02 December 2005 08:18
Don't worry, I intend to have an intelligent supper. But when I got home from work at quarter to seven this evening I thought I'd just start off with a bit of pecan pie to take the edge off my appetite. So I did. Might I add that this is basically a pie with a pecan flavoured sugar filling? Okay, so that wasn't bad. But then I grabbed the first thing that came to hand in the fridge with which to quench the thirst it created: sorrel flavoured ginger. If you've never had sorrel you're missing out, but I posted on it some time past (probably circa last Christmas). Meanwhile, think cranberry juice with lots of ginger in it. Combining it with pecan pie was a...memorable taste combination.Our days of late haven't been spectacularly clear, but the nights have been pretty good. There's a planet to the southwest that I'd like to know the name of, but never think about it when I'm near an internet connection. Astronomy is one of those elective classes that I think would be a lot of fun to take. Unfortunately in my current state of ignorance I can point out the big dipper and the little dipper (which I doubt are their official names) but there my knowledge ends.
Kingston looking SSE from Jack's Hill, note the planet in upper right
Our hurricane season is "officially" over, but we'll see what happens. Chances are still there for the Caribbean to get another hurricane, but right now the conditions are unconducive. All the excitement earlier this week was over in northwest Africa:
Tropical Storm Delta slammed into Spain's Canary Islands last night at near hurricane strength, killing at least seven people. One man died when he was blown off the roof he was trying to repair, and six African illegal immigrants drowned after winds caused their boat to capsize while attempting to reach Gran Canaria Island. Twelve of the immigrants remained missing while 32 were rescued. Each year, thousands of migrants try to reach the Canary Islands from Africa and many die in the attempt, but usually not in a tropical storm!
Sustained winds of 71 mph gusting to 86 mph were recorded at Tenarife, and a wind gust of 94 mph was recorded at La Palma. The near hurricane force winds caused extensive damage to utility poles, roofs, and trees all across the islands, which are a popular tourist destination for Europeans. Power is still out to over 223,000 residents today, but is expected to be restored to a large majority by Wednesday. Delta weakened considerably after smashing through the Canary Islands, and came ashore in Morocco this morning with only 45 mph winds gusts and some isolated pockets of heavy rain. Delta's rains were expected to provide a boon to local farmers unaccustomed to heavy precipitation.
source: Dr. Jeff Masters
Epsilon is (or was) running around in the mid-Atlantic as well, we'll have to wait a week or two to see if the Greeks are going to continue to invade the Atlantic and Caribbean.
Speaking of invasions, last week we had the Jet Stream decide to leave the northern States and Canada to take a vacation in the Caribbean. If I recall correctly, it's normal for the jet stream to move south for the winter, but I thought "south" mean the southern United States...not Cuba. This made for very long flights west-bound and very short flights east-bound, as well as interesting weather conditions on the island.
And speaking of interesting weather conditions, I got to throw a snowball the other week. When (then) Tropical Storm Gamma was sitting just north of Honduras, I got to spend two hours flying through the soup. I found that opening the fresh air vents would promptly start dumping snow into the cockpit (not pretty snow mind you, but crystalized flakes nonetheless). Then when I got on the ground in Grand Cayman (overcast with a blustery 15 knot wind and 85ºF) I opened the nose baggage door to find snow drifts. "Apparently" our nose door isn't sealed as well as it's supposed to be, and over the course of two hours of flying through moisture, it would get through the seals and land as snow in the baggage compartment. There were several nice piles of it drifted up, so I threw a couple snowballs around--though with the ambient outside temp on the ground they were more slush/ice balls by the time you packed them.
TS Gamma
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