After enjoying some more seasonal weather as of late, and making it out to the ice rink 4 nights in a row (Sat-Tue), it looks like we’re headed for another snow and cold tug-of-war.
It’s in the teens right now, with a bright, cloudless sky stealing all the warm. We’re supposed to be getting snow showers on and off tonight and tomorrow, but then the bottom falls out of the temps and we go back to single digit highs next week. That makes it pretty unbearable to be doing anything outside, let alone trying to ice skate.
That just means if we want to skate anytime soon (which we do), we’ll have to take it inside. I’m starting to scope out some of the local ice rinks for public skating hours, and we’ll probably hit up one or two this weekend.
If anyone is interested in joining us, shoot me a note and let me know.
It was nice to have a three day weekend. My weekend started with me having a hair appointment on Saturday morning, followed by taking care of Tango while my grandfather, Aunt and Uncle are in Door County. After taking care of tango we walked around Woodfield. After Woodfield we went and bought me a pair of ice skates. We ran some errands, before going home and relaxing, before going to his moms for dinner.
After dinner I hung out with his mom, while Kris and his brother went skating… It is nice to see Kris skating again.
Sunday was a day of running errands, birthday dinner for my mother-in-law, and to go skating in the evening. It was nice to be on the ice again.
Monday was a day of doing the laundry, taking down the Christmas tree, and going ice skating in the evening.
As if the Chicago weather in this month of December hasn’t been unbearable already, it just got a little weirder. It seems like after weeks of the same weather pattern of frigid temps, then tons of snow, and again followed by more cold, mother nature decided to make it a little more interesting.
With a mild warm-up yesterday to about 44°F, today we’re now looking at a high approaching 60°F, and boatloads of rain to help wash away all that snow cover we’ve gotten used to. And when I say boatloads of rain, I’m mean they’re predicting up to 3″ in some areas. When you take about 10″ of snow cover from the last few weeks and throw in those types of temps and 3″ of rain, you’re in for some pretty nasty flooding.
We already saw some of the streets getting water last night when we were coming home, and now at 9am this morning, almost all of the snow on the ground outside of our balcony is gone. Just like that, gone!
Looking at the radar, it appears that the rain should let up in about an hour or two, but coming back after a short break. And then for tomorrow? Back down below freezing with high winds. Go figure.
Yes, as if you thought the frustrating pattern of…Large snowfall, frigid temps, large snowfall, frigid temps, …
Need another chapter, we’ll it’s here. It started snowing again waaaaaay early this morning, and for pretty much the entire day now it’s been coming down with various amounts on intensity. Just around 3pm or so, while it was still light enough out, it looked rather nice with those giant snowflakes like we say Saturday night. Wishing I had taken a photo earlier, but now that it’s darker, however, it’s lost most of its charm.
The current predictions have this weather pattern going until at least tomorrow afternoon, and just for fun, switching from snow over to sleet and maybe rain depending on how warm it gets. All this, and no snow in the forecast for Xmas day. What gives? I guess that extra day this leap year is throwing off the schedule.
Anyway, talk of temps in the 40′s this weekend is still a possibility, although, it will probably make the snow and ice even worse than it is now. We’ll see if they’re right about December being the worst of the winter weather this year.
Those following me on Twitter and my Facebook buddies found out last night that I was back out on the ice again, and given today’s deep freeze, it was just in time. And unlike two weeks ago, the rink was actually open this time!!!
It was a rather gorgeous night, if you like winter that is. It had been snowing lightly for about an hour by the time we left for the rink, and I was smart enough to bring my own shovel. Being on the ice for about an hour, I probably spent a third of the time shovelling enough space on the ice to actually skate. Those girls from the Ice Crew at the Hawks game are never around when you need them.
Anyway, Cindy came with this time, and although she wasn’t skaing (yet), she still had fun and even shot a few video clips of me on the ice. I figured some sort of visual reference might be a good idea for those that either (a) don’t believe I was back on the ice, or (b) wanted to see how fun it really was and come out skating next time.
This first clip is showing off that I still have a few moves left, and was taken later in the session once I shovelled a large enough area to spread out.
You can sort of see some of the snow falling down, but this next clip that Cindy shot is just of the snow falling itself. Again, if you like winter and enjoy those big fluffy snowflakes, this one is for you. If that’s not your thing, you might want to turn away.
Personally, I think that shot of the snow falling is pure beauty. Very well done, dear!
Overall, there are 7 clips that I uploaded, and you can few them using the playlist below. There is one of me shovelling, which is not to be interpretted as my audition tape for next year’s Ice Crew. There is also a few of me skating with the camera, including the last one which is a pan of the entire rink. Very peaceful.
