day here in upstate central NY.  I reveled in the fact that the light stayed with us until at least 6pm.  Breathing room is how it feels.  Today is a bit different however as it is Tuesday and, as you can see, the temps are just right for possibly treacherous conditions.  Jim has had to cancel the class he teaches several times because we seem to be getting a storm almost every Tuesday.  I am not imagining this.  I have proof positive to back up my thinking.

Here are the results of my research:

March 4 = ice, snow and sleet

Feb 26 = snow storm

Feb 19 = ice, snow and sleet

Feb 12 = rain and snow

Feb 5 = fog and rain

Jan 29 = rain

Jan 22 = fog and snow

Jan 15 = snow storm

Jan 8 = no precipitation

Jan 1 = snow.

arghhhhh......I don't even want to look at December.

This morning while I was watching the changing precipitation coat the trees and branches I saw ice pellets, sleet, freezing rain, snow, granular snow, freezing mist and wet snow in a period of maybe 60 minutes.  This weather show got me to thinking.  I remembered being told as a child that there are tons of words for snow in the Eskimo language. At that time I did not know much about Alaska, make that all I knew about Alaska was Fulton's whoops Seward's Folly from history class so really did not understand the unintended disrespect to the native population nor the reasons for why they would have so many different words for something that this then downstate city child saw melt almost as fast as it came down.

Now I might know enough about Alaska to fit into a thimble from having my students follow the Iditarod for many years.  However I do know some about the dogs raised there, the trust they have with their humans and something of the people in general.  Arctic Lace is also a good resource on the native population of Alaska.  I certainly now know that there are many different native cultures and languages. Just to please myself I looked up "alaskan native american snow words" on dogpile and got some excellent resources. From Ronald Brower, an Inupiaq language professor at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks comes this list.

1.Apun: snow. 2. Aniu: packed snow. 3. Aniuvak: snow bank. 4. Apuyaq: snow patch. 5. Aqilluqqaq: soft snow. 

6. Auksalaq: melting snow. 

7. Agniq: snow blizzard. 

8. Illuksinaq: bright snow condition causing snow blindness. 

9. Kanigruaq: frost on face, tree, etc.

10. Kaiyuglaq: rippled surface of snow. 

11. Mavsa: snowdrift overhang. 12. Mauya: break through snow condition. 

13. Misulik: sleet snow. 

14. Mitailaq: soft snow on ice. 15. Milik: very soft snow. 

16. Masak: water logged snow. 

17. Masayyak: lightly damp snow. 

18. Natilvik: low ground drifting snow. 

19. Nutalaq: fresh snow, powder snow. 20. Qannik: snowflake. 21. Qanniksuq: is snowing. 22. Qatiqsuniq: light snow, deep for walking. 23. Qiqsruqaq: glazed snow in thaw time. 24. Qarraqtualik: area with resonating snow. 25. Quvyugaq: whiteout. 

26. Qimuagruk: snow drift blocking trail or in lee of a building. 27. Qiqsruqaq: thaw qlazed snow. 38. Nutaagun: when snow covers water with no ice. 29. Piqsiqsuq: is snow storming. 30. Piagnaq: snow condition good for sled (ready to fall) travel. 31. Pilik: ice crystals in the air. 32. Sisuuq: snow slide, avalanche. 33. Siquqtuaq: sun crusted snow (covering an open water spot). 34. Sillik: hard crusty snow. 35. Uggulaq: overly damp snow. 36. Uyumiqsuq: is misty, blurred. Snow crystals in the air. 37. Uullukkuu: snow that melts instantly.

Today alone we have seen #1, 5, 6, 9, 12, 13, 14, 20, 21, 31, 35 and 36.  How to correctly pronounce most of these words is beyond my very poor foreign language facilities but I am enjoying reading them anyway.

Ice Day Ice Day

Today was the kind of day I was looking forward to when I retired from teaching and started working for myself.  Actually the first thing I did when I retredded was throw away my alarm clock.  Getting up at 5:30am for 22 years was way too much early rising for my body's natural rhythm.  Last night's weather report was for ice, snow, sleet, freezing rain and rain with windy conditions for most of today.  That made it a possible 'snow day'.

When I taught, last night would have been a series of getting up, looking out the window, going back to sleep, getting up again a few hours later and repeating that until rising even earlier than usual, putting on the radio and listening to hear if school was closed.  I taught in Ithaca, where closing school did not happen often, even when surrounding schools were closed.  I remember mornings, at a barely light 6:45 am, of scraping and banging enough ice off my windshield to have a circle to peer out of, then hacking my way into the car and cautiously backing out of the driveway, slowly making it down to the main road, and then in to Ithaca, 12 miles north. Sometimes those few miles took 45 minutes or more.   

Sooo I was one happy camper when I read the forecast yesterday.  I packed up my portable office from the shop and set up the computer, cell and other needed items in the yarn room, ready for today. This morning surprisingly brought the predicted forecast.  I got up so happy to spend the entire day inside in my jammies, doing work, catching up on things and generally having a good time with myself and any fiberholics ummm customers who happened to call. 

 I had a long list of jobs to get done-----

• Hauling equipment up the stairs so Jim could refinish the floor. Doesn't it look nice already?  

• Rinsing and drying 5 pounds of targhee
  

• Stopping up the sink.
  
  
  

Well, not really, but it did happen right in the middle of rinsing some biscotti targhee. So Jim was called down from the floor work above to be a plumber.  Jim wears many hats, besides the balaclava.  He is a carpenter, cabinet maker, floor refinisher, plumber, electrician, spindle turner and a whole bunch of other useful things.  Of course while he was unstopping the sink he managed to get pink water all the way to the other side of the kitchen. We are not discussing that, although the floor is now much cleaner. Now we have to avoid using the sink until tomorrow morning.  Once I get going on my list of things to do I really want to be crossing items off, not postponing them.  Sooo after considering the options I completed rinsing  the targhee in the bathroom sink; not an easy process but it did finish the job.  Jim even made us some nice eggs, toast and coffee just like a holiday or Sunday morning.

• then to cook ummm, heat set more targhee.
  

• Pay some bills as it is the first of the month.

• Enjoy the fuzzies.
  

Yup, that's Basel, SmokeyBlue and Sparkles all comfy right near the dining room table.

• Make ads for Ravelry. 

Another one is at the bottom of this page.

• Watching the redpolls through the icy window at the feeder.

These little finch sized birds come all the way from arctic coastal areas to winter in upstate NY.  I get boggled thinking that they think this is warm.

My reward is going to be to spin up more fiber for the Dogi Vest.

• and to make some yarn samples for the 5 new tonal colors in Blue-faced Leicester. 

Sneak preview