The Weather...

Once again it is the time of year when people get excited about the weather. And also once again it is time for false hope and disappointment.
If you try to watch the news stations in Portland to get an idea about what the weather is going to do, then you know what I mean. The last two nights have been prime examples, and I think everyone is in for a big disappointment come Saturday Dec. 1.
Wednesday night we saw a bit of snow falling, and everybody started buzzing about how much snow we were going to get. I was sitting there looking at the temperature, and could only think "they are all crazy!". It didn't look like anything was going to happen with the temperature around 35 or so... and what do you know; I wake up the next morning at 3:00.. and its 45 degrees! I was imagining all the disappointment for the people waking up expecting snow on the ground.
Last night was the same thing. The temp started dropping as the sun went down, and it dropped to 38 at our house in Troutdale. In the back of my mind I knew I would wake up and it would still be 38, but I WANTED to believe the predictions of upper 20's or around 30 degrees overnight. It was 38 when I woke up.
Now for Saturday... they say 4 inches of snow in the metro area. I say none. I say none below 500 ft, and probably more like none below 1,000. If we do get a dusting, it will be melted within a couple hours.

I have only lived here for 6 years or so, but I came from a place (Dufur OR) where we often see snow around Halloween. From my experience, to see snow on the ground, and definetly to see it stay you need to have a few days of 20-30 degrees. Then when the moisture rolls in and it warms up into the upper 20's and low 30's... thats when it snow, and you will see snow on the ground for more than a day. Thats what it takes, and that is something we have not seen yet this year in Portland. I think its to early.

So my point is, we should all ignore the weather forecasts we see on the news. They don't seem to know what they are talking about, and are not usually right unless its a 100% deal. They try to generate excitement (and viewers.. money) by saying what everybody wants to hear. If you don't want disappointment, turn it off. But if you are anything like me.. its easier said than done.

If you want snow, move. It happens every once in a while, but its actually pretty rare here in the city. I use to live in a house that did not see the sun from Nov to March, and it was at about 1500 ft elevation. It sat on the side of a hill in Dufur Valley, and all winter when the sun dropped to the south, it would go behind that hill. Many in the area knew it as "The Ice House". We saw icicles that you could not wrap your arms around that were as tall as an NBA player, and we saw them every year hanging off the eves. When it snowed in Oct, it stayed until spring. It would be the only stretch of road in Dufur valley that didn't thaw when the sun came out (until spring).
Call me crazy, but I miss it. Can you tell?

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Say goodbye to gasoline...

http://www.teslamotors.com/

You may have heard of it already, and it is here. If not, go to the link above. These people have created what will become the end of gasoline vehicles. They have created a sports car that is 100% electric, and faster than nearly anything on the road. They are taking all the money they get from selling these sports cars, and they are putting it into creating an affordable mass market version of the car. This will most likely prompt all the major automakers to come up with there own version very soon.
To me this makes the cars we are driving around look like Dinosaurs. It makes me ask why. It seems like we should have been driving electric cars 50 years ago. The problem was rechargeable battery technology, which has now caught up to the point that this is possible.
Within the next 10 years our cars will be obsolete. All I can say about that is... goodbye, and good riddance. The internal combustion engine belongs in a museum, and will soon be there.

Who is Ron Paul?

I dont really know yet, but I like what I have heard so far. As far as Republicans go, he seems to have the right idea on what it means to be President.
Check out --> www.ronpaul2008.com/issues