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Cindy's Blog
Cindy's Blog Oct. 01, 2009
Its fine if you call me crazy (In this business, I’ve heard worse. *smile*) but, I’m really loving the cold weather.
This morning we have a freeze warning posted. I was a little giddy getting dressed. I could layer a button down with a nice sweater without getting too warm at work. I got my big puffy vest out of the closet to go over top. I resisted the urge to grab my knit hat and instead opted for the driving gloves and found my self disappointed when the steering wheel wasn’t cold. Yeah, it’s a little crazy, but think of it this way. Living in Michigan we get to do a wardrobe change every 6 months. When I pull out the boxes of winter clothes from storage and do the yearly exchange of shorts for jackets, if feels like I just went shopping. That makes me happy.
By the way, I’m totally bummed about my Twins losing to the Tigers. It may take me a while to recover. I think I’ll ware my Twins hat around the news room in sorrow. Doggie Update: I think we got the near bullet proof breed of golden retriever. For those of you who read my previous post, we visited my grandmother’s farm this summer. While there, Miguel ran into a barbed wire fence and now has a split in his tongue.
This past week he had a run in with a moving car. He was chasing a tennis ball that took a bad bounce out into the street. Thankfully the driver of the car was going slow and hit the breaks when he saw Miguel. Miguel hit the skids too, but a little too late. He more or less body checked the side of the car and got the side of his paw caught by the tire. A combination of the tire and breaking on the rough pavement gave him some very big cuts on his front paw. Everything checked out, there doesn’t seem to be any other problems besides the cuts on his paw.
For about a week we’ve been washing the wounds and bandaging his paw. Given the circumstances, it could have been much worse. Another notch on the puppy chronicles. *Smile*
Cindy's Blog July 05, 2009
Has any one notice a few Minnesotanisms slip out on air this weekend? I’ve tried to keep them under wraps, but a few have gotten out! Last week I was surrounded by many Minnesotan phrases like “yeah”, “oh, sure”, and “you betch ya!”. I finally got to go on my long awaited trip home. The biggest pull to go back was my grandmother’s 90th birthday celebration. It took Brian and me a 16 hour car ride back to Northwestern Minnesota to her farm. (That’s right! At 90 she’s still out on the farm in one of the coldest parts of the country.) Brian and I took off that Thursday night a drove through the U.P. to Duluth, Minnesota for breakfast. We visited the often photographed lift bridge in Canal Park and took some pretty cool pictures of the sun over Lake Superior. We continued our trek across the rest of Minnesota and made it to Grandma’s at noon.
Miguel did great the whole car ride. He’s gotten into a routine with us and he knows to plop down and wait for us to stop. He spends most of his time sleeping in what I’m sure he thinks is his rightful place, head down on the center council between the front two seats.
Since it’s such a long drive for me and she doesn’t travel as far as she use to, I haven’t seen grandma in two years. I’ll tell ya, she’s still got quite a whit. Most everyone on that side of my family is a huge Twins fans. Apparently there was some trouble getting an HD converter to work out on the farm so my aunt and uncle got grandma signed up for DirecTV. “I can watch all the Twins games on TV.” She was telling me. “It’s the best $13 a month I’ve ever spent.” Shortly there after, our conversation steered more towards the Twins players them selves. “Joe Mauer is cute!” she said. Our adventures didn’t end with our conversations with grandma.
That afternoon Brian went out to walk the fence lines of the farm in hopes to kick up a few birds with the dog. They were successful! Miguel kicked one up and immediately chased after it. He tried to clear a barbed wire fence and failed. The barbs gave him a few cuts on his belly and his thick fur protected most of his body, most of him… Unfortunately Miguel had his mouth open and one of the barbs caught him on the tong. It created a large gash about an inch and a quarter long and split his tong all the way through. Of course a phone call was placed to the vet. There’s not much they could do for Miguel. The vet said tongue wounds on dogs generally heal by themselves quite well, but he’ll permanently have a split tongue for the rest of his life. I felt so bad for him at first, but now that a week has passed it’s become a bit of a joke between Brian and I. We have a snake dog now! Miguel looks a little funny and there’s no chance of mistaken identity now! If you happen to catch me out with Miguel one day. Ask me to get him to “smile” and I’ll show you his “battle wound” from the farm. *smile*
So you’d think Miguel getting hurt would be enough for one day, but we weren’t done just yet. That same night there was a strong line of thunderstorms that swept through that area of Minnesota. Brian and I almost had to get everyone into the basement twice. (For those who may have forgotten, Brian is a meteorologist too.) There was a phenomenal roll cloud that passed over the farm. I’ve included a picture of it in black and white. It shows the cloud details best but it still doesn’t do this cloud justice. The cloud was very impressive, but the movements were worse. The front side of the cloud was moving toward the camera, the clouds immediately behind it were moving away from the camera and the low lying clouds just below were moving upward. That’s rotation and very tight tornado producing rotation. Now let me digress a little into weather education… We almost always get phone calls into a news room when ever there’s a storm and people report seeing rotation. There’s a difference. Clouds in thunderstorms move quite erratically, especially low clouds. There are many strong winds pushing them all over the place. Those low clouds moving that way can often be perceived as tornado producing rotation. Rotation that is concerning, or could produce a tornado is tight rotation. Meaning those clouds are very close together and moving in almost opposite angles to each other. Brian and I saw two of those areas that night, one to our south and one just to our north.
Thankfully nothing happened that night to the farm, but we were very concerned. I though for sure we’d see one hop down from the clouds. I’m only going to post one picture of the clouds here, but I have the rest of them on my facebook profile. http://www.facebook.com/cindy.althoff It was an eventful start to our vacation but thankfully the rest of the trip went well. The party went off without a hitch on Sunday. We made it down to Minneapolis for a night to do a little wedding planning and see more family and friends. We also pit stopped in Madison, Wisconsin to see Brian’s family and friends. I was tired when we returned home, but it’s always nice to see everyone. I miss them.
Doggie Update: I think I’m going to jinx myself. Miguel is still being a perfect pup! (We’ll now with the added character of a snake tongue. See above if you’re confused.) *wink* Now that he’s nearing one and a half, he’s matured quite a bit. Miguel and I have bonded and he listens to me more then Brian right now. Earlier this afternoon Brian and I were playing around to see who the dog would respond to when called. I won. *smile* I’ve added one of my favorite photos of Miguel on the farm from the past trip. I have some other really good ones. I’ve got them posted on my facebook account.
I need to stop now. It’s time to start thinking about weather and getting ready for the 10 pm show. My work week is almost over and I’ve got lots to do tomorrow. Mount laundry is waiting for me to conquer it.
Have a good one!
Cindy's Blog June 23, 2009
Hello all!
Whew, what a week. It’s already Tuesday and I’m tired. Because of a few vacations in the Weather Center, I’m on day 6 of 7. Please don’t take this as complaining. It’s more the realization that my long stretch is coming to an end and I can see the finish line. All of us meteorologist do our best to cover other shifts when someone goes on vacation. I know Darrin, Mike, Chris and Eric do it without complaint when I’m out of town, and I’m more then happy to return the favor. Beyond the relief that I’m almost done, there’s also a sense of growth. For instance, just today I was asked to do something I rarely do, play reporter!
This week I had the pleasure of being assigned to do our Cool Camp segment. So I hopped in a car at 10 am this morning and headed to YMCA Camp Timbers, just north of West Branch. Now typically, the drive from Saginaw to Camp Timbers should only take a little over an hour. Put a photographer and a meteorologist in a WNEM TV5 news jeep and they get lost… Unfortunately we drove around on back woods roads around West Branch with no cell phone reception for near 45 minutes before the Camp Director, Steve Meyer, rescued us!
It was a tough time finding the place, but what a Camp! Camp Timbers does many week long overnight camping experiences with different themes to tickle different fancies. This week happens to be Band Camp! If you’ve read my past blogs, you know I’m not afraid to call my self a geek. This was my place to be, except I couldn’t find any geeks at all. Of course, I found nothing but a great camp full of great activities and personnel. There was a rope course, a climbing wall, a giant tube in which you could slide down the hill side on, a GIANT slide into the lake, a great beach, good food, horses and so much more. It made me wish I was a kid again. As a matter of fact, I couldn’t resist the slide on the side of the hill. There might be a part of my journey down the slide that makes it into the story! Band Camp Week is made possible with the help of Fred Herter, who I got to meet. Instantly you could hear the passion he has for the camp in his voice. It was truly a treat.
To make a long story short, it’s a great place surrounded by great people. Check them out at http://www.saginawymca.org/web/index.php/camps.
On to other topics, all is well on the home front. Brian and I finally got our engagement announcements out. Ouch! We did it on the cheap and still paid out $100 for 130 announcements. The biggest expense was not the announcement its self, but the postage. It’s certainly got me brain storming on how to make our invitations cheap. The practical side of me says make ’em cheap because they end up in the garbage in the end. The artsy fartsy side of me wants to have fun and create something really cool. I guess this is my call to anyone who’s reading this to e-mail me some wedding invitation money saving ideas!
Also, I’m now on Facebook! I’ve purposely set up the account so I can have more interactions with folks from Mid-Michigan and friends I’ve made when I worked in Iowa. Find me and send a friend invite. It’s always fun to get to know who’s on the other side of the TV!
Doggie Update: He’s just perfect lately. Yep, I haven’t said that here yet, have I? Miguel is now nearing 18 months and showing some of his maturity. Only on a few occasions does he run out of the yard, he’s listening well and we’ve bonded lately.
Brian’s been busy lately and that’s left me and the dog some extra time together. Brian says that he can tell Miguel is more attached to me then ever. Honestly, I kind of wanted a cuddler of a dog. While Miguel is not that, I’m happy that he likes me. *smile* I’ve added a picture I took of Miguel the other week. It’s from one of our trips romping in an open field. I love the pop of yellow the dandelions add.
That’s all for now.
By the way, Chris Gloninger wanted to be in my blog… You should know better then to call my bluff, Chris. I’m leaving this here for everyone to see! *wink*
Cindy's Blog June 6, 2009
I’m happy to say my screen door is holding up quite well to Miguel. *smile* Hopefully it will give me enough time to heal up.
Most of the little cuts and scrapes are starting to fade away. One would think that now we’re finally getting to the end of the puppy years, I would be happy and want to wait a while for another. Nope. Not the case. I was at the Dog Days of Summer with Miguel at Immerman Park this past week. There was a little black lab pup that someone had brought. If you ask me, it was just a touch too young to be out there. She couldn’t have been any older then 9 week, but cute as a button! I think I must have picked her up at least 4 times. All the other Golden dog parents were making fun of me and saying I was going to sneak the little girl out. I gave it some thought, but figured someone would miss her. Besides, a dog-napping would not be good. *smile*
I got out to golf for the first time this season. I didn’t do that bad. My short game stinks. I can put, but I can use a wedge to save my life. It’s still something I have to figure out. But I’m also figuring out my “go to club” is my hybrid 4 iron. Love that thing. I can get it out there a good 150’ with control too. Hopefully golf will be a once a week venture for me and Brian, however rain my screw us up this week. One benefit about being a meteorologist… I know what my chances are.
Cindy's Blog May 28, 2009
I discovered a new skill this past week. I’m a phenomenal screen door repairer…
We moved into our new place the other month. (You know the deal, the dog needed a yard!) All has been going well except for the occasional Miguel escape from the property and terrorism of the neighbors… However, Miguel has been quite tough on our screen door. He’s never really learned to bark/whine when he wants to be let out. It’s more of a rap against the glass door with his paw. Of course, with no glass there it becomes a tear in the sliding screen door instead. A few tears here, a few more there and soon or later the screen door no longer is sufficient in keeping the bugs out.
I found out that the hardware store has a screen made specifically to take the extra abuse of dogs, so we bought it. Three hours later, after a little cursing, a cut to my finger, leg and event my knuckle, the screen has been replaced. I’m feeling quite battered and bruised, but handy. *smirk*
While in between donating blood to the screen door I discovered that it’s always the simplest jobs that never turn out to be the easiest. Next time I may just pay some one to do it at the hardware store instead…
Cindy's Blog May 13, 2009
Hello to all, it’s been a while! I’ve had a long month. With moving to a new home, planning our wedding and all the other responsibilities of life, I’ve found my self longing for some vacation time. *smile* Oh, well. It will have to wait a while yet. My grandmother is turning 90 this year and I’ll be heading back to help the family celebrate later this summer.
So, the wedding planning has been interesting. What a chore to put together a guest list! Boy do I have a large family! After entering all of the members from both sides of the family, I have about 120 invites! Brian’s side is approximately 60. Now let’s throw in friends, family friends, etc… So much for a small wedding! It’s not like we ever had a choice anyways. It’s already shaping out to be a big celebration, and I think mainly because it’s what Brian wants. So I’ve handed over some of the wedding planning to my future groom. I figured who best to figure out the DJ, the rehearsal dinner and many other things. I feel very fortunate that Brian is so willing to play apart in planning our wedding. It’s a lot to plan such an event and nice to have the help.
We packed up our things last month and moved to a new home! It’s nice to feel so “grown-up” with home responsibilities. I’ve got plans for lots of gardening now that I have a yard. Miguel has responded quite well to having a new home too. The first week or so I could tell he was unsure about things. In our apartment he could plop down in front of the door and survey the scene. He didn’t have to move to know if I was in the bedroom, kitchen, living room. In our new home it isn’t so easy for him. He’s constantly on the move and re-plopping so that he has an eye on where I’m at. Without a doubt, his favorite place to plop is on his couch in front of the front window. He sits there with his head leaning over the back side watching traffic, people, birds and even the leaves go by. Brian’s favorite spot in the home is without a doubt the backyard. He spent a good day and a half searching for the perfect bocce ball set and couldn’t wait to have friends over. My favorite place is the kitchen. I have so much cupboard space and counter tops that I struggle to fill them!
Of course with moving to any new location there is always the greeting of the neighbors… Admittedly, I love to watch people interact. Have you ever noticed that people typically fill certain rolls? There’s the neighborhood gossip, the grumpy neighbor, the ones that have the overly social teenage kid and there’s people over at all hours of the night, even the people who have an unruly dog and seem too oblivious to that fact. I fear that I may have fallen into the unruly dog category. Our yard isn’t fenced in and Brian has convinced me that Miguel is capable of learning to stay in his yard. I’m thinking that’s not the case. Miguel is just not mature enough to listen to us with so much happening around him. He’s such a social bugger, but that also means he wants to go visit everyone and every thing.
The other day Brian was throwing a ball for him that went near the street. Apparently Miguel went out into the street to get it with a car coming. Thankfully the car saw him and slowed down and even came to a stop. Miguel licked the bumper and went to the driver’s side door to check out who was behind the wheel. Embarrassing? Completely. I think he has to mature more before we can trust him to know his yard and stay in it. So to any of my neighbors who may be reading this, I’m aware. We’ve talked about other options.
Last but not least, I got to go to a Tigers game at Comerica Park this past week. Don’t even think that I cheered for the Tigers. Oh, no. I may have traded the Minnesota Vikings in for the Green Bay Packers, but no one is going to convince me to be anything but a Twins fan. (I have my priorities!) I can not say the same thing for Brian though… See, since he’s from Wisconsin he’s a Brewers fan. However, when I met him he was also a Twins fan. (His excuse for being so was that one is an American League team and the other is a National League team.) Now that he lives in Michigan he’s ditched the Twins and traded the TC logo for a Tigers logo. I’ve given him serious gruff about it.
The Twins played a three game series here in Detroit the other week. We donned our ball caps (Twins for me of course!) and went down to catch the game. Being that it was Cinco De Mayo we hit up a Tex-Mex place in downtown and had quite an adventure. The restaurant had burros outside in a pen on the streets of downtown Detroit. Everyone got a free sombrero, prizes, a DJ and some very lively entertainment. After dinner we kept on our sombreros and walked to Comerica. That’s where my fun ended. After winning the night before, the Twins were down 9-0 by the end of the 4th inning.
I’ve added a few pictures for you to enjoy. Note, the one where I’m smiling at the game was taken before the 4th inning. Just so you’re aware… *wink*
That’s all for me right now. My shift has ended and it’s time for me to go home. I’m ready for a nap!
Go Twins!
Cindy's Blog April 12, 2009
One of the perks about working in a newsroom is that it’s okay to watch TV while you work! Tonight I happened to see that The Ten Commandments was on. To me, it’s the quintessential Easter movie. It’s so grand and over the top that it really is a masterpiece. I never use to like it when I was younger, but I’ve come to enjoy the grandness of the movie. I figured I should probably work though instead of watch the movie. So, here I write, while listening to it on the TV in the corner of the weather center. *wink*
Incase you haven’t heard (or even seen), I got engaged last month. I’m sure some may have caught mention of Brian. We met 5 years ago in our meteorology classes at St. Cloud State and have been dating for the last 3. Brian and I lived in 5 different states and not a one of them together until he decided to quit working for a golf tournament forecasting company and go back to school here in Saginaw. Last month he asked me to marry him while we were out on the town in Marquette, MI. As I explained to my mom the other day, we really are yin and yang to each other, some times we are so similar it’s just weird and other times we’re at complete opposites. But there is a sense of harmony and balance about us. I’m pretty happy and it should be a good wedding.
So now the wedding planning starts! I heard the other week that the average wedding costs $22,000. I can believe it! Many of the reception halls we’re looking at charge 30 bucks a plate. I’ve got a lot of family and that’s a lot of money! I figure I could just as easily buy out a Red Lobster for a night and feed people for about the same cost. An even better idea, we could grill and feed people hot dogs, brats and burgers. That would be more realistic and much cheaper. Or perhaps we could just put up a tent in the back yard and have a Mexican food place cater for us. *smile* All to me are viable options, but I likely won’t do that. Amazingly enough Brian has more of an idea about what he wants in our wedding then I do. I’m kind of looking to him to figure things out because all I see is dollar signs! $$$ My cheapness is getting in the way. I purposely don’t even get the $30 meal when we go out to eat…
Doggie Update: Wow, do we have a handsome pup on our hands. Miguel is over a year old now and really being a good boy. His long coat is coming in and we have enough hair around our place to make a second dog. Miguel still has some chewing issues. Last night he chewed up Brian sun glasses and a friend’s sun glasses from the kitchen table. I’m certain it’s because he’s lonely and bored. Golden’s are very attached to people and I sense that Miguel is very much that way. He doesn’t necessarily demand you play with him, but he’s happy knowing someone is there with him and unhappy when we’re gone for a while. He’s not as frequently chewing things up, so I have faith he’ll grow out of it in time. Besides, there will be another little golden puppy sometime in the future and the puppy should keep him company. He’s just going to have to wait a few more years we want to make sure there’s some time between the two in age but Brian and I will likely have another addition to our Golden clan in time.
Miguel is also becoming a wonderful retriever. I no longer need to buy him toys from the dog store. All I need is a tennis ball to get him excited! (It’s great on the pocket book, isn’t it!?) We take him out to a field most days where he gets to run off-leash and retrieve until he can no longer run. When I see him run back with that silly happy face, with a tennis ball in his face and his tong hanging out the side, I can only smile and think that we’ve got a good dog on our hands.
Cindy's Blog February 19, 2009
I’m really geeking out this morning. A fellow weather geek, Lt. Michael Brand of the Saginaw City Fire Department, sent me to a link he ran across. It’s from the Peachtree City, GA National Weather Service Office. Check it out here http://www.srh.noaa.gov/ffc/HotSeat/index.shtml
It’s called a Warning Decision Simulator. The game takes you through some of the things a NWS meteorologist will go through when trying to determine if to issue thunderstorm or tornado warnings. The simulator puts you through real time scenario in which you are the one issuing the warnings based on how the radar looks at that time. You can score points by issuing a warning in a timely manner and lose them by issuing for thunderstorms that are not severe. Give it a shot and see how well you do! Best of all, it’s extremely geeky! I sent the link to Chris Gloninger. We’re now competing to see who can get the best score. (I laughed out loud at the picture that pops up when there’s a tornado spotted!)
I’ve got a ski trip planned for the UP and Northern Minnesota soon. Don’t tell the boss, but mentally I may already be on vacation. But I’ve been looking forward to it for some time. Not only will there be lots and lots of skiing, but about 30 friends from some of our college days will be there too. Some are coming from far away places just to ski for the weekend and others I haven’t seen in 2 years. Brian and I have decided to make a big ski extravaganza of it. Were goign to split up our 14 hour drive back to Minnesota and ski a spot in the UP and hit up someplace on the way back. We have yet to ski any where in the UP and many places in Northern Lower Michigan. We’re open to suggestions, so drop me a line if you’ve got a favorite ski destination up there. I’d love to hear about it!
Puppy Update:I suppose I should now change that to Doggie update. : ) Miguel is a whole year old and shows me every day how much he’s growing up. I never thought I’d see the day, but a neighbor puppy out played him. After 15 minutes of playing he sat down and had enough while Jacobi, a 6 month old black lab, wanted to keep playing.
That has never happened before… For the first time Miguel has been allowed to roam free in our home. That has also never happened before… And the other day he kept insisting on playing with me and bringing me his dinosaur to play with. After he got the hint that I couldn’t play and was busy, he decided to lie down next to me and let me work on the computer. That has never happened before either.
He’s maturing. I’m happy to see it. : )
Cindy's Blog January 15, 2009
I froze my eggs this morning. No, no, quite literally I took a dozen eggs and froze them outside this morning on the air. If you can fry and egg on the side walk when it’s hot, what does it do when it’s cold outside?!? It freezes so hard that you can pound a nail through it. You can hit it with a pan and it doesn’t break. (One of them dented my pan!) You can throw it against a wall. It took most of the show to freeze, about an hour and a half, but well worth the wait.
I know lots of people got up this morning and cursed the weather (hopefully no the weather people!), but cold weather can be fun. When it gets this cold there are some weather phenomena that happen at no other time. Sun dogs are easily my more favorite cold weather phenomena. Sun dogs look like bright spots that flank the right and left hand side of the sun. It’s caused by ice crystals high in the sky reflecting light back to us here on the surface. Be on the look out for small rainbows too! When thin wispy clouds pass near the sun thy can create an area of discoloration and even a rainbow. It’s the same kind of principal as the sundogs, but because the ice crystals are different in shape it reflects differently and can create colors. So as you brave the cold keep an extra eye peeled to the sky, you might spot some.
Even though it is so cold outside I have some recent warm memories to keep me warm. I had a nice long two week vacation over the holidays. Brian and I packed up the dog and headed to Minneapolis for Christmas and then we flew to the Florida Keys. It was the first Christmas I got to spend with my family in 3 years. I could tell my mom was very happy to have me home and even my brothers (to some degree). We ate good food and open gifts. My two nephews wrestled with Miguel and the dog just loved every minute of it. I’ve attached a photo for you to check out of them post-wrestling. It’s my new favorite.
After Christmas was Miguel stayed in Minneapolis with my mom and dad, Brian and I boarded a plane destine for the Florida Keys! I’d never been there before and didn’t really “get” why so many people head down to Florida in the winter time. I get it now! High temps were in the upper 70s with plenty of sun every day. The scenery was great and that island laze-fare was contagious. Quite a few days Brain, his family and I did nothing but sat in our swimsuits, played cribbage, ate food and drank. I didn’t go scuba diving this year but as a family we all went snorkeling. The fist were amazingly bright colors, the coral was beautiful and full of life. I saw barracudas, sea urchins, a crab and angel-type-fish, even Jesus!... It was that pretty that it could have been a religious experience for me, but I did literally seas Jesus under the sea. There is a dive location called Christ of the Abyss.
On a reef about 30 feet below the surface is a statue of Jesus with his arms open wide and stretched outward. (If I’m not mistaking it is a memorial to those who have lost their lives at sea in the Keys.) Anyways, I swam down and take a closer look at decided to give him a high five! One picture I’ve added is of the dock out on to the water from the beach house we stayed at and the other is Brian and I standing under a hurricane evacuation route sign.Cheeky since Brian and I are both meteorologists.
Puppy Update - We had a terrible December with Miguel. He was a bad little boy eating up ornaments and shoes. It got so bad that we started to call him our “little terrorist” since every day he found new and unusual ways to terrorize us and destroy things. Sunday, January 18th, is Miguel’s first birthday and now he’s starting to act more and more like a big boy. I know better then to think we’ll never have a problem with Miguel again, but he’s really given me the sense that we’re on the right track with him.
He’ll be a really great dog, we just have a lot of puppy to get out of him in the mean time. He’s become a bit of a cuddle bug when we drive in the car. When we took the 11 hour trip home to Minneapolis we folded down the middle seats which happen to butt right up to the front seats. He loved it because he could lie down with his front paws on the center council in between Brian and me. For a dog that really hated the car only 6 months ago, he certainly didn’t mind the car the other week. There are no birthday celebrations planned for Miguel on Sunday. I tried to convince Brian to let me bake him a doggy cake, but he quickly scoffed at the idea and told me I was silly. I think I’ll settle for doggy ice cream and a birthday gift for him instead. Brian still thinks I’m being silly but what can I say, I’m a proud doggy mommy.
That’s all for me today and now its time to get bundled up and head home. Tomorrow is a big day… I get to talk to Elvis impersonators! Take care!
Cindy's Blog December 25, 2008
The end of my long week is finally here. With all of the Christmas vacation during this time of year myself and many others in the news room pull some extra time to make sure shifts are covered. I can see the light at the end of my “work tunnel” now its time to enjoy vacation.
It’s a well deserved vacation if you don’t mind me saying so. Snow is a tough thing to forecast. A small change in moisture or temperature can change snow totals by an inch to even more. When winter storms come along, many meteorologists rack their brains figuring out what will be seen. Ones where the snow mixes with rain are particularly taxing on the brain. The good news is long range forecasts show that the pattern changes for us. That means no big snow storm week after week for a while. The new one looks to set in an Alberta Clipper patter. Albert clippers come from (you guess it!) Alberta, Canada. Those tend to not have as much moisture, they’re faster moving and colder. In this part of the country that means most times no more then 4 inches will be seem. So while some would like me to promise no more snow for the rest of the winter, I can say that there will be, just not so much all at once for a little while.
Some tid-bits about December so far… Saginaw stands at the 3rd snowiest December so far with 36.3” of snow. 36.7” would tie 2nd place from 1989. The record stands at 40.3” from 2000. Flint’s December snow total so far is 24.3”, ranking 3rd in the standings. 2nd place is held by 24.9” from 1951, 1st by 35.3” in 2000.
Puppy update: It’s been a tough month with Miguel. He’s really pushing my buttons. I’ve lost 13 ornaments from my tree, (I’m sure the ball-like ornaments were too much of a temptation for him.) two pairs of shoes, and he ripped up his doggie bed because he was upset while in his cage. After giving him a few opportunities to redeem himself, he’s getting cracked down on. No more puppy behavior! Brian’s mom taught us a trick where when Miguel’s being bad/mischievous/anxious/nosey we put the leash on him and attach it to us. He has to follow us all around the place. Sometimes he’s decided he’s had enough and wants to go have some fun. He pulls and yanks, eventually gets tired enough and lies down. It seems to be working and helps calm him down. He’s still a puppy but I’ve decided its time for him to act like a big boy, no more puppy excuses! *smile*
Have a good Holiday and a Happy New Year!
Cindy's Blog October 31, 2008
I’m beginning to realize how much this blog is like the diary I had back when I was younger. I never kept it up to date. I’m sure some have noticed that I’ve been sent out on “assignment” to local areas highlighting events. It’s been a good experience so far. Let’s make no bones about it… I’m not a reporter by any means. I give those guys props for doing what they do every day. But in my little adventures to the far corners of Mid-Michigan I’ve come across some pretty sweet things. Yesterday I found myself at the Masonic Temple in Bay City. The Bay Arts Council has turned it into a haunted temple to help raise money to help fix the place up. I got a little tour and they’ve done a wonderful job. Today is the last day to get some thrills and chills, but it sounds like it will be returning next year. Keep an eye out! It’s really something to see.
I haven’t found myself with much idle time lately. I spent this past week with my eldest brother Dave. He took part in a relay race in Door County, Wisconsin and drove the rest of the way around Lake Michigan to visit Brian, Miguel and I. We spent a little time tasting some of the local cuisine and the local brew houses. Quite frankly we just hung out, ate and drank. For having no plans it turned out nice. I think he enjoyed his time here. I’m trying to get him to visit this winter for some skiing. I’m also trying to prepare for a 5k run on Thanksgiving. I don’t like to run. I really don’t like to run. I get going and the first thing I think of is “when can I stop”. What keeps me running is the hope that I’ll eventually like it. Backwards logic, isn’t it?
Puppy Update: Miguel is now 9 moths old and about 60 lbs. His growth has slowed but he’s starting to fill out and his coat is getting a little fuller too. His tail is quite bushy and glorious but he still has to get his long coat on his underside yet. Although he looks more and more like an adult he still shows us every day how much of a puppy he is. The one daily puppy act is chewing on things he shouldn’t. We’re good about disciplining him, but he’s developed a “protest” when ever we get on his case. It starts off when he plops his front end down, puts his butt up in the air, wags his tail and he begins to bark, moan and groan. It’s quite a sight to see. Brian and I are going to make it back to Madison later this month and Miguel will get to go pheasant hunting for the first time. I think he’ll really love it and I’m looking forward to him working the fields and doing what he was breed to do.
Have a good Halloween!
Cindy's Blog July 21, 2008
Every week one of us meteorologist write the little tid-bit that goes in the Saginaw News Paper with our forecast.
I had a bad idea… Just how many more days are left until the end of summer? Only 61. I had all of these grand plans for my summer. And while I’ve done a lot, I still haven’t made it to the UP for a camping trip. I have yet to visit Mackinac even though I’ve driven through it twice on I-75. There are many others on my list but I’m afraid I’m going to have to pick and chose what gets done while its still warm out.
Honestly, I can’t complain too much. Much of my vacation time has been spent on the road going back to Madison, WI to visit Brian’s family or even back to mine in Minneapolis. Last time I wrote I was trying to figure out how to get back home to see my Aunt, Uncle and cousins who flew in from Australia.
I made it back to Minneapolis not long after. They were spending three days at my mom and dads and we drove the 11 hours back. Our family activities included going to a Twins vs. Tigers game (For those who were wondering, the Tigers won.) and also to a local amusement park.
As we ate in the back yard at my parents place I counted up how many people were there. My Aussie aunt and uncle with their kids made 5, my mom and dad, my three brothers, two sister-in-laws, and 4 nephews, Brian, and then me. That’s 18! It was well worth the trip. It may be another 8 years before I get to see them again.
On our way back we drove through the UP. I really do love it up there. We took our time coming back and let Miguel out to run and play at rest areas along Lake Michigan. We decided that we didn’t want him to swim since we didn’t want a wet smelly dog in the car. Miguel had other ideas… At our first stop it didn’t take more then 5 minutes and he found his way into the water, and at that time Miguel learned to swim. Brian threw a stick for him and he wanted it bad enough that he went to get it. I was smiling from ear to ear. Once we got back into the car the wet dog smell tickled our senses for a while. But it didn’t matter. : )
I think that’s it for me of now. It’s the end of my shift and I’m ready to go home. I think I’ll make stir fry tonight…
Cindy's Blog June 23, 2008
Once again it is Sunday night and while this time I don’t have a cold Carmel Apple Empanada to enjoy I’m still monitoring thunderstorms.
Thankfully this time they’re pretty small and not severe by any means. These silly things are slow moving and I just want to make sure they don’t do anything more. I’ll probably head out of here with in the hour.
I’ve had a crazy day! As soon as I walked in the door there was another tornado warning for Alcona County. Now that’s just barely in side of our area. It was pretty weak and didn’t show too much promise. But apparently there was a funnel cloud spotted and reported to the NWS. That prompted the warning. Just like the last three Sunday’s I was off to a busy start once again! Now here’s where my brain gets intrigued by human sociology. With out fail (I use to hear this all the time in Iowa too) a few people seem to get upset when we break into programming.
It’s always the same argument that we hear “I don’t live there so I don’t care. Put back on my show!” Now I’ve always had a deep interest not only in the weather but how people respond to it. And this sentiment seems to be repeated no matter where you live or what kind of weather is going on. I think what leads to it is a misunderstanding of how as a television station we cover severe weather and what our responsibility is.
Television stations have a certain number of counties that are part of their market. Basically these are the counties that matter when they gather ratings, when we decided what stories to cover and of course when severe weather hits. Here in the weather department, when any kind of severe weather hits we react the same way for every single one of our counties.
If it’s a tornado warning for Saginaw County, I’m cutting in. If it’s a tornado warning for Huron County, I’m cutting in. If it’s a tornado warning for Alcona County, I’m cutting in.
The idea is that while the threat isn’t happening to you, it is happening to someone. And that someone is counting on us to let them know what is going on whether it is through the crawl on the bottom of the screen or by us breaking into programming. So while I can understand the thought process behind “I don’t live there so I don’t care.” I still can’t help but find myself intrigued by it when ever those calls come in. If you’re reading this I hop you’ve learned something new. If not, oh well, I didn’t mean to go on a rant. Just a thought process I went through today.
Any ways, on to some more exciting things… I may have to find a way to get to North Dakota some time soon!
While North Dakota is not terribly exciting (If you’ve ever been there you know that there’s not much happening besides the sugar beats growing.) it’s that family that awaits me. I just got a call from my mom yesterday. My Aunt who lives in Australia, surprised us all and flew here with her husband and three kids! I haven’t seen Carol in about 8 years and I think the last time I saw my Uncle Bret I was still in elementary school. It’s either going to be a $600 plane ticket or a 13 hour drive to get there but it will be worth it. I’m very excited to see how everyone has changed, especially my three cousins! Right now I’m working out the logistics of the trip. I’ll let you know how everything is going.
Puppy update: Miguel is getting to be a big boy. From my estimations he’s just over 40 lbs and still growing. This past week I taught him to stay and wait for me to let him out the door. And his little nose works very well. There is an area of long grass that I take him for a walk in. One day he found a dead rabbit and two dead frogs. Although I’m happy his little retriever nose works just fine. I could do with out having to pry the dead animals out of his mouth. I’m fairly certain he’d get sick if I let him eat them not to mention completely gross. We also made it to Dog Days at Immerman Park this past week. Miguel figured out right away that there were treats on top of the table they set up there. (Again, that’s his nose working very well.) I didn’t stand a chance. Every time I turned around he had his paws back on the table. I had to discipline him because that’s unacceptable behavior, but deep down I was laughing at him. I’ve never seen him so excited!
I’m rambling on now… This is where I’ll stop.
I think I’ll get my self a Carmel Apple Empanada on the way home…
Until next time.
Cindy's Blog June 8, 2008
As I sit here, I’m eating a Carmel Apple Empanada that has been cold for about 8 hours. Why? That’s how busy I’ve been with the severe weather coverage tonight.
And, well, gosh darn it… I really wanted to eat this Empanada!
The last several days have been some long ones. One of the very basic rules of severe thunderstorm forecasting is that high dew points equal severe weather threat. After the third bout of severe weather in as many days, I think that rule is one we have lived by here in Mid-Michigan. Dew points are a great measure of moisture in the air. Lots of people think relative humidity, because of the use of the word humidity, would be better.
The problem with relative humidity is it is “relative” to the temperature. When the temp and dew point are close together, like they are almost every single morning, the relative humidity is high. But it does not necessarily mean it feels humid to us. Dew points are a more stable way of measuring moisture with out being so closely tied to the fluctuations temperature goes through during the day. Basically speaking, 60s feel humid, 70s are oppressive, both bring a much higher risk of severe weather.
Anyways, getting back to my Carmel Apple Empanada from Taco Bell… I knew there was a strong thunderstorm threat because of the high dew points today. That was confirmed when I started to get ready for my afternoon shift today and I noticed we had just went under a thunderstorm watch. So I quickly got ready and stopped at Taco Bell to get some quick food and get to the station. I’m very glad it didn’t take any longer in the drive thru!
As soon as I walked into the station door the first tornado warning was issued for Clare and Roscommon Counties. That led to a 2 and half hour cut-in covering severe weather. My poor Carmel Apple Empanada never stood a chance of staying warm… No biggie. It’s made a great desert as I end my night!
In all seriousness, I’m glad to see that from what has come into the news room so far tonight Mid-Michigan may have suffered some damage but suffered no injuries. Hears to hoping the same will be the case tomorrow as high dew points will bring us another thunderstorm threat.
Until next time…
Cindy's Blog April 28, 2008
Hello again!
I can’t say how excited I am about my up coming trip! I have not been back to Minneapolis to see my family since October. I finally get to go home! I miss seeing my mom and dad, my rug rat nephews and yes, even my pesky brothers. I would never tell my brothers that I missed them to their face. (And I know none of them read my blog so I feel safe in saying so.) To them, I’m just their pesky spoilt sister, and they’re right too.
Being the youngest and the only girl absolutely had its advantages. When I was younger I could manipulate any one of the three to get a cookie, go play with a friend even though I was grounded or even to get away with not eating all of my dinner. Don’t get me wrong, we still all had our fights and many of times I had a “favorite” brother. Now that we’re all grown and some of my brothers have a family you would think that we’ve left behind our spats and poking fun of each other. I think the exact opposite is true. We make so much fun of each other now days that my mom gets upset at us or we’re all laughing hysterically on the floor.
Beyond seeing them, I’m also pretty excited to show them my puppy. I’m still in that “new puppy” phase where I constantly think about the dog and talk about him. It’s really quite amazing how quickly he’s become apart of Brian and my life. But then again, when you think about how much work a dog is, it really isn’t that surprising. We’ve really gotten into a routine with him and the potty training is coming along.
This past week he’s now figured out that he’s big enough to get up on couches and into the bath tub. Miggy has also really come to LOVE water. No puddle or water dish is too small for a good paw smack. (And the subsequent water spill afterwards.) Miggy’s gotten pretty big. Every day he gains a more “adult” look to him. (I’ve added a picture of him, so take a look!) We’ve been unable to weigh him lately too. He’s too big to sit on our bathroom scale. I figure he’s near 25 lbs now. I’ll find out for sure tomorrow during his vet appointment.
Okay, enough about the dog already.
I’m tired from working a long weekend and it’s time to go home.
Take care everyone. Until next time!
Cindy's Blog March 31, 2008
Hello again! It’s been a busy several weeks again.
I filled in for Mike Cameron last week and that meant I was up way before the crack of dawn and in to bed before the sun went down. It’s a tough shift to do and I fell asleep often! It’s a shock to the system to get up that early! I survived though and glad to be done with it.
Now on to what may be the most exciting thing for me in the past few weeks, I got a puppy!
I’ve been thinking about it for the past year. He’s a little Golden Retriever and we named him Miguel. (We’re calling him Miggy for short.) He’s roughly ten weeks old and cute as a button… until he poops on my floor. Because of that he’s got a second nick name of “poop monster”. Our first few days together was a little bit of an adjustment period. He checked everything out and was a little timid.
That’s not the case anymore!
He chews on things, including me and eats my house plants. “No Miggy!” is frequently heard in my house hold! Potty training has really been something else too! Miggy and I have our good potty training days and our bad.
When today started, I though it was one of our good potty training days because he’d only had one accident in the house. I was 3 for 4! (Woo hoo!) Then I think he realized he needed to even the score. He relieved himself three different times on my living room carpet this evening. I think I’m starting to figure out his routine and I think I may be able to better predict when he’s got to go. But I had that same sense when I started today off.
So let this be my official call for puppy training tips!
If you know of any tidbits that a novice dog owner should know or a method that’s worked for you in the past, send them my way!
Cindy's Blog January 28, 2008
Boy, have I been busy… Christmas came and went, my vacation felt like it was so long ago and I’ve been working a lot since Darrin has been on vacation. I’ll finally get some days off this coming week. This will give me a chance to do some laundry and take care of things I’ve been neglecting for the last month, like my blog!
The first week in January I was fortunate enough to head of to Mexico for a week! I’ve never been out of the country (Well, except for Canada. But I don’t think that really counts given our vicinity to Canada.) I was in Playa del Carmen for a week. For anyone who is unfamiliar with Mexico, like I was before I ventured down there, it’s about an hour south of Cancun.
The trip started off cold! I had packed shorts, t-shirts, and summer dresses for my trip and I froze my rear off the first couple days! I had a pair of jeans and a sweater I wore on the plane down, and I needed them! I estimated that the high temps were in the 60s and a there was a strong wind, so it felt like the 50s. Although it was cold and I needed a sweater, I still had to laugh at some of the local people who wore winter jackets. To them it was extremely cold! I also found out a very interesting phenomenon… They number their cold fronts in Mexico! The one that cooled us of those few days was cold front 18. It goes to show how infrequent a cold front is there. I think I might do that on-air from now on. “And cold front 93 is now knocking at our back door…” Okay, I won’t really do that, but I still think it would be rather amusing!
It did finally start to warm up by the third day. That’s when I started to work on my tan on the beach and reading my book. In town, I bought this really cool hand painted bowl for a street vender that I’m really excited about. During one of the colder days we took an ATV tour through the “jungle” to a fresh water cave. (That would of course be me in a really sweet helmet and yellow safety glasses!) In the cave stalactite grows from the ceiling about 1 cm every 70 years. My boyfriend, Brian, stood up at one point, accidentally caught one and took out about 3,000 years worth of growth! Our tour guide was a little upset about it, but I think it was bound to happen. Putting two people who are 6’ and 6’4 in a low ceiling cave is a recipe for disaster!
Click here for a picture!
One of the most memorable things about my trip will be the scuba diving. Brian and his father are both certified scuba divers. Brian had convinced me that I needed to give scuba diving at least one try, but they also convinced his sister to go with. All four of us went out on two separate days for four different dives. I really loved it! The fish were so full of color and the coral reefs were like nothing I’ve ever seen before. We also saw three sea turtles and two sting rays. One of the sting rays was at least 4 feet long. I felt like I was in an oversized aquarium. It was awesome. Even the scuba diving part was really cool. When I first placed my head under water with the regulator, my first instinct was to not breathe. Taking that first breath of air through the regulator while submerged by water is unlike nothing else.
One of the last nights there, Brian and I got all dressed up and went into town for dinner. The local restaurants are all competing for tourist’s money, so they’ll call at you while you walk down the street and try to get you to choose their place. We settled on a restaurant that was places between two buildings in a court yard called “Big Lobster”. Nothing there was small… They sat us down at a table, pulled up a chair and placed our menu on it! Our menu was a large wooden plank in the shape of a lobster tail! The menus were big, the lobsters were huge and the wait staff was larger than life.
Want to see how big our menu was? Click here to see!
Mexico was fantastic. I enjoyed every minute of it and I want to go back. I can begin to understand why so many people end up moving to warmer climates. My experience hasn’t changed me much though. I still love cold weather and forecasting in the Midwest! There is nothing like a cold Canadian air push that brings in subzero temps. Besides getting my laundry done this week and many other chores around the house I hope to hit the slopes! I’ve only gone skiing a handful of times this winter and I need to brush up. I’ve got a chance to go skiing on my Birthday and I need to be ready for three days of good skiing and good friends.
Until next time, take care!
Cindy's Blog Archive
Its fine if you call me crazy (In this business, I’ve heard worse. *smile*) but, I’m really loving the cold weather.
This morning we have a freeze warning posted. I was a little giddy getting dressed. I could layer a button down with a nice sweater without getting too warm at work. I got my big puffy vest out of the closet to go over top. I resisted the urge to grab my knit hat and instead opted for the driving gloves and found my self disappointed when the steering wheel wasn’t cold. Yeah, it’s a little crazy, but think of it this way. Living in Michigan we get to do a wardrobe change every 6 months. When I pull out the boxes of winter clothes from storage and do the yearly exchange of shorts for jackets, if feels like I just went shopping. That makes me happy.
By the way, I’m totally bummed about my Twins losing to the Tigers. It may take me a while to recover. I think I’ll ware my Twins hat around the news room in sorrow. Doggie Update: I think we got the near bullet proof breed of golden retriever. For those of you who read my previous post, we visited my grandmother’s farm this summer. While there, Miguel ran into a barbed wire fence and now has a split in his tongue.
This past week he had a run in with a moving car. He was chasing a tennis ball that took a bad bounce out into the street. Thankfully the driver of the car was going slow and hit the breaks when he saw Miguel. Miguel hit the skids too, but a little too late. He more or less body checked the side of the car and got the side of his paw caught by the tire. A combination of the tire and breaking on the rough pavement gave him some very big cuts on his front paw. Everything checked out, there doesn’t seem to be any other problems besides the cuts on his paw.
For about a week we’ve been washing the wounds and bandaging his paw. Given the circumstances, it could have been much worse. Another notch on the puppy chronicles. *Smile*
Cindy's Blog July 05, 2009
Has any one notice a few Minnesotanisms slip out on air this weekend? I’ve tried to keep them under wraps, but a few have gotten out! Last week I was surrounded by many Minnesotan phrases like “yeah”, “oh, sure”, and “you betch ya!”. I finally got to go on my long awaited trip home. The biggest pull to go back was my grandmother’s 90th birthday celebration. It took Brian and me a 16 hour car ride back to Northwestern Minnesota to her farm. (That’s right! At 90 she’s still out on the farm in one of the coldest parts of the country.) Brian and I took off that Thursday night a drove through the U.P. to Duluth, Minnesota for breakfast. We visited the often photographed lift bridge in Canal Park and took some pretty cool pictures of the sun over Lake Superior. We continued our trek across the rest of Minnesota and made it to Grandma’s at noon.
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Miguel did great the whole car ride. He’s gotten into a routine with us and he knows to plop down and wait for us to stop. He spends most of his time sleeping in what I’m sure he thinks is his rightful place, head down on the center council between the front two seats.
Since it’s such a long drive for me and she doesn’t travel as far as she use to, I haven’t seen grandma in two years. I’ll tell ya, she’s still got quite a whit. Most everyone on that side of my family is a huge Twins fans. Apparently there was some trouble getting an HD converter to work out on the farm so my aunt and uncle got grandma signed up for DirecTV. “I can watch all the Twins games on TV.” She was telling me. “It’s the best $13 a month I’ve ever spent.” Shortly there after, our conversation steered more towards the Twins players them selves. “Joe Mauer is cute!” she said. Our adventures didn’t end with our conversations with grandma.
That afternoon Brian went out to walk the fence lines of the farm in hopes to kick up a few birds with the dog. They were successful! Miguel kicked one up and immediately chased after it. He tried to clear a barbed wire fence and failed. The barbs gave him a few cuts on his belly and his thick fur protected most of his body, most of him… Unfortunately Miguel had his mouth open and one of the barbs caught him on the tong. It created a large gash about an inch and a quarter long and split his tong all the way through. Of course a phone call was placed to the vet. There’s not much they could do for Miguel. The vet said tongue wounds on dogs generally heal by themselves quite well, but he’ll permanently have a split tongue for the rest of his life. I felt so bad for him at first, but now that a week has passed it’s become a bit of a joke between Brian and I. We have a snake dog now! Miguel looks a little funny and there’s no chance of mistaken identity now! If you happen to catch me out with Miguel one day. Ask me to get him to “smile” and I’ll show you his “battle wound” from the farm. *smile*
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So you’d think Miguel getting hurt would be enough for one day, but we weren’t done just yet. That same night there was a strong line of thunderstorms that swept through that area of Minnesota. Brian and I almost had to get everyone into the basement twice. (For those who may have forgotten, Brian is a meteorologist too.) There was a phenomenal roll cloud that passed over the farm. I’ve included a picture of it in black and white. It shows the cloud details best but it still doesn’t do this cloud justice. The cloud was very impressive, but the movements were worse. The front side of the cloud was moving toward the camera, the clouds immediately behind it were moving away from the camera and the low lying clouds just below were moving upward. That’s rotation and very tight tornado producing rotation. Now let me digress a little into weather education… We almost always get phone calls into a news room when ever there’s a storm and people report seeing rotation. There’s a difference. Clouds in thunderstorms move quite erratically, especially low clouds. There are many strong winds pushing them all over the place. Those low clouds moving that way can often be perceived as tornado producing rotation. Rotation that is concerning, or could produce a tornado is tight rotation. Meaning those clouds are very close together and moving in almost opposite angles to each other. Brian and I saw two of those areas that night, one to our south and one just to our north.
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Thankfully nothing happened that night to the farm, but we were very concerned. I though for sure we’d see one hop down from the clouds. I’m only going to post one picture of the clouds here, but I have the rest of them on my facebook profile. http://www.facebook.com/cindy.althoff It was an eventful start to our vacation but thankfully the rest of the trip went well. The party went off without a hitch on Sunday. We made it down to Minneapolis for a night to do a little wedding planning and see more family and friends. We also pit stopped in Madison, Wisconsin to see Brian’s family and friends. I was tired when we returned home, but it’s always nice to see everyone. I miss them.
Doggie Update: I think I’m going to jinx myself. Miguel is still being a perfect pup! (We’ll now with the added character of a snake tongue. See above if you’re confused.) *wink* Now that he’s nearing one and a half, he’s matured quite a bit. Miguel and I have bonded and he listens to me more then Brian right now. Earlier this afternoon Brian and I were playing around to see who the dog would respond to when called. I won. *smile* I’ve added one of my favorite photos of Miguel on the farm from the past trip. I have some other really good ones. I’ve got them posted on my facebook account.
I need to stop now. It’s time to start thinking about weather and getting ready for the 10 pm show. My work week is almost over and I’ve got lots to do tomorrow. Mount laundry is waiting for me to conquer it.
Have a good one!
Cindy's Blog June 23, 2009
Hello all!
Whew, what a week. It’s already Tuesday and I’m tired. Because of a few vacations in the Weather Center, I’m on day 6 of 7. Please don’t take this as complaining. It’s more the realization that my long stretch is coming to an end and I can see the finish line. All of us meteorologist do our best to cover other shifts when someone goes on vacation. I know Darrin, Mike, Chris and Eric do it without complaint when I’m out of town, and I’m more then happy to return the favor. Beyond the relief that I’m almost done, there’s also a sense of growth. For instance, just today I was asked to do something I rarely do, play reporter!
This week I had the pleasure of being assigned to do our Cool Camp segment. So I hopped in a car at 10 am this morning and headed to YMCA Camp Timbers, just north of West Branch. Now typically, the drive from Saginaw to Camp Timbers should only take a little over an hour. Put a photographer and a meteorologist in a WNEM TV5 news jeep and they get lost… Unfortunately we drove around on back woods roads around West Branch with no cell phone reception for near 45 minutes before the Camp Director, Steve Meyer, rescued us!
It was a tough time finding the place, but what a Camp! Camp Timbers does many week long overnight camping experiences with different themes to tickle different fancies. This week happens to be Band Camp! If you’ve read my past blogs, you know I’m not afraid to call my self a geek. This was my place to be, except I couldn’t find any geeks at all. Of course, I found nothing but a great camp full of great activities and personnel. There was a rope course, a climbing wall, a giant tube in which you could slide down the hill side on, a GIANT slide into the lake, a great beach, good food, horses and so much more. It made me wish I was a kid again. As a matter of fact, I couldn’t resist the slide on the side of the hill. There might be a part of my journey down the slide that makes it into the story! Band Camp Week is made possible with the help of Fred Herter, who I got to meet. Instantly you could hear the passion he has for the camp in his voice. It was truly a treat.
To make a long story short, it’s a great place surrounded by great people. Check them out at http://www.saginawymca.org/web/index.php/camps.
On to other topics, all is well on the home front. Brian and I finally got our engagement announcements out. Ouch! We did it on the cheap and still paid out $100 for 130 announcements. The biggest expense was not the announcement its self, but the postage. It’s certainly got me brain storming on how to make our invitations cheap. The practical side of me says make ’em cheap because they end up in the garbage in the end. The artsy fartsy side of me wants to have fun and create something really cool. I guess this is my call to anyone who’s reading this to e-mail me some wedding invitation money saving ideas!
Also, I’m now on Facebook! I’ve purposely set up the account so I can have more interactions with folks from Mid-Michigan and friends I’ve made when I worked in Iowa. Find me and send a friend invite. It’s always fun to get to know who’s on the other side of the TV!
Doggie Update: He’s just perfect lately. Yep, I haven’t said that here yet, have I? Miguel is now nearing 18 months and showing some of his maturity. Only on a few occasions does he run out of the yard, he’s listening well and we’ve bonded lately.
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Brian’s been busy lately and that’s left me and the dog some extra time together. Brian says that he can tell Miguel is more attached to me then ever. Honestly, I kind of wanted a cuddler of a dog. While Miguel is not that, I’m happy that he likes me. *smile* I’ve added a picture I took of Miguel the other week. It’s from one of our trips romping in an open field. I love the pop of yellow the dandelions add.
That’s all for now.
By the way, Chris Gloninger wanted to be in my blog… You should know better then to call my bluff, Chris. I’m leaving this here for everyone to see! *wink*
Cindy's Blog June 6, 2009
I’m happy to say my screen door is holding up quite well to Miguel. *smile* Hopefully it will give me enough time to heal up.
Most of the little cuts and scrapes are starting to fade away. One would think that now we’re finally getting to the end of the puppy years, I would be happy and want to wait a while for another. Nope. Not the case. I was at the Dog Days of Summer with Miguel at Immerman Park this past week. There was a little black lab pup that someone had brought. If you ask me, it was just a touch too young to be out there. She couldn’t have been any older then 9 week, but cute as a button! I think I must have picked her up at least 4 times. All the other Golden dog parents were making fun of me and saying I was going to sneak the little girl out. I gave it some thought, but figured someone would miss her. Besides, a dog-napping would not be good. *smile*
I got out to golf for the first time this season. I didn’t do that bad. My short game stinks. I can put, but I can use a wedge to save my life. It’s still something I have to figure out. But I’m also figuring out my “go to club” is my hybrid 4 iron. Love that thing. I can get it out there a good 150’ with control too. Hopefully golf will be a once a week venture for me and Brian, however rain my screw us up this week. One benefit about being a meteorologist… I know what my chances are.
Cindy's Blog May 28, 2009
I discovered a new skill this past week. I’m a phenomenal screen door repairer…
We moved into our new place the other month. (You know the deal, the dog needed a yard!) All has been going well except for the occasional Miguel escape from the property and terrorism of the neighbors… However, Miguel has been quite tough on our screen door. He’s never really learned to bark/whine when he wants to be let out. It’s more of a rap against the glass door with his paw. Of course, with no glass there it becomes a tear in the sliding screen door instead. A few tears here, a few more there and soon or later the screen door no longer is sufficient in keeping the bugs out.
I found out that the hardware store has a screen made specifically to take the extra abuse of dogs, so we bought it. Three hours later, after a little cursing, a cut to my finger, leg and event my knuckle, the screen has been replaced. I’m feeling quite battered and bruised, but handy. *smirk*
While in between donating blood to the screen door I discovered that it’s always the simplest jobs that never turn out to be the easiest. Next time I may just pay some one to do it at the hardware store instead…
Cindy's Blog May 13, 2009
Hello to all, it’s been a while! I’ve had a long month. With moving to a new home, planning our wedding and all the other responsibilities of life, I’ve found my self longing for some vacation time. *smile* Oh, well. It will have to wait a while yet. My grandmother is turning 90 this year and I’ll be heading back to help the family celebrate later this summer.
So, the wedding planning has been interesting. What a chore to put together a guest list! Boy do I have a large family! After entering all of the members from both sides of the family, I have about 120 invites! Brian’s side is approximately 60. Now let’s throw in friends, family friends, etc… So much for a small wedding! It’s not like we ever had a choice anyways. It’s already shaping out to be a big celebration, and I think mainly because it’s what Brian wants. So I’ve handed over some of the wedding planning to my future groom. I figured who best to figure out the DJ, the rehearsal dinner and many other things. I feel very fortunate that Brian is so willing to play apart in planning our wedding. It’s a lot to plan such an event and nice to have the help.
We packed up our things last month and moved to a new home! It’s nice to feel so “grown-up” with home responsibilities. I’ve got plans for lots of gardening now that I have a yard. Miguel has responded quite well to having a new home too. The first week or so I could tell he was unsure about things. In our apartment he could plop down in front of the door and survey the scene. He didn’t have to move to know if I was in the bedroom, kitchen, living room. In our new home it isn’t so easy for him. He’s constantly on the move and re-plopping so that he has an eye on where I’m at. Without a doubt, his favorite place to plop is on his couch in front of the front window. He sits there with his head leaning over the back side watching traffic, people, birds and even the leaves go by. Brian’s favorite spot in the home is without a doubt the backyard. He spent a good day and a half searching for the perfect bocce ball set and couldn’t wait to have friends over. My favorite place is the kitchen. I have so much cupboard space and counter tops that I struggle to fill them!
Of course with moving to any new location there is always the greeting of the neighbors… Admittedly, I love to watch people interact. Have you ever noticed that people typically fill certain rolls? There’s the neighborhood gossip, the grumpy neighbor, the ones that have the overly social teenage kid and there’s people over at all hours of the night, even the people who have an unruly dog and seem too oblivious to that fact. I fear that I may have fallen into the unruly dog category. Our yard isn’t fenced in and Brian has convinced me that Miguel is capable of learning to stay in his yard. I’m thinking that’s not the case. Miguel is just not mature enough to listen to us with so much happening around him. He’s such a social bugger, but that also means he wants to go visit everyone and every thing.
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The other day Brian was throwing a ball for him that went near the street. Apparently Miguel went out into the street to get it with a car coming. Thankfully the car saw him and slowed down and even came to a stop. Miguel licked the bumper and went to the driver’s side door to check out who was behind the wheel. Embarrassing? Completely. I think he has to mature more before we can trust him to know his yard and stay in it. So to any of my neighbors who may be reading this, I’m aware. We’ve talked about other options.
Last but not least, I got to go to a Tigers game at Comerica Park this past week. Don’t even think that I cheered for the Tigers. Oh, no. I may have traded the Minnesota Vikings in for the Green Bay Packers, but no one is going to convince me to be anything but a Twins fan. (I have my priorities!) I can not say the same thing for Brian though… See, since he’s from Wisconsin he’s a Brewers fan. However, when I met him he was also a Twins fan. (His excuse for being so was that one is an American League team and the other is a National League team.) Now that he lives in Michigan he’s ditched the Twins and traded the TC logo for a Tigers logo. I’ve given him serious gruff about it.
The Twins played a three game series here in Detroit the other week. We donned our ball caps (Twins for me of course!) and went down to catch the game. Being that it was Cinco De Mayo we hit up a Tex-Mex place in downtown and had quite an adventure. The restaurant had burros outside in a pen on the streets of downtown Detroit. Everyone got a free sombrero, prizes, a DJ and some very lively entertainment. After dinner we kept on our sombreros and walked to Comerica. That’s where my fun ended. After winning the night before, the Twins were down 9-0 by the end of the 4th inning.
I’ve added a few pictures for you to enjoy. Note, the one where I’m smiling at the game was taken before the 4th inning. Just so you’re aware… *wink*
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That’s all for me right now. My shift has ended and it’s time for me to go home. I’m ready for a nap!
Go Twins!
Cindy's Blog April 12, 2009
One of the perks about working in a newsroom is that it’s okay to watch TV while you work! Tonight I happened to see that The Ten Commandments was on. To me, it’s the quintessential Easter movie. It’s so grand and over the top that it really is a masterpiece. I never use to like it when I was younger, but I’ve come to enjoy the grandness of the movie. I figured I should probably work though instead of watch the movie. So, here I write, while listening to it on the TV in the corner of the weather center. *wink*
Incase you haven’t heard (or even seen), I got engaged last month. I’m sure some may have caught mention of Brian. We met 5 years ago in our meteorology classes at St. Cloud State and have been dating for the last 3. Brian and I lived in 5 different states and not a one of them together until he decided to quit working for a golf tournament forecasting company and go back to school here in Saginaw. Last month he asked me to marry him while we were out on the town in Marquette, MI. As I explained to my mom the other day, we really are yin and yang to each other, some times we are so similar it’s just weird and other times we’re at complete opposites. But there is a sense of harmony and balance about us. I’m pretty happy and it should be a good wedding.
So now the wedding planning starts! I heard the other week that the average wedding costs $22,000. I can believe it! Many of the reception halls we’re looking at charge 30 bucks a plate. I’ve got a lot of family and that’s a lot of money! I figure I could just as easily buy out a Red Lobster for a night and feed people for about the same cost. An even better idea, we could grill and feed people hot dogs, brats and burgers. That would be more realistic and much cheaper. Or perhaps we could just put up a tent in the back yard and have a Mexican food place cater for us. *smile* All to me are viable options, but I likely won’t do that. Amazingly enough Brian has more of an idea about what he wants in our wedding then I do. I’m kind of looking to him to figure things out because all I see is dollar signs! $$$ My cheapness is getting in the way. I purposely don’t even get the $30 meal when we go out to eat…
Doggie Update: Wow, do we have a handsome pup on our hands. Miguel is over a year old now and really being a good boy. His long coat is coming in and we have enough hair around our place to make a second dog. Miguel still has some chewing issues. Last night he chewed up Brian sun glasses and a friend’s sun glasses from the kitchen table. I’m certain it’s because he’s lonely and bored. Golden’s are very attached to people and I sense that Miguel is very much that way. He doesn’t necessarily demand you play with him, but he’s happy knowing someone is there with him and unhappy when we’re gone for a while. He’s not as frequently chewing things up, so I have faith he’ll grow out of it in time. Besides, there will be another little golden puppy sometime in the future and the puppy should keep him company. He’s just going to have to wait a few more years we want to make sure there’s some time between the two in age but Brian and I will likely have another addition to our Golden clan in time.
Miguel is also becoming a wonderful retriever. I no longer need to buy him toys from the dog store. All I need is a tennis ball to get him excited! (It’s great on the pocket book, isn’t it!?) We take him out to a field most days where he gets to run off-leash and retrieve until he can no longer run. When I see him run back with that silly happy face, with a tennis ball in his face and his tong hanging out the side, I can only smile and think that we’ve got a good dog on our hands.
Cindy's Blog February 19, 2009
I’m really geeking out this morning. A fellow weather geek, Lt. Michael Brand of the Saginaw City Fire Department, sent me to a link he ran across. It’s from the Peachtree City, GA National Weather Service Office. Check it out here http://www.srh.noaa.gov/ffc/HotSeat/index.shtml
It’s called a Warning Decision Simulator. The game takes you through some of the things a NWS meteorologist will go through when trying to determine if to issue thunderstorm or tornado warnings. The simulator puts you through real time scenario in which you are the one issuing the warnings based on how the radar looks at that time. You can score points by issuing a warning in a timely manner and lose them by issuing for thunderstorms that are not severe. Give it a shot and see how well you do! Best of all, it’s extremely geeky! I sent the link to Chris Gloninger. We’re now competing to see who can get the best score. (I laughed out loud at the picture that pops up when there’s a tornado spotted!)
I’ve got a ski trip planned for the UP and Northern Minnesota soon. Don’t tell the boss, but mentally I may already be on vacation. But I’ve been looking forward to it for some time. Not only will there be lots and lots of skiing, but about 30 friends from some of our college days will be there too. Some are coming from far away places just to ski for the weekend and others I haven’t seen in 2 years. Brian and I have decided to make a big ski extravaganza of it. Were goign to split up our 14 hour drive back to Minnesota and ski a spot in the UP and hit up someplace on the way back. We have yet to ski any where in the UP and many places in Northern Lower Michigan. We’re open to suggestions, so drop me a line if you’ve got a favorite ski destination up there. I’d love to hear about it!
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That has never happened before… For the first time Miguel has been allowed to roam free in our home. That has also never happened before… And the other day he kept insisting on playing with me and bringing me his dinosaur to play with. After he got the hint that I couldn’t play and was busy, he decided to lie down next to me and let me work on the computer. That has never happened before either.
He’s maturing. I’m happy to see it. : )
Cindy's Blog January 15, 2009
I froze my eggs this morning. No, no, quite literally I took a dozen eggs and froze them outside this morning on the air. If you can fry and egg on the side walk when it’s hot, what does it do when it’s cold outside?!? It freezes so hard that you can pound a nail through it. You can hit it with a pan and it doesn’t break. (One of them dented my pan!) You can throw it against a wall. It took most of the show to freeze, about an hour and a half, but well worth the wait.
I know lots of people got up this morning and cursed the weather (hopefully no the weather people!), but cold weather can be fun. When it gets this cold there are some weather phenomena that happen at no other time. Sun dogs are easily my more favorite cold weather phenomena. Sun dogs look like bright spots that flank the right and left hand side of the sun. It’s caused by ice crystals high in the sky reflecting light back to us here on the surface. Be on the look out for small rainbows too! When thin wispy clouds pass near the sun thy can create an area of discoloration and even a rainbow. It’s the same kind of principal as the sundogs, but because the ice crystals are different in shape it reflects differently and can create colors. So as you brave the cold keep an extra eye peeled to the sky, you might spot some.
Even though it is so cold outside I have some recent warm memories to keep me warm. I had a nice long two week vacation over the holidays. Brian and I packed up the dog and headed to Minneapolis for Christmas and then we flew to the Florida Keys. It was the first Christmas I got to spend with my family in 3 years. I could tell my mom was very happy to have me home and even my brothers (to some degree). We ate good food and open gifts. My two nephews wrestled with Miguel and the dog just loved every minute of it. I’ve attached a photo for you to check out of them post-wrestling. It’s my new favorite.
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After Christmas was Miguel stayed in Minneapolis with my mom and dad, Brian and I boarded a plane destine for the Florida Keys! I’d never been there before and didn’t really “get” why so many people head down to Florida in the winter time. I get it now! High temps were in the upper 70s with plenty of sun every day. The scenery was great and that island laze-fare was contagious. Quite a few days Brain, his family and I did nothing but sat in our swimsuits, played cribbage, ate food and drank. I didn’t go scuba diving this year but as a family we all went snorkeling. The fist were amazingly bright colors, the coral was beautiful and full of life. I saw barracudas, sea urchins, a crab and angel-type-fish, even Jesus!... It was that pretty that it could have been a religious experience for me, but I did literally seas Jesus under the sea. There is a dive location called Christ of the Abyss.
On a reef about 30 feet below the surface is a statue of Jesus with his arms open wide and stretched outward. (If I’m not mistaking it is a memorial to those who have lost their lives at sea in the Keys.) Anyways, I swam down and take a closer look at decided to give him a high five! One picture I’ve added is of the dock out on to the water from the beach house we stayed at and the other is Brian and I standing under a hurricane evacuation route sign.Cheeky since Brian and I are both meteorologists.
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Puppy Update - We had a terrible December with Miguel. He was a bad little boy eating up ornaments and shoes. It got so bad that we started to call him our “little terrorist” since every day he found new and unusual ways to terrorize us and destroy things. Sunday, January 18th, is Miguel’s first birthday and now he’s starting to act more and more like a big boy. I know better then to think we’ll never have a problem with Miguel again, but he’s really given me the sense that we’re on the right track with him.
He’ll be a really great dog, we just have a lot of puppy to get out of him in the mean time. He’s become a bit of a cuddle bug when we drive in the car. When we took the 11 hour trip home to Minneapolis we folded down the middle seats which happen to butt right up to the front seats. He loved it because he could lie down with his front paws on the center council in between Brian and me. For a dog that really hated the car only 6 months ago, he certainly didn’t mind the car the other week. There are no birthday celebrations planned for Miguel on Sunday. I tried to convince Brian to let me bake him a doggy cake, but he quickly scoffed at the idea and told me I was silly. I think I’ll settle for doggy ice cream and a birthday gift for him instead. Brian still thinks I’m being silly but what can I say, I’m a proud doggy mommy.
That’s all for me today and now its time to get bundled up and head home. Tomorrow is a big day… I get to talk to Elvis impersonators! Take care!
Cindy's Blog December 25, 2008
The end of my long week is finally here. With all of the Christmas vacation during this time of year myself and many others in the news room pull some extra time to make sure shifts are covered. I can see the light at the end of my “work tunnel” now its time to enjoy vacation.
It’s a well deserved vacation if you don’t mind me saying so. Snow is a tough thing to forecast. A small change in moisture or temperature can change snow totals by an inch to even more. When winter storms come along, many meteorologists rack their brains figuring out what will be seen. Ones where the snow mixes with rain are particularly taxing on the brain. The good news is long range forecasts show that the pattern changes for us. That means no big snow storm week after week for a while. The new one looks to set in an Alberta Clipper patter. Albert clippers come from (you guess it!) Alberta, Canada. Those tend to not have as much moisture, they’re faster moving and colder. In this part of the country that means most times no more then 4 inches will be seem. So while some would like me to promise no more snow for the rest of the winter, I can say that there will be, just not so much all at once for a little while.
Some tid-bits about December so far… Saginaw stands at the 3rd snowiest December so far with 36.3” of snow. 36.7” would tie 2nd place from 1989. The record stands at 40.3” from 2000. Flint’s December snow total so far is 24.3”, ranking 3rd in the standings. 2nd place is held by 24.9” from 1951, 1st by 35.3” in 2000.
Puppy update: It’s been a tough month with Miguel. He’s really pushing my buttons. I’ve lost 13 ornaments from my tree, (I’m sure the ball-like ornaments were too much of a temptation for him.) two pairs of shoes, and he ripped up his doggie bed because he was upset while in his cage. After giving him a few opportunities to redeem himself, he’s getting cracked down on. No more puppy behavior! Brian’s mom taught us a trick where when Miguel’s being bad/mischievous/anxious/nosey we put the leash on him and attach it to us. He has to follow us all around the place. Sometimes he’s decided he’s had enough and wants to go have some fun. He pulls and yanks, eventually gets tired enough and lies down. It seems to be working and helps calm him down. He’s still a puppy but I’ve decided its time for him to act like a big boy, no more puppy excuses! *smile*
Have a good Holiday and a Happy New Year!
Cindy's Blog October 31, 2008
I’m beginning to realize how much this blog is like the diary I had back when I was younger. I never kept it up to date. I’m sure some have noticed that I’ve been sent out on “assignment” to local areas highlighting events. It’s been a good experience so far. Let’s make no bones about it… I’m not a reporter by any means. I give those guys props for doing what they do every day. But in my little adventures to the far corners of Mid-Michigan I’ve come across some pretty sweet things. Yesterday I found myself at the Masonic Temple in Bay City. The Bay Arts Council has turned it into a haunted temple to help raise money to help fix the place up. I got a little tour and they’ve done a wonderful job. Today is the last day to get some thrills and chills, but it sounds like it will be returning next year. Keep an eye out! It’s really something to see.
I haven’t found myself with much idle time lately. I spent this past week with my eldest brother Dave. He took part in a relay race in Door County, Wisconsin and drove the rest of the way around Lake Michigan to visit Brian, Miguel and I. We spent a little time tasting some of the local cuisine and the local brew houses. Quite frankly we just hung out, ate and drank. For having no plans it turned out nice. I think he enjoyed his time here. I’m trying to get him to visit this winter for some skiing. I’m also trying to prepare for a 5k run on Thanksgiving. I don’t like to run. I really don’t like to run. I get going and the first thing I think of is “when can I stop”. What keeps me running is the hope that I’ll eventually like it. Backwards logic, isn’t it?
Puppy Update: Miguel is now 9 moths old and about 60 lbs. His growth has slowed but he’s starting to fill out and his coat is getting a little fuller too. His tail is quite bushy and glorious but he still has to get his long coat on his underside yet. Although he looks more and more like an adult he still shows us every day how much of a puppy he is. The one daily puppy act is chewing on things he shouldn’t. We’re good about disciplining him, but he’s developed a “protest” when ever we get on his case. It starts off when he plops his front end down, puts his butt up in the air, wags his tail and he begins to bark, moan and groan. It’s quite a sight to see. Brian and I are going to make it back to Madison later this month and Miguel will get to go pheasant hunting for the first time. I think he’ll really love it and I’m looking forward to him working the fields and doing what he was breed to do.
Have a good Halloween!
Cindy's Blog July 21, 2008
Every week one of us meteorologist write the little tid-bit that goes in the Saginaw News Paper with our forecast.
I had a bad idea… Just how many more days are left until the end of summer? Only 61. I had all of these grand plans for my summer. And while I’ve done a lot, I still haven’t made it to the UP for a camping trip. I have yet to visit Mackinac even though I’ve driven through it twice on I-75. There are many others on my list but I’m afraid I’m going to have to pick and chose what gets done while its still warm out.
Honestly, I can’t complain too much. Much of my vacation time has been spent on the road going back to Madison, WI to visit Brian’s family or even back to mine in Minneapolis. Last time I wrote I was trying to figure out how to get back home to see my Aunt, Uncle and cousins who flew in from Australia.
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I made it back to Minneapolis not long after. They were spending three days at my mom and dads and we drove the 11 hours back. Our family activities included going to a Twins vs. Tigers game (For those who were wondering, the Tigers won.) and also to a local amusement park.
As we ate in the back yard at my parents place I counted up how many people were there. My Aussie aunt and uncle with their kids made 5, my mom and dad, my three brothers, two sister-in-laws, and 4 nephews, Brian, and then me. That’s 18! It was well worth the trip. It may be another 8 years before I get to see them again.
On our way back we drove through the UP. I really do love it up there. We took our time coming back and let Miguel out to run and play at rest areas along Lake Michigan. We decided that we didn’t want him to swim since we didn’t want a wet smelly dog in the car. Miguel had other ideas… At our first stop it didn’t take more then 5 minutes and he found his way into the water, and at that time Miguel learned to swim. Brian threw a stick for him and he wanted it bad enough that he went to get it. I was smiling from ear to ear. Once we got back into the car the wet dog smell tickled our senses for a while. But it didn’t matter. : )
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I think that’s it for me of now. It’s the end of my shift and I’m ready to go home. I think I’ll make stir fry tonight…
Cindy's Blog June 23, 2008
Once again it is Sunday night and while this time I don’t have a cold Carmel Apple Empanada to enjoy I’m still monitoring thunderstorms.
Thankfully this time they’re pretty small and not severe by any means. These silly things are slow moving and I just want to make sure they don’t do anything more. I’ll probably head out of here with in the hour.
I’ve had a crazy day! As soon as I walked in the door there was another tornado warning for Alcona County. Now that’s just barely in side of our area. It was pretty weak and didn’t show too much promise. But apparently there was a funnel cloud spotted and reported to the NWS. That prompted the warning. Just like the last three Sunday’s I was off to a busy start once again! Now here’s where my brain gets intrigued by human sociology. With out fail (I use to hear this all the time in Iowa too) a few people seem to get upset when we break into programming.
It’s always the same argument that we hear “I don’t live there so I don’t care. Put back on my show!” Now I’ve always had a deep interest not only in the weather but how people respond to it. And this sentiment seems to be repeated no matter where you live or what kind of weather is going on. I think what leads to it is a misunderstanding of how as a television station we cover severe weather and what our responsibility is.
Television stations have a certain number of counties that are part of their market. Basically these are the counties that matter when they gather ratings, when we decided what stories to cover and of course when severe weather hits. Here in the weather department, when any kind of severe weather hits we react the same way for every single one of our counties.
If it’s a tornado warning for Saginaw County, I’m cutting in. If it’s a tornado warning for Huron County, I’m cutting in. If it’s a tornado warning for Alcona County, I’m cutting in.
The idea is that while the threat isn’t happening to you, it is happening to someone. And that someone is counting on us to let them know what is going on whether it is through the crawl on the bottom of the screen or by us breaking into programming. So while I can understand the thought process behind “I don’t live there so I don’t care.” I still can’t help but find myself intrigued by it when ever those calls come in. If you’re reading this I hop you’ve learned something new. If not, oh well, I didn’t mean to go on a rant. Just a thought process I went through today.
Any ways, on to some more exciting things… I may have to find a way to get to North Dakota some time soon!
While North Dakota is not terribly exciting (If you’ve ever been there you know that there’s not much happening besides the sugar beats growing.) it’s that family that awaits me. I just got a call from my mom yesterday. My Aunt who lives in Australia, surprised us all and flew here with her husband and three kids! I haven’t seen Carol in about 8 years and I think the last time I saw my Uncle Bret I was still in elementary school. It’s either going to be a $600 plane ticket or a 13 hour drive to get there but it will be worth it. I’m very excited to see how everyone has changed, especially my three cousins! Right now I’m working out the logistics of the trip. I’ll let you know how everything is going.
Puppy update: Miguel is getting to be a big boy. From my estimations he’s just over 40 lbs and still growing. This past week I taught him to stay and wait for me to let him out the door. And his little nose works very well. There is an area of long grass that I take him for a walk in. One day he found a dead rabbit and two dead frogs. Although I’m happy his little retriever nose works just fine. I could do with out having to pry the dead animals out of his mouth. I’m fairly certain he’d get sick if I let him eat them not to mention completely gross. We also made it to Dog Days at Immerman Park this past week. Miguel figured out right away that there were treats on top of the table they set up there. (Again, that’s his nose working very well.) I didn’t stand a chance. Every time I turned around he had his paws back on the table. I had to discipline him because that’s unacceptable behavior, but deep down I was laughing at him. I’ve never seen him so excited!
I’m rambling on now… This is where I’ll stop.
I think I’ll get my self a Carmel Apple Empanada on the way home…
Until next time.
Cindy's Blog June 8, 2008
As I sit here, I’m eating a Carmel Apple Empanada that has been cold for about 8 hours. Why? That’s how busy I’ve been with the severe weather coverage tonight.
And, well, gosh darn it… I really wanted to eat this Empanada!
The last several days have been some long ones. One of the very basic rules of severe thunderstorm forecasting is that high dew points equal severe weather threat. After the third bout of severe weather in as many days, I think that rule is one we have lived by here in Mid-Michigan. Dew points are a great measure of moisture in the air. Lots of people think relative humidity, because of the use of the word humidity, would be better.
The problem with relative humidity is it is “relative” to the temperature. When the temp and dew point are close together, like they are almost every single morning, the relative humidity is high. But it does not necessarily mean it feels humid to us. Dew points are a more stable way of measuring moisture with out being so closely tied to the fluctuations temperature goes through during the day. Basically speaking, 60s feel humid, 70s are oppressive, both bring a much higher risk of severe weather.
Anyways, getting back to my Carmel Apple Empanada from Taco Bell… I knew there was a strong thunderstorm threat because of the high dew points today. That was confirmed when I started to get ready for my afternoon shift today and I noticed we had just went under a thunderstorm watch. So I quickly got ready and stopped at Taco Bell to get some quick food and get to the station. I’m very glad it didn’t take any longer in the drive thru!
As soon as I walked into the station door the first tornado warning was issued for Clare and Roscommon Counties. That led to a 2 and half hour cut-in covering severe weather. My poor Carmel Apple Empanada never stood a chance of staying warm… No biggie. It’s made a great desert as I end my night!
In all seriousness, I’m glad to see that from what has come into the news room so far tonight Mid-Michigan may have suffered some damage but suffered no injuries. Hears to hoping the same will be the case tomorrow as high dew points will bring us another thunderstorm threat.
Until next time…
Cindy's Blog April 28, 2008
Hello again!
I can’t say how excited I am about my up coming trip! I have not been back to Minneapolis to see my family since October. I finally get to go home! I miss seeing my mom and dad, my rug rat nephews and yes, even my pesky brothers. I would never tell my brothers that I missed them to their face. (And I know none of them read my blog so I feel safe in saying so.) To them, I’m just their pesky spoilt sister, and they’re right too.
Being the youngest and the only girl absolutely had its advantages. When I was younger I could manipulate any one of the three to get a cookie, go play with a friend even though I was grounded or even to get away with not eating all of my dinner. Don’t get me wrong, we still all had our fights and many of times I had a “favorite” brother. Now that we’re all grown and some of my brothers have a family you would think that we’ve left behind our spats and poking fun of each other. I think the exact opposite is true. We make so much fun of each other now days that my mom gets upset at us or we’re all laughing hysterically on the floor.
Beyond seeing them, I’m also pretty excited to show them my puppy. I’m still in that “new puppy” phase where I constantly think about the dog and talk about him. It’s really quite amazing how quickly he’s become apart of Brian and my life. But then again, when you think about how much work a dog is, it really isn’t that surprising. We’ve really gotten into a routine with him and the potty training is coming along.
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This past week he’s now figured out that he’s big enough to get up on couches and into the bath tub. Miggy has also really come to LOVE water. No puddle or water dish is too small for a good paw smack. (And the subsequent water spill afterwards.) Miggy’s gotten pretty big. Every day he gains a more “adult” look to him. (I’ve added a picture of him, so take a look!) We’ve been unable to weigh him lately too. He’s too big to sit on our bathroom scale. I figure he’s near 25 lbs now. I’ll find out for sure tomorrow during his vet appointment.
Okay, enough about the dog already.
I’m tired from working a long weekend and it’s time to go home.
Take care everyone. Until next time!
Cindy's Blog March 31, 2008
Hello again! It’s been a busy several weeks again.
I filled in for Mike Cameron last week and that meant I was up way before the crack of dawn and in to bed before the sun went down. It’s a tough shift to do and I fell asleep often! It’s a shock to the system to get up that early! I survived though and glad to be done with it.
Now on to what may be the most exciting thing for me in the past few weeks, I got a puppy!
I’ve been thinking about it for the past year. He’s a little Golden Retriever and we named him Miguel. (We’re calling him Miggy for short.) He’s roughly ten weeks old and cute as a button… until he poops on my floor. Because of that he’s got a second nick name of “poop monster”. Our first few days together was a little bit of an adjustment period. He checked everything out and was a little timid.
That’s not the case anymore!
He chews on things, including me and eats my house plants. “No Miggy!” is frequently heard in my house hold! Potty training has really been something else too! Miggy and I have our good potty training days and our bad.
When today started, I though it was one of our good potty training days because he’d only had one accident in the house. I was 3 for 4! (Woo hoo!) Then I think he realized he needed to even the score. He relieved himself three different times on my living room carpet this evening. I think I’m starting to figure out his routine and I think I may be able to better predict when he’s got to go. But I had that same sense when I started today off.
So let this be my official call for puppy training tips!
If you know of any tidbits that a novice dog owner should know or a method that’s worked for you in the past, send them my way!
Cindy's Blog January 28, 2008
Boy, have I been busy… Christmas came and went, my vacation felt like it was so long ago and I’ve been working a lot since Darrin has been on vacation. I’ll finally get some days off this coming week. This will give me a chance to do some laundry and take care of things I’ve been neglecting for the last month, like my blog!
The first week in January I was fortunate enough to head of to Mexico for a week! I’ve never been out of the country (Well, except for Canada. But I don’t think that really counts given our vicinity to Canada.) I was in Playa del Carmen for a week. For anyone who is unfamiliar with Mexico, like I was before I ventured down there, it’s about an hour south of Cancun.
The trip started off cold! I had packed shorts, t-shirts, and summer dresses for my trip and I froze my rear off the first couple days! I had a pair of jeans and a sweater I wore on the plane down, and I needed them! I estimated that the high temps were in the 60s and a there was a strong wind, so it felt like the 50s. Although it was cold and I needed a sweater, I still had to laugh at some of the local people who wore winter jackets. To them it was extremely cold! I also found out a very interesting phenomenon… They number their cold fronts in Mexico! The one that cooled us of those few days was cold front 18. It goes to show how infrequent a cold front is there. I think I might do that on-air from now on. “And cold front 93 is now knocking at our back door…” Okay, I won’t really do that, but I still think it would be rather amusing!
It did finally start to warm up by the third day. That’s when I started to work on my tan on the beach and reading my book. In town, I bought this really cool hand painted bowl for a street vender that I’m really excited about. During one of the colder days we took an ATV tour through the “jungle” to a fresh water cave. (That would of course be me in a really sweet helmet and yellow safety glasses!) In the cave stalactite grows from the ceiling about 1 cm every 70 years. My boyfriend, Brian, stood up at one point, accidentally caught one and took out about 3,000 years worth of growth! Our tour guide was a little upset about it, but I think it was bound to happen. Putting two people who are 6’ and 6’4 in a low ceiling cave is a recipe for disaster!
Click here for a picture!
One of the most memorable things about my trip will be the scuba diving. Brian and his father are both certified scuba divers. Brian had convinced me that I needed to give scuba diving at least one try, but they also convinced his sister to go with. All four of us went out on two separate days for four different dives. I really loved it! The fish were so full of color and the coral reefs were like nothing I’ve ever seen before. We also saw three sea turtles and two sting rays. One of the sting rays was at least 4 feet long. I felt like I was in an oversized aquarium. It was awesome. Even the scuba diving part was really cool. When I first placed my head under water with the regulator, my first instinct was to not breathe. Taking that first breath of air through the regulator while submerged by water is unlike nothing else.
One of the last nights there, Brian and I got all dressed up and went into town for dinner. The local restaurants are all competing for tourist’s money, so they’ll call at you while you walk down the street and try to get you to choose their place. We settled on a restaurant that was places between two buildings in a court yard called “Big Lobster”. Nothing there was small… They sat us down at a table, pulled up a chair and placed our menu on it! Our menu was a large wooden plank in the shape of a lobster tail! The menus were big, the lobsters were huge and the wait staff was larger than life.
Want to see how big our menu was? Click here to see!
Mexico was fantastic. I enjoyed every minute of it and I want to go back. I can begin to understand why so many people end up moving to warmer climates. My experience hasn’t changed me much though. I still love cold weather and forecasting in the Midwest! There is nothing like a cold Canadian air push that brings in subzero temps. Besides getting my laundry done this week and many other chores around the house I hope to hit the slopes! I’ve only gone skiing a handful of times this winter and I need to brush up. I’ve got a chance to go skiing on my Birthday and I need to be ready for three days of good skiing and good friends.
Until next time, take care!
Cindy's Blog Archive
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