Making the most out of fall... before the cold & snow arrive...

The cool last several days have been fantastic to get outside and play in the leaves.  While we don't have many leaves at our house, I did take the kids to the park the other day and Summer wanted to explore the "tunnels" or trails at the park.  The hours I work are super early, but at least it allows me to spend so much time with the kids during the day. 

Then while they nap I work on projects... like making buckeye necklaces and listen to podcasts.  My recent podcast binge has been Revisionist History. Good stuff!

The colors of the trees this weekend was fantastic!  These are a handful of the photos sent in to my work pages the last few days. 

Speaking of the weekend... I worked the craft show, or "Sip N Shop" and did very well.  The lip balms went over well and I am making a big batch of the vanilla beeswax lip balms later today to stock up the website, BalmByBuck.com. Thankfully I still have a couple of those, but making about 100 more today.

Our tradition of walking to the polls to vote went smoothly again this time with two kids.  It was windy, but at least the rain was gone before heading to the polls. 

The weather department normally gets a pass for less work and less on-air time during the election, but I helped build a handful of augmented reality graphics for the news department.  Here is one of them showing the early morning results for the House and Senate for Congress. It was a lot of fun. 

The winds are starting to ease up and we have a couple of nice November days on the way! Today we will see mostly sunny skies with clouds at times and temps topping out in the lower 50s. We will have a light breeze out of the west today at 5-15 mph. Tonight we will see frost as temps dip to the freezing mark with calm winds and clear skies. Sunshine to start your Thursday then slowly building clouds and highs in the upper 40s on Thursday with very light winds. Friday we will see rain showers arriving in the morning and lasting most of the day. Temps will top out in the mid 40s for Central Ohio, but cooler to the north and pockets of rain/snow mix possible north during the morning when temps will be in the mid 30s before warming up. So Friday will be a chilly, wet, raw day. Winds will pick up out of the northwest late Friday and that will push in some lake effect flurries for Friday night and early Saturday. High pressure builds back in for Saturday bringing sun for for the afternoon and most of Sunday. Morning temps Saturday and Sunday will be in the 20s, so a pretty cold weekend. High temps will be in the upper 30s Saturday and mid 40s Sunday. By Monday into Tuesday the forecast models are not quite agreeing on the timing and temps just yet. Right now it appears we will have some rain showers on Monday and a wintry mix, if not mostly snow, for Tuesday. Stay tuned because the timing and temps will be a big factor in what type of precipitation will be on the way.

Speaking of winter, real quick... The National Weather Service will start issuing a new warning this winter: Snow Squall Warning. This is needed... too many accidents/fatalities are caused by these because you can't see stopped traffic in the whiteout conditions. Anyway... Enjoy the next couple of "mild" dry days and have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael

BOO! Halloween with the kids & other fun stuff!

 

Hey guys!  Work and life have been SUPER busy so I have not been as good about updating this daily, but I am going to try to get back on the bus with updating this more often.  Marcus is in Hong Kong, but before he left I took the kids back to see him one last time and also visit my Grandma Jean.  Marcus will be there teaching English and not coming home until at least June, when our brother Clark gets married.  I was glad I got to go visit him one final time before he left.  So here is what else has been happening...

Check out this sweet ride!  There is a small fleet of these Toyota Land Cruiser double cabs near where I live.  I think there is a company that is outfitting them for another company.  I would LOVE to own one of these.  So utilitarian!  

Summer and I went down for the Columbus Marathon to root on our friends.  It is pretty hard to find runners you knew, unless you knew what they were wearing to pick them out of the crowd. But I was able to pick out Carl, here, who ended up getting a PR, personal record, in the marathon. It was a chilly morning, but great for getting personal bests!

Carl then twisted my arm to join him on a trail race this past weekend too.  He is a machine and training for a 50 mile race this month.

Dawn and I took the kids to COSI and they loved it.  Well... Evan is too small to do anything, but Summer was VERY upset when we had to leave, so I think we will look into getting an annual pass. It only would take two family visits to pay for the annual pass and a great option to get the kids out of the house in the winter, while Dawn does her work.

Speaking of the kids... So this is Summer and Evan at 2 months and 20 days in both of these photos.  Dawn made the side by side to show how similar they look.  It is quite remarkable! Summer is on the left and Evan is on the right.

In this photo it is the other way around, but you probably could guess that.  Summer picked out what designs she wanted for the pumpkins.  I ended up carving them with the jigsaw and it was VERY fast.  A little more dangerous, but much faster.

Speaking of Halloween... We had a great night last night!  Summer went as Tinkerbell and Evan was an Incredible character.  Thankfully the rain held off... just a light mist and drizzle. We have TOO much candy at the house though and sugar is my biggest weakness.  I need to put a lot in a plastic bag and throw it in the deep freeze.

The balm business has been doing pretty well.  After my last craft show and so many people asking for lip balms... I have expanded to that as well.  I also made a batch of vegan balm using candelilla wax instead of beeswax.  It smells like mint chocolate chip ice cream. 

I also added cinnamon and vanilla to the lip balm lineup.  The vanilla is organic and homemade.  I have been stocking up my inventory for a craft show at a brewery on Saturday.  It is at Combustion Brewery in Pickerington.  I have not been there yet, but it a kid-friendly brewery and the event will be on the second floor, so it is a "Sip N Shop".  Here is the Facebook event page.

It is going to be a wet day and heavier rain today compared to Halloween.  We have a stationary front sitting right over Central Ohio currently and rain will be riding along that like a conveyor belt today.  We will have rain most of the day today and heavy at times.  There will be longer periods of breaks in the rain the farther SE in Ohio that you live today.  NW Ohio will see rain almost the entire day.  The front will be riding right along I-71 most of the day and the air to the SE will be warmer and to the NW it will be cooler.  It does appear the front may slip just a little NW of Columbus this afternoon, so we are bumping up our high temp into the upper 50s.  High temps to the NW will be in the lower 50s today and then lower 60s for the SE. 

But the big story today will be the rain.  We already picked up more than half an inch of rain on Wednesday so the ground is saturated and another 1"-2" today could lead to some flooding.  The steady rain will continue tonight and early Friday. 

By tomorrow the rain will start breaking up and become more scattered and lighter.  Clouds most of the day Friday with some peaks of sun later in the day between the clouds.  Saturday there is a slight chance for spotty rain early then more clearing in the afternoon.  High temps for Friday and Saturday will be the lower 50s. Sunday will be cool and we will see a mix of sun & clouds.  It does look dry the daytime hours Sunday, but we could see some rain sneaking in here late Sunday night.  More rain likely for Monday and Tuesday with highs warming into the 60s. Have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael

Family time, Crowell Hilaka Trail Run, cold Columbus Marathon...

We spent the weekend up north visiting Dawn's family and got together with her childhood friends so all of our kids could get together and enjoy the Berea Harvest Festival.  It was a fun time and there were a LOT of people.   

Sunday morning I woke up early to run the Inagural Crowell Hilaka Trail Run.  It is a six mile loop in the woods and you could either do the half marathon distance, 13.1 miles, or 50k, 31 miles.  I opted for the half marathon distance because I did not have the training for the 50k, but that is still something on my bucket list... an ultra (distance longer than a full marathon)

Anyway... It was a fun intimate run with about 40 people doing the half distance and about 20 people doing the 50k.

It was gorgeous running the trails and then occasionally popping out. 

To see the lakes.  A long straight portion was on the bridle trails and it was a muddy fun time!

Done!

And the finisher's medals were actually these awesome handmade necklaces.  Summer loved wearing it when I gave it to her later in the day. 

We have a few dry and mostly sunny days ahead, along with chilly mornings and cool afternoons. Patchy frost for your Tuesday morning with some temps dipping into the mid 30s. Lingering overnight clouds have allowed temps to stay just a tad too warm for widespread frost.

We will be mostly sunny today with clouds at times and temps warming into the mid 50s and a light wind out of the southwest. Mostly clear tonight with low temps near 40. Most sun with passing clouds at times on Wednesday and highs in the lower 50s. More sun for Thursday with more early frost and warming into the lower 50s for high temps again.

More clouds Friday as a cold front approaches and light rain showers looking likely for Friday evening into early Saturday morning. High temps Friday and Saturday will be in the upper 50s. Once the cold front pushes through then winds will be brisk out of the northwest and this will push in colder air. It may also trigger some lake effect sprinkles/flurries for late Saturday/Sunday to the north, but the bigger story will be the coldest air of the season for Sunday.

Morning temps will be in the mid 30s, but we will only warm into the upper 40s for Sunday with early clouds and more sun later in the day. It will be a MUCH colder Columbus Marathon, compared to the last two warm years. Slight chance for rain returning late Monday, as we warm back into the lower 50s. Have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael

So long warm temps... making the most of the cooler weather...

Man it was warm earlier this week! The first 10 days of October averaged 15 degrees above normal.  Thankfully the Hilliard Station Park still had their splash pad open and we went down there for some fun in the water on Sunday.

I was off work last Friday and took advantage of the cool morning and went to drop off Summer at preschool and then ran 10 miles home.  I signed up for a half marathon trail run this weekend so I wanted to get a decent long run in before that.

Summer and I have been harvesting the garden before the frost arrives.  The warm temps this summer resulted in less tomatoes than normal, but GREAT peppers.  I have never had this many peppers.

But we are back to cool temps, so I took the kids to the zoo yesterday and we had a blast.  Summer wanted to play with all the exhibits and I really think I should take her to COSI soon.

I had my first craft show last week, for Balm By Buck.  I did pretty well and a lot of people asked about balm for their lips so that is my next product in the works.  I need to figure out labeling and whatnot.  I am also going to offer different scents for that. 

My next craft show will be a fun one.  It will be at a brewery... apparently in the second floor loft.  I have heard great things about Combustion Brewery, but it is completely on the other side of town.  Excited to hang out there in November. 

Grab the jacket... and the umbrella for later as well! Today we will start off with temps more than 20 degrees colder than yesterday morning. It will be a chilly start to your Friday, with many temps in the lower 40s, then a mix of sun & clouds and highs in the mid 50s with more clouds later. Evening rain showers likely as a weak disturbance passes. The rain looks to arrive into Western Ohio around 6PM and start wrapping up and moving out of Eastern Ohio just after midnight. Clearing skies overnight with chilly temps again for Saturday morning, low temps in the upper 30s. Saturday will be dry with a mix of sun & clouds and high temps in the lower 50s. Increasing clouds Sunday with highs near 60. Rain returns late Sunday into Monday. This rain will be part of the remnants of Hurricane Sergio kicking across the country from the Pacific. High pressure brings back more sun for the middle of next week, but morning temps will be chilly and frost possible next week. Have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael

East Columbus Tornado, very warm start to October

Man it was humid last week! I only managed to have time to get in one run last week, but I was able to get out and keep the cobwebs from forming.  I really need to make a running schedule to stick to and build back up the mileage. 

Speaking of humidity... it helped fuel storms on Wednesday morning.  We actually had a strong storm over Columbus Wednesday morning that produced a quick tornado that was on the ground for almost 4 miles.  No warning was issued because there was no spotting of the funnel or tornado, PLUS the radar in Wilmington could not see the shallow rotation and the nearest radar site went offline for 8 minutes.  Thankfully no one was injured, but it could have been much worse.  Above is a video breaking it down.  Skip ahead to 4 minutes for the explanation. 

I also worked with Summer last week on her swimming and hope to do more of that tomorrow during family swim time. 

Dawn popped in to work on Friday with Evan so he got to see the studio... He was not very impressed. 

Dawn and I manged to get a babysitter for a few hours on Friday so we went out on a quick date night to see some old friends.  Short, but fun.

We have a stationary front sitting to our north and some waves of moisture along that front will help trigger some rain for this week. I would have the rain gear handy and ready all week, but Tuesday and Thursday look like the best chance for rain.

October will be starting off well above normal, with highs in the low 80s all week long. Today we will start out with patchy fog, plenty of sun, and warming temps. A few more afternoon clouds and a slight chance for some isolated rain later. Mostly cloudy and milder overnight temps. Mostly cloudy with some scattered showers and storms possible Tuesday. Northern/Eastern Ohio is in the Marginal Risk for severe storms Tuesday. We stay mostly cloudy with a slight chance for isolated rain Wednesday. A little better chance for rain on Thursday with scattered showers and storms. By Friday and the weekend the models agree on warm temps, but are split with rain. Right now we are going to keep in the low chance of isolated rain for Friday and Saturday.

This warm weather looks to stick around all the way into next week too... so hopefully that A/C still has some life left in it for the next few weeks.  Have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael

P.S.  I just realized... this is my 1,500th blog entry!!! YAY!

It is finally Fall!!!

Summer had her preschool field trip on Friday out at The Orchard & Co. Since the preschool does not have buses, they needed parents to come too.  We had a lot of fun. But Summer... 

She had TONS of fun!  They had a giant corn kernel barn and Summer was covered in corn dust by the time we managed to get her out.  We also picked apples and I plan on making some fresh apple pie in the coming days.

I felt pretty crummy last week from a cold that she brought back from school, but I did manage to get some runs in to help keep the cobwebs from forming.  

How about those BROWNS?!?!?!  First win in 635 days!  Even Evan was sporting his Browns gear!

And Buckeyes not looking too bad either.  Evan couldn't believe the score at halftime! 

We went to Cleveland this weekend for a few things.  Saturday we helped Dawn's aunt move.  It was going great until my Garmin GPS watch caught a corner while I was carrying a dresser down the stairs.  DANG IT!!!  Not really repairable, to my knowledge because the body broke where the bolt goes through and it is water-tight sealed so you can swim with it.

Sunday we had a family reunion and it was hard to keep Summer from running to the playground every few minutes.  She could spend an entire day at a playground and still want to keep running around.  Such a fun age. 

Here comes the rain again! Rain has started moving back into Southern Ohio and will continue pushing into the rest of the state as we go through the morning with showers and storms most of the day. Highs will be in the low 70s, so wet, cloudy, and mild for the start of the workweek with some on and off showers tonight as well.

The rain will be sticking around for the first half of the week with some heavy downpours in pockets.  

We will warm into the upper 70s Tuesday and getting into that warmer air will help fuel the storms. There is not a great likelihood of any severe weather today, but Tuesday and Tuesday night we are in the Marginal/Slight Risk for severe storms. Tuesday's rain will be on and off and a few of the cells could get gusty, including some hail, and cannot rule out the chance of a tornado. Marginal Risk for Eastern and Southern Ohio, but the higher risk of severe storms, a Slight Risk, for Central, Western, and Northern Ohio. The strongest storms though will likely hold off until Tuesday night.

The rain will wrap up early Wednesday and start leaving. Marginal Risk for severe storms early Wednesday morning as the rain races out of here. So wet Wednesday morning then mostly cloudy and mild. Mid 70s for Wednesday then upper 60s by Thursday, for the high temps. Partly cloudy and cool for Thursday then more sun and warming into the lower 70s for Friday and Saturday. Rain possibly returning Sunday. Have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael