So how was your holiday?
Do you look like this after winter storms?
Thanks to the weather we've been getting clumps of mourning doves hanging out on our shelves, and apparently getting sleepy in the sunshine. The way they turn into a feather ball always makes us laugh.
Wow, everyone's getting lots of snow in the northern hemisphere. We got a steady snowfall during most of Christmas Eve. This was very pretty, but it resulted in being woken by a snow blower at 5:30 AM on Christmas day. On the one hand, I am glad I live in apartment complex that plows parking lots and clears (most) sidewalks. On the other hand, was this really urgent on Christmas morning when everything is closed anyway? I'm not sure if I felt sorrier for the poor guy up in the middle of the night clearing sidewalks or the parents who were probably wakened by their kids who were certainly not going back to sleep after being woken at 5 AM.
What's more I would have appreciated it even more if the snowblower guy had cleared the sidewalks in front of our complex yesterday. There was about a foot of it on the sidewalks and 2 feet of it on the street edges thanks to the plows and it was a slog getting to the bus stop (not to mention standing in street thanks to the actual stop being almost knee deep in snow).
Speaking of buses, I had to map out a route to a new location on Sunday and our MTD's webpage has trip planner software to suggest buses. All I can say is that I'm glad I'm familiar with both the town and bus system because it twice gave me a crazy ass route with backtracking and two transfers when I knew it took less. In fact, I found a bus that dropped me off right in front of the building I was going to yet it was a route that the planner hadn't even mentioned. I also found a direct drop off and pick up on the return that it hadn't mentioned either. I feel sorry for anyone new to the city trying to use that thing.
This was not unlike the route that Google maps gave me the same day, suggesting a highway exit that took me on a deserted stretch of road rather than the next exit up going straight through town and the same distance. Any human being looking at that would have much preferred the non-Google route, especially after a lot of snow since main streets get plowed and less used streets may not. Mike noted that automatic mapping software absolutely refuses to make you backtrack on routes even if another route is better or shorter but requires some of it. Machines are a long way from supplanting common sense.
This morning we had gotten another dusting of snow and I spotted a blue jay in a nearby tree. I grabbed the camera but by the time I snapped he'd flown off, leaving me with the following:
Comments at Dreamwidth
.
Thanks to the weather we've been getting clumps of mourning doves hanging out on our shelves, and apparently getting sleepy in the sunshine. The way they turn into a feather ball always makes us laugh.
Wow, everyone's getting lots of snow in the northern hemisphere. We got a steady snowfall during most of Christmas Eve. This was very pretty, but it resulted in being woken by a snow blower at 5:30 AM on Christmas day. On the one hand, I am glad I live in apartment complex that plows parking lots and clears (most) sidewalks. On the other hand, was this really urgent on Christmas morning when everything is closed anyway? I'm not sure if I felt sorrier for the poor guy up in the middle of the night clearing sidewalks or the parents who were probably wakened by their kids who were certainly not going back to sleep after being woken at 5 AM.
What's more I would have appreciated it even more if the snowblower guy had cleared the sidewalks in front of our complex yesterday. There was about a foot of it on the sidewalks and 2 feet of it on the street edges thanks to the plows and it was a slog getting to the bus stop (not to mention standing in street thanks to the actual stop being almost knee deep in snow).
Speaking of buses, I had to map out a route to a new location on Sunday and our MTD's webpage has trip planner software to suggest buses. All I can say is that I'm glad I'm familiar with both the town and bus system because it twice gave me a crazy ass route with backtracking and two transfers when I knew it took less. In fact, I found a bus that dropped me off right in front of the building I was going to yet it was a route that the planner hadn't even mentioned. I also found a direct drop off and pick up on the return that it hadn't mentioned either. I feel sorry for anyone new to the city trying to use that thing.
This was not unlike the route that Google maps gave me the same day, suggesting a highway exit that took me on a deserted stretch of road rather than the next exit up going straight through town and the same distance. Any human being looking at that would have much preferred the non-Google route, especially after a lot of snow since main streets get plowed and less used streets may not. Mike noted that automatic mapping software absolutely refuses to make you backtrack on routes even if another route is better or shorter but requires some of it. Machines are a long way from supplanting common sense.
This morning we had gotten another dusting of snow and I spotted a blue jay in a nearby tree. I grabbed the camera but by the time I snapped he'd flown off, leaving me with the following:
Comments at Dreamwidth
.