winter

I found out recently that my new home's irrigation system was installed in the mid-eighties, and it seems most parts (the pex pipes for laterals, the 1" PVC for the run to the valves for four zones, and the backflow preventer itself) were well-built for that time.

Not much has changed—the fittings and main parts of the system are similar to what you can buy today—and the importance of winterizing the system (getting the water out of all the exterior parts) in colder climates has not been diminished!

I have a small 8 gallon 125-psi Central Pneumatic (inexpensive Harbor Freight brand) air compressor; it's not quite pancake-small, but it's no CFM (cubic feet per minute) champion, either. Rather than paying an irrigation company a bit of money to come out and use their monster compressor to blow out my system, I've MacGuyvered the process to get everything cleared out for the past few years. I want to document what I did here for two reasons: one, so I can remember all the steps in the future and avoid a half hour walking between my basement and the outdoor valves, and two, so others in a similar situation can benefit.

The Garden Glow at the Missouri Botanical Garden is in its second year, and it seems to already be a 'thing to do' in St. Louis over the wintry holiday season.

Nikon D7000, 17-55mm @ 55mm, ISO 800, f/2.8, 1/60

I'd rank it almost equal to the great light displays at Our Lady of Snows Shrine, Tilles Park, and the St. Louis Zoo. Along a large portion of the Garden's paths, various light displays take you around some of this historic sites and buildings inside the Garden, and while parts are a bit 'touristy' feeling, the event is nice if the weather cooperates.

During last week's record-breaking snowstorm in St. Louis, I was not motivated to brave the 10+ inches of snow and -20 (and lower) temperatures to get pictures outside of the comfort of my climate-controlled home. I did, however, snap some pictures of birds eating from the feeders in my backyard, which my wife wisely filled the day before the storm.

For a while, there was only one small bird eating from the sunflower seed feeder (there were a bunch of goldfinches on the thistle feeder):

I'm not quite sure if this is a sparrow or finch, as the colors and contrast were affected quite a bit by the volume of snow falling between my lens and the feeder! This picture is retouched with a ton of extra contrast after the fact.

Whatever the bird, he was quite persistent!

The video below simply shows some clips I shot in front of my condo during this year's major snow and ice storm that's hitting St. Louis as of the posting of this blog entry. The video was shot handheld, and you can hear the loud and constant patter of the sleet hitting the ground.

So far we have half an inch of sleet, but the sleet should be changing to snow soon. Some areas of Metro St. Louis should have over a foot (approaching two feet!) of snow.

Posted on YouTube, originally: