January 2010 - The Best Is Yet to Come!

Good morning!

It's another cold one here as well! 14°F (-10°C) (feels like 14°F) !!! Don't see that every year around here ...... now I'm starting to worry about the roses I didn't wrap up this fall ....... Practically calm, slight breeze from NNE at 3 mph.

The girls started back at school this morning ...... it went surprisingly well concidering we have been sleepin in until 11-12 for the past two weeks ..... It'll be nice to get back into the routine, I really need to get back in the gym and pool!

EB - beautiful photo! That is a lot of snow to shovel ... I'd be exhausted too!

Celia - congratulations! Beautiful name! :-)

Bernie - that mantel is very impressive. Beautiful work :-)

Hi to everyone else!!

I took the girls on a walk up at the lake we often go to in the summertime yesterday ..... we haven't been there during the winter months in years. The weather was the same yesterday although slightly warmer, around 20°F I'd guess. It was after sunset when we got up there, after 4 pm, stayed until 5 when it was getting pretty dark and our toes were frozen! lol We took the sled along ..... here's Selma pulling Hildur Eva and her friend who came along. It was their first time walking across a frozen lake if you can belive that!

Have a great day!

Rann

Another one ....

Now I'm off to the pool! Should be interesting! lol

Good Morning! Well we are still rather 'chilly'! Dyson Dark & not as coldas yesterday morning. The wind is the only thing that I really don't care for, but oh well.
Temp: 21°F
Feels like: 7°F
Barometer: 29.9 in
Dewpoint: 10°
Humidity: 63%
Visibility: 10 miles
Precip in last hr: NA
Precip last 24 hrs: NA
Wind: 16 mph WNW
Sunrise: 7:38 AM
Sunset: 5:20 PM
UV Index: 0 Low

Celia! :D A baby Girl! :D And such a pretty name! :D
Kiska, Beautiful shot of April! ;)
Ric, Our fish are sleeping, too. Glad your water is still running.
E_B, Love your garden in Christmas! :D And Look At That Snow! I wouldn't Dream of asking you to sit in my chair! LOL! :D PLease take care. I hope you get your snow blower fixed!
Bernie, Nice! Good Job!
Sharon! There you are! Glad to have you back! Please don't stay gone so long, OK?
Rusty, your JuJu is soooo cute! :D
Rann, Looks like you & the girls were having loads of fun on the ice! But it looks very cold! Schools have been closed here because of the cold & snow. Years ago when it was so cold a child got frost bite waiting on a bus...so when it get below 15 & the wind is bad there's no school. (Colleges are a different story)
Adina! LOL! They look like they were having a 'hoot' throwing snow balls! ;D All the snow that I'm showing in my pics are from the week end before Christmas. A lot of it is gone now. We probably have only about 5" left.
Mau, Have a safe trip home! I still haven't taken time to take pics of the fishes. Too many tests! ;D And we're getting ready to paint the floors....lots of cleaning!
Kelli, I hope that you aren't getting sick! :-O

Have a Great Day! :D
Joey

-13º this morning.
Snow forecast for tomorrow. (We'll try & keep ahead of Joey!)

Not much going on here, we'll be working in the shop all day.

Mau – We aren’t big on games here either. Jeff will watch if the Steelers are playing once in a while. The citrus farmers are in a tizzy over this weeklong freeze we are having.
Adina and Kiska – great pics!
Celia – A little girl. How exciting and such a pretty name!
E_B – You’ve got a lot of snow! How deep is it?
Dyson - LOL! It’s Cold here too!
Bernie – The fireplace mantel is beautiful!
Marylyn – I hear you might get more snow this week.
Rann – I have a fondness for pink sunsets.
Joey – Everyone is gone so I’m back on track LOL!
Rusty – Juju is adorable!

28.4 °F
Clear
Windchill: 25 °F
Humidity: 47%
Dew Point: 11 °F
Wind: 7.5 mphfrom the South
Wind Gust: 11.6 mph
Pressure: 30.21 in (Rising)
Visibility: 10.0 miles

Hard freeze warning in effect until 10 am this morning...
Wind Chill Advisory in effect until 10 am this morning...
Hard freeze warning in effect from 11 PM this evening to 10 am Wednesday...

Today
Sunny and breezy. High 45. Northwest winds 15 mph. Lowest wind chill readings 16 to 20 in the morning.

The wind chill will be with us all day. It will feel 10* colder all day. Day 3 of the freeze. At least the bug population should be markedly smaller this year. Staying warm on the sofa Peanut, Prissy and Callie.

that is such a cute picture all the babies together

Hi guys! Super busy still. My alarm went off, I raised up in bed, and the power went out. So I took about the fastest hot shower I could so I wouldn't use all of the hot water, save some for Dave if he needs it, and muddled around while the sun came up so I could put my makeup on and brought my hair iron to work. Waiting for it to heat up and I'm going to dive in!

Kelli don't you dare catch a cold!

It's cold here!

17.8 °F
Partly Cloudy
Windchill: 18 °F
Humidity: 25%
Dew Point: -12 °F
Wind: 2.2 mph from the NW
Wind Gust: 2.7 mph
Pressure: 29.99 in (Steady)
Visibility: 10.0 miles
UV: 0 out of 16
Clouds:
Few 2500 ft
(Above Ground Level)
Elevation: 600 ft

Sorry about the problems w/ the video.
I've unlocked it now so it should work.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rnranimals/4239696980/
Considering it's shot w/ an old analog camera I was surprised at the quality.

I'll start working w/ You Tube or one of the bulk places here soon.
I found two free sites to Convert and Edit the movies.
If anyone is interested DMail me.

18° here (WC 7°) and lightly snowing.
Just the same big fluffy stuff we've been getting for the last 3 days.
e_b we 'might' have 1 1/2" now! lol!
Looks like our weather will turn around Sunday or so say the Weather Liars...
After a low of 8° Sunday morning temps will rise to near freezing....
then mid/upper 30's for early next week.

We haven't used the HT for a few days... it's just too costly to bring the temps up and down in this stuff.
It's currently on Economy 75°.
The new doors on the enclosure are really working well.
The air temps stay bout 10° warmer in there than outside.
We probably will give it a shot tonight.

Kelli I already have a cold so your's won't be a problem.

My BIL has moved after 20 years in Tujunga.
Hopefully closer to his work in Oxnard.
He has a 50 mile, each way, commute that ranges from an hour in the mornings to up to 1 1/2 hours in the afternoon.

Here's a shot of Nandina domestica I took yesterday.
In our climate...lol!... it's evergreen.

Ric

25.7 °F with 32º for the high. Snow possible tomorrow.
Mostly Cloudy
Windchill: 26 °F
Humidity: 88%
Dew Point: 23 °F
Wind: Calm
Wind Gust: 0.0 mph
Pressure: 30.34 in (Falling)
Visibility: 1.0 miles
UV: 0 out of 16
Clouds: Few 100 ft
Scattered Clouds 3700 ft
Mostly Cloudy 8500 ft
(Above Ground Level)
Elevation: 4383 ft

I guess painting the fireplace is out then. Thanks for everyone's input.

Celia if you want to paint it then that's your prerogative obviously.
It's easy to do and will last a long time.
I just think the top and hearthstone are the wrong color.
In my mind I see dark.
Try temporarily covering them w/ black plastic and see if it doesn't change the look entirely.
We just have an aversion to painted rock or brick... that's our deal....
certainly not etched in stone for you...LOL!

An easy way to see the different looks whould be to 'shop' that photo.
You can play w/ different color looks and see what you like...

Ric

That's what I was thinking, too, Ric. It's way too 70s in that house and we're trying to update things a little at a time. I may have a friend build a dark oak wood cover for the mantle. How hard is it to break out that marble hearth?

Ric - the video is great! :-) Looks like a great place to visit. edited to add : the title "skyfari" could be icelandic if you added a comma over the y (skýfari) .... took me a while to figure out the english meaning ;-) lol (Skýfari would mean someone who travels through the clouds ... sounds like something you could name an airplane ;-) lol )

It was really cold at the pool this morning! I just can't understand people who can use the outside lockerrooms/showers on days like today (never mind the ones who go swimming in the sea!) ..... my feet practically froze just walking out to the pool (along with the rest of me) .... I was really shivering the first few laps ..... the hot tub felt REALLY nice afterwards! lol

Another photo from yesterday ... "fuzzy" rocks from the frost :-)

Rann

This message was edited Jan 5, 2010 4:53 PM

Frost on snow? That's a neat shot, Rann!

Thanks Celia ! Yes, thick frost over the snow .... it was really neat!

Here's a close up:

Brrrr! LOL

Rann, that's some frost! I'm usually afraid of frozen lakes, but since you said it's so cold, I'm relieved about your girls sleighing over the frozen lake. Great pics!
Sharon, what a cute picture of your babies cuddling together!
Celia, congratulations for Crystal"s little baby girl! Such a beautiful name!
Ric, great picture , love those red berries! Loved the video too!
Mau, I guess it's good they don't allow meds to get there unless they are safe. I wish "ours" would do the same here !
E_B, lovely view of the river!
Crissy, such an unpleasant way to start the day! Our neighbor's allarm went on this morning and went off before the cops getting there and checking all windows and doors.

Now I'm at work second shift and feeling a bit bored. I made cinammon rolls in the morning for breakfast. Andreea and Ionut went to see "Avatar" and she took some rolls with her in case she gets hungry...which she does several times a day!LOL

About Transilvania and Dracula...just heard about a new movie they are shooting in Romania with Brad Pitt as Vlad Tepes, our ruler who was supposed to be Dracula.
Here are my doggies having breakfast.

Have a great day!
Hugs,
Adina

LOL! Looks like the doggies have settled into winter quite well Adina.
Thanks for the comments!

Rann Thanks!
That's a neat sled!
You need Adina's doggies to pull the girls around.
Our boys used to do that w/ our first Collie.
They would sled down the hill and she'd pull the empty sled back up.

Off to check the ponds.
It's still only 20° here at about 1 PM.
Was supposed to be 23° by now....

Ric

Oh! Juju woke me up at 4:30 am for wanting go outside for potty so it was 8*.... Juju just done with potty then zooomm inside quickly Rusty used it, lol.... So, I feed Juju then both were playing inside and running around the living room to hallway like circle around... I have to bother playing with them I just watch News TV...

Both of them got tired then took nap for morning same time dogs sleep then I sleep lol!...

Right now, it 16* and nice sunny day then tomorrow and next day more snow! I just went shopping this morning was 23* still frigid! I don't like driving on bad winter day happen to me before I got accident before in 1993 I hate icy road I am not good on that until few years later then I still fear of it...(also I fell twice on icy on my hip & knees 3 yrs ago) so my tailbone is number one is killing me that I has accident in 1993 my back, neck and tailbone...

So, I know all the safety now and I just stay home and keep warm with my dogs!



This message was edited Jan 5, 2010 1:07 PM

Bernie,
I didn't realize you were so close to Mountain Lake, St. James, Butterfield and Windom! My dad is from Mountain Lake.

The temps have been colder in your neck of the woods than they have been here in the Twin Cities. That's pretty unusual.
Mike

We're getting a heavy dose of big fluffy flakes.... and the Sun is out.... lol!

Weather Liars got us again.
We're at 21° and I can't see it moving this late in the day.

Ric

LOL Ric - the girls would LOVE that! :-)

Adina - I'm also really nervous about frozen lakes which is partly why this was a first for them ..... but since someone had driven some kind of vehicle to clear a path across the lake and people were riding horses there ...... I figured it would hold us ;-) lol Cute dogs!

that is an amazing picture

Do you visit Mountain Lake ?
If so, stop in sometime. I'm only a mile off Hwy # 60 south of the DNR place between Madelia & St. James. County Rd # 109 or 800th Ave.

Ran into a goof today. We had doors made for a replacement job. My son asked if there was a cabinet above the refrigerator. Somehow we made them 27" long instead of 13".
Only took him an hour & they were remodeled to right size.

I put a new table between the 2 table saws. The old one was slightly warped & caused boards to catch.

Heading out for supplies shortly. Need plywood & varnish. Menards has a bag sale. Anything that fits in the bag is 15% off. I don't know if I can fit that plywood in the bag!

Bernie

Thanks for the well wishes. It turns out that I wasn't getting sick, I was just tired.

Kiska, while you're in Washington, would you give the jet stream a good swift kick to the south? Then we'd get some rain and the rest of the country would warm up.

Van Nuys, California (Airport)
Updated: 2:51 PM PST on January 05, 2010
75 °F
Clear
Humidity: 13%
Dew Point: 21 °F
Wind: 5 mph from the SSE


lithops

12 deg
WC: 12 deg
Calm wind
33% humidity
dew point -8 deg

More snow coming in tomorrow. By the time it leaves Thurs night we could see up to 7 more inches on top of what we have now. Then the 40 mph winds will be back and blowing it around. School has been cancelled yesterday, today and tomorrow. I can pretty much garantee they will cancel rest of week too. lol

Bernie: lovely mantel--is that in your house or somebody else's house? Is there room for a flat-screen TV over the mantel?
Pepper: it seems as if the whole country is in a deep freeze--except for where Kelli lives!
Marylyn: good luck with getting back into the homeschooling routine! I imagine the bunnies aren't all that eager, though. LOL
EB: love that close-up in the "old winter photo" of the pond or stream or whatever it was.
Rann: gorgeous photos--I love the pinkish-purple hue of the sunset! The girls look as if they were having a good time! :o))
Sharon: cute pic of the furbabies cuddling together.
Adina: even Brad Pitt couldn't entice me to watch any movie with Dracula in it!! Vampires are not "my cup of tea"! LOL
Rusty: I had to laugh about JuJu zooming back inside after going potty! LOL Yes, it's wise to just stay in the house and stay warm in this cold winter weather.
Celia: I think Ric had a good idea about putting black plastic down on the hearth to give you an idea of how a darker stone would look. You could also get some ideas of what to do to your fireplace by watching some of those decorating shows on HGTV--they are always changing the looks of fireplaces for not a lot of money--especially on Designed to Sell.
Kelli: I am so glad to know that you didn't have a cold. Lucky you--no cold(as in illness) and no cold (as in weather)!! LOL
Ric: nice photo of the nandina berries. I'm glad your fish seem to be okay in this cold weather. I'll check out the link again--going there now.

I had a beautiful, though cold, day for a drive down the mountain from my daughter's house. I made it home about 2:30 after a few stops--one for lunch and then I had to go have my blood drawn at the lab in Conway and then I spent some time in Hobby Lobby in Conway. Conway is about 35 miles from my house in Cabot but that is where my cardiologist is so that is where I go to have my blood drawn for my protime every month. I take a blood thinner and they keep a close eye on the thinness level of my blood. I have posted photos of my drive home(or part of it) on my web page at picasa if any of you are interested in looking at the Ozark Mountains with snow. Of course, as I have said before, we only got about 3 1/2 to 4 inches of snow in Harrison and only about an inch of snow in Cabot so that is certainly nothing compared to what some of you have on the ground. However, it is a lot of snow for us. :o))
http://picasaweb.google.com/marsue777FirstSnowOf2010#5423416703649092530


Currently 24*F:
# Tonight: Mainly clear skies. Low 18F. Winds light and variable.
# Tomorrow: Partly cloudy skies in the morning will give way to cloudy skies during the afternoon. High 38F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.
# Tomorrow night: Intermittent snow or snow showers becoming steadier late at night. Low 28F. SE winds shifting to WNW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of snow 70%. Snow accumulations less than one inch.

This is one of the photos I took on the way home today.

It's in a customers house. They have a TV to put up there. That is a corn stove, but she is burning wood pellets in it.
-8º tonight. I don't know where the warm up is.

Rann that's a Wonderful Shot!

Kelli I've never had a 'Stone' bloom. EXCELLENT!

Mau that's a lovely peaceful view!

Well e_b looks like your wish for me might just come thru.....

...WINTER STORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM THURSDAY MORNING
THROUGH THURSDAY EVENING...
SNOW WILL BEGIN ACROSS THE TRI-STATE AREA THURSDAY MORNING AND
WILL CONTINUE INTO THE EVENING HOURS. 3 TO AS MUCH AS 4 INCHES OF
SNOW WILL BE POSSIBLE. SOME DRIFTING OF SNOW CAN BE EXPECTED
THURSDAY NIGHT INTO FRIDAY AS WINDS INCREASE.

If this happens we'll fire up the cameras and Holiday lights one more time! LOL!

Ric

LOL!
Just think the Vampyre would come to you!

Oh, my, y'all are just too funny! ROFLOL

What's wrong with vampires? Aren't they all just big, fluffy puppeis with bad teeth?

Vampire Cows!

Vampire cats!

Good morning!

Warmed up in a jiffy overnight ..... up to 32°F and rain drizzles this morning. So much for the winter wonderland .... it'll all turn to slush. I'm so glad we took the time to go out to the lake and enjoy it while it lasted :-)

Thanks everyone for your comments on the lake photos - we had a great time. And after we got home I made hot cocoa and waffles to warm us up ;-)

Yesterday was filled with drama over here ....... the icesave fiasko is turning into the never ending story .... Parliament finally passed a bill on Dec. 30th to accept the deal made with Britain and Netherlands and our fool of a president announced yesterday that he decided to veto it and put it to a public vote. An incredibly irresponsible and frankly, stupid decision. Ask any person "do you want to accept back breaking debt (that you had no part in) that will take you the next 20-40 years to pay?" and they'll answer "heck, no!" ......... this is not a matter that should be put in the hands of the people. I have absolute no faith that the general public will be able to figure out what's best for the country on a long term scale ... they'll just think "what will this mean for me?" ....... we've been on hold for the entire year of 2009 because if this thing (no foreign loans or aid of any kind) and now it seems 2010 will be spent the same way. It's really getting exhausting to tell you the truth ..... and a lot of people and businesses can't really wait any longer financially speaking.

To give you an idea what reality people here are facing, here's one sketch from the New Year's Eve comedy show:
A person is at the bank and the employee is explaining to him "no, you see, all your savings that you had invested in the old banks is gone ... you see, because they went bankrupt." The customer has this blank look of confusion and then asks: "What about the loans?" The bank employee answers, "oh, fortunately we were able to save those... but ofcourse they've doubled because of the currency drop" The customer, looking totally hopeless asks.. "how could this happen?!" and the employee answers, "well, you did buy a flatscreen TV" ....

Marilyn - great snow photos - beautiful landscape :-)

Kelli - glad you're feeling better!

Ric and Celia - LOL !

Here's another photo from the lake

Hope you all have a great day!

Rann

Good Morning! Looks like we're gonna be in the 'freeze' for a while...I don't mind the cold so much - I just don't care for all the wind! It's a fairly long walk from the parking lot into the plant & Blacksburg is considered the 'windy city' (Little Chicago) of the south.
Snow: 21°F
Feels like: 7°F
Barometer: 30 in
Dewpoint: 14°
Humidity: 73%
Visibility: 5 miles
Precip in last hr: NA
Precip last 24 hrs: NA
Wind: 19 mph WNW
Sunrise: 7:38 AM
Sunset: 5:20 PM
UV Index: 0 Low

Rann, Another Gorgeous pic! Wow! Love all of those shots! I saw where those horses were practicing to do a show on the ice & fell in! They looked so miserable! until they all got out! They sure are some sturdy little animals! And beautiful!
Ric, Celia, Kelli! Thanks for a good chuckle this morning! :D
Ric, Love the video...pretty country!
Mau, Love the photo...I really think you live closer to me than you're letting on! Looks a lot like here. I couldn't view your other pics....maybe the link. But glad you are home safely! :D
Kelli, Love the bloom! You could write a book! and have plenty of great shots! :D
E_B, I love your winter scenes! Thanks! I remember one that you took...where the sun was shining (glowing) thru the trees and the snow was on the ground...my favorite! Was that at the same stream?
Bernie, Rusty & Pepper! Stay warm! Oh My! :-O

Well must be going....
Have a Great Day!

Joey

+1º this morning! I'm going to melt!
Expecting some snow later. 4" to 6". Just what we need.

Off to start my day.
Bernie

Everyone stay safe and warm today!!

Mona – Thanks! They love each other.
Ric – The berries are so pretty.
Celia – I’m not great at photo-shopping, but I played with the picture a little last night. D-mail me.
Rann – The frosty snowy fuzzy rocks are pretty! Brrr is right Celia!
Adina – The doggies are looking good!
Rusty – I have to laugh about Rusty and Juju. Prissy does that really fast zoom out then zoom back in and shakes the cold off!
Ric – LOL! I would love to get some snow out of all these freezes we’re having!
Rann – That is a beautiful picture. You should submit it in the contest next year.
Kelli – Glad you aren’t getting sick! That’s a beautiful flower!
Mau – There is something about farms, barns and snow that makes me smile. It’s very peaceful looking.
Celia & Ric – You guys are cracking me up!!
Rann – I just don’t know what to say about IceSave. Beautiful picture!

27.9 °F
Clear
Windchill: 27 °F
Humidity: 43%
Dew Point: 8 °F
Wind: 3.8 mph
Wind Gust: 4.4 mph
Pressure: 30.21 in (Rising)
Visibility: 10.0 miles

Day 5 of the freezes and it's only going to get colder. We will be a little warmer tomorrow, but the temps will drop again tomorrow night.

Hard freeze warning in effect until 10 am this morning...
Wind Chill Advisory in effect until 10 am this morning...
Hard freeze warning in effect from 8 PM this evening to 9 am Thursday...

Today
Sunny. High 45. Northwest winds 10 to 15 mph. Lowest wind chill readings 14 to 18 in the morning.

Rann those are such cool pictures of the frost on the snow, love the close up!

Vampire cows and cats, now that's hilarious!

It's cold here too:

21°F
RealFeel®
17°F
Winds: ENE
at 6mph
Partly Sunny
Humidity: 62%

Stay warm everyone!
Dew Point: 10° F
Pressure: 30.39 in
Visibility: 10 Miles


High: 40 °F RealFeel®: 38 °F
A morning flurry; otherwise, some sunshine giving way to clouds and chilly
Low: 26 °F RealFeel®: 10 °F
Mostly cloudy, breezy and cold; some late-night snow, accumulating a coating to an inch

Bernie be sure to stay hydrated! ;-)

Rann yet again another beautiful shot!

Well obviously it's cold here too but it feels better knowing we are the same temps as down in AR....LOL!
You guys TRY to stay warm down there!
Looks like it will now be Monday/Tues before it breaks here.
Then we should be at our average 39°...

Who'd have though Rann would have one of the highest temps here on the board...
INCLUDING FL!

Ric