The weatherman mentioned that half a degree either way could push the freeze line 20 miles in any direction.

We were half a degree higher than predicted so all the ice melted off and no snow overnight. Temperatures are now below freezing this morning but ground and above ground objects are clear here. Nothing but a few twigs broke off in this one.

Areas a few miles north have 20 inches of snow on top of half an inch of ice with scattered power outages.

Still, nothing like the ice storm of 2007 (to the day today). An inch of frozen stuff and thousands of folks without power, some for six or seven weeks.

(Made enough in OT during that one, birddogging for out-of-town line crews, to buy all my current dive gear.)

The Oregon Coast Aquarium (OCAq) in Newport is a real gem. It's considered to be in the top ten in the nation, although it's not really that big. That means the aquarists are generalists, which I think would be way more fun than just doing one thing all day every day. One thing I really like about OCAq is that the focus is on animals that live right there offshore. You may remember Keiko. He was an Orca that lived at OCAq for a while. He starred in Free Willy. He was rehabilitated and released in Iceland, and later died.

As volunteer divers, our main focus is Passages of the Deep. This is a three-exhibit series with an acrylic tunnel that leads you through all three. The entire exhibit used to be one giant habitat where Keiko lived. If I recall, the three exhibits are about 300,000, 600,000, and 1,200,000 gallons, but I probably have that wrong. The first exhibit is a near-shore rocky zone called Orford Reef. The next is a sandy bottom mid-water exhibit called Halibut Flats. The pelagic exhibit is where our sharks are. The sharks we have are all what you might see out in the pelagic zone off of Oregon. We have broadnose seven-gill sharks, Soupfin sharks (Tope sharks), spiny dogfish, chimera (ratfish), Leopard sharks, and California Bat Rays. We sometimes are asked to dive in the main building exhibits. Some are really tiny and can be claustrophobic. Main building exhibits include piers & pilings, sandy shores, rocky shores, Oregon kelp forest, California community (OK, not exactly Oregon), Spider crab, jellies, and a number of smaller exhibits. Some really small – less than five gallons. We don’t dive those.

Volunteering at OCAq is very rewarding. I am very fortunate that my team are all great folks who have the volunteer mindset. Without them, I don’t think I would have been honored last night. One of my very least favorite jobs is assigning tasks. I’m a shift captain. My team knows that, and so we work together to strategize what jobs are the biggest priority for the aquarists, then we all work together to choose which jobs we do. Everyone is willing to do ANY job, even the less fun ones. Everyone takes their turn stepping up and doing those jobs. We even have a couple that comes in early and dives the aviary. That’s a challenging job – ‘nuff said. My team feels like an extended family, and we all miss each other when someone has to be absent from a shift. The staff loves our team, too. That feeling is mutual. I’m looking forward to being there on Monday, but not the early morning drive over the mountain.

Next time I'm in Atlanta, I hope to dive the One World Ocean exhibit (Ocean Voyager) at the Georgia Aquarium. Whale sharks!

4 degrees and snowing again...no outdoor exercising for me.

mtaratoot wrote: »

@StrawberryJam40 -- I'm guessing you aren't going swimming today. Looks beautiful, better get out the cross-country skis.

Or snowshoes? A good way to get a workout, if you are so inclined.

I have been playing disc golf again lately. The other day, we had a visit from a friendly Acorn Woodpecker.

MikePfirrman wrote: »

ScarletBegonias27 wrote: »

MikePfirrman wrote: »

My "gym" is planned for that garage to the right in the photo. That's from our driveway. So excited to get out of this rain in the Midwest!! We also have enough room to play Pickleball on the driveway right there. Might have to put in a window on the far wall to look at the mountains (there's not one there now) while I'm on my indoor rower.

Beautiful! Is that Tucson?

It's actually Saddlebrooke, AZ. Around 10 minutes from the famous (or infamous) Biosphere! Look up the Biosphere if you haven't heard about it. That's the Catalina Mountains in the picture. Mount Lemmon, AZs best snow skiing, is around 20 miles from me but it takes 90 miles to get there because there's only one mountain pass.

We can actually see two other mountain ranges from out backyard and the Catalina view is amazing from the hot tub built onto the pool.

To say I'm excited (we've had 8 inches of cold rain in Cincinnati in the past week) is the understatement of the century.

Love your pic of Maine!

Beautiful! I thought I recognize those beautiful mountains… I lived in Tucson from 1989 through 1997. I did go to the biosphere back in the 80s. Enjoy Tucson it’s a wonderful place! Yes Maine is pretty incredible too. Though a tad colder.