None of the newscasters have correctly predicted the frosty night in Davis. They were unable to forecast the extent of fog due to colder air above the Sacramento Valley. Colder air aloft means the inversion layer may not form, which is normally required for the fog we get in the Sacramento Valley. They went with a forecast of patchy fog and frost in the coldest locations. The local newscasters in Sacramento are a joke for a large city. Double the joke for those that do the weather, but then TV weathercasters in California are generally clueless. I get my information from the NWS, and various weather models available on the internet.

Don't hit me! We felt a bit chilly this morning on Maui. I put on the thin sweat pants I keep here, and a hoodie. Now it's about 80F, but there's a stiff breeze on and off. Can't spot whales due to the chop. I am a little concerned about our house-sitter and Westie. Chicagoland is predicted to get at least 18" near the lake. More concerned about imminent delivery of Baby #2 for DIL in the city. Chicago deals with snow very well, but its side streets and alleys won't get any attention for a long time after the storm. DS is trained as a paramedic and has delivered babies, but I'm sure they'd both prefer a hospital delivery! alisande -- Thinking of your home delivery of your son. Our DGS (nearly 6) would be extremely interested should that happen. He's Mr. Science.

I like wood stoves, too: the quick and intense heat; the sensory aspect, that you hear and see and even smell a wood stove; we also use ours to dry clothes and heat bricks and sometimes food or water. A wood stove has a presence; it's a hearth for the home in a way no radiator can ever be. That said, they're polluting, not to mention labor-intensive and messy. There's a symmetry to all this: significance requires work, and brings disorder with it. We have just one stove, in our living room, which means that we all get cozy in cold weather. Perhaps it's just that DH, DD, and I get along anyway, but I think it helps that we spend our hours at home together in this small space, talking, sharing the books we're reading and what we're seeing on our computers. I must say it helped when DD got earphones and I didn't have to listen to her and DH's music for hours on end. Bart, I get you about wanting to get out to the garden, and I hope your turn comes soon! Fortunately for me mine is right here, and even when my cold was worse than now I could step out now and then when temperatures were mild and prune the wisteria on the pergola in front of the house. Yesterday we had an amazing miraculous day of decent weather. I was out for several hours (wow), shearing weeds, digging out a patch of Bermuda grass, pruning the Teas, that needed it badly, tidying an orange peel clematis. Which may not be very comforting to you, but sickness does end one day, and so does bad weather. I wonder if, when the weather does finally improve, we may not suddenly get well? I have a notion these stubbornly prolonged illnesses are linked to the cold and dreary conditions of these last weeks. Possibly to an excess of indoor life, too.

Yes, we got hail here too, and now we have 4 inches of snow on the ground again. The county has declared a flooding emergency, it looked like this here yesterday: Yeah, that USED to be a road, and thankfully we're high and dry but Ashley got 4 inches of water in her basement, the sump pump couldn't keep up. This is a house near hers: The county has more than 230 natural lakes and over half the county consists of the Manistee National Forest, so at least no buildings there, and only seasonal roads. The combined total length of all the county's rivers and streams exceeds 350 miles, so pretty much every year people get flooded with spring rains because the ground is still frozen and the rain has no way to soak in, or we have ice jams and the river backs up and people get flooded, but it still stinks. Right now my cows have a swimming pool in their barnyard, but thankfully, they are high and dry, they just stay away from that particular area. We still have the largest earthen dam east of the Mississippi, Hardy Dam, built in 1931, and that and another earthen dam, Croton Dam, still function and produce electricity, but people move there expecting that the dam is going to control the river level by limiting output and when runoff hits the river, well, it's not all above the dam and then they are surprised. This year, though, places flooded that have never flooded and the roads are taking a beating. Annie