On Our Anniversary, Thanking A Patient Husband For Enduring Weather Geekdom

My husband Jeff enjoying the weather on our deck
in a photo taken a few years ago. It's our wedding
anniversary today, and I'm celebrating the fact
he's tolerated my weather obsession all these years.

Today is my 11th wedding anniversary (Gawd time flies!) and I'm using the occasion to profusely thank my husband for enduring all these years of weather geekdom.  

By extension, I'm also thanking all the spouses and partners of meteorologists and weather enthusiasts out there for supporting or at least putting up with all that weather talk,

My husband Jeff has tolerated the combination of ADHD and weather obsession for so long now, and he still finds it in himself to stay cheerful. 

We might be talking about, say, whether we need to put our dog Jackson in the kennel when we're away the following weekend, then, SQUIRREL!!!!!

Thunder rumbles in the distance.  My favorite kind of weather! Do I go to the window? Is it a big storm? Do I get in the truck and chase the storm down for photos and video?  Off I go, leaving Jeff wondering about dinner. And probably a lot of other things. 

Or, at night, Jeff's trying to watch "Death In Paradise," or one of those other murder mystery shows he likes. I'm sitting on the couch, scrolling social media because there's an impressive tornado outbreak going on in Texas.

Storm chasers are posting amazing photos and short videos of the twisters. So every five seconds, I push the phone in his face to share how gobsmacked I am by the photo of the tornado sending an entire barn into oblivion. Which means Jeff never does learn who killed the book author on that night's episode of "Death In Paradise."

Jeff respects science, but he is not a scientist. Somehow, however, he survives my detailed explanations of a Quasi-Linear Convective Systems and baroclinic zones without fully allowing me to see how badly his eyes are glazing over.

Jeff is a scenic set designer and a painter. He likes doing things big, so he's produced some marvelous large paintings.

Years ago, we were all sick and tired of this huge ugly painting of an owl that was gradually falling apart on my mother's living room wall.

As a gift, he produced this wonderful large painting of what appeared to be a park in September. A few of the trees in the landscape were starting to turn color, but most were still green. He created a blue sky with beautiful puffy clouds and he made the atmosphere look a bit hazy. Just a stunning piece of art. 

And how did I react to this work?  I gave a weather synopsis of what's going on in the painting. I concluded it was a warm, and somewhat humid September day, and a cold front was approaching that would give us the first taste of real autumn chill in the next couple of days. 

Yeah, I came up with that whole weather forecast. About a painting. Jeff just said, "Yes, dear."

The good news, of course is that my mother loved that painting for years until she passed away in 2022.

I also always congratulate Jeff on the accuracy of his clouds within his paintings. He likes to include expanses of sky in his landscapes.  The clouds in his paintings all look plausible. They could happen in real life. 

Which is great, because it drives me crazy to see some paintings that includes clouds that are meteorologically impossible.  Yeah, Jeff has to tolerate that obsession, too. But maybe there's a bit of a closet weather geek within him, since he knows what clouds look like and sort of how they form. 

Jeff does seem to like the gardens I've created around our house, which of course are weather dependent. He's gotten interested in how the weather helps or hurts the perennial gardens.  So maybe a little of me rubbed off on him, who knows?

So, we have had 11 years of marriage through literally all kinds of weather, and we were together a couple years before we married.

I think the weather gods are smiling on our marriage, too. From day one, actually.  Our wedding day was gorgeous. Obsessed as I am, I looked up the specifics this morning. The high that day, August 26, 2012 was 87, the low was 68 and it was mostly sunny and just a bit hazy, like in Jeff's paintings.  

They say that marriage is a path of enduring sunny bliss interrupted by the occasional storm. With Jeff, all my storm chasing seems to be actual, meteorological storms. He never creates metaphorical ones in our lives, another thing that makes me eternally grateful for Jeff.

Here's one forecast I know will be accurate:  A happy anniversary warning is in effect for Jeff. There's a 100 percent chance that I will always love him as intensely as I ever have if not more.  The love raining down will mix with, laughter, respect, awe and pride toward the man I married.  Accumulations of happy memories with him will be deep. 

The "weather pattern" that is the my joy of being married to Jeff will never change. Happy Anniversary, Chief! 

 

Tonks, Our Gracious, Zen-Like Loyal Companion And Weather Watching Dog, Dies At 16

The late, great Tonks in her St. Albans, Vermont yard on
a breezy winter day in 2017, enjoying the scents in the air.

Tonks Modereger Sutkoski, our gorgeous furry sweetheart, crossed the Rainbow Bridge today, May 31, 2023. She was 16.   

Tonks was a gracious, zen-like presence who taught us all to savor the simple things in life, like a comfortable bed and the smells and sounds of nature outdoors. And meal time. Don't forget that. 

She was the beneficiary of great genes, making her a stunningly beautiful pup.  She was a Golden Retriever and Cocker Spaniel mix.  That gave her luscious blonde hair, soulful eyes, fun floppy ears and a cute button nose. 

Tonks came into our lives when she was seven years old. In the first chapter of her life, she lived with a Vermont couple, who eventually formed a family that included two very active, very young children. The couple knew the kids were probably too much for Tonk's gentle, calm nature. 

The family generously and selflessly let us adopt Tonks, who quickly settled into a new life with goofy brother Jackson and her new parents Jeff and Matt. 

Tonks in the foreground enjoys a laugh while her 
brother Jackson in the background not getting the
joke on a sunny autumn day in 2015. 

Tonk's new household had gardens, lawns and decks where she was free to roam. She quickly got in the habit of sitting down, facing the wind, closing her eyes and enjoying all the aromas that passed her way. Sometimes Jeff or Matt would join her in this activity.  

 She also enjoyed laying down on the deck and watching the cars on the road zip by, and the birds flutter around overhead. 

Tonks was no loner, though. She loved visiting people when they stopped by, accepting with pleasure a little neck scratch and just the companionship she enjoyed when human friends were around. 

 Every day, breakfast and dinner were cause for big celebration. After these daily feasts, she'd settle down in the soft bed she loved for comfortable naps. 

Another particular joy for Tonks came in the summer, when it was time for dad Matt to thin the carrot crop in the raised beds. She and brother Jackson would safely dispose of the delicious mini-carrots Matt would dig up by immediately chowing them down. The carrots were her favorite food.

Tonks enjoying a rest on her comfortable bed, 2019.

She, accompanied by her brother, would also always help Matt measure whichever weather event came our way, so that Matt could do a more accurate write-up in this blog. 

She especially loved weather watching with Matt on sunny, windy days.  However, Tonks was not a particular fan of snow, especially if it was deep.  

Tonks, always the helpful pup, was our early warning system for any truck deliveries that appeared in our driveway. She'd hear the beep-beep-beep of the truck backing up, and start barking loudly to announce the delivery arrival.  

She was also a  bit of a prankster. As her dad Jeff settled into his easy chair to watch TV in the evenings, Tonks would quietly slip into the hallway behind him. After awhile, she'd let out a single loud bark, propelling Jeff to the ceiling.

In Tonks' later years, her hearing diminished and her hind legs grew weak and unstable. But she never gave up her curiosity, and that zen-like life of smelling the aromas in the air continued until the end. 

Tonks, left, and her brother Jackson, help dad Matt
with his weather blog by sniffing the air for clues as to
when the snow would stop during a
large 2018 winter storm

Tonks is survived her her brother Jackson, dads Jeff Modereger and Matt Sutkoski of St. Albans, and many aunts, uncles and cousins. 

She was predeceased by her loving grandparents Don and Lois Modereger of Yankton, South Dakota and Henry and Pauline Sutkoski of West Rutland, Vermont. 

In lieu of flowers, Tonks asked that you make a contribution or volunteer at your local Humane Society. She also said that if you want to add another doggo to your family, please consider adoption. 

Tonks passed away in late spring, probably the most fragrant time of year for many of us. She asks that you go outside, sit down facing the wind, close your eyes and breathe in the wonderful aromas of nature.

 It was Tonks' way of doing things and being happy, and this works for humans, too.