Its Been a Long Time

Time flies like an arrow
Black flies like a fisherman.

Can it have been over four months since I last posted?

A lot has happened over these months. The Christmas season has come and gone. A new year is upon us.

My Patriots reached the pinnacle of the football world only to be knocked off by the upstart Giants.

Winter has come and, well, is still here.

After three record months of snow fall it looks like we may be in line for month number four. At the end of the first month of March we have a winter storm going across northern New York.

After several years of below average snow falls this one has everyone in the area ready for Spring.

I am ready for Spring. The seed catalogs have been coming for some time now. The thought of fresh little shoots of a salad garden breaking through the ground make this last month of Winter weather the longest of all.

So, Think Snow (Melting Snow that is).

Single Skillet Meals
Our local PBS station was having a membership drive/fundraiser today. They had a chef on (I did not catch his name) who had guests on cooking up Single Skillet Meals. One really caught my attention.

1. Boil up some Pierogies. Drain them out.
2. In a large skillet, saute some chopped onions and a chipped head of cabbage till tender. Brown very lightly.
3. Slice up some Kielbasa and toss it in. Mix it up to let the Kielbasa cook up.
4. Toss with the Pierogies. Salt and pepper to taste.
5. Enjoy (perhaps with a Pilsner Urquell?).

Life is indeed good.

Autumn

The last several days have been hot and humid here. Very summer like. We really have not had that much summer like weather this year.

Last night though it was quite chilly in the house. With the windows opened and outside temperatures dipping into the 50's we hit that ever so perfect sleeping weather that signals the coming of Autumn.

Driving around town there are other hints in the air. Selected trees have started their annual change with colors starting to peek through. And if that were not enough, the air is just starting to get that 'fall' smell to it.

And now for the exciting part. As the weather starts to change, so does the menu.

There are a bunch of foods that we only eat once the weather chills. Most involve extended cooking times (and who wants a hot kitchen in the summer?) or simply have the connotation associated with them that they are only eaten when we can fully appreciate the spiritual (as well as bodily) warmth that can be derived from them.

Yesterday my wife came home with a nice corned beef that will be dinner in a day or two. Definitely this food falls into this category. And this morning, while lying in bed, before the children started stomping around, I found myself thinking Pot Roast ala Elise.

But, I am not ready to give up on Summer food quite yet. There will still be plenty of opportunities to BBQ and grill in the weeks to come. Chicken, ribs, burgers and dogs still will be visiting my back yard. Cole slaw, potato salad and fresh garden veggies are still to be enjoyed.

Because Autumn is still twelve days away.

Hot, Damn Hot

Adrian Cronauer (as played by Robin Williams, not the real deal) stated it best in "Good Morning Vietnam" - Hot, Damn Hot! Well, actually it was Cronhauer as played by Williams improvising made up character "Roosevelt E. Roosevelt". Confused yet?

Anyhow - it is hot and damp in Massena today. Not really unseasonably so, just a lot hotter and damper than it has been all summer.

An absolute nightmare for those working in manufacturing facilities. This is the type of weather that when combined with hard work can bring the strongest to thier knees. Time to keep your fluid input up to an appropriate amount to stave off all sorts of heat related maladies such as Heat Exhaustian and Heat Stroke.

At the plant where I work we had a worker go down last Friday who spent the weekend in the hospital recovering. It was a near thing, it very well could have been a funeral the worker was attending - thier own.

Good Morning

Good morning from Massena.

An interesting weather pattern hit the Northeast yesterday afternoon. We had a thunderstorm watch all afternoon and lots of thunderboomers rolled through the area. We even had what the weather folks call 'mild rotation' in a couple of the cells - weather speak for 'potential tornado'.

Did I mention that weather and climate are interests of mine?

The trough in the jet stream that has been causing all of the hot and dry weather out West resulted in a ridge on the East coast which was the root cause of last nights weather. and at the top of the ridge some nice, tight, isobars meaning wicked pressure differential resulting in winds and all around unstable weather.

I was in my glory.