Pete_Petoniak's Blog

Great Labor Day Weekend:  As I write this Friday morning it looks like a fantastic Labor Day weekend weatherwise with lots of sunshine and warming temperatures.  It should be nice for you to get out and enjoy the unofficial end of summer.  We had a lot of things on Good Day Wisconsin that look like fun for the whole family.  They're surfing in Sheboygan this weekend at the Dairyland Surf Classic; showing Alpacas at the Kele Farm in Kewaunee and flying kites in Two Rivers.  We have some plans this weekend but we may have to take the boys to see the kites over Lake Michigan.  These are the weekends when there are almost too many things to do around here. 

Jake's Glossary: The things that come out of a 3 year-olds mouth are sometimes not exactly correct but that's okay.  It makes you smile.  Jake has his own way of saying certain things.  "Pampcakes" are pancakes; "Auto-guh-matic" is automatic; "Tonee-nails" is toe nails and yesterday we got into the hot van and he said,  "I need some wind to me"...that one took us a while but it means he wants the air conditioning on (and pointed at him of course.) 

Have a great weekend and I hope you tune into the Labor Day MDA Telethon.

Need The Rain: Some of us will see some much-needed rain today or tomorrow but some of the area will remain dry.  The cold front that pushes through tonight into Saturday morning will give us the best chance for showers and thunderstorms but they will be scattered.  So what's it mean when you hear me say "scattered showers and thunderstorms."  It means that not all of the area will get rain.  In fact if you look at the percentages, it means about 30 to 50 percent of our area will see rain.  When you hear the term "isolated" it means 10 to 20 percent will see rain.  The rain will be more hit and miss. Think of it this way, "scattered" is a lot of  "isolateds" added up.   I'm so glad I could clear that isolated question up for you...now try not to be "scatter-brained" all right?

Clutter:  Speaking of scattered and isolated, I've noticed that if I put an isolated object on my desk, after about 5 days it becomes a permanent fixture.  It's as if it was there from the time I moved my belongings into the desk.  I'm looking at a video tape box right now on my desk that has been in the same place for...oh about a year now.  Why?  Because I needed to look at it once a year ago and pulled it out of the tape room.  After I did that I put it on my desk...just an isolated tape in one small portion of my desk.  The first and second days went by and I didn't put it back, then the third and fourth.  I think it almost made it off my desk that fourth day but I got busy with something else.  Then the fifth day came and went and after that I started to move things around this box.  It became as permanent a part of my desk as my computer keyboard.  I've had other isolated objects become fixtures...the 2 CD's on the left-hand side; the post-it note at the bottom of the computer screen; the round thumb tack-holder with about 100 thumb tacks at the far corner (I needed a thumb tack once about a year and a half ago and never returned it to the person who let me use it).  They have all become permanent fixtures on my desk.  Much like the definition of isolated and scattered showers, these isolated objects have become "scattered" on my desk and it now looks cluttered.  But I'm going to do something right now to fix this problem.  I am going to get up from this computer, take that tape box to the archive room and put it back...here I go. ...There.  I did it.  It's back.  Now my desk looks bigger and less cluttered and I feel good.  I've become more organized.  I feel so good I may just take those thumb tacks back to that person who let me borrow them.  Well, not today.  I don't want to over do it.

Have a great weekend! We'll be playing with the boys and working outside...when the showers and thunderstorms aren't "isolated" or "scattered" right on top of us.  Hopefully the Packers first units will look better this week against Denver. 

Talk to you Monday morning on Good Day Wisconsin.

A Scorcher for One Day:  The saying goes..." if you don't like the weather in Wisconsin wait five minutes, it'll change" and that was never truer than yesterday afternoon.  At 5 pm in Green Bay the temperature was 90° which was the first time we reached 90 this year.  Just an hour later things changed dramatically as a cold front pushed through, changed the wind direction from west at 10 mph to northeast at 18 mph gusting to 30 mph and dropped the temperature 15°!  Now that's a strong cold front! 

Most people welcomed the relief especially the Packers who practiced at 6:30 last night and instead of sweating it out in the heat, were able to take snaps in a cool, comfortable 75°. 

The national weather story is Tropical Storm Fay which made landfall near Naples, Florida at about 4 am today.  Right now it's drenching central Florida as it slowly moves to the north.  For more information on this Tropical Storm or any other Atlantic Storm and Hurricanes, go to http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

More Later,

Pete

How Dry We Are:  Just yesterday  a woman greeted me with the words, "Hey Pete, I'm sick of watering."  I see her point.  Although parts of our viewing area received some much-needed rain over the weekend, most of northeast Wisconsin has been lacking rain for about 4 weeks now.  Since July 21st there has been a total of about a half inch of rain in Green Bay which is  2 to 3 inches below normal for that period.  Even with that deficit if you view the statistics for the whole year it's a different story.  Since January 1st we've had 24.52" of rain which is 6 inches above normal.   It looks like we'll see some possible rain today and again late in the week which will help farmers and gardeners. 

Lend Me your Ears:  Judging by the size of the ears of corn I saw at this week's Farmer's Market some farmers must be having a good year.  They were huge!  My wife and the boys took a stroll through the Green Bay Market and it was hoppin'.  My only suggestion would be to open up the lanes a bit between vendors.  When you're dragging a 2 and 3 year-old through the tomatoes, blueberries and beans it can get a bit cramped.  Actually what they really want is parked at the end of the aisle anyway...the sponge Bob Square Pants Treat from the ice cream truck. 

More Later.

Pete

MOON RINGS: I was stopped by a couple yesterday on my way into the Y and

 asked a question and I had 4 e-mails asking the same question when I came in

this morning.  They were all asking what Jen wrote: “What is the large bright circle

around the moon tonight?? I've never seen a halo so large?”  That sight happened

on Friday night.  The ring around the moon or halo was due to the refraction

(the bending of light as it passes from one medium to another) of moonlight

through ice crystals in high level clouds.   There are 2 types of rings, one big and

one small.  It’s rarer to see the big one which is the 46° halo as opposed to

the 22° one. It sounds like this was the big one.   The different sizes are

determined by the way the light passes through the ice crystals in the clouds. 

 Here are a coule of websites you can go to for more  information

http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/mtr/opt/ice/
halo/46.rxml and http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/aprilholladay
/2006-09-11-moon-origins_x.htm

Weather folklore says when you see those rings around the moon, bad weather is approaching.  The reason is because the ice crystals in the halo are from high-level cirrus clouds which usually arrive 1 to 2 days before a warm front which is associated with a storm system.  So the thinking is if the clouds are here today, the storm’s on the way.

THE BOYS:  Here’s something I learned over the weekend: don’t let the kids take a 3-hour nap because no matter how relaxing it is while they’re sleeping…you will pay when they get up.  I was in charge of Jake and Henry while my wife was out doing some scrap booking with her friends.  (Although I wonder how much scrapping they get done and how much of it is just being “out” ) The kids are sleeping, I’m napping and life is fine until they wake up.  Jake thinks it’s morning and is confused because the sun is still up and Henry wants out of his crib.  This is how I know Henry wants out. Henry: “OUT, OUT, OUT, OUT, OUT, OUT, OUT, OUT, OUT, OUT, OUT…”  Pete: “Henry, you want out, here you go.” Henry: “NUK, NUK, NUK, NUK, NUK, NUK, NUK, NUK…” Pete: “Here’s your nuk.” Henry: “BLANKET, BLANKET, BLANKET, BLANKET, BLANKET, BLANKET…” He has a one-track mind.  I have taken to tiring them out by putting on party favorites on the stereo and telling them to dance.  They dance for a while then they run around in circles between our living room and kitchen and pound on the trash can each time they pass it.  Henry usually trips over his blanket from time to time but he’ll scream like there’s no tomorrow if I try to take it away. This goes on for about 15 or 20 minutes and then I ask them if they want to watch a “show”   Henry: “SHOW, SHOW, SHOW, SHOW, SHOW, SHOW, SHOW…” With the help of the DVR and Curious George, I get to relax …until they get hungry. Henry: “SNACK, SNACK, SNACK, SNACK, SNACK, SNACK.”

Weather:  I hope you didn't slip and slide heading out to Grandma's house this morning.  The light snow and cold really made roads slippery.  I slid a bit at a stop sign this morning on my way to work. It should be a cold one for you shoppers standing in line tomorrow morning to get the good deals as the doors open for Black Friday.  The temperature at 5 am will be near 16° with a wind chill of 5°...after enduring that I hope you get the laughing Ernie Doll you wanted.

Colds:  Why is it you can have a cold for 3 weeks?  Just when I think I'm over it, it drags me back down.  The cough, the runny nose.  I guess I'm at a very giving household, we've been giving this cold to each other for a month.  Didn't Granny have a cure for the common cold on the Beverly Hillbillies?  Remember that episode when "Dr. Granny" came up with a cure and Mr. Drysdale was all excited because he thought he would make some big money off it.  Then it turns out Granny gives the cold cure medicine to  someone and says something like, "just take that once a day and in 7 to 10 days you'll be cured."  More like 14 to 21 days...and a dip in the cee-ment pond.

Thanksgiving: My favorite Thanksgiving joke: "My relatives, boy can they eat.  Last Thanksgiving I bowed my head to say grace and when I looked up they were passing the after-dinner mints."

Happy Thanksgiving: This Thanksgiving I'm thankful for my family...my wife Sarah who does so much for us; the boys Jake and Henry who are unbelievable.  I'm thankful that I have food to eat and a place with heat when it's 15° wind chill.  Think about the people who don't have that and you realize how lucky you are.  I hope you are able to spend Thanksgiving with your family and friends.

So this is how I start a blog.  Scott Hurley talked about this cool way of communicating this  morning on Good Day Wisconsin.  Now all I have to do is talk about stuff...

Weather:  Overcast and gloomy yesterday, enough with the clouds, although it was nice to take my afternoon nap...Well at least we should see a little sunshine this morning after the fog lifts before more clouds move in and light rain this afternoon.  If you're heading to the Appleton Holiday parade, look for mostly cloudy skies with a chance of light rain and a temp of 38°, wind chill of 32°. Hey it has been worse.  I haven't done research on it but it seems like more years than most it's extremely cold. 

Family: Jake my 3 year-old, 21 month-old Henry and I were outside the other evening when Jake looks up at  the half moon and says..."Why is the moon ripped?"  Pretty clever, I thought.  I tried to answer him but he's in that "why" stage so he'd just keep asking questions and besides, it's just cute that he thinks the moon is ripped in half right now.    My wife and I went to see the movie "Dan In Real Life" over the weekend.  Good romantic comedy. I was surprised Steve Carell is such a good actor although  he's great in "The Office"( one of my favorites).  He makes it so "uncomfortably funny" ..you don't know whether to laugh or turn the channel.

 On Rachel: She's lookin' over my shoulder at the news desk right now.   She's so great and talented...(she's still looking) and kind-hearted and generous (gee, doesn't she have anything else to do?) and...okay she's doing something else. 

Blog with you later.

Pete