Monday, June 13, 2016

One of the Daily Visitors

One of the great benefits of our new country home is the exponential increase in birds from our prior city living. We put all of our bird feeders in the front yard so the boys can see them from their rooms and you can see them from the living room. The favorite feeder is the hummingbird that we put right on the front porch. It took a day or two, but we now consistantly see hummingbirds every day and on occasion multiples at the feeder. Here's a quick phone snapshot of the hummingbird this evening:


Severe Weather Risk - 14 June 2016

Ample moisture and instability will combine with at least a couple surface boundaries and small disturbances in the upper atmosphere to bring the risk for severe weather to the Central Plains. Very large hail, damaging winds, and a few tornadoes all appear possible alongside flash flooding. A quick view of the surface setup shows a somewhat diffuse warm front across northeast Iowa running northwest to southeast, and an intensifying dryline over Nebraska and Kansas. One if not more, weak low pressure centers may develop at the surface in conjunction with upper level disturbances. Dew points in the warm sector will likely be near 70° even after afternoon mixing.


The base of an upper level trough will be working through the Northern Plains by the evening hours with at least a couple of weak pertubations further south over Kansas and areas north/east providong the dynamics for thunderstorm development. Note the max/min from the NAM indicative of thunderstorm development already occurring.


A combined look at instability and the wind fields shows a good amount of turning to support supercells as the primary storm mode. While lower level winds on the large scale do not appear particularly conducive for tornadoes any boundaries will have the means to create locally more favorable conditions, and thus at least a few tornadoes are possible. Also included below is a sounding for Topeka, KS which shows favorable thermodynamic conditions for large hail, and with a boundary nearby an increase in low level shear indicative of some tornado risk.




Here's a look at the current SPC Severe Weather Outlook for tomorrow.




Sunday, June 12, 2016

Weekend Adventure: A Night at the Races

The highlight of this weekend, beyond more unpacking, organizing, and mowing of the yard, was a Saturday evening at the local race track. Something about a local race track brings primarily friendly folks who'll have a conversation for the entire evening even though it's the first time you've met.

Thunderhill Speedway is a 3/8 mile, high-banked, clay dirt track that features hobby stocks, modifieds, sportmods, and stock car races every Saturday evening. This weekend was also Ladies Night, which meant the entire family cost only $10 for admission. The boys, and the parents, enjoyed the evening of racing and a few bumps, spin outs, and crashes along the way. The night wasn't over until after 11pm, but the late bedtime was worth it for the boys. We will see, but I'm certain we will want to hit up the track for another visit before the summer is over.



Saturday, June 11, 2016

Gotta Have a Little Fun!

Plenty of household work has been done, from cleaning to painting, to repairs and replacing. With all of that going on you need to take a break and have a little fun, after you assemble the fun of course...

Last weekend my wife and I assembled a trampoline for the boys, and my wife, to enjoy.


And this morning we finished up the assembly of the new basketball hoop for everyone to enjoy! I had a bit of help digging the hole, and the final assembly. It's a nice upgrade from the Little Tikes hoop the boys have been using; and it adjusts from 7.5' to 10' to allow dad to show off the dunking skills.




Thursday, June 9, 2016

Next Big Project: New Roof!

Today's big home improvement project was a new roof (shingles, underlayment, flashing, etc.). Thankfully this project didn't involve any manual labor on my part!

The prior roof had numerous impact marks from hail and deemed in need of replacement by insurance. The new, and upgraded roof? An impact resistant (class 4) and 110 mph rated architectural asphalt shingle. Means the shingles should be able to handle 2" diameter hail and those 110 mph winds without damage! A very necessary upgrade for Kansas in my opinion, and you can often get a decrease in your insurance premium for installing such a roof.

New Roof in Progress

New 'Weathered Wood' colored shingles


Wednesday, June 8, 2016

New Carpet!

New carpet was (finally*) installed today, from near 9am to 2pm with the boys onlooking every step of the way. My wife said our oldest was perfectly happy with the blue padding, and informed one of the installers that he could be done after installing just the pad. There was one hiccup: the supplier forgot to send out pad for the toy room! In the end we were upgraded to a premium foam pad as that is what the installer had in his van. You can definitely feel the difference, and you should for how expensive that pad is.
After it was all said and done, and nap time had past the youngest decided it was comfy enough to sleep on. I think it passed the test.

Kudos to my wife who managed and oversaw the whole operation today while I was attending a training.

* We had originally ordered carpet back on May 20 in hopes of having it installed the first week upon moving in. After multiple confirmations from store employees saying it wouldn't be a problem the installer said that June 8 would be the first date available! 

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Carpet Removal

This evenings task was carpet and pad removal, alongside hammering back in the staples all over the floor as a result of the previous pad installation. I did manage a bit of help in carrying out pieces.


Sunday, June 5, 2016

Weekend Adventure: June 4, 2016

The family adventure this weekend took us to RokeyRoad Holsteins near Sabetha, Kansas. They were holding an open farm event for their dairy operation and the boys jumped at the opportunity to see ‘baby cows’. They were able to see two calfs be born while at the farm, and a bonus playtime with kittens too!
The Rokey’s had biscuits and gravy, yogurt, and milk available alongside full tours and activities for kids. Their calf barn was open for the boys to pet calves that were only days old. The boys enjoyed the chance to be up close to the cows, and already asked when they can go see cows again.





Friday, June 3, 2016

The Need for a Riding Mower

Yard looks quite a bit better being mowed, shown is a portion of the backyard. Only dilemma is that it took 7.5 hours to accomplish with a push mower; the yard is around an acre that needs to be mowed.

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Showy Evening Primrose

I love the open prairie, the openness, types of grasses, and especially the wildflowers. Was very pleased to see this batch of Showy Evening Primrose growing in the backyard.