A beautiful weekend on the way with chilly nights & mild days. Afternoon highs Sat. will reach 70-75 but will be a few degrees lower Sun. due to northeast onshore winds but still afternoon temps. will make it to near 70 degrees...a little warmer well inland. Temps. rebound to well into the 70s Mon. & near 80 Tue. & Wed.
It's still looking like a few showers Wed. through Fri. A cool front will bring the first chance for showers Wed.-early Thu. followed by onshore winds that should lower temps. & bring more showers later Thu. into Fri.
Long range (very long range!) forecast models are pointing to active weather for Thanksgiving week which seems to make sense since velocity potential anomalies will be in the process of going positive. Obviously, this far out, timing is a major issue & sometimes models are too fast with pattern changes -- but it's something to watch.
A strong storm hit Britain & surrounding areas of Europe today but wasn't quite as powerful as expected. The story is online in the "International Herald Tribune".
In today's USA Today....interesting story on the swelling Yellowstone lava dome. Apparently this has happened before & may or may not indicate an eruption in the future.
Past eruptions have been far more powerful than Mount St. Helens.
Crafternoon is Sat. 11am-4pm. I'll be the emcee on what will be a beautiful day. There are crafts for sale, crafts that can be made, children's performances, food & beverage. Great Christmas gifts on sale from "Natural Life". All proceeds go to the Children's Home Society which is a local charity doing lots of good for our youth and/or families.....
Children’s Home Society of Florida, Buckner Division
Summary of Services:
Children’s Home Society of Florida provides services to more than 100,000 children and families every day. Locally, the Buckner Division works with more than 1,500 daily and almost 3,000 in a year. Our services cover a wide-range of child welfare activities including the following.
Residential Group Care. The Buckner Division has four households for foster care children – Terry and Chambers Centers, Promise House and our Teen Girl Residence. Many of these children have severe emotional and behavioral problems due to histories of sexual and physical abuse. There are 36 children living on our campus.
Family Foster Care. CHS provides foster care services throughout the community through Community Based Foster Care, Medically Needy Foster Care and Therapeutic Foster Care. These programs work with children who have been removed from their own homes for their safety. All homes have parents who have been trained to care for foster children and are visited at least monthly to verify quality services. CHS staff provides full-service case management to ensure the children make progress toward their permanency goals. There are more than 700 children in these services every day.
Adoptions. Children’s Home Society has been creating families for more than 100 years. The Buckner Division provides a full range of adoption services including Birth Parent Counseling; Infant, International and Special Needs Adoptions; and Search and Reunion. We create about 100 families every year and anticipate helping another 75 stay in tact with our new Post-Adoption Services Program.
Clinical Services. As a provider of Medicaid funded mental health services, CHS provides Psychiatric Services, In-Home Clinical Services, Behavioral Health and Overlay Services. These services include psychiatric evaluations, medication and treatment services for children with a diagnosed mental illness – an estimated 25 percent of the foster care population. More than 400 children are served daily.
Family Services. CHS provides many services to strengthen families including Family Life Education, Healthy Families St. Johns, the Monique Burr Child Abuse Prevention Program and the Sexual Abuse Treatment Program. These programs are designed to break the cycle of child abuse. They provide parenting education and support to promote positive parenting and child health and development. There are more than 450 children and parents in these programs daily.
Volunteer Programs. CHS has many opportunities for volunteers to help the children and families we serve. We can arrange for group projects or for individuals. Our M.O.D.E.L. Mentoring Program is one of our most successful programs and provides one-to-one mentors for area children who have an incarcerated parent. We have 80 children matched with mentors every day.
For additional information, please contact
Children’s Home Society of Florida, Buckner Division
P.O. Box 5616, Jacksonville, Florida 32247-5616, (904) 493-7744
Earth Gauge: School Haze?
In the mornings, 20 to 25 percent of American commuter traffic is made up of parents driving their children to school! As traffic increases, many parents feel even less inclined to have their children walk or bike to school.
Tip: Encouraging children to walk or bike to school on nice days can cut down on traffic and subsequent air pollution from cars that can trigger childhood respiratory problems, including asthma. You can help your kids find a safe route to school, or even walk with them in the mornings. If you drive your children to school, consider setting up a carpool with other parents in the neighborhood to cut down on the number of drivers in the morning.
(Source: Center for Civic Partnerships. 2002. "Fresh ideas for community nutrition and physical activity."; U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration: Safe Routes to School. http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/pedbimot/bike/Safe-Routes-2002/overview.html#b)
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Climate Fact: Pacific Plankton Passage
This September, the Arctic Sea Ice was at its smallest extent on record at 1.61 million square miles, and the ice is now shrinking at a rate of ten percent per decade. In the past two years, the ice has shrunk so fast that the difference between the ice's extent in September of 2005 and September of 2007 would cover an area the size of California and Texas combined! This lack of ice means that during the summer, there is a direct water route between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, whereas several years ago this passage was impeded by ice even during the warmest times of the year. While some sailors are looking forward to using this passage in the near future, one species of plankton may already be doing so. Neodenticula seminae is a species of phytoplankton (plankton that manufacture their food from the sun’s rays) that has traditionally been restricted to the sub-polar waters of the Pacific Ocean. For the past few years, however, established populations of this species have been living in the sub-polar Atlantic Ocean. The most likely reason for this range expansion is that the lack of ice has allowed this species to move freely between the two Oceans.
(Sources: National Snow and Ice Data Center News: "Arctic Sea Ice Shatters All Previous Record Lows." 1 October 2007. Accessed Online 11 October 2007 <http://nsidc.org/news/press/2007_seaiceminimum/20071001_pressrelease.html> and American Meteorological Society: "NASA Examines Arctic Sea Ice Changes Leading to Record Low in 2007." 1 October 2007. Accessed Online 11 October 2007,<http://amsforums.ametsoc.org/tool/post/amsstationscientist/vpost?id=2192317> and Corbyn, Zoe. “Atlantic invaders.” Nature Reports Climate Change: 18 October 2007. Accessed Online 23 October 2007 <http://www.nature.com/climate/2007/0711/full/climate.2007.61.html>)
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Climate in the News: "Hot spring ices hopes for a cereal crop" The Australian, 31 October 2007 - http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,22677011-2702,00.html?from=public_rss
Old rules of thumb for Australia's grain farmers are no longer relevant as back to back drought years are crippling the industry.
My NFL picks are giving me trouble this year. I was 1-2 last weekend & am a bad 9-15 on the season. The Jags head to Nashville to take on the ol' nemesis Titans.
o.k....so just when you're ready to give up on the Jags, they do well then the next weekend the reverse. So....with that mentality....I'll pick the Jags, 17-13.
The Bengals are at Baltimore & neither one is playing worth a darn. I'll take the home team -- Ravens win, 24-20.
Packers are at home against the Vikings. The question here is can the Vikings throw enough to compliment their awesome running attack. And can all the bounces keep going the Packers' way? This game could go either way. Something tells me the Vikes win in a mild upset....I'm picking the Vikings, 31-24........ And this from a fellow Packer fan:
John Madden was in New England to announce a football game one weekend,
when he noticed a special telephone near the Patriots' bench.
He asked QB Brady what it was used for and was told it was a
hotline to God.
John asked if he could use it.
Brady replied, 'Sure, but it will cost you $200.'
John scratched his head, then thought, what the heck, I could use some
help picking games. He pulled out his wallet and paid $200.
John's picks were perfect that week.
The next week, John was in Indianapolis when he noticed that same kind
of phone on the Colts bench. He asked what the telephone was for and
Peyton Manning told him, 'It's a hotline to God if you want to use it,
it will cost you $500.'
Recalling the previous week, John pulled out his wallet and made the
call. John's picks were perfect again that week.
Last weekend, John was in Green Bay, when he noticed the same kind of
telephone by the Packers' bench. He asked Bret Favre, 'Is that the
hotline to God?' Favre said, 'Yes, and if you want to use it, it will
cost you 50 cents.'
John looked incredulously at Favre and said, 'Wait a second, I just paid
$200 in New England and $500 in Indianapolis to use the same phone to
God! Why do the Packers only charge 50 cents?'
Favre replied, 'Because you're in Green Bay, and it's a local call . . .'
Have a great & safe weekend.....and a salute & most sincere thank-you to this nation's veterans.
