Wednesday, December 1, 2010

As the Days Dwindle Down to a Sucky Few

No doubt about it now: The full-on, all-out, depression-inducing, freeze-your-balls-off Sucky Season has arrived in Bend.

November was the first month since May to log more days of suck (16) than sun (14). Not only that, but the longest stretch of consecutive sunshine was only three days -- the first three days of the month. Then there were three sunny intervals of two days each and five single-day sun episodes scattered over the rest of the month. There have been only four sunny days in the last two weeks.

And some of the days recorded as "sunny" were marginal, at best, with a pallid, sickly sun glowing weakly in semi-overcast skies. I could easily have scored only 10 or 11 sunny days in November. But I try to give Bend the benefit of the doubt whenever I can.

Adding to the overall suckiness, an "Arctic blast" roared down from the Gulf of Alaska just before Thanksgiving, dropping about five inches of snow and driving temperatures down into the single digits.

November Totals

Days of Sun: 14
Days of Suck: 16

YTD Totals

Days of Sun: 193
Days of Suck: 141

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

"But I try to give Bend the benefit of the doubt whenever I can."

Damn, Blackdog -- how about giving a fellow a heads-up before cracking a joke like that? I about spit green tea all over my keyboard when I read that.

H. Bruce Miller said...

I was perfectly serious, and the statement was perfectly true. It's just that there's generally very little, if any, doubt that Bend sucks.

Anonymous said...

blackdog,

Personally, I thought it was your finest Post/assessment evah!

For me, it's an hour by hour appraisal, just as with people, I'm always willing to give OR's weather the benefit of the doubt?

It's also true enough, if you wake up in the morning, look out the window and see GRAY as far as the eye can see.., then elect to go back to bed, your chances of enjoying what decent weather we 'do' have here dwindle considerably!

However... when noon turns to 3pm and 3 turns into Quit'n Time and... the day still isn't showing much 'promise' ( what are we now hoping for, a pleasant 'evening'? )

In all fairness ( and further support of the PDO ) it's hardly just BEND this past summer and fall! I've looked DAILY into Hornbrook, CA and yes, even Ashland and haven't seen much to cheer about! K' Falls? Forget it!

H. Bruce Miller said...

You're right, it's been pretty suckalicious all up and down the West Coast. It's that ol' debbil the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, I think. Combined with La Nina (the bitch).

Anonymous said...

blackdog,

It would be a lot easier for all parties involved if ( in 'our' case ) we had children scattered to the four winds.

Not to make light of it, I feel for parents that see their kids take gov. jobs ( and as usual when getting promoted ) eventually wind up in DC.

Some our age can play a "split hand" in they have kids in Denver, Chicago and L.A and... can sort of "triangulate" the difference? At least they're given some options as to where they finally decide to retire for good?

At times I openly wonder if some of the generational estrangement is entirely 'unintentional'? Do any of us also question whether some of the tiffs that become rifts aren't done for our own convenience? Picking senseless arguments just so we can say "Good riddance!" ( oh and here's our new number in Palm Springs )

H. Bruce Miller said...

Mrs. Blackdog and I are lucky, I guess; we've always had a good relationship with our daughter. She lives in Portland, but that wouldn't prevent us from moving out of Oregon, although it would be a consideration. Hawaii is still among our contenders for a retirement destination. (I suspect that if we retired there our daughter would be visiting us A LOT.)

Anonymous said...

Well that's very good to hear! We really value the relationship we have w/ our kids and I hope it always remains that way.

Her being in Portland ( or any major metro ) makes things easier. I've noticed over the years when the kids live in Ellensburg, WA and m & p live in Kingman, AZ unless you're affluent, you'll be lucky to see each other once a year. IMHO.

We've never ruled out HI, in particular, the Big Island. Land is cheap, and getting cheaper all the time! The rainy season really shouldn't bother anyone. It's very predictable. Clear at sunrise, clouds over at 10 am, POURS between 2 and 5 pm and... miraculously clears after cooling everything off! Much like the Philippines.

Anonymous said...

Interesting drive there & back to K' Falls. 58 & 97 were just out of the question. In fact I'd heard parts of 97 were closed for weather-related wrecks.

Hwy 140 ( Medford to K' Falls, Lakeview etc. ) wasn't much better. Very dicey and slow going for over 40 miles. Then again, it's now Dec. and I'm pretty sure guys in covered wagons complained about the same things this time of year?

Amtrak looking good. Stops in Chemult too! The Season aside, I'm already running low on good cheer that usually carries me thru Superbowl ( not that I watch it, ref. only ) Anyone else feel like the next person/event that disappoints you could wind up w/ more wrath than they bargained for?

Anonymous said...

At the suggestion of several, I took the $2 Dollar Tuesdays at Tan Republic up on their offer. And I must say, very relaxing!

Not sure how I'll feel tomorrow but for the 15 mins. I was in there, yeah, good. Dependent on how it turns out, I could make this a regular thing? Got Corona?