#Chicago climate and weather

[besttimetogo2]

The Seasonal Guide: The Optimal Time to Visit Chicago

Chicago, the Windy City, is a vibrant metropolis known for its stunning architecture, world-class museums, and diverse neighborhoods. Whether you’re a history buff, an architecture enthusiast, or simply someone looking to enjoy a great city, choosing the best time to visit Chicago can make a significant difference in your experience. Here’s a seasonal breakdown to help you plan your perfect trip.

Spring: March to May

If you enjoy nice weather and blossoming flowers, spring is one of the best time to visit Chicago. As the city shakes off its winter chill, temperatures rise, making it perfect for exploring outdoor attractions like Millennium Park and the Chicago Botanic Garden.

Summer: June to August

Summer in Chicago is the most popular time to visit, and for good reason. The city comes alive with a plethora of outdoor events, from music festivals to street fairs. Enjoy the beautiful weather at Navy Pier, take a stroll along the Lake Michigan waterfront, or attend the renowned Lollapalooza music festival. The finest times of year for beach days and boat cruises are during the summer. However, keep in mind that this is peak tourist season, so attractions can be crowded, and accommodation prices may be higher.

Fall: September to November

Fall is arguably the best time to visit Chicago if you want to experience the city’s beauty without the summer crowds. The fall foliage provides a breathtaking backdrop to your stay, and the weather is crisp and comforting. September and October are ideal for exploring neighborhoods like Lincoln Park and Hyde Park. Don’t miss the Chicago Gourmet food festival in September or the spooky excitement of Halloween events in October. Fall also offers great opportunities for cultural events and theater performances.

Winter: December to February

Winter in Chicago is cold, with temperatures often dropping below freezing, but don’t let that deter you. The city is transformed with seasonal markets and twinkling lights into a wintry wonderland. The Christkindlmarket in Daley Plaza is a must-visit, offering German-style holiday treats and crafts. Ice skating at Millennium Park and visiting the Art Institute of Chicago are also fantastic winter activities. Winter may be a lovely time to view the city, provided you're dressed for the chill.

Tips for Planning Your Chicago Visit

No matter which season you choose, a little planning can go a long way in enhancing your Chicago experience. If you're visiting in summer, book your accommodations and tickets for popular attractions in advance to avoid long waits and higher prices. For spring and fall visits, check local event calendars to make the most of seasonal festivals and activities. In winter, dress warmly and plan for potential weather-related disruptions, like snow or ice. Additionally, keep in mind that Chicago's vast public transportation system might be a practical means of getting around the city, particularly during rush hour. By preparing ahead, you can ensure a smooth and enjoyable visit to the Windy City, regardless of when you arrive.

The best time to visit Chicago really depends on what you’re looking to experience. Spring and fall offer mild weather and fewer crowds, while summer is bustling with activity, and winter provides a festive, albeit chilly, atmosphere. When organizing your vacation, take your interests and tastes into account to make it an unforgettable experience. Chicago’s diverse offerings mean that no matter when you visit, you’re in for an incredible time.

[rodspurethoughts]

Chicago Fights Back: New Tools to Combat the City's Changing Climate

Chicago fights back against climate change with new sensor technology, helping neighborhoods adapt to a changing urban environment. #climatechange #sustainability #Chicago

Photo by heather bozman on Pexels.com Chicago is no stranger to the impacts of climate change, with extreme weather, flooding, and heat waves becoming increasingly common in the city. To combat these effects, a team of 17 organizations, led by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, has deployed a set of scientific instruments on the rooftop of Bernard J. Brommel Hall at…

[chicago-geniza]

Don't so much have seasonal depression as "mostly I'm pretty upbeat and unflappable and my mood tends to be, in psych parlance, stably ~euthymic, but whenever there's rainy, stormy weather that lasts for more than 24 hours I want to do something Drastic"

I use the word погодозависимый in Russian because I don't know any English word that suffices!!! Like, I am at the whims of the weather!!!

[jimflanigan]

It's NOT a Dry Heat

Look, I am not a climate change denier. I know that the US Southwest has roasted under sweltering, record-breaking, albeit dry heat this summer. But I’m in the greater Chicago area. Yeah, it gets hot here in the summer. We’ve used our air conditioning for a few days this year. But normally, 90F/32C is hot for us. And God Almighty, it gets humid here. You know, we have this enormous freshwater…

[gudamor]

> Quiet weather is expected here in the short term forecast period as an Omega block controls the large scale weather pattern across the CONUS.

https://forecast.weather.gov/product.php?site=LOT&issuedby=LOT&product=AFD&format=ci&version=1&glossary=1

We must capture the Omega Block

[value2society]

The weather is the climate shopping.

[aheathen-conceivably]

Hello darlings! 🏜️

Now that we are well and truly into the 1930s I wanted to give y’all some context about the Darlingtons’ new location. Ultimately, Strangerville is a figment of my imagination, a sims world superimposed into the real world. I did this because I wanted the freedom to draw from different elements of this region’s history and landscape without having to worry about the visual transformation of the actual in-game world.

However, it is very much intended to in a real region of the United States. Specifically, the north west corner of New Mexico, between Albuquerque and Gallup along the newly built Route 66. We’ll see key elements of this in the story time and time again, so if anyone would like more information I’ll leave some maps and context for y’all below the cut:

Commissioned in 1926, Route 66 was actually not the first cross country highway system in the U.S.; however it was designed to traverse the flattest and mildest climates so that it could be the most easily traveled. It also followed popular tourist routes from the railroad days and was marketed as an “All American” experience, drawing travelers and families from across the country and leading to its iconic status even today. The first map shows its path as it would have been in 1930, from its start in Chicago to its end in L.A. and the second map is a cutaway of the specific section of the road between Albuquerque and Gallup where Strangerville is meant to be located.

While the cultural significance of Route 66 now perhaps outweighs its era of utility, the Darlingtons are living along the route as it rises to prominence throughout the 1930s into the 1950s. While it was used for utility and leisure travel from its opening, Route 66, particularly between the Dust Bowl states and California, is iconic for its role as “the Mother Route. Perhaps best typified in John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath, this road became one of if not the primary route for people fleeing the plains states during the Dust Bowl. Through their passage it became an American symbol of desperation, poverty, and for some, the hope of a better life.

Strangerville is meant to be located at the edge of the Dust Bowl (specifically at the meeting of the brown and yellow zones in the first map toward the leftmost mid-top area of the state of New Mexico). This region would not have suffered the worst conditions (and would have been spared intense dust storms) but it is still close enough to be heavily effected. This is especially true in the early part of the decade, as fear of dust tornados and mass unemployment spreads like wildfire, and explains the intense volatility amongst Strangerville residents who have no way to know just how bad their own situation could get.

For larger context, the Dust Bowl was caused by extenuating weather conditions and poor farming practices. It was an agricultural catastrophe throughout the 1930s that displaced millions of people, and coupled with larger economic factors such as the plummet of crop prices, led to mass homelessness, unemployment, and starvation.

Beginning in 1930 but reaching its zenith in the years 1934 and 1936, vast swaths of the United States experienced record drought and heat. In the second map we can see how widespread drought conditions were. They are of course at their worst in the central Dust Bowl area; however we also see that Strangerville is located in a moderate drought, and in 1936 twelve states recorded their highest temperatures to date.

However, these weather conditions only highlighted underlying farming negligence. After decades of manifest destiny and an influx of settlers with little to no farming knowledge (of which Giorgio falls in line), the land had been woefully over plowed and deprived of nutrients. After the rising farm prices of the 1910s and 1920s met with the crash of 1929, settlers pushed this to an extreme, removing vast swathes of native grasslands and leaving the soil vulnerable to record breaking weather conditions. Without rain or prairie grass, winds ravaged the region, creating dust storms that ravaged the region and ultimately led to hundreds of thousands of abandoned farmland. This collection of photographs shows the scale of dust and desolation better than words can express.

Scholars estimate that somewhere between 2.5 to 3 million people left their homes in the Dust Bowl states. Their stories are notorious, and live in the consciousness of what we now conceptualize as 1930s America. These maps superimpose the path of Route 66 with the Dust Bowl states, highlighting how the two formed a symbiotic relationship and became linked in the American consciousness. Of the millions who fled their homes, approximately 300,000-400,000 eventually settled in California. The number who traversed the mother route looking for work with the hope of a better life is perhaps incalculable.

However, they did not initially receive a warm welcome. As much of the country was also gripped in fear and poverty, migrants, or Okies as they were derogatorily called, were viewed as pariahs, threats, and even harbingers of worse times to come. This, as we now know, is far from the truth. The economy of many small towns along Route 66 fared better than other areas of the Dust Bowl. They became hubs for migrants and businesses alike as gas stations, roadside accommodations, food stalls, and other amenities opened. It provided an alternate means of business for areas that has previously been very rural, and who’s own farms had been gouged by the plummeting crop prices of 1929 as well as the gradual disappearance of herding economies.

As the decade went on and much of the nation began to heal in the New Deal Era, the migrants who passed this stretch of road only made it more legendary. Where they eventually settled they brought stories of Route 66, of a symbolic idea of the American West, of an ocean at the end of the line, of different people and travelers they had met on the way. This coupled with a growing fascination of the “Okie” figure at the end of the decade, perhaps best seen in the celebrated 1940 Hollywood remake of The Grapes of Wrath, as an emblem of American hardship and drive.

Together they fused an iconic idea of an authentic “Americanness” that existed along Route 66, one that was infused with even older ideas of manifest destiny and the “American” cowboy. This is the landscape that the Darlingtons now inhabit, one that they are watching unfold along with us all at the very start of the 1930s.

[carmyberzattosjournal]

Entry 10: Crunched Prawn

Bearblr Promptober Day 10: Rain Soaked

Summary: Carmen's bad at checking the weather, and he really should know better when living in the U.S. Midwest.

Warnings: Not much, just Carmy being sassy. Swearing, self-reflection, Carmy's in his head, mentions fem reader/generic lass (leave me alone), she/her pronouns

Notes: All journal entries will be titled as such and tagged with #cb journal.

Thank you for reading. Thank you to @carmenberzattosgf for putting together this prompt list.

10 Oct 2024

You know what I’m consistently bad at? Checking the weather.

In the Midwest. The center of who-the-fuck-knows-what-the-sky-will-bring-today-because-climate-change-bitches. We had our 4 seasons: humid hell, hell with some respite, stop fucking raining, and frozen hell, but Fall? Fall was a particularly interesting monster because we could easily get all four in a single day.

Which is exactly how I got caught having to walk back home after closing up The Bear in the pouring rain without a jacket—because it was 80 fucking degrees and fuck-off percent humidity in the morning when I walked to work. Cooling off after being in a broiling kitchen for 12 hours seems like a great idea, but Chicago rain while fully clothed isn’t. The rain soaked into my shoulders and hair while I locked up, and the sensation of wet cotton clinging to my skin and cold water on my scalp (did wake me up, I’ll give it that. I definitely felt very alert) made me recoil. Like a thousand little ants all climbing up my neck, not made better by then getting to the sidewalk where the nearby buildings wouldn’t shield me from the sheets of rain blasting down behind me.

I crunched up like a prawn and skittered across the sidewalk like one of those rats in New York that fled from the flooding subways. Drenched, curled up into weird little dumplings, tails all tucked up, as they frantically tried to get away from people and lights.

Okay, maybe we don’t describe rats as dumplings. That’s disgusting.

Anyway, no amount of recoiling from the rain could’ve saved me from getting drenched, which just meant that after a while, once I’d been in the rain for a good—I don’t know, it felt like a thousand years, but I was only halfway home—it started feeling less weird. Like it wasn’t that hard to straighten up, drop my shoulders, and just. Feel the rain. The individual droplets faded into a noisy, fuzzy sensation once water soaked through my clothes, and it, weirdly, became kind of soothing.

Being out on the streets, in Chicago, at night, in the rain is not high on my recommendation list, so I couldn’t linger for long. Once I made it to my apartment building, however, and passed under that really orange-yellow streetlight that annoyed the shit out of me when it blasted through my window? Then I stopped.

Darling has been telling me to slow the fuck down and take in the world around me. To stop immediately clawing at the next thing on my to-do list like I’d explode if I didn’t have something to keep me busy all the time. Because processing trauma—and that’s what my life has been, much as it’s been difficult to wrap my head around, trauma—is something that has to be done intentionally. I can’t just keep existing hoping the skeletons I drag around in cages will spontaneously evaporate—I need to look at them, listen to them, deal with them. Unchain myself from them. That means I had to learn how to slow down at all.

Shockingly harder than you’d think.

The rain made its own sort of staticky sound. Different from the apple leaves, different from the maple leaves, different from an untuned radio. Punctuated by clear, defined sounds of water dripping off objects and landing in puddles. The streetlight I was under had a shimmering rivulet falling off the end, slamming into a puddle at my feet, flinging out concentric eruptions and waves that caught the light like shards of glass. I stuck my hand out in it, felt the pummel of the water. It’s how I discovered I can’t actually feel with my fingertips all that well. The sensation was so sharp and defined on my palm, but at my fingertips? Dull. Distant. Like I was wearing gloves. I hadn’t even been in kitchens that long, and I already had asbestos hands? It suddenly made sense why I crushed things against my palms, why I used my mouth on her more than my hands, why I needed to feel her hands on my skin to get any semblance of closeness.

She was going to be home soon. I needed to get dinner on.

And getting out of these soaked clothes was going to make such a mess.

[jack-the-sol]

The Death of John Laurens: A Summarized Account of August 26th and 27th, 1782

Sources and links to said sources will be listed at the end of this post in Chicago format. This post is purely for educational purposes and is not meant to be used in any research, citations, or criticism of other works or individuals. Please refer back to the list of sources if you intend to use this material in a similar fashion.

What happened on the evening of August 26th, 1782, and the morning following? This was the eve of the death of John Laurens and the events that would occur on the morning on the 27th would go on to be recognized as incomplete, like a puzzle missing some pieces. However, after some recent diving into the topic and looking into letters from Nathanael Greene, Mordecai Gist, and others describing Laurens’ “gallant fall”, I will be presenting a summary and compilation of this information to paint an unfortunate night in an incomplete fashion. There are still things that remain unclear to me, but this may provide some clarity on those who are unaware of what happened. 

To set the scene, Tar Bluff, the Combahee Ferry, and the Combahee River in South Carolina is a mix of two sets of scenery in the present day. Nearer to the river and the flatter land, it is thick marshland and difficult to travel through. This is why the ferry was so necessary and useful and likely why the British commandeered it. The drier land higher than the marsh was primarily deciduous and coniferous trees that covered muddy and sandy ground with leaves and pine needles. Today, the area is very dense and overgrown along the riverbanks due to the nature of the region and its climate. It is uncertain what the weather at the time of this engagement might have been, but by referring back to lunar calendars, it is deductible that the night of the 26th-27th was a waning gibbous; the moon would be mostly full but not entirely so and would continue to cast less light in the coming days. Furthermore, it is important to mention that the location that is mentioned that Laurens had been staying and later buried at was roughly thirty-seven miles from where the engagement against the Regulars occurred. Gist mentioned that the main encampment he had made was twelve miles north of Chehaw Neck and roughly fifty miles away from Greene's main headquarters outside of Charleston.

The British were commanded by Major William Brereton and reportedly one-hundred and forty men strong consisting of the British 64th Regiment and volunteers from the British 17th Regiment. The 64th Regiment had been in other engagements where Laurens was present also, including the battles of Brandywine and Germantown as well as the much later and much more influential Siege of Charleston in 1780. This was not the end of the 64th engaging against Laurens as they were reportedly at the Siege of Yorktown and surrendered with the body of men under General Cornwallis’s command. 

On the days leading up to the 27th, Gist remarked that an enemy fleet of British regulars had taken the command of the Combahee Ferry and both sides had been locked in a stalemate regarding the waters due to the circumstances: the Patriots could not engage the enemy due to the ships in the river, and the Regulars could not get their supplies north and across the Combahee because the Patriots were patrolling the area. Gist, with a combined might of over three-hundred men consisting of the 3rd and 4th Virginia Regiments under the command of Colonel Baylor, the Delaware Regiment, one-hundred infantry of the line commanded by Major Beall, the entirety of the command under Lt. Col. John Laurens, and all of which was under the command of General Gist. 

It’s important to mention before continuing that despite much research into the matter of Laurens’ illness on the evening and morning of the 26th and 27th, myself and other partners in researching [the esteemed @pr0fess0r-b1tch] could not find a reputable source mentioning directly that John Laurens was ill. Gregory D. Massey does not explicitly mention a source in his book, but instead says,

“From his sickbed, Laurens learned of Gist’s orders. He forwarded the latest news to headquarters and added a query…”

Other sources we found mentioned that many of the northern regiments and men were falling ill, even some doctors themselves, but there is not a primary source that lists that Laurens was sick or bedridden aside from Massey and the sources that pull from his accounts including the Wikipedia of Laurens and the American Battlefield Trust. Because of this oversight, I am choosing to redact the concept of Laurens’ illness until otherwise proven by a primary source whether it be a letter or other statements. 

Laurens was given the command of the men under Gist by General Greene and despite not being well-liked by the men who were formerly under Light Horse Harry Lee’s command, it was theoretically remedied by the intermediary of Major Beall. On the night of the 26th, Brigadier General Mordecai Gist recounted in a letter to Major General Nathanael Greene that “Lt. Col. Laurens arrived in the intermediate time, that solicited the direction and command at that post”, the post being that Gist had ordered an earthworks to be constructed at Chehaw Neck to “annoy their shipping on their return”. In the evening that Laurens took command and oversight, Gist sent fifty men to be under his command with some Matrosses and a Howitzer. Laurens, in command of these men, were stationed on the northern bank of the river. 

The commanding officer of the British, Major Brereton, evidently received information of this movement of the Howitzer to the earthworks within the day that such a motion was ordered. The quick intelligence may allude to an inside source that the British had or a matter of good reconnaissance, but Major Brereton left in the ships at two in the morning and “dropped silently down the river”, according to General Gist. These movements went undiscovered until four in the morning when patrols noticed and alerted the extended body led by Laurens. It is stated that the troops were then “put into motion to prevent their landing”. Gist then mentions that before he could arrive and defend the efforts, the British had successfully landed and engaged Laurens directly. The men scattered when Laurens fell, but Gist regathered them within the quarter mile, following which the enemy forces reboarded the boats and left. 

According to a Delaware Captain, William McKennan, under Laurens’ command, Laurens was “anxious to attack the enemy” before the main body and Gist’s reinforcements arrived. McKennan says,

“being in his native state, and at the head of troops…were sufficient to enable him to gain a laurel for his brow…but wanted to do all himself, and have all the honor.”

After Laurens had been injured in three other battles, Brandywine, Germantown, and Coosawatchie, and having his pride wounded at losses most notably the loss of Charleston in 1780, it would be understandable that he would be so willing to return to the fight for his nation after being detached and moved frequently in the later years of the war. McKennan’s account states in the same paragraph that Laurens was killed in the first volley of the attack by Brereton’s men. Some sources say that Laurens was upon a horse when he fell and was mortally wounded, but others suggest that he may have merely been standing in the enemy fire. All appear to agree that Laurens was one of the first victims of the enemy volleys. Whether he died upon the first impact is unknown, but his body was abandoned until Gist could regroup the men and return to the site to gather an understanding of who was killed and wounded in the action. 

Following the death of a notable officer, statesman, and diplomat, many men would come to regard Laurens as an incredibly accomplished and noteworthy young man and officer. Greene writes in an August 29th letter to General Washington,

“Colo. Laurens’s fall is glorious, but his fate is much to be lamented. Your Excellency has lost a valuable Aid de Camp, the Army a brave Officer, and the public a worthy and patriotic Citizen.”

In “The Delaware Regiment in the Revolution” where McKennan’s recollection of events can be found, it states,

“In the fall and death of Colonel John La[urens], the army lost one of its brightest ornaments, his country one of its most devoted patriots, his native State one of its most amiable and honored sons, and the Delaware detachment a father, brother, and friend.”

Gist’s letter to Greene on the day of the 27th says that “that brave and gallant officer fell, much regretted and lamented.” Alexander Hamilton, a fellow aide, close friend, and alleged lover, remarks in a letter to General Greene on October the 12th, 1782, over a month since Laurens’ passing,

“I feel the deepest affliction at the news we have just received of the loss of our dear and inestimable friend Laurens. His career of virtue is at an end. How strangely are human affairs conducted, that so many excellent qualities could not ensure a more happy fate? The world will feel the loss of a man who has left few like him behind, and America of a citizen whose heart realized that patriotism of which others only talk. I feel the loss of a friend I truly and most tenderly loved, and one of a very small number.” 

As for how his own father, Henry Laurens, reacted to the news, a pair of letters and brief segments from them may very well put it into perspective of how not only close friends, but a good number of men felt about the death of Laurens. On November 6th, 1782 from John Adams to Henry Laurens:

“I know not how to mention, the melancholly Intelligence by this Vessell, which affects you so tenderly.— I feel for you, more than I can or ought to express.— Our Country has lost its most promising Character, in a manner however, that was worthy of her Cause.— I can Say nothing more to you, but that you have much greater Reason to Say in this Case, as a Duke of ormond said of an Earl of Ossory. ‘I would not exchange my son for any living Son in the World.’”

In a return letter to Adams from Henry Laurens dated November 12th, 1782:

“My Country enjoins & condescends to desire, I must therefore, also at all hazards to myself obey & comply. Diffident as I am of my own Abilities, I shall as speedily as possible proceed & join my Colleagues. For the rest, the Wound is deep, but I apply to myself the consolation which I administered to the Father, of the Brave Colonel Parker. ‘Thank God I had a Son who dared to die in defence of his Country.’” 

~~~

I would like to send a huge thank you to @butoridesvirescens for instigating this rabbit hole that we went down and @pr0fess0r-b1tch for being my research partner and assisting in transcriptions. I appreciate the work done by both of them.

Sources 

“Combahee River .” Combahee River Battle Facts and Summary . Accessed February 20, 2024. https://www.battlefields.org/learn/revolutionary-war/battles/combahee-river. 

“From Alexander Hamilton to Major General Nathanael Greene, [12 October 1782],” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-03-02-0090. [Original source: The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, vol. 3, 1782–1786, ed. Harold C. Syrett. New York: Columbia University Press, 1962, pp. 183–184.] 

“To George Washington from Nathanael Greene, 29 August 1782,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-09304. 

“From John Adams to Henry Laurens, 6 November 1782,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/06-14-02-0013. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Papers of John Adams, vol. 14, October 1782–May 1783, ed. Gregg L. Lint, C. James Taylor, Hobson Woodward, Margaret A. Hogan, Mary T. Claffey, Sara B. Sikes, and Judith S. Graham. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2008, pp. 25–26.] 

“To John Adams from Henry Laurens, 12 November 1782,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/06-14-02-0029. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Papers of John Adams, vol. 14, October 1782–May 1783, ed. Gregg L. Lint, C. James Taylor, Hobson Woodward, Margaret A. Hogan, Mary T. Claffey, Sara B. Sikes, and Judith S. Graham. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2008, pp. 56–57.] 

Bennett, C. P., and Wm. Hemphill Jones. “The Delaware Regiment in the Revolution.” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 9, no. 4 (1886): 451–62. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20084730. 

Cook, Hugh (1970). The North Staffordshire Regiment (The Prince of Wales's). Famous Regiments. London: Leo Cooper. 

George Washington Papers, Series 4, General Correspondence: Mordecai Gist to Nathanael Greene, with Copy; with Letter from William D. Beall on Casualties. 1782. Manuscript/Mixed Material. https://www.loc.gov/item/mgw431868/. 

Johnson, William. 1822. Sketches of the Life and Correspondence of Nathanael Greene, Vol. II: 339. 

Massey, Gregory D. 2015. John Laurens and the American Revolution. Columbia: University Of South Carolina Press. Pages 225-227. 

[howaboutcastiel]

For the Holiday prompts/Dialogues, could I request 'a kiss in the snow' with the moon boys (writer's choice) please? (Only if you want to!)

I am so ready to do some holiday prompts fam (I’m sorry to everyone else in my inbox that I skipped ahead but… no I’m not lol)

Keep Me Warm (Marc Spector)

Content warning: Marc makes a kinda perverted comment about the reader’s body (her breasts), but it’s meant to be funny/lighthearted and she’s comfortable with it. They are established partners. Not Proofread

(Side note look at his little sweater. Look at his lil tongue)

You were not used to this kind of weather. 

Where you were from, it would snow once a year only if you were lucky. Even then, it wouldn’t be the pretty, powdery snow that they show in the movies. It would be the sludgy, melty, muddy half-snow that was just shy of melting away altogether in the hardly freezing air. Needless to say, you weren’t used to waking up to two feet of powdery snow on a sub-zero morning in New York. You didn’t know how to feel about it. It was so pretty, so exciting. It was a scene right out of a Hallmark movie, complete with excited kids running through their yards and making snow angels. It was marvelous. 

But it was also cold. So cold. 

“Honey, I think you’re going a bit overboard,” Marc said as you pulled on a thick pair of mittens over your crocheted gloves. You were bundled in at least four layers of clothes, terrified of the biting cold that awaited on the other side of your front door. Marc was used to this kind of weather–he’d grown up in Chicago, where snow was as common as any other precipitation in the winter. Or in the fall, or sometimes even the spring. Freezing temperatures didn’t bother him much at all. 

“I don’t like the cold,” you responded to him bluntly. “Back home, it never even got below zero. It’s like torture out there. I don’t know how you can even stand it.”

“It’s not that bad.” He chuckled and pressed his lips into a flat smile, playfully stroking your cheek as he pulled on his own sweater. His much thinner sweater, with nothing but a v-neck shirt underneath. Instead of heavy mittens, he wore Jake’s driving gloves. Marc seemed fairly unworried about getting too cold. “C’mon, it’s just a short walk. You’ll be fine without a layer or two of that, and you’ll move better.”

You groaned in protest and he rolled his eyes at you. Marc tugged at the collar of your overcoat, hinting that he would help you take it off. He looked at you like you were being ridiculous, but also like he found your stubbornness to be adorable. You shook his hand off of you, slowly reaching up to remove the coat. 

“You have to buy me cocoa when we get to the shops,” you insisted as the thick layer of insulation fell off your shoulders. The two of you were planning to spend the morning holiday shopping. You, to get your family Christmas presents. Him, to get you Christmas presents and pick up some Hanukkah hardware—including a new Menorah for Steven and a ton of food to fry for the both of you. 

“Of course I will, baby,” he cooed, wrapping his arm around your shoulder and leading you to the front door. “But I still think you're being a drama queen.”

“It takes one to know one.”

Just as you predicted, the frigid wind nearly knocked your breath from you as Marc opened the door. It was miserably cold. You tensed and shivered immediately, leaning into Marc’s body heat as he led you down the stairs with his arm still wrapped around you. The air bit sharply at your face, stinging the sensitive skin. 

“Ugh, this is awful,” you whined. He turned his face away from you and you could tell it was so he could hide a patronizing smile. You swatted playfully at his chest. “It’s not funny! Just because you grew up on an iceberg doesn’t mean that all humans are meant for this kind of climate.” 

“I’m not laughing!” He countered, but you could see he was trying hard to stifle a chuckle. You ducked away from underneath his arm, pouting. 

You made it about halfway down your street before you heard some giggling and scuffling from your neighbors’ yard. Looking to your left, you saw a group of the neighborhood’s kids having an enthusiastic snowball fight. They looked to be having the time of their lives, but you couldn’t fathom how they were happy to be throwing huge balls of ice at each other’s faces. 

“Look at that,” Marc pointed out, “they don’t seem to be having too much trouble. Those kids are loving the cold. But yeah, humans aren’t meant for this climate.”

You narrowed your eyes and turned to see the shit-eating grin painted on his face. Marc enjoyed teasing you, especially on days like this where there wasn’t any actual harm in it. But you were shivering and you swore that you couldn’t feel your nose. You weren’t up for his jokes. 

“Walk faster. I want that hot chocolate to have extra whipped cream, by the way.” You started walking ahead of him, making him scoff and sigh and scramble to catch up to you. 

“You poor thing,” he tsked, “can’t handle a little cold. You need me to hold you? Keep you warm? Swaddle you like a little baby?”

“Funny.” You grimaced as he kept pace with you again, turning away from his teasing face. “Keep it up and I’ll buy a Christmas tree. I’m gonna put it right by the window so all of the neighbors can see.”

“Nah, you wouldn’t.” 

“Try me, Spector.” 

You walked quietly for the next little while. By now, the row shops you were aiming for were visible to you, but they were still so far away and you were still so freaking cold. You hugged yourself tightly as the wind swept across your torso, shivering so hard your teeth were chattering. The more the cold bit at your skin, the more impatient you became. 

“So much for not needing that extra coat.” You spat at Marc. The chill was shortening your temper and the shops were still just too far away. He hummed and wrapped his arm around your waist, bringing some much-needed warmth to your core. You leaned into him and he smirked. 

“Yeah, maybe you should have worn it.” He squeezed a little tighter around you. “But that stupid coat covers up your figure. If I’m gonna have to holiday shop, I should at least get to see your tits while I do it.”

He moved his hand down, quickly grabbing and pinching your ass before pulling away. Anticipating your hand going to swat at his chest, Marc started to jog ahead of you, just out of reach. You scuffled after him on the icy sidewalk. 

“Get back here, you whore!” You shouted, giggling. He was a good few yards ahead of you, much more agile in the snow than you were. Marc turned around and wiggled his eyebrows, pleased with himself. 

You knew you couldn’t catch up to him, and he was staying right out of your reach as he egged you on. Finally, you gave up chasing after him and bent down to grab a handful of snow. His eyes blew wide as you packed it between your palms, and he scoffed in awe as you threw the snowball at his chest. 

He looked offended and impressed as the powdery ball exploded against his sweater. You put your hands on your hips, chuffed with yourself. 

“You call me a whore, then you assault me? Oh, honey. Don’t start something you can’t finish.” Marc knelt and grabbed snow in his hands in a swift, clean motion. You tried to shuffle out of the way, but you were too clumsy in the snow and his aim was too good. The snowball burst against your shoulder, spattering ice onto your face and stinging. Your mouth dropped open in shock, and Marc pressed his lips into a devilish smile. 

An all out war ensued, the both of you scrambling to scoop up balls of snow on the street corner and pummeling each other with increasingly-dense snowballs. You were both giggling messes, disoriented and filled with childlike energy at the little game. It continued on and you almost forgot how cold you were. That is, until you turned just too slowly and Marc’s aim was just a little too high and a ball of ice hit you square in the face. 

The chunks of powder fell into your hair, sticking to your face and crumbling into the neckline of your sweater. As it melted against your skin, the stinging feeling almost became overwhelming to you. You tried to swat off as much of it as possible, but it had already made the collar of your jacket wet and was working on doing the same to your hair. 

“Shit! Sorry,” Marc dropped everything when he saw you struggling. He was over by your side in a second, helping you swipe the snow away and tucking your hair out of your face. “I’m sorry! Are you alright? That looked like it hurt.”

“It’s cold,” you whined. He made a look that said yeah, of course it’s cold but his face dropped when he saw not a hint of joking in your expression. You were clearly upset and he knew that. Marc surveyed your face and neck, spotting the wet spot on your collar and how your skin was red from the ice. 

“I’m sorry, baby.” Marc pulled off his gloves, warming his hands for a moment before bringing them up to your face. Instantly, the stinging dulled where his skin touched yours. It was crazy to you that his hands could be so warm with it so cold outside. He brushed his fingers along your cheeks, massaging the red skin. You untensed a bit as he brought one hand down to your collarbone. “Come on. The coffee shop isn’t too far now. I’ll get you that cocoa.”

He kept his hand above your heart as he led you further on the sidewalk. The diner was just across the street now, only a few more yards to go. As he stopped to wait for traffic at the edge of the road, he gripped you just a little tighter. 

“Marc,” you breathed, and he turned to face you. There was worry and a little guilt on his face, but his eyes still brightened when they made contact with yours. They always did. You brought your arms up around his neck, and his eyes widened with confusion for just a moment before you pulled him down to you. His lips were warm against yours, which were freezing. How the heck is he so warm right now? Your whole face seemed to warm up as he deepened the kiss, his free hand returning to your cheek to cup under your chin. The two of you stood there for a long while, pressed together and breathing each other in. Only when a gust of wind brought another chill through you did you separate from him. 

“What was that for?” He asked you, bewildered. You smiled and shook your head and motioned to cross the street with him. Your response was simple and, in your mind, obvious.

“For keeping me warm.”

[littlethingwithfeathers]

Tornado Safety!

When tornado season starts up each year, I usually do a little PSA about how to prepare for bad storms. Since it seems like tornadoes are getting more and more likely outside of Tornado Alley (thank you climate change…), I thought I’d do a little more thorough and less Deep South centered write up to help people new to tornadoes prepare for bad weather.

Please note I’m not a severe weather specialist, nor am I any kind of emergency or crisis assistance professional. This is just wisdom gleaned from three decades living in a place where this stuff was just… normal. You learned about tornado safety in school, and you knew how severe weather worked by watching the news. It’s just part of the culture around here (Here being northern Alabama). But if you’re new to it, or it’s new to you, here’s my primer.

Tornado 101: Tornado season happens in the mid-to-southeastern USA (nicknamed Tornado Alley) twice each year. Broadly speaking, tornado season is from late February to August each year, with another blip in the autumn that’s less severe. (obviously tornadoes are becoming more common outside of this area and “season” is varying more and more. Again… Climate change.) Most tornadoes occur in the late afternoon/early evening, usually after the sun has warmed up the ground and caused the atmosphere to become unstable due to the rapidly changing air temperature. The reason spring is so volatile is because that is the widest temperature change on a day to day basis, plus it rains often which adds to humidity which adds to the instability. This is not to say tornadoes can’t happen any other time of year. It’s just less likely. If you’re interested in a deeper primer, check out the National Severe Storms Laboratory page on the subject HERE! Cool… so you live in Tornado Alley or another place that gets tornadoes (They’ve been seen as far north as Chicago and as far west as California)! What should you do so you don’t get blown away?

Well first of all, don’t freak out. Don’t ever freak out. It’s fine. There’s some prep you should do both in terms of equipment and knowledge, but there’s no need to go full Doomsday Prepper on this. There’s just some basic stuff you should have and know, just like someone in northern Wisconsin should know how to drive on snow and have an engine block heater. Annual Tornado Safety Checkup: Here’s a list of things you should do to prepare ahead of time for a possible tornado or bad storm (tornadoes are bad, but there’s things that cause just as much disruption or damage like straight line winds and hail). And once you get your gear together, you should check that stuff every year. I usually go through mine in March, and then again when the weather starts to turn cold in fall (there’s a lot of overlap of this stuff and winter storm gear in my area so I can double up). Know where your safe place is. This is where you will take cover during a tornado. If you live in a house, locate an interior room on the lowest floor of your home (including your basement). This should be the room with the most walls between you and the outside and no windows if possible. Usually this a bathroom or interior hallway. If you live in an apartment that’s not on the ground floor, or in a trailer or dormitory, find out where the nearest shelter is and make a plan of how to get there. For dorms or apartments sometimes they have an onsite shelter. At work, ask your manager/boss/coworker who’s been there awhile what happens during a tornado. If you work in a non-public facing place like an office, it might take some time to get an answer (and if there’s not an answer, that’s a red flag. You should push to figure that out.) but if you work in some place that the public goes regularly (school, mall, entertainment venue), it might be posted somewhere in the building like the bathroom or a main hallway. For public spaces, when in doubt, go to the bathroom or an interior stairwell/hallway on the first floor. Remember, you want as many walls between you and outside as possible and as few things between you and the ground as possible. Get a weather radio and get extra batteries. This will be a programmable radio that will alert you to severe weather in your area. Walmart and similar stores usually have them. Sometimes news stations will give them away for free, but they aren’t expensive. Seriously… go get one. They’re absolutely vital. And make sure to get one that can run on batteries if the power goes out. I have a pretty sweet one that also has a built in flashlight and functions as a regular radio. You’ll need to program that sucker so it knows what location to give alerts for, but there’s plenty of online tutorials for that or it will come with instructions. And you may be tempted to think that you don’t need one because of internet or cell service. Don’t. It’s a trap. A major rule of severe weather safety is don’t rely on only one piece of hardware/source for information. So don’t just rely on your phone. Don’t rely on the TV. Don’t rely on the internet. Those things can and will go out. But even if the power goes out, the radio stations will fire up the generators and keep broadcasting. During the terrible tornado outbreak here in April of 2011, the power was out for over a week and we -only- had radio. They kept broadcasting though!

Oh, and make sure you swap out the batteries and test that puppy every year. Familiarize yourself with a map of your area. Map reading skills and personal awareness of your location are basic tornado safety skills. Learn what county you’re in. Learn where you are in said county and what counties border you. Learn basic landmarks in your more immediate area, especially to the west as most storms move west to east. These landmarks should be things like major highways/roads, municipal buildings like schools, hospitals, and public buildings, and other major locations of note (parks, major shopping centers, and large well-known churches). And not only will you want to know this stuff visually, but you’ll need to be able to hear it via radio and know where you are and where the storm is. This takes practice, so start working on it now. Find a local weather person you like on a local news channel and start watching their broadcasts. Sometimes you can even find them on YouTube! For example, this is how a weatherperson will explain where a storm is over the radio and which direction it’s headed: This storm is currently outside Warksburg in Warking County and is headed west across Warkwark Road along Interstate 0. If you live near the Warkmart on Warkington St. or in the neighborhood around Our Lady of the Perpetual Warking Church, take shelter immediately. If you live in Warkford Plaza or in the area of the Warkball stadium on Warkford Street, take cover as well since this will be on you in about 10 minutes. I’m always surprised at how many people can’t find themselves on a basic county map. Growing up in Alabama in the 90s, they drilled this stuff into everyone both in the school system and as a public safety project… we even had stickers with county maps for the back of your remote so you could make notes about where you were for when you were watching the radar. Map skills are basic safety in tornado country. Especially if the TV is out and all you have is the radio to listen to for updates. You need to know that stuff when the weather-people are talking about trajectories of storms, so you can know if you need to go hide in your bathroom or if you can go stand on your porch. (kidding. Don’t do that except I’m totally one of those people…) Learn to sling the tornado lingo. Know what a hook echo is and how to spot one on a radar? How about a wall cloud? Know what a super cell is and why it’s dangerous? There’s a whole lexicon of terms about tornadoes and learning them will help you more effectively watch your local weather coverage during severe storms. You should also learn what the different alert levels are and what they mean… but the short version is that a Watch means conditions are favorable for tornadoes (this often gets announced at least a few hours before storms move into the area), and a Warning means that a tornado/funnel has been spotted or has appeared on radar (This will be announced as soon as the rotation is spotted on radar or there’s a physical report on the ground. Likely lasts less than half an hour). Watch means just hang tight, get eyes on your safety gear, and keep an eye on the weather. Warning means there is (or is very likely) a tornado on the ground so if you’re in the path, go hide. A great source for this and other vocabulary is here!

Get a first aid kit. This is basic life safety, really, but it’s also important for tornado safety. If you can, get one of those kits that has some of the outdoorsy survival stuff like rain ponchos, alcohol wipes, emergency shears, and splinter removal. You will also want sunscreen in there (in case the power goes out for a long time and you need to walk somewhere like the grocery store so you don’t waste gas). Check it every year to see what needs replacing. Also make sure it has some basic OTC meds like pain relievers. Buy good flashlights. And don’t forget the batteries. They also make super cool hand-crank flashlights, and my personal favorite are these flashlights that have a charging cradle. You plug them in and they double as a nightlight… and when the power goes out they turn on so you can see to find them. And before you ask, no your cellphone does not count as a flashlight, save to use it to get to your real flashlight. You’ll want to save the charge on your phone for later. Remember that the assumption here is that the power might be out for awhile… possibly more than a day. You will need a real flashlight. More than one preferably. I have one in my kitchen, garage, and my bedside table. Make sure when you get them that you take them out of the plastic prisons so you’re not fumbling with scissors in the dark. Also, it’s not the worst idea to get an electric lantern or two. They can live in your car until you really need them. Test your generators and service them if needed. This is pretty self explanatory. Stockpile prescription meds. If you’re on meds that will be a Bad Time ™ if you go off them, make sure you keep a bit of a stockpile. If you’re on a controlled substance or just generally have issues with this, contact your doctor or pharmacist for assistance/information. This is just good life safety again, but you do not want to get stuck behind washed out roads with no power AND no meds. *** Okay… so you have your stuff. You know your plan and you can find your house on a map. And you hear there’s severe weather coming in a few days. Now what? Well, there’s no reason to go crazy. Odds are good everything will be fine. So to keep myself from going overboard, all my prep goes through two gates: What will I kick myself for not doing if the worst happens? What will I kick myself for doing and not needing it? That tends to keep the desire to over-prepare at bay. Check your annual checks again. Ensure they’re all working and you have back up batteries for your radio, flashlight, etc. Also, make sure all these things are where you can find them in the dark. Bear in mind as you’re prepping that you might be without power and/or internet for awhile… as in days. Get the following items and make sure you can find them in the dark: -Pocket knife/multi-tool. -Rain jacket, -Sturdy, closed toe, shoes and good socks (water proof/resistent if you have them. You might need to pick your way out of your house through debris so pretend you’re going to a construction site). -A bike or construction helmet (put it in your safe place). -Sturdy clothes… like some good jeans, longsleeve shirt etc. Again, pretend you’re going to a construction site. -A good backpack/duffle/small suitcase (no need to pack a bag every time it thunders but just be able to lay a hand on what you’d need if you have to pack in the dark). -An umbrella. -A little cash. (No need to go crazy, but if power, cell service, and internet go down, we’re back to the stone ages… so get enough to grab some groceries and maybe a tank of gas). -Pet carriers if you have animals, and food for them. (In case you need to evacuate) -Candles and ignition sources. (don’t have this be your only light source, but they’re not a bad idea for prolonged outages)

Get gas. Gas up any cars you have the day before severe weather is due to hit. If you have a generator, get gas for it. No need to go hoarding, but you will want a full tank of gas just in case. Best case scenario, nothing happens and future you has one less thing to worry about in the morning on your way to work. Worst case scenario… Future you has one less thing to worry about in a crisis. (We learned this lesson in the 2011 outbreak in Alabama… The power was out for over a week and we had less than half a tank in both our cars and were not sure we could make it to a place with power that also had gas so we were stuck.)

Check your prescription medication stock. Make sure you’d be good for at least a week if the power goes out or you get stuck behind fallen trees or a washed out road. Do laundry. I’m serious. Make sure you have clean clothes and plenty of towels just in case the power goes out and you can’t do laundry for awhile. (also a lesson personally learned in 2011) Charge all your devices. Cellphones, tablets, laptops, power banks and external batteries for your cellphones, and such. Anything like that. Find all your cables and have them in easy reach. Again… future you will thank you for this regardless of if you get blown to Oz. Make sure you have weather apps and alert systems installed on your phone and check for updates. If it’s supposed to storm overnight, turn the ringer on your phone on. Don’t just trust the sirens to warn you. (we learned that lesson a couple of years ago… a software glitch lead to the sirens not going off). Make sure you can lay hands on things you don’t need power to do. If the power goes out for a really long time it can make you a little stir-crazy, so stash some playing cards, a crochet project, a book or anything like that with your emergency supplies. Your bored future self will thank you. I read a lot of books in the week we were without power in 2011 and I taught my husband to play Egyptian Rat Screw. 

If you have a propane grill, make sure you have a fresh/extra tank on hand. If you lose power for a long time, you might want to have a cookout to work through anything perishable in your freezer. Make sure you have food on hand that doesn’t require cooking. Granola/protein bars, canned goods, peanut butter, that sort of thing. Also, keep drinking water on hand, just in case. Just a case in the pantry will do. And don’t just feed yourself! Make sure you have food and supplies for any pets you might have. Again… don’t stockpile or go crazy. Just make sure if the power goes out for a couple of days, you’re covered on food… stuff you’d eat anyway. Make sure you can find weather info quickly and from multiple sources. Tune your radio, weather radio, and TV to your local weather station of choice. Bookmark a good local weather source in your web browser and on your phone. *** So you’re all prepped. But now your weather radio is going ballistic! THERE’S A TORNADO WATCH! WAT DO???

Stay calm. Seriously, it’s probably fine and you aren’t going to change the trajectory of the storm by stressing about it. If where you are is not safe (such as a mobile home or you’re out driving) go to the tornado shelter. Do this before the sirens go off or the take cover order is given. You don’t want to be caught driving. Take a change of clothes, your first aid kit, a flashlight, your phone charger, your phone, ID and money, and something to do that won’t drain your cellphone battery. Stay glued to your local weather news. Use everything that’s working… TV, website, and radio. Watch the trajectory and heed any advice from the local weather-people and the National Weather Service. You’re watching for things close to you now. Often the weather people tracking the storms will draw a cone out from areas of concern (not just tornadoes but things like hail as well) and those cones will mark neighborhoods, major landmarks etc. and give ETAs for all those places. This is where all your map reading skills will come in handy. They said to take cover! The sirens are going off! So that means you need to go to your safe spot we mentioned before. Stay calm and get moving. Turn up the TV/computer so you can hear the weather from your safe spot. Bring your pets and family. Bring your flashlight. Bring your first aid kit. Bring your phone and charger. Bring your weather radio. Grab all your pillows or a fluffy duvet to hide under. Put on your helmet if you have one. (This is to help prevent injury from falling debris or broken glass.) And bring something to do. You might be here for a hot minute. Stay in your safe spot until the all clear is given. Be patient. These storms move fast usually, but tornadoes can spin up on the front and backside of a line of storms. Sit tight and wait for the all clear. WHAT IF I’M DRIVING!? If you’re driving and a tornado warning is given for the area, or God forbid you SEE a funnel cloud, stay calm. If there’s a house or building nearby, go bang on the door and beg them to let you inside. I’m serious. If there’s no buildings, go lay flat in a ditch. I’m still serious. Get as low to the ground as you can and cover your head and face with your jacket. You absolutely do not want to be in a car when there’s tornadoes about. They will toss you around like a tin can. Edited to add: Do NOT get under an overpass. This was common wisdom (even I was told this and originally had it in the post) but according to the National Weather Service and FEMA this is not the case. It seems like a good idea because it's a sturdy shelter, but it acts like a wind tunnel. Thank you to @medic-kix for the catch.

*** Aaaannnd that’s that! I’m sure I missed something so feel free to tack on if you’ve got any further advice. Everyone be safe and stay weather aware!

[orcinus-veterinarius]

from your experience, do you think fully indoor enclosures (the Georgia Aquarium or SeaWorld Abu Dhabi, for example) are worse welfare-wise for cetaceans and pinnipeds than outdoor ones? they would definitely be advantageous in places where severe weather is a concern, but I feel like they should be out in the fresh air. i don’t want to make a judgment call if that’s not the case though cuz I’ve always wondered about this but don’t know enough about marine mammals to answer. thanks :)

So this is a really great question, and actually one I’ve been wondering about myself recently. From what I can tell, there hasn’t been a lot of formal research into the pros and cons of completely indoor versus completely outdoor habitats for marine mammals. My “gut” response is to agree with you that, yes, exposure to fresh air and sunlight is preferable whenever possible. Never underestimate the important of sunlight!

However, there are environments where indoor housing is more appropriate, namely urban settings. Aquariums like Georgia, Shedd, and National are literally downtown in Atlanta, Chicago, and Baltimore respectively—major cities. While this is an optimal location for reaching the highest number of people, it also means air quality is poor, and we know how sensitive marine mammals are to respiratory pollutants. In these cases, indoor habitats are probably the wiser option, and it seems to have served them well. In the 12 years since Georgia Aquarium opened its bottlenose exihibit, they have only lost one dolphin (to acute pneumonia), despite maintaining a pod of a dozen or so. Obviously, there are a whole host of factors that go into health and survival rates (Georgia does not permit its dolphins to breed, for one, which eliminates juvenile mortalities), but I don't think it's unfair to assume there would probably be a lot more respiratory problems in their pod if the dolphins lived outside in downtown Atlanta.

Another major factor that has only recently been recognized is regional microbiomes. This is one of the more viable theories as to what caused the short-lived dolphinarium Dolphinaris Arizona to tragically lose half of its dolphins over the course of a year and a half. Most of their dolphins were born either at SeaWorld Orlando or Dolphin Quest's Hawai'i locations—tropical climates, especially when compared to the arid desert climate of the greater Phoenix area. In Arizona, the dolphins encountered a new set of pathogens quite different from what they were acclimated to, and it is thought this contributed to at least a few of the deaths (one of them died of neurological disease for unrelated reasons).

Dolphinaris Arizona was a modern facility, with both indoor and outdoor habitats, and inspections revealed no issues with the animals’ care. It might’ve been horrible luck, similar to what CMA is experiencing right now. But I can’t help but wonder if all-indoor facilities might’ve prevented all this heartbreak.

The brand-new SeaWorld Abu Dhabi is now home to twenty-four dolphins—all from US SeaWorld Parks, which are found in humid subtropical to temperate coastal desert climates. Abu Dhabi, like Arizona, is in an arid desert climate. However, as you mentioned, the new facility is entirely indoors, which hopefully will aid in protecting the animals from both the unfamiliar desert pathogens and pollutants of the city. Reassuringly, the dolphin habitat is surrounded by large windows to allow ample exposure to natural sunlight. Since arriving in the fall of last year, all the dolphins have so far been doing well!

(I’m really excited about this habitat. It’s quite large and features depth variation, rockwork, a rain simulator, and live fish. I’ve also seen waves in some of the park walkthrough videos I’ve watched, although I’m unsure if this is from an actual wave machine or just the changes in depth combined with the animals’ movements).

Thanks for the ask! I hope it was helpful. I would love to be involved in formal research on the topic in the future!

[kittydoggie]

I'm super frustrated with the way corporate culture has homogenized so much of the everyday in the US.

There's several places with really pretty buildings in our country, sure. And the climate/terrain varies so wildly all over this country. I've watch the weather change from miles off when driving through the midwest, hugged the curves of mountain passes all up and down the Appalachians, I've been to New York, LA, Orlando, Atlanta, Pittsburg, Philly, Chicago, Milwaukee, Dallas, San Antonio and a bunch of other big cities, and yeah, each place has it's own culture and all sorts of cool landmarks, but for miles and miles around each are just... so much of the same. Just so many gas stations and franchises and suburbs with new houses no one can really afford that'll fall apart in 10 years.

I've grown to cherish older buildings, regardless of state of repair, because they look at least a little different. There's this area that used to be part of the main street of my town that has these storefronts that are mostly empty, now. It very obviously used to be this place of hustle and bustle, and each storefront is a bit different, mostly of brick.

It isn't even just a "Things were better in the past" thing. The fucking Zaxby's down the road just redid all of its kitschy decor in favor of bland gray walls inside and out. All the fast food places are doing this where I'm living. I guess it's easier to sell when you inevitably decide to give up on an area.

Christ, it's bleak.

I don't need gilded doors an marble floors. I just want to live and work in a place that doesn't give me depression from looking at it.

Street artists are fucking saints and should be celebrated for at least giving us something to look at.

[wooziorgans]

polaroids || xmh

summary: While moving into a new apartment, Minghao finds an old box full of Polaroids. All of them are with an old band member: Y/N.

genre: angst, fluff, hurt (for right now, no comfort), idol au, gn/male reader, ex!idol reader, written mostly in the form of flashbacks.

a/n: i wrote something like this years ago and decided it would be a good concept for minghao <3. currently i have no real plans besides recounting a relationship that no longer exists, so right now this fic is mainly hurt w no comfort. but we’ll see. this chapter is based off the original so it’s very,,, reminiscent of what a 15 y/o would write and it’s not my best work. also hi, this is my first fic that im posting to tumblr yippee!!

word count: 1.3k

previous | masterlist | next

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.1 .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Most of his apartment was packed. It was time to relocate, something that was almost annual for Minghao at this point. No matter what he was doing, he craved the change in scenery. He had no idea when this habit developed, but if things were too constant he would fall into intense episodes of anxiety. It was a vice; needing constant change was Minghao’s biggest source of impurity.

The small, black box that sat on the shelf was taunting Minghao. He knew what was in it; how could he have forgotten? It was now on the floor of his closet. He closed his eyes softly for a second, to suppress any emotion he would feel as he lifted the box open. Bracing himself, he lifted the lid, breathing deeply. The photo on top was a picture of Minghao and Y/N; both were covered in snow and smiling. Minghao remembered every moment leading up to the Polaroid.

It was one of their first times playing a show up north in America. Y/N and Minghao left the tour bus to explore the snow and get a warm coffee from a café they had both been eyeing since they arrived in Chicago. Wonwoo tagged along, claiming that Seungkwan was being dramatic and needed time alone. Y/N and Minghao threw on as many layers as they could find, both of them not used to the bite of the January winds, or the feet of snow that blanketed the Earth. No one told them that along with snow, there would also be ice.

Minghao’s gloved hand was intertwined with Y/N’s bare one. Y/N had a habit of always forgetting something, especially when it came to the climate. One day it would be gloves, the next would be a scarf. The disruption in routine when it came to new weather while on tour was Y/N’s biggest downfall. Minghao would always scold them for it, worrying that he would get sick in the cold. Y/N listened each time, but these warning would slip his mind shortly after.

“Watch out for the ice,” Minghao breathed into the air of his closet. That’s what he had said all those years ago. It was another warning that went unnoticed.

Y/N didn't see the patch of ice in front of them, nor did they feel it. They hit the ice with a preoccupied foot and landed on their ass in a snow bank. Minghao came down with them, both of them landing on their backs in a snow bank beside the side walk. Flake of snow were falling on Minghao’s face. Y/N rolled over in the snow, overtop of Minghao, now letting the soft flakes fall on the back of their head.

At the realization that Y/N was on top of him, Minghao’s face got darker than it had already been from the cold. He shifted on underneath the weight of Y/N. In a moment of courage, Y/N grabbed onto the collar of Minghao’s jacket. There was a look of horror on Minghao’s face, but that changed as a snowflake fell on the tip of his nose. He smiled as it melted. More fell on his face as the snow fell harder. Y/N, always being the more forward of the pair, began to place small kisses on Minghao’s face where ever the snowflakes fell.

First, it was his nose. Y/N’s warm lips against the tip of Minghao’s cold nose sent hot shivers through his spine. His hands found their way to Y/N’s hips, and pulled them closer in the cold. Y/N backed away from Minghao’s face for a second, a wide smile forming on their face as the snowflakes fell elsewhere on Minghao’s face.

Next, it was Minghao’s forehead. Everything felt so affectionate and warm despite the freezing atmosphere around the two of them; and at that moment, any final contingency of believing that the relationship between Y/N and Minghao was strictly platonic melted away. There was no more dancing around each other, no more ignoring the hidden glances they would take at each other. This had been coming for a long time, and the waiting game was finally over.

Minghao huffed out a breathe, much like he did in the cold of Chicago all those years ago. This time, he could not see his breath as he had when he was laying in the snow with Y/N. The frown on his face was a stark juxtaposition to the bright smile that reflected off the snow.

When Minghao began giggling softly at the sensation of Y/N’s lips on his face, Y/N tilted their head carefully and placed a cautious kiss to Minghao’s cold, soft lips. Minghao froze, a little star struck. Y/N pulled back for a few seconds, breathing a little harder than before. They leaned down again to place another kiss on Minghao’s lips. This time, Minghao returned the kiss, smiling into it. Both of them began to smile even wider, completely oblivious to Wonwoo, who was watching everything that was happening. Wonwoo stood a few feet away on the sidewalk, staring.

Minghao’s hands moved from Y/N’s waist to their neck. Their neck was cold even through the fabric of Minghao’s gloves, and Minghao felt them tense up but ease back into the soft, careful touch that graced their neck. A few short kisses were placed on Minghao’s lips before Y/N pulled back smiling down him and pushed themself out of the snowbank. Y/N offered a bare hand to Minghao, who accepted it. Y/N pulled him up and into their arms. They held each other for a few long moments, trying to absorb each others warmth.

Minghao looked over Y/N’s shoulder as they just stood completely in their own little bubble. Wonwoo was behind their back, looking completely dumbfounded in shock. Minghao smiled at him shyly. "So, is this- uh?" Wonwoo still looked disoriented out of his mind as he tried to speak.

Y/N released their grip on Minghao, turning to face Wonwoo. "Yeah,” they breathe out, a trail of frost following their words. They turn to Minghao, “We’ll have to talk about it later. We can’t really ignore this anymore." Y/N grabbed Minghao’s hand and continued the little amount of distance to the coffee shop. Minghao follows like a puppy.

At one point, he would always follow them. He was the passive one, but he was the stubborn one. At one point, Minghao would have followed them to the ends of the Earth.

He realizes how much time has passed since them. There is no one to follow. Minghao has no directions, even if it’s been years. There are no directions on his GPS to lead him to Y/N. The path with Y/N became a series of wrong turns; he was so sure that Y/N was a wrong turn for years after they parted ways.

Revisiting this box for the first time in two years, Minghao isn’t so sure of that anymore.

"You two are the last two to notice," Wonwoo laughed, “Don’t let your new revelation distract you though, we’ve got a show to play tonight.” Minghao leaned down and placed a small kiss on an exposed part of Y/N’s neck. Both of them were smiling, giddy from the first move finally being made.

‘Click!' Wonwoo snapped a photo of the two of them with his Polaroid camera. They were covered in white flakes, with rosy cheeks and noses from the cold. They looked happy.

“Yeah,” Minghao breathes, “yeah.” The fatigue from the freezing air seems to have found its way back into his lungs. Minghao feels completely breathless, seated on his floor. It’s the same shortness of breath he felt in Chicago, despite doing no exercise. The cold does that to you, it leaves you asphyxiated and dumb. That’s how Minghao feels a he stares at the first Polaroid from the box, which has found its way into his hands.

He feels dumb.

[kaesaaurelia]

Chicago weather is getting warmer because of climate change, but fear not! It's still very hostile! Instead of freezing rain we got regular rain all day today, and to compensate for the lack of cold it's been pitch black outside since like 2 pm. (The sun didn't set until 15 minutes ago.)

[paulinedorchester]

As an example of how messed up we are climate-wise, Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriaca) bushes are coming into bloom in Chicago about a month ahead of schedule. Usually this is a sign that the onset of cooler weather is four to six weeks away. This year, I'm not holding my breath.