Missing the Aurorae

Many parts of the state were treated with views of the Northern Lights two nights ago. I finally am in an area where I have a clear view of the horizon on every side except maybe south. However I forgot to stay up and the displays were weak south of the thumb area anyway. This is from Lake Superior Photos

I didn't miss the sunrise this morning however

I think I have seen the Northern Lights only once. I was in an area about 50 miles north of where I am now and I was facing north but I don't remember any colors so maybe I was just seeing heat lightning. News sources said due to electromagnetic storms, northern lights were going to be visible further south than usual. My hair dresser, further south than me, witnessed a green glow, not as spectacular as the many photos posted by those in points north. The pretty ones started midline in the state.

My breakfast nook juts from the back of our house surrounded on 3 sides with windows. The patio is there and someday I hope it to be covered with flowers. This is one of my favorite parts of the house as I love light. The other morning however I entered it and found 3 things that immediately put me in bad mood. First, coffee grounds all over the floor. Steve in haste to go to The Money Pit left a trash bag balanced badly. Second, gale force winds lifted our air conditioner cover and it was barely hanging on to a bush meaning I had to go out ASAP and rescue it. And considerably more annoying, at the construction site due north of us, the workers were burning construction waste, which they often do but with the gale force winds, the fire was about to be out of control billowing smoke and cinders into our yard. Do I go out to speak to these clueless idiots? Nope I called the fire marshal who promised to give them a lecture. And by the time I finished my run, the fire was out. And the next day, they invested in a trash container for their waste so no more fires. But I am afraid to go near them as they probably know I am the snitch.

I later contacted the head of the neighborhood association in part because he sent us a bill for dues even though we paid these dues prorated at closing (yep the title company had paid him). But I wondered about the open fire rules in our neighborhood covenant which I know is restrictive on many issues (garage doors must be kept closed, no fences, no parking on the curb etc). Township rules say construction sites must have a burn permit and they can only burn clean wood, no treated stuff and must do it only during favorable weather. The smoke was black so I am guessing something wasn't clean and the weather wasn't favorable. The e-mailed reply I received was filled with grammatical errors.   I had to laugh. Back when we were about to purchase the Moose and Squirrel house, our young annoying realtor gave us some condescending speech about how our new neighbors won't be like the great unwashed back at the old hood (where he grew up); these people were apt to be professionals like physicians and hold doctorates so they would have different expectations, etc than the uneducated barbarians that I am used to. This was based on the fact that the new neighborhood's house values were 30% higher than  the old (though the taxes were less so it would be cheaper to live there). Well in this neighborhood, the values are about 120%  higher and even more so for our neighborhood association head. This does not translate into him knowing how to write a coherent sentence. And our neighborhood was full of doctors and people with advanced degrees. And with whom did he think we worked? Just love it when the young lecture me on how to behave.

That day I did run despite the strong winds. My path was mostly perpendicular to the winds and the dense forest cuts out a lot of the force. But the creaking trees were sort of eerie. I could see that some of them were knocked over and hoped that one would not topple onto me.

The big melt is almost over though the ground is still frozen so I can't rescue my patio stuff just yet. I saw the first crane of the season hearing it first (they can be heard a mile away..such a primitive sound). Woodpeckers were at work attracting mates. Yep they do peck at trees to get food but in the spring, they drum incessantly. Josh was treated with a couple weeks of a pileated woodpecker (my favorite kind)hammering at his metal chimney vent back at his old house. And then the shadow of the first vulture swooping over my yard (clean-up on aisle one, my running route, dear vulture).

We picked up Fiona the Dragon (name on the tag just happened to be Josh's favorite girl's name though he was not allowed to call his daughter that) to deliver to Josh later that day to have birthday dinner with him and Allie. And yesterday, due to a school holiday, all of Shanna's kids could come over to play.