A Parlour for a Plague

Well, keep in mind Tx is pretty big.
I just used a website edgar once posted "the true size of" that edgar once provided.
https://thetruesize.com/#?borders=1~!ODAwMjA3MA.NDYyNTI5OA*MzQ1MTg5Nzc(Mjg5Njg2ODQ~!CONTIGUOUS_US*MTAwMjQwNzU.MjUwMjM1MTc(MTc1)MQ~!IN*NTI2NDA1MQ.Nzg2MzQyMQ)MA~!CN*OTkyMTY5Nw.NzMxNDcwNQ(MjI1)Mg~!US-TX*MTQ3NTk2Njg.NzcyMDY5Mw)Mw

North to South, it's about the distance from Alice Springs to Adelaide.
East to West, it's about from Adelaide to Sydney. So the climate varies.

I'm right in the middle of it.

February here is the coldest month. It's more wet and cloudy then. We'll usually have one good ice storm, and it'll usually snow maybe once too.
At night in the Winter it will get down to -7 C, and warm up to 10 to 20. Of course some colder days in a row mixed in.

Summers are hot. It's not uncommon for it to get from 38 to 41, and nights cool down to 25 or 26.
June through Sept are hot, with beginning of Sept being hottest.

The rest of the year, Oct through Jan is cool and sunny, very nice.
March through May is pleasantly warm.
I like any month Oct through May.

When I get everything settled here with selling my current house, and buying a new one, my plan is to spend Winters here, and May through Sept in Mexico, which where I am in San Miguel it's cooler because of the altitude. It generally doesn't get much over 27.

What is the general weather where you are over the course of a year.

You live in Sydney?

I just looked up your monthly temps.

My God, you live in paradise!

Nope. Adelaide. Sydney is more temperate.

We got to 47 C this summer....that’s about 115F approx

Goodness...how does a US state get that big? You have 50 odd states in a landmass roughly the size of Oz where we only have six.

They all look teensy on the map when you look at them.

Well, we used to have a Mediterranean climate.

We’re supposed to have cool, wettish winters (for the driest state in the driest country in the world) and hot Summers, with mild Springs and Autumns.

Australia, especially southern Australia where I live, is being pretty dramatically affected by climate change so at present our climate is a hodgepodge.

Each summer is hotter than the last, breaking records pretty much every year.

Rain is much more unpredictable. This year we are actually having an old style winter! It’s wet and cold by our standards. Summer can be devastating. Droughts are becoming more common, with the odd bout of semi tropical downpours.

It used to snow in the hills occasionally, this is rarer now.

Most of the state is pretty much desert. Most people live by the coast.

When white people got here there had been some years of very good rain, so people thought they could farm much farther north than you actually can.

The ruins of the stone farm houses they built can be seen to this day. Their farming and grazing practices fucked up a lot of delicate ecosystem, by scrub clearance, ploughing and over grazing, spread weeds everywhere and encouraged erosion. The feral animals they brought in are ravaging the environment as we speak.

A bloke called Goyder pulled together what climate data he could and drew a line, called the Goyder line strangely enough, beyond which agriculture was impossible.

This line is steadily moving south with climate change.

Reasons to be cheerful...we export knowledge re arid land farming all over.

Where I live is a premier wine, olive, cheese etc region....though except where agriculture is protected is turning into endless housing estates with the normal social issues that come with this.

I live in walking distance of the beach amidst low rolling hills. It’s lovely.

I’m 45 kilometres from the city centre.

South Australia was invaded by English dreamers with a plan for a utopian community dreamed up by Edward GibbonWakefield, who already had failed communities in the US, I believe. The city was planned so it’s a lot more grid like than the usual Australian capital, which tended to grow like topsy.

In the interior it’s pretty much hot and dry. Or flooded! It’s a bit cooler in winter and, as everywhere, desert nights can be freezing.

Indigenous people were able to lower their base body temperature overnight so they didn’t feel so cold.

It’s ******* beautiful if you can appreciate it and there’s a presence out there that feels as old and mysterious as the universe

South Australia is about 350,000 square kilometres bigger than Texas, I just checked. That’s a bit over 141,000 square miles bigger.

That’s still bloody big for the US though. You must have some weeny teeny states. I guess the earlier they were invaded by whites, the smaller they are?

I’ve got a recipe for a buttermilk tart which I’ve modified. It’s basically eggs, butter, flour, buttermilk and flavouring. The recipe I’ve got says nutmeg but I’ve never fancied that. I’ve used lemon, strawberry, raspberry, caramel and rose all successfully.

I can’t remember the last time I went out to get buttermilk because I find that sour cream, natural yoghurt, fresh cream all work well when I need to use them up.

Off the top of my head, bunny, I can think of three small states: Rhode Island (the smallest), Delaware and Maryland. Yes, they're in the east, which has most of the smaller states.

Did you get the new photos Boida?

All this covid and no heating has had me buying warm pyjama type things!

Annoyingly new batteries in the remote didn’t fix it, so now I have to pay to get it repaired.

Not good news on top of a traffic fine!

We are getting pretty much back towards normal here, because we have had no new cases for a while. Only a few tables open in eating places because of social distancing.

Big black lives matter everywhere and some concerns re cases from those in states with active covid. Sydney banned the march and the organisers took it to NSW Supreme Court and won. People wore masks and carried sanitizer and did their best to socially distance.

deb, Photos received and responded to in email. Thanks for sending.

50 odd states, like hell! We only got 2 or 3 of them at most, and I don't recollect which ones they are, off hand.

Anyway, Alaska is the largest state. One-fifth the size of the lower 48.

I see that the temp in Barrow, Alaska (1200 miles from the North Pole) was minus 1º (C) at noon today, and light snow.

Maryland (12.407 square miles/32,134 square kms is surprisingly large when placed side by side with the New England spots of Massachusetts, New Hampshire or Vermont as well as Connecticut and New Jersey.

The way it spreads to the west on the underside of Pennsylvania and thinning quite a bit, has given it an illusion of being smaller-than-it-isness. Sort of the same way Hawaii seems smaller (comes in just under Maryland in size)

Rather than list 'em all, here's a listing of all 50 (plus D.C. and a few holdings)



How big is each State/Commonwealth?

Yeah, and they're not all that odd.

Texas. Still bigger than France.

European countries...except Russia...are weeny.

Makes sense what with history and population numbers.

States are massive in Oz because of our low population and tendency to huddle on the coasts.

How’s everyone? Cold and wet here. Fewer and fewer restrictions in my state but Victoria has new cases.

I hear Trump finally built a wall but the American people paid for it?

It's cold here but not wet, I think we're expecting your weather to hit us tonight and tomorrow.

Yes, 9 new cases here. One was a doctor who works at 3 different clinics so I'm guessing there will be a bit of a cluster there. Our restrictions are easing too with a further easing on the 22nd.

Of course we are paying for the wall. Again, and again and again! I've heard from the press release from the Presidential Palace...er, i mean White House, that it is "a beautiful wall. Like so very shiny new and beautiful, with large holes to help people see the U.S.A."

Meanwhile the nitwits of. NYC don't know how to social distance or wear masks....well, when they are bar hopping and getting drunker by the second.

The weather turned nice again, it had been hot and humid a few days this past week. My doors squeak when the humidity gets too high.
I shut the windows and presses the button on the cooling box (a.c.). This morning temps had dipped, and the birds were going wild with their chirp and chatter.

We've been having amazing weather for the time of the year. But it can't last much longer. We're going to enjoy it while we can. People often speak of a second wave of the virus. Here around Houston we are still in the first wave. Doesn't matter; we are opening up more and more.