18. March 2014 · Comments Off on Chugging Right Along: Baseball, Skiing, and Scouts · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , , , , ,
Timmy the catcher...again.

Timmy the catcher…again. His new coach’s son is also a catcher and his coach works hard on training them on techniques.

Yep, I’ve been scarce. I’ve been spending more time on my Facebook fan page than here, because I can pop up quick discussion items and engage with friends and fans that way.

That’s because baseball has started at the Vollmer house. And as the boys get older, their practice schedules become more intense. And as the practice becomes more intense, we are making more investments of time and protective equipment for them: new slider pants for Jacob, impact-resistant sports goggles for Timmy, a new catcher’s mitt for Timmy, a wheeled baseball bag for Jacob… More »

20. December 2013 · Comments Off on Oh Baby It’s Cold Outside: Christmas Preparations and a Flooded Basement · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , , , ,
I'll bet you want to put on a coat just looking at this, don't you?

I’ll bet you want to put on a coat just looking at this, don’t you?

The picture above is what we awakened to this morning, with 19F temperature. This came on the heels of several pleasant days: the kids could walk to/from school and I enjoyed an outside run.

A far departure from the Florida temperate conditions we had every Christmas.

You won’t be seeing as many “Colorado Discoveries” posts this time of year, mainly because it’s been colder here. We aren’t spending as much time outside. More »

06. November 2013 · Comments Off on A Chill in the Air · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , , , ,
Can you feel the chill in the air just looking at this picture? Brrr.....

Can you feel the chill in the air just looking at this picture? Brrr…..

Winter is most certainly on its way! Here in eastern Colorado we’re now experiencing days where the high temperature doesn’t exceed 35F, and the lows are dipping into the teens. Colorado Springs is well known for its very mercurial weather, it could be 70F one day, 20F the next. Dave and I are working with the boys to prepare themselves for the wild weather ride we’re going to experience this winter.

Coming from Florida, we’ve had to make quite the investment in warm clothing for the boys. Dave and I have enough nice toasty sweaters and fleece socks, but the kids had outgrown everything they had in Nebraska 2008-2010. We got them sweaters, hoodies, snow pants, suede clogs and even some snow boots. I was mixed about getting them full-fledged snow boots, but after the first significant snowfall in mid-October, the boys demonstrated they really needed them.

I tend to buy really big – Timmy, even though he’s only 8 years old, now has size 12 snow pants and a size 12-14 parka.

I bought some nice gloves for the boys from REI. That was a mistake: Timmy lost one of the gloves the first day he wore them to school back in early October. Back to the $1 Walmart gloves!

It’s been a challenge getting the boys to understand that they need to dress warmly for school. Timmy resists zipping his coat, Jacob resists wearing a hat on his head. Gee, I wonder where they get that from (says the girl who HATED zipping her coat and wearing her hats)? I’ll have the kids put on their coats and shoes, and Timmy’s wanting to head out into 25F temperatures with just a hoodie.

So I will announce, “Timmy, it’s 25 degrees outside!”

But I don’t think he fully understands. Am I a bad Mom to think that maybe he just needs to experience some serious cold without a coat for him to understand? I can’t bring myself to do that — I make him put on his coat, gloves, and hat.

Dave and I are really looking forward to skiing this season! I will need new boots, Dave might need some new bindings, but otherwise we feel our Korea skis will be fine for us. The boys will be renting skis for the season through the Air Force Academy’s Outdoor Recreation Center. We’ll see about snowboarding — Timmy wants to learn, and I’ve offered to take lessons with him.

Jacob and Timmy getting used to their first day of skiing...ever...at Mount Crescent, Iowa. Read more about Mount Crescent here.

Jacob and Timmy getting used to their first day of skiing…ever…at Mount Crescent, Iowa. Read more about our December 2009 trip to Mount Crescent here.

Jacob qualified for a couple of outstanding skiing promotions that are expressly for Colorado 5th and 6th graders. If you live in Colorado and you have a 5th or 6th grader, I encourage you to check it out. You will need a copy of the 5th/6th grader’s report card, or at least proof of age. Even if you go skiing just once or twice this season, getting the free passes will save quite a bit of money.

Do you plan to ski this winter? Where will you be heading this season?

We awoke to our first snow accumulation this past Friday!

We awoke to our first snow accumulation this past Friday!

We were excited to wake up to snow on the ground this past Friday! The kids had no school, so they had the chance to play outside for a while.

We had about 2 1/2″ total by about 9am, but it was all melted by lunchtime. From what I understand, this is typical in Colorado Springs.

The view from our back deck!

The view from our back deck!

I’m glad I got the boys new parkas and snow pants, but I guess they could use some boots soon. Where do I begin to get some?

04. July 2013 · Comments Off on The Weather Station is MOSTLY Up and Running! · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , ,

Tonight I had set up our PC desktop computer on our new Ikea desk.

I turned on the Davis Vantage Pro 2 console, and I didn’t realize that our weather station is already transmitting from inside a deck box where it’s awaiting a more formal installation.

So for now, trust the temperature, dew point and barometric pressure. I’ll let you know when we get the anemometer and rain gauge assembled. I’m awaiting the formal movement approval for our MADIS community reporting also.

02. June 2013 · Comments Off on Farewell KFLGULFB11 and KFLNAVAR18! · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , ,
Technically, Dave is assembling our AcuRite sensor set here, but you can just pretend the drill is unscrewing rather than screwing.  Ha ha.

Technically, Dave is assembling our AcuRite sensor set here, but you can just pretend the drill is unscrewing rather than screwing. Ha ha.

This afternoon Dave disassembled our two weather stations in the backyard. One of them (KFLGULFB11) had been reliably reporting backyard weather since December 2010, the other (KFLNAVAR18) was a test weather station whose review post is coming up soon on GeekMom.

Our Davis Instruments weather station sensor set is beginning to get rather tired. I predict we’ll be getting a new one by the end of the year.

You can view the archives for these two weather stations through our Weather Underground pages:

We will retire these two names and will be resuscitating the weather stations in July in Colorado!

I’m sorry we didn’t have more fanfare or photography with this, but it’s really busy around here, the packers will be here TOMORROW!

The purpose of this blog post is to have a place to quickly compare the two weather stations I have in my backyard.

The top “sticker” is for our Davis Instruments Vantage Pro 2, circa 2004. This weather station has performed reliably for our family at each of our last four homes.

The bottom “sticker” is reporting from our AcuRite Pro Weather Center. It just arrived about a week ago as part of a GeekMom product test.

This is part of my comparison project — I have Weather Underground archiving both weather stations’ data. I can only choose one weather station with which I can associate the webcam, so it’s on the incumbent weather station.

So…what you SHOULD be seeing are similar temperatures, dewpoints and barometric pressures. I’m not convinced the wind data will match very well, the Davis anemometer is very old and doesn’t seem to be spinning as well as it used to.

Comment below and let me know what you think….

29. October 2012 · Comments Off on Thoughts on Sandy, Social Media, and the 70s Seen Through Argo’s Camera Lens · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: ,

Who else remembers TV sets looking like this? Sans remote control. If you want to change the channel, you had to get up out of your chair. Not all TVs sets could even connect to cable! Just an antenna!

Yes, an eclectic mix of topics, I know.

Greetings from my AF Reserve two-week tour. I’m sitting in my billeting room rather bored right now. The night shift I was scheduled for is canceled, and I had been sleeping mornings so be ready for my night shifts. I now flip back to day shifts; this will be interesting.  I woke up this morning at 11:30am! And now I need to be able to go to bed by about midnight.

Anyway, we’ve all been busy at work keeping tabs on Hurricane-now-Superstorm Sandy. When I’m off duty, I have The Weather Channel on, with Twitter, Facebook and Google+ all screaming newsfeeds at me about the storm.

You don’t have to be subscribed to any social media to keep in touch: Go ahead, check it out!

More »

26. August 2012 · Comments Off on Issac: Thoughts on Hurricane Preparation · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , , ,

While everyone’s minds are on preparing for the storm itself, something many folks don’t think about life for the week-or-so after the storm!

I’m slowly working through our checklists for getting the house prepared for the storm.  I just got back from the store picking up some preemptive supplies, and I filled up a spare 5-gallon gas can that we have.  I think we’re about as ready as we can be with the current forecast information.

For those new to the hurricane-life, folks may not realize how post-apocalyptic things get in an area recently ravaged by a storm.  After hurricanes France and Jeanne in 2004, during which our house suffered VERY minimal damage, we were more traumatized by how things were in the week after the storms hit. More »

26. August 2012 · Comments Off on Issac Preparation · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , , , ,

Come on! I know you aren’t the only one who thought this!

Yes, we are preparing for Issac.  We’ve been through this routine before — in 2004 with numerous storms, and we’ve already had a couple near misses here.

Dave, the kids and I took care of a lot of stuff last evening (after a wonderful afternoon boating with our friends the Scotts), to include burning the enormous pile of palm fronds and branches that had been sitting much of the summer in a corner of our backyard.

Today I will be attempting a trip to my local Walmart just for some groceries.  I’ll toss our 10 gallon gas can into the car just in case.  Although Facebook friends are saying that only premium gas is left in our community.

The kids don’t really know what to expect.  The 2004 storms impacted us right around Jacob’s 2nd birthday, and I was pregnant with Timmy at the time.  For Hurricane Jeanne, while I was evacuated with my Air Force unit, Dave stayed home with Jacob and Howie…and Jacob slept through the whole thing.  Dave says he doesn’t wish staying home in a Category 3 storm on anyone!

More »