16 Years Together and She's Clearly No Dummy

Tammy and I celebrated the 16th anniversary of our first date last Thursday night. We considered going to Sawatdee restaurant in Minneapolis (where it all began for us) but opted for something different instead. We drove south to Northfield and with the help of Yelp we chose The Tavern for dinner. We enjoyed ourselves while reminiscing about those earlier years and looking ahead to the changes we'll be seeing in our near future.

I was in the middle of taking a selfie to upload to Facebook when the couple across from us offered to help out. That was sweet of them.

We walked in the cold night air to our car and talked of coming back to Northfield to check out the many shops one day soon. It's a beautiful older city and one we seldom visit.

I'm all caught up on my TV watching after having viewed the final season of Breaking Bad and the last episode of the most recent House of Cards series. I was a little late to Breaking Bad and got mired down in the 3rd season when it became too dark for me but I pushed through and enjoyed the rest of it. After watching Kevin Spacey as Frank Underwood in House of Cards, I don't think I can even recall what he actually sounds like. He's so believable as Frank with his southern accent.

I've got a few shifts behind me now that I'm back to work. It seems surreal at times because I'll have moments in the sector where I feel like I never left for those two months. Selective memory of some sort I guess. All I know is it feels nice to be back.

I think I may have let Rachel down a little without her even knowing. Let me explain. I've got more than a passing understanding of weather. It's knowledge I used while performing weather briefings for pilots when I worked in Huron, South Dakota for the FAA early in my career. It never occurred to me to share any of this wisdom with Rachel: the difference between a cold front and an occluded front or the dynamics of positive vorticity advection and how it relates to storm development, say nothing of adiabatic lapse rate or upslope but surely I could've at least talked with her about the basics of weather patterns and systems in the US. It never came up.

We had this text exchange Saturday night:

(Me) "Did you see the weather forecast? We're getting a lot of snow they say. Mom's phone is working again. :)"

(Rachel) "East coasts been hit so Im not surprised its headed our way. Knew that would happen."

"I gotta go to bed though I work tomorrow. Talk to you later! Love you"

(Me) "You goofball...we get our weather from the west not the east! ;)"

She runs circles around me in every other category when it comes to book smarts so she's clearly no dummy but this exchange was amusing to me. A topic of discussion for our next cup of coffee or glass of wine together? Maybe. Maybe not. I enjoy having at least something where I still have an edge.

About that forecast. Yes, we did get lots of snow; somewhere between 8-10 inches in Lakeville (20-25 cm for my European friends). Our bird feeders had much more activity than what is normal in the hours before the snow began. I find it interesting how they sense a change in conditions and the need to prepare.

I too have been preparing but with a focus for more springlike weather as you can see by our deck furniture in the photo. I said I wouldn't snowblow this snowfall but that was a lie. I was out there this morning making quick work of it before heading into the salt mine.

Last Thursday's ride...