vastateofmind

#TRUTHBOMB

Despite earlier watches/warnings, we got absolutely NUTTIN' in this corner of NoVA....which leads me to believe that poor @H2O and @GATECH are sweating off their nether regions right now at B swim meets on their respective neighborhood pool decks. Still holding out hope for some rain and at least a little lightning/thunder with a slightly less punchier Round #2 moving in from the west.

Hope you feel better soon, @GATECH...summer colds SUCK. And for all of you volunteering, coaching or swimming out there this evening....remember to be patient with those "minis" and steer clear of the lightning bolts...

Is there a smaller line starting to pop over the Shen Valley, out ahead of (what I thought was) the main show?

I'll only add one more comment to this particular topic -- my recent comments do not reflect on all of the awesome swim coaches that have served at our community pool over the years, both from among older adults and college students. My hats are off to you...because while serving as a parent volunteer can be occasionally annoying, I can't even imagine trying to teach up to a hundred (or more) kids the basic strokes at practice every day for two months, and then to seed all of that varying talent into the appropriate heats, two (or more) times weekly. On a completely unrelated note, I just mowed the front/back lawns and while high heat/humidity don't typically bother me....IT BOTHERED ME TODAY. Placed my obs over in the severe thread, but man, it's scorchy out there this afternoon. Plus, radar is looking fun to the west.

STW! Currently 95/74.

I'm mostly being a smartass up above...I knew @H2O would identify, and probably even more because he's not only served in most/all of the team official slots, he's gone the extra mile to serving on his community pool's board! (He's most certainly doing God's work there). My smartassery definitely camouflages an air of relief and a little sadness, though. Our entire family enjoyed summer swim early on. My wife and I willingly got involved with concessions and grilling early, which led to timing, S&T judging, and ultimately for her, being a team rep...which means *I* was, too, by marriage. What a time-suck THAT was for her. Our pool (Hayfield Farm) used to be fairly competitive in the 2000s/early 2010s, vacillating between NVSL Divisions 9-12 in placement. We all had great fun and made a lot of friends along the way. But, when your kids get to mid-late teens, it all gets a little exhausting...and probably moreso for us, as my youngest son decided at about 10 years old to start swimming year-round with NCAP, which means I had to haul his ass to Lee District RECenter at 4:30 a.m., 3-4 days per week for the better part of a decade. The upshot was that he had some success on a local/state/national level doing that throughout his teens....the downside was that by the time he got to recruiting for college swim (and he did at several schools), he was SO burned out, that he didn't want to swim AT ALL...and hasn't been back in the pool competitively ever again. So yeah, it's all kinda bittersweet for our family. At the end of that road, we found we didn't and wouldn't miss all of the nonsense that I described above, to the point where we simply lease our pool share annually now. I just don't want to be near/around the community pool/team drama any longer. I'm REALLY glad that you and your family are enjoying your pool, as you should....and please don't let my curmudgeonly views rain on your parade.

Ahhh, yes....NVSL B meets! Being able to "let your hair down" a bit more because it's not an A meet. Laughing at the young parents screaming and cajoling like court jesters at the finishing side of the pool while their half-drowning "mini" swimmers are bobbing their way to that side. Judging or timing at least 37 heats of 8&U and 9-10...IN EACH AGE GROUP. Watching some father attempting to patch his iPhone into the sound system to pretend he's Calvin Harris, despite his Spotify playlist being the aural equivalent of "dadbod." Glaring at the parents who insist loudly they don't have time to help on deck, and yet somehow have the entire evening to sit on said deck and gossip the night away. And, assuming you actually BEGIN at 6 p.m., ending the evening 4+ hours later soaked to the bone with your own sweat, in a mingling stench of sunblock, chlorine, greasy grill smoke and bad decisions (chiefly, allowing your kids to swim for the neighborhood pool team). The worst thing about evening meets -- when they would merely be delayed and not outright canceled. Obviously, B meets are easier to call off, but I remember a relay carnival at some Springfield pool years ago, with several stacked lines of severe thunderstorms moving in just before the 6 p.m. start, of course! I lost count of the number of delays at some point...cuz we were all in various stages of passing out while stuck in our hot, fetid vehicles...but because relay carnival is an official and sacred division event, the show HAD to go on and we didn't finish until almost 11 p.m. Bitter, table for one, right over here!!

THIS is what I hated about approaching the big FOUR-OH. It seems once I passed that lovely milestone, every ache and pain increasingly magnified with each passing year -- that was also the magical year I blew out the meniscus in my right knee, because my 20-something mind was cashing checks that my 40+ year old body could no longer cover. I started doing body weight floor exercises a couple weeks ago to supplement the every-other-day cardio and almost-every-day walks that Mrs. V and I do with doggo. Days later, I STILL feel like I need liniment, BenGay, a heating pad, a frozen bag of peas, and possibly other treatments that I'm just not imagining right now, ALL TOGETHER... I beg you...soak up and enjoy whatever athletic prowess you have left. NOW. (Oh, and don't forget to stretch, all the time.)

So, this is how I pretty much describe them to my wife all the time. I heard a very few of the kind you first described over the past two days, a lone "pharrrrrrrr-oh" but all others are now gone. Don't even see 'em flying anymore -- and only the occasional straggler hanging out solo on the pavement. These guys bringing up the rear must be like, "I can't attract ANYBODY right now..."

I haven't been off the board for most of this week....but this news, ANY news of someone who can retire younger than ME, always makes my day, hell, my year! You're young, you're (I assume!) healthy, you have kids at who are all at fun ages....enjoy the hell out of ALL of this.

Yeah, this is the first morning I can't actually hear any chorusing at all, just the usual nearby traffic sounds and long-distance train horns -- and with a beautifully clear and sunny morning like this, they'd be singing to beat the band starting at sunup (at least a couple weeks ago). Time to admit the show is pretty much over here, but I can't complain, because we got a pretty early start -- snapped first "emergence hole" pics IMBY in mid-April, and started a big uptick in daily photos of nymph > mature adult transformation and solo adult pics starting on May 10 on though to last week. Fare thee well, my red-eyed friends...

Didn't measure but we only had perhaps 30 minutes of moderate rain, reduced to light showers on that line's way east. Even the lightning/thunder was garden-variety summer thunderstorm here, but we were on the very southern edge of the roughest stuff. Radar did look intense to the north, though, and I wondered if there would be flash flooding in the usual trouble spots like Huntington and over by Wolf Trap. And man...did I get an earful from Mrs. V this morning about the wx radio klaxons signaling flood warnings, which came through around 1:45 a.m. and 6:05 a.m. Since we rarely "flood" here, might have to disable those particular alerts...

For once. Being effing east of I-95 (by a few miles) is a potential advantage... Currently 84/66. Took doggo for the 4-mile walk an hour ago, and it was damn humid. Aaaaaand, STW 273 just issued, effective until 06z.

Honest question -- I'm assuming the winds surrounding some tornadoes could easily "grab" that plane and flip it around a good bit, no doubt stalling it and sending it hurtling back toward earth....right? I love to see a good chaser video....but hate to see people make dumb decisions to get closer to the phenomenon (kinda like this dude).

Yep. I'm sure we're on the downhill side here. We barely heard them all day yesterday, and the same applies this morning so far...very distant chorusing. Noticed LOTS more flagging of branches on tree tips, too, over this past weekend. I'm thinking another week or week and a half, and the 2021 edition of Brood X will mostly be a memory in this part of FfxCo.

THAT sounds heavenly...sounds like it would be a good firepit night out there tonight, if you have one! Cleared out completely here by mid afternoon, has been in the 77-79 degree range since then. Pretty nice end of the day...although not dry enough to mow the (very high and clover-y) front and back lawn...but tomorrow's another day.

How's it feel up there? Little cooler, hopefully slightly less humid? Temps holding in high 60s here right now, but it's still pretty sticky.

Interesting that you mention that 4" height -- I read today that, to help combat the prevalence of clover in a lawn, that it's recommended to set the mower deck slightly higher to keep a lawn level of 3" or greater. Apparently clover won't thrive in grass left to grow slightly higher, as it's a more shallow weed. #LearnSomethingNewEachDay

I'm not feeling good about this. Haven't cut the grass since 9 days ago...the clover is so thick, my lawn (front and back) look more white than green. Tomorrow, providing I get A window to mow, is NOT going to be pretty.

FFW just issued for central FfxCo, which we got an alert for as well here in the SE corner. Has certainly gotten much darker out and we've had 4-5 peals of thunder and some sprinkles, but we're not getting multi-inches of rain like they apparently have over the past half hour, roughly 5-7 miles to my W and NW. EDIT (2 min later): The deluge has arrived.

WTAF is that? A cooler? A pool filter? A generator engine block? Ewwwwwww.

How's the humidity feel out in the Valley yesterday and today, @WinterWxLuvr? We just returned from walking doggo, was about 90 degrees when we started just after 5 p.m. with humidity probably in the high 60s. High clouds have since moved in here, but it's still damn muggy out.