While the summer weather may linger on for another few weeks thanks to our little friend from the south - El Nino, autumn and winter will surely come eventually bringing wet rainy conditions, making things miserable for those who are enjoying the extended hot weather.
To prepare for the coming of the holiday seasons, people can look to the internet to keep prepared and stay informed. Careful web searching through search engines such as Webcrawler (http://www.webcrawler.com) or Alta-Vista (http://altavista.digital.com) or your own personal favorite search engine, can provide some useful gems of information that can be mined to allow you to fully enjoy this time of year.
Seasonal festivities shift into high gear with increased office get togethers, parties, and families gathering together around holidays. This traditionally means lots of food and eating, so stay current with holiday recipes by checking out recipe web sites, such as "http://www.lifetimetv.com/recipes/holiday.htm". This webpage is a holiday recipe site sponsored by the cable TV Channel Lifetime that has modern healthy holiday recipes that you can prepare for Thanksgiving or for other holiday dinners. The seasoned web surfer may head over to Mama's Kitchen, sponsored by Ragu, which was one of the first food companies to put up a website to help sell their products. Mama's Kitchen is a fun filled website based around the house of Mama Cucina, a cyber-guide who possesses a sharp wit and is full of old world charm. Check out Mama's cookbook for some great Italian food at "http://www.eat.com/cookbook/". Thi site also offers access to online coupons on sauces and other Ragu products.
Of course, what would the holidays be without a holiday party. At "http://www.webtender.com" you can find all the information you need to give your party that extra something. Besides having a very large database of mixed drinks, there is also information ranging from being a good bartender to information on drinking games. My favorite for the holidays is the "Old Fashioned Hot Buttered Rum".
Inclement weather means staying at home, and for many that means "Football Season!". Football widows can gain solace from the internet. A site that offers support for football widows, including a list of things to do while the mate is watching football, as well as a test to see if your relationship is second to the game can be found at "http://members.aol.com/FballWidow/index.html".
Contrariwise, you might find that spending more time indoors means you might lose your mate to countless hours of internet surfing. If this is the case, you can get help from "http://www.addictions.com/internet.htm", an excellent resource on th sometimes controversial subject of internet addiction.
If the autumn wind starts to blow, and trees and limbs come down and have to be removed, you can find information about getting a chainsaw from Action Power Equipment, a local company at "http://www.actionpower.com". Or if snow and ice come this winter as a compliment to our long and sunny summer, check the specs on a new snow blower at the TORO corporate website - "http://www.toro.com/Snowthrowers/ThrowerMain.html" where they have snow blowers small enough for your walkway, or big enough for a parking lot.
Winter sports enthusiasts who can't wait for the season to start, might get a head start by checking out "http://www.sledding.com", the self proclaimed "world's largest industry resource" on snowmobiling. Featured is a snowmobile chat room, links to snowmobile manufacture's information and pointers to current articles regarding the sport. Skiers can check conditions in advance for many ski areas, or get maps of ski runs from sites such as the Mount Baker Ski Area webpage at "http://www.mountbakerskiarea.com". A quick search of the web produces other Washington ski areas with similar websites.
Travelers visiting relatives can check seasonal road conditions in advance, or find out about construction closures from the Washington State Department of Transportation website at "http://www.wsdot.wa.gov". This includes pass information along with Seattle freeway flow diagrams and live online traffic camera images.
Don't let the coming winter weather get you down, just plug into the resources on the internet and spend some time surfing for information on your favorite winter topics. Or, if you find you just can't wait until next summer, you can always spend some time in cyberspace visiting your favorite tropical destinations.