Wednesday April 20th 2016

Living in an RV I seem to be more aware of the weather and nature in general. The obvious reason is that I’m closer to nature and more impacted by adverse weather.

Pond that they call Pine Lake here at the campground. It doesn’t even look big enough to be called a pond.

Yesterday I talked about the impact of the wind on travel. It also impacts life in the RV. When it is windy the awnings over each of the slide out rooms on the RV can flap. The noise is annoying and the long term impact on the life span of the awning fabric is not good. Last fall on a couple of occasions I brought the main slide room in during heavy storms. I’ve since learned that these storms were not near the limit of the winds the slides can withstand, but there will be some storms that will cause me to bring in the slides.

The main patio awning is a bigger concern in the wind. It will not withstand much wind at all. If I’m going to be away from the RV during times that strong winds are possible I roll up the awning. No amount of tie downs with prevent damage in winds from the right direction.

The wind can cause damage, but the rain is primarily just annoying. The sound of rain on the roof and the vent covers can be extreme. To continue listening to the TV or radio during a good rain storm you have to crank the volume way up. As the rain slows you crank the volume down. The remote gets a good workout. The good thing is at night it just puts me to sleep.

One example of my enhance awareness of nature is my continued observation of the progress of spring as I drove north. Over the last two weeks I have moved from Florida up the eastern seaboard to Massachusetts. Spring is not easily identifiable in Central Florida. Most of the plants don’t loose their leaves. If you judge by flowering bushes like azaleas then spring arrived at the end of February. Using the Masters Golf Tournament as a guide, the azalea plants in northern Georgia don’t bloom until the beginning of April.

As I moved north through the Carolinas, Virginia, Maryland etc. I used the deciduous trees as a barometer of spring. New growth leaves were on all of the trees in South Carolina. Some varieties hadn’t started to leaf out in North Carolina and by Virginia and Maryland most of the trees were in early bud phase. The flowering trees were either in bloom or just past bloom depending on the variety. For example, the Washington Cherry blossoms had already transitioned into green leaves.

Close up of the trees on the far bank of the pond. Notice that the non pine trees have not started to leaf out.

In Pennsylvania the flowering trees were just getting started and the larger trees were still bare. Now that I’m back in New England the majority of the trees I’m seeing are still bare. Come on Spring get moving.

Why you might ask is he writing about trees and weather. The answer is I’m trying to figure out if I have a cold or an allergy. I don’t usually react to pollens, but I have a couple of years in the last dozen or so. Right now I have a stuffy nose and watery eyes. Time will tell which ailment this turns out to be. I’m beginning to suspect it’s a cold.