vastateofmind

Yea, verily, let it be so. Sooner, if possible. We need some of the pressure taken off of "our" Hilltop Weggy's...

I've quit 5-6 social media platforms over the past several years because of the overabundance of: "Look how perfect MY life is!" posts, designed to run up the poster's like/love reaction count, when YOU and OTHER friends know that their "perfect" life is just a manufactured electronic construct, and "SIGH, I'm feeling so (fill in name of dramatic, emo mindset)..." posts, where zero additional context is given, but where you're clearly supposed to enable the poster by asking what's wrong. Social media is like manna from heaven for life's attention whores. And to Bob's separate point, we ditched cable TV a few years ago and never looked back...we've managed to tailor (and enjoy far more) the handful of hours we now reserve for TV.

From your keyboard to God's ears. Currently 37.

True to the popular "March blows" theme around here, yesterday was supposed to be around 60 and sunny....and ended up being overcast (until 4 p.m., of course) with highs only in the low 50s here. I guess I shouldn't bitch, since we've generally been busting high on temps over the past couple of weeks. Today set for low 60s...and with clear skies and sun right now, hoping we hit or exceed that.

I feel guilty for "willing" spring to start earlier. Like I'm letting so many other sub members down if I'm not rooting for at least one more snow.

Oh, I'm interested, and downloaded your higher res version for my desktop pics folder on my numerous laptops! Thx again for sharing. The iPhone 13 line (as well as most recent Google Pixel generation phones) are SO capable of capturing the more challenging lighting situations like this. In fact, it just hit me what your pic reminded me of -- a 1988(!) album cover for a Windham Hill new age instrumental collection called "Winters Solstice II." I'd argue that yours is even better.

Rebounded to 59...clear skies, getting breezy again. I'll take it.

DUDE. That's breathtaking. THAT'S award-winning photography right there, at least in my book.

Great snow pics. And if nothing else, we can actually SEE why you might actually BE a Revolutionary War re-enactor...

My appreciation for Russian composers -- particularly Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky and especially Rimsky-Korsakov -- grew exponentially when I played French horn in MS and HS concert band (and even when I got sucked into the wind section in HS orchestra!) and our directors back in the day most often chose from the catalogs of those three composers. Mussorgsky's Pictures still moves me. One of the most challenging, but my all-time favorite, pieces I remember playing was Rimsky-Korsakov's Russian Easter Overture in HS orchestra -- to this day, I liken it to a classical "Stairway to Heaven." Our HS orchestra back then was about the size of the CMU orchestra playing the piece below, and like them, we blew the roof off of the auditorium.

LOL. I should've added in my previous post that I've gone back and forth between iOS and Android for the past decade, had several iPhones in that time, and while I certainly don't hate iOS...I do prefer Android for a variety of reasons. I'll grant that Apple makes good, solid hardware and does a great job supporting that hardware via iOS for 1-3 years longer than Google/Samsung does on comparable Android hardware (Samsung's getting better). However, iOS can't touch Android when it comes to notifications, customization and being able to choose from a variety of default apps. I'm also deep in the Google application stack, and there's no way Apple can beat the integration between Google apps, Android and even Google Assistant (which makes Siri look like a rube).

Would be interested to see you post some wx (or any) pics you've got from the G22 Ultra. I upgraded to the Pixel 6 Pro at launch last October and have been pretty impressed with the upgraded camera rig there, but have followed the development of the G22 Ultra, too, and it sounds like an impressive phone. While I personally haven't experienced any issues with the Pixel 6 line, Google sure has stumbled a number of times squashing out bugs in its monthly updates on the newest models. Interesting sidebar -- I tried out the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 for a week before I settled on the P6 Pro last fall. The Flip 3 was hands down THE coolest phone I ever used. Absolutely loved the form factor, and I found myself using the outer screen to process notifications WAY more, without having to turn on/enable the primary screen all the time. I never mind reducing screen time. Anyway, the Flip 3 had a very average camera system (certainly not up to S22 Ultra or P6 Pro calibre) plus the battery barely got me through a day. And I'm done living with battery anxiety on any cell phone...so back it went. But if Sammy finds a way to improve battery life and camera quality on that Z Flip series, I'll back in a heartbeat.

Yep, feeling same...and the current 77 degree temp isn't helping. As I've mentioned before, I won't bitch about this winter since I got nearly a foot back on 1/3/22. In any event, I've already missed a fair amount of crocus appearances in neighboring yards....and the daffodils are starting to push up everywhere I look.

Damn...it's 77. Have only had full sun for about an hour.

This isn't just a "like" -- this is a "love."

Interestingly enough, I've discovered a few straggler cicada nymph emergence holes around the base of our oak tree. I know they're fresh because last year's emergence holes have all been filled in with countless mowings and leaf mulchings since last spring. I checked the tree trunk but didn't see any nymphs. Our current soil temps are ~55 degrees and the base of that tree gets full sun all day, but still....always surprising to see the handful of late-comers. "Hey...where IS everybody?!?"

Yep, we were easily getting gusts to 40-50 mph in the 10 p.m. to midnight time range last night. But as @87storms mentioned, they were balmy gusts...felt nice out doing the last dog walk of the night.

Thx for posting this -- these are some of my favorite flowers and I've always wondered what they were called! With those colors, I'll BET the hummingbirds love them...I know several folks have discussed it in recent months, but I'm bound determined to invest in a hummingbird feeder THIS spring and start coaxing them to visit.

We got up to 69 at the peak yesterday afternoon...I think that was a bust-high from the forecast. Needless to say, we lapped it up...did a long walk outside, and then found many reasons to be putzing around outside the house and in the yards just to BE outside. Wowzers, what a day.

Pics, @Kay, pics please! Here or in the Winter Pics thread!

The underground hydraulics ARE unreal...in fact, two houses adjacent to that drainage ditch splitting the neighborhood were lost/condemned due to one of those hundred-year rain events in the past decade. We moved into this house in 2002 and immediately noticed that, even with all of the fresh paint, minor cracks in walls, joints and some doorways began to appear...the cracks would ebb and flow, depending on how dry or wet the weather was, and that all continues to this day. To your point about the earthquake...all those cracks disappeared on that shaky day, at least for a number of months. The absolute worst -- 3rd or 4th year living here, we noticed some especially nasty cracks appearing between the original house and the 20' x 30' addition built off the back...and because the original owner DID NOT lay a proper slab foundation under the addition (he essentially walled in a formerly screened porch!), the addition was literally pulling AWAY from the house. For the bargain price of just over $20K, we had to invest in 10 of those augur piles shoring up OUR addition. Lost huge swaths of decent backyard grass, two patios and lots of mature landscaping around the addition due to the construction. Thanks, former owner....oh, and shitty marine clay, too.

In fairness to you and your efforts in autumn -- same thing happens to ME every year. I'll have every damn leaf picked up from every inch of front/back/side yards...and come Jan/Feb, there'll be small, wind-swirled piles of leaves all OVER every damn part of those yards. I'm sure it's from all the surrounding yards, because I'm PRETTY good about getting up all the leaves by mid-December. UGH. Given today's temps....I might even have to crack the window in my home office.

This is a unique sub, focused on a niche topic. And quite possibly the most unforgiving, IF you aren't willing to lurk and "read the room" for "awhile." The length of "awhile" depends on 1) how well you read the room, 2) how well you contribute, and 3) how your contributions are received. I've observed many folks over the years wade in here with theIr Facebook-style, grenade-posting approach...and pay dearly for it. I was a mostly silent member here for over a decade before starting to wade in about a year ago, contributing some discussion to obs and some stupid memes to banter. I've light years to go when it comes to reading model tea leaves in LR and severe discussions, so almost always keep my trap shut in those threads...reading, learning, reading more, offering reactions, listening, etc. One of the most important things I've learned at AmWx is to be aware of WHAT you're saying, WHERE you're saying it -- if there's a banter-ish comment in a LR thread that I feel a burning need to comment on in a banter-ish or smartass manner, I'll quote it and bring it over to banter so that the LR wonks can keep doing their thing without my probably-not-relevant banter getting in the way THERE. As @Bob Chill said earlier in a larger context...location is always relevant on the internet. I've loved tracking/observing wx since I was a kid...but learned to love it more, and predict it better, here over the past decade. Yes, you really should. I've seen a few relatives including my mom suffer with it several times over the years -- my mom even had it in her EYES (who knew that was a thing?) at one point. Anyway, it was all enough to prompt me to get the shots. Fair warning -- there tends to be a variable reaction to shingles shots. I had an abbreviated, 24-hour version of full-on flu after each of my shingles shots...brief but miserable. YMMV.

It really has. I couldn't help myself and took another, closer glance at that listing. Forget the "main" house...the guest house is MORE than twice the square footage of my own. But buried down toward the bottom of the breathlessly worded description was a fair amount of "geotechnical stabilization" talk....140 augur cast piles installed along the shoreline, 15 40-foot deep caissons installed on the house's foundation. Given the foundation, underground pipe and general runoff issues that plague Hayfield Farm due to widespread marine clay...I'm quite sure I wouldn't want to live any closer to the Potomac than this. You're uphill from me a good bit...and hopefully y'all don't have to deal with the damnable marine clay.