Off Topic Report your current temp.

[Doohicksie]

It appears as though you live in the drippy section of the gentleman sausage.

 

It's not my fault, blame the pierogi, he pointed it out. Then you had to make me look for the water spot, I mean lake. You didn't think that this was going to end without some comment, did you?

 

On the contrary, I was hoping for same.  Still in the 50s, should drop about 25 degrees in the next few hours.

The biggest perk of living in a region that doesn't have a bunch of snow plows is things getting shut down when the roads get bad.

 

Exactly.  They figure things will thaw in a day or so, so why buy plows?

[woods-racer]

On the contrary, I was hoping for same.

 

I know most of us on SS have grown up in WNY and have learned to brush off any snide remarks on where we live (or lived).  But I tread lightly on joking on others homesteads and dogs, that often times starts more trouble than a wife comment.  

[darksabre]

How I feel today:

 

[Doohicksie]

On the contrary, I was hoping for same.

 

I know most of us on SS have grown up in WNY and have learned to brush off any snide remarks on where we live (or lived).  But I tread lightly on joking on others homesteads and dogs, that often times starts more trouble than a wife comment.  

 

I like Fort Worth but I wouldn't expect others to find it as charming as I do.  I've lived here for about 20 years, but it's only in the last 5 or 7 that I've really started to soak in the fabric of it (basically when I started cycling around town- you learn a lot about a city from a bicycle seat).

[MattPie]

I like Fort Worth but I wouldn't expect others to find it as charming as I do.  I've lived here for about 20 years, but it's only in the last 5 or 7 that I've really started to soak in the fabric of it (basically when I started cycling around town- you learn a lot about a city from a bicycle seat).

I feel the same way, although on a motorcycle. Robert Pirsig wrote in "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" (which doesn't contain much about motorcycle maintenance, incidentally), "In a car, you're a passive observer and it is all moving by you boringly in a frame. On a cycle, the frame is gone. You're completely in contact with it all. You're in the scene, not just watching it anymore. And the sense of presence is overwhelming." I've heard it put more succintly, "in a car, you're watching a movie, on a bike you're part of the movie".

Edited March 4, 2015 by Met'yuPirog

[Doohicksie]

Okay, now reduce your speed to 12-15 mph.  You begin to really soak things in.  I wave to people on porches.  I ring my bell when I ride by kids playing in the street.  I routinely ride through lower-middle class working neighborhoods that I used to think weren't safe and see how the people live and smell what they're cooking for dinner.  (In some neighborhoods the aromas are absolutely mouth watering.)

Also, on a bicycle you have routes available to you that you can't use in a car or even on a motorcycle - paths through parks, trails along the river, pedestrian underpasses under train tracks, etc.  You learn how neighborhoods flow from one to the next, where they are linked and sometimes how they're walled off.  You find the wormholes through the city and discover little eateries you never knew existed.

Also I ride with a few different groups and have met some really interesting people ranging from MAMILs to hipsters.  I've made some good friends that way.

Edited March 4, 2015 by Neuvichs Perchatka

[woods-racer]

My wife and I love Texas. I think they have a lot in common with WNY'ers.  They get that "why would any one want to live there" crap from outsiders so much that everyone considers them egotistical, indifferent, or stupid if they don't bother with you. We've never had a bad experience when starting a conversation with "Hello, beautiful day is in it? Can you help me..."

 

It's the smell.

 

Nothing connects you with an area like smell.

 

Buildings, houses, stores all look the same after a while, but a smell will bring back memories or connect you with the region.

[MattPie]

Okay, now reduce your speed to 12-15 mph.  You begin to really soak things in.  I wave to people on porches.  I ring my bell when I ride by kids playing in the street.  I routinely ride through lower-middle class working neighborhoods that I used to think weren't safe and see how the people live and smell what they're cooking for dinner.  (In some neighborhoods the aromas are absolutely mouth watering.)

Also, on a bicycle you have routes available to you that you can't use in a car or even on a motorcycle - paths through parks, trails along the river, pedestrian underpasses under train tracks, etc.  You learn how neighborhoods flow from one to the next, where they are linked and sometimes how they're walled off.  You find the wormholes through the city and discover little eateries you never knew existed.

Also I ride with a few different groups and have met some really interesting people ranging from MAMILs to hipsters.  I've made some good friends that way.

 

I totally agree. I've only done limited bicycle riding since I was a teen but I'm always hoping to do more. I live a bit far from work to start out riding (25 miles in hilly SE PA), but there's a rail trail that runs near work that I'm hoping to take advantage of when the weather breaks. My plan is to start at one of the closer parking areas and work my way back the end nearest my house, which is 10 miles away. If I manage that, I might just start from my house to see how it works. I'm not really set up for road riding though, it'll be a bit rough to drag everything I need to work in a backpack.

[woods-racer]

I totally agree. I've only done limited bicycle riding since I was a teen but I'm always hoping to do more. I live a bit far from work to start out riding (25 miles in hilly SE PA), but there's a rail trail that runs near work that I'm hoping to take advantage of when the weather breaks. My plan is to start at one of the closer parking areas and work my way back the end nearest my house, which is 10 miles away. If I manage that, I might just start from my house to see how it works. I'm not really set up for road riding though, it'll be a bit rough to drag everything I need to work in a backpack.

If this is something you learn to enjoy, then look up the Great Alleghany Passage.

 

Not far from you, and quite possible the most scenic bike ride any where in the U.S.

 

Going back Labor Day weekend and staying in a campground in Connellsville. This was the first time in my life, that before we left the area I made reservations for the following year we liked it so much.

[MattPie]

If this is something you learn to enjoy, then look up the Great Alleghany Passage.

 

Not far from you, and quite possible the most scenic bike ride any where in the U.S.

 

Going back Labor Day weekend and staying in a campground in Connellsville. This was the first time in my life, that before we left the area I made reservations for the following year we liked it so much.

 

Heh, the wife and I visited Ohiopyle last spring. We walked a very little bit of the trail, as she was 6-months pregnant at the time. We were planning on going back this year, but after visiting the High Peaks in teh Adirondacks a few weeks ago, that area may have trumped that plan.

[BagBoy]

75 right now.  All my windows are open.

It will be 21 on Friday morning.

[Cereal]

I like Fort Worth but I wouldn't expect others to find it as charming as I do.  I've lived here for about 20 years, but it's only in the last 5 or 7 that I've really started to soak in the fabric of it (basically when I started cycling around town- you learn a lot about a city from a bicycle seat).

Two things.

 

First, as you know I previously lived in Austin, I don't think I would ever move back down to Texas to live in Houston or DFW.  The smaller, centralized downtown in Austin just has its charms and things to do.  DFW and Houston are nice, I suppose... I had visited both areas half a dozen times each.  Perhaps you'd care to debunk that myth a bit int he case of FW.

 

Second... I definitely appreciate what you guys mean by what you see differently when biking versus driving.  I've actually taken this a couple steps further.... FOUR modes by which I have explored Austin (and other places): Walking, running, bicycling, and driving.  It's so interesting the details you notice with one mode of transportation, but not the other.  One thing I love to do is make sure to do one long run around a new city I am visiting.  That gets you a truer experience of the city to me, if you only get a short time to take it in.  The smells, the pace, the difference in neighborhoods, as you mentioned.

[Doohicksie]

Not sure how much of DFW you saw, but if you think venturing to Arlington from Dallas is "visiting DFW", that's a mistake.

 

Ft Worth definitely has its own distinct downtown. It actually has several, depending on your mood.

. There's the central Downtown Fort Worth area, with Sundance Square which compares with a typical major city downtown district. (When ESPN covers DFW sporting events from Ft Worth, they set up in Sundance Square, so you may have seen that on TV.)

. A couple miles south is the Near Southside (aka hospital district, Magnolia and/or Fairmount) which has become the bike-riding hipster brew pub center.

. West of downtown about a mile or so is the West 7th/Cultural District area with a young, hip, urban professional vibe.

. About 3 miles north is the Stockyards which is the old-timey cowboy tourist trap area, complete with daily cattle drive through the streets.

 

All these areas have their own distinct flavor. They're all a short bike ride from each other. Downtown Ft Worth is actually smaller than downtown Austin, but a lot of people not from the area tend to lump the Near Southside and W7th area in with downtown which makes it seem more of a sprawling area (despite the fact that there are clear separations between those areas).

 

My wife had a training class in Austin a couple summers ago and I spent the week down there with her. I took a bicycle with me and spent the days tooling around the area from the river to the UT campus area. My sense is that Austin has a bit more "flavor" than Ft. Worth, so FW seems kind of bland in comparison. But with that flavor is a certain seediness; I think you see less graffiti and fewer transients in Fort Worth, but that was just my impression.

Edited March 4, 2015 by Neuvichs Perchatka

[Doohicksie]

And here comes the ice.  Everything above ground level is frozen.

 

The rain is turning to sleet and reports of accidents all around the area.

Edited March 5, 2015 by Neuvichs Perchatka

[Chris in Syracuse]

Currently 55 in Lafayette California!

[Doohicksie]

Ugh.  The sleet is coming down in buckets.  
 
The only thing worse than raining cats and dogs is hailing cabs.
 

10:19pm radar: a band of very heavy sleet and snow currently southwest of us (dark blue) will be moving northeast into DFW. It's gonna get slippery!

Edited March 5, 2015 by Neuvichs Perchatka

[Doohicksie]

And now the sleet is turning to snow.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nY2Mrr2ozlo

 

Not bad for Texas

Edited March 5, 2015 by Neuvichs Perchatka

[woods-racer]

We gots us a name for dat in dese here parts, a Buffalo summer.

[Doohicksie]

5" when all said and done.

 

It already melted.

[MattPie]

We got around 8" that blew around some. My WRX was a champ though, right into my driveway despite plowing snow to the sides.

[Eleven]

Hi.  Everyone in warmer climes or on vacation, please note:  this thread is NOT about you.  At all.  I didn't post when I was in the Caribbean, and inkman didn't post when he was in the fourth circle of Hell (warmer than Rochester, but less annoying than Dallas, if I remember my Dante).  Let your braggadocio flow elsewhere and let us bitch, dammit!

Edited March 6, 2015 by Eleven

[Doohicksie]

Actually, yes it is.

 

The snowbirds can report in, too, to make the northerners feel bad (or really awesome) about their weather.

 

Incredibly, right now, it's -10.8 where I sit, balls trying desperately to nestle up to my appendix.

Feel bad yet?

Edited March 6, 2015 by Neuvichs Perchatka

[JJFIVEOH]

Hi.  Everyone in warmer climes or on vacation, please note:  this thread is NOT about you.  At all.  I didn't post when I was in the Caribbean, and inkman didn't post when he was in the fourth circle of Hell (warmer than Rochester, but less annoying than Dallas, if I remember my Dante).  Let your braggadocio flow elsewhere and let us bitch, dammit!

On the contrary, I come here to bitch about the weather too........ not to brag. As much as some people might not want to believe it, going close to six months without ever dropping below 70°, and going most of the winter without being able to open the doors, does get really old after a while. While 89° on the first week of March might sound pleasant to many in here, to me it's a grim reminder that the next time I'll be able to open the doors without the AC going on will be in about eight and a half months from now. Since summer, I counted two days in which I needed to wear pants for warmth not just for fashion. And even then it was just for comfort, not necessity. 

[spndnchz]

It's coming in the basement. Not buying this house.

[That Aud Smell]

3.

 

On March 6th.

 

Oy vey.