January Weather - Part # 2

Marilyn, baby toes is in the ice plant family. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/56907/



NWS says,

Confidence is growing that significant and possibly excessive
rainfall will occur over southwestern California from Sunday through
most of next week... but the exact details of timing are still
unclear. At this time... it appears there will be three or four
separate storm systems moving into the area between late Sunday and
Friday. For the entire week... there is the potential for rainfall
totals of 4 to 8 inches in coastal and valley areas... and 8 to 16
inches in the foothills and mountains. Local rainfall amounts over
20 inches will be quite possible across favored south facing coastal
slopes.

Van Nuys, California (Airport)
Updated: 1:51 PM PST on January 15, 2010
71 °F
Mostly Cloudy
Humidity: 18%
Dew Point: 25 °F
Wind: 9 mph from the North


wild lupines come up wherever people let them

tangerine tree is loaded

Yikes, Kelli!! 8-20 inches is a LOT even here, in the torrential-rain-prone sub-subtropics.. I can't imagine what a mess it would make there!! I hope you all "only" get the 4-8 inches.

I love that bridge photo, too, Joey. I'm glad your fishies are swimming happily!

The butterfly photo is beautiful, Marilyn!

Speaking of torrential rain... Yikes, Lisa! I hope the watch is canceled before it turns into a warning! It's raining here all day long, but not very hard, so the bayou system is handling the water nicely. The bunnies and I just got back from gymnastics, and the roads are wet and puddling, but not flooding at all.

It's been soggy and in the 50s all day today. Tomorrow is going to be the same. Sunday is supposed to be dry, and in the mid to upper 60s, though. That sounds very nice to us about now! :-)

Observation for Houston, TX (KSGR) as of 5:25pm CST (23 min ago)
Temperature 52 °F 11 °C
Dew Point 50 °F 10 °C
Humidity 93%
Pressure 29.88 in 1012 mb
Wind Speed 16 MPH
G 23 14 kts
G 20
Wind Dir NE 50°
Ceiling 1100 ft 335 m
Visibility 6 mi 9.7 km
Current Conditions Light Rain, Mist
Remarks 0.07" of precipitation last hour.
6 hour min temperature ending 11:53am CST : 52.0°F / 11.1°C

Tonight Cloudy with scattered showers. Lows in the mid 40s. North winds 15 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50 percent.

Kelli has enough vegetation grown back after the fires to make mud slides less likely?
That's a BUNCH of rain!

Well we hit near 50 again today.
The Pond is about 1/2 thawed and I saw a few fish swim by!

We had a water main break in at least 3 places last night out on the main road.
All the gas line work and the low temps I guess.
The breaks were probably there before but the frozen ground kept them from surfacing.
So about 1 PM they shut all the water off for repairs...
they actually knocked on doors and told people!
I was amazed!
Course we were the only ones home... so all our neighbors started calling as they got home from work. The Water Dept left tags, but on everyone's front doors..... and they all park in the back...lol!
It came back on about 5:30 so no big deal.....

It's still 40° at 9:30!
I can get used to this! lol!

Ric

Celia: do you have tufted titmouse birds along with the chickadees? Usually where there is one, there is the other.
Kelli: thanks for the link on the baby toes--a very interesting plant! Is that tangerine tree in your yard?
Marylyn: we weren't soggy today but we should be getting some of that rain from you tomorrow.

Wow, we had a beautiful day today--near 60F and sunny! I took advantage of it to get out in the flowerbed. I had some tulip bulbs which have been in the bottom of my refrigerator for 2 years. (dug them up after they bloomed in 2008 and just didn't get them planted again last year after pau died so I just left them in the fridge.) I thought I might as well plant them now rather than throw them away and just see if they are viable. In addition to getting the bulbs planted, I pulled up some weeds--they were green and one kind even had tiny blue flowers on it--after all this cold weather!! Why should the weeds thrive in the winter and the flowers go dormant? It's a mystery!! I even found some earthworms moving around. I found some sedum pushing its way up through the leaves. The hellebores are doing well, too. There were signs that spring is not far behind--yes, I know it will be several weeks before spring actually arrives but it was good to see signs of life under the leaves and mulch. :o))

Ric: we crossed--sorry about the water main breaking but glad it is repaired now. You saw a fish--hooray!!

Kelli w/ the cold snap down south those tangerines are worth their weight in Gold!

Ric

Ric, glad the leak got repaired before any real damage could be done. I'm as surprised as you that they knocked on doors! LOL

Kelli, if that were my tree, there wouldn't be that many tangerines left. LOL

Mau, I haven't seen any titmice. We get mobs of sparrows and finches. The chickadees usually hang out in the pines across the street. Winter is the best time to see the smaller birds besides sparrows and finches.

Thanks, Adina! Yum!

I didn't see it Celia but I guess water was spraying into the air or bubbling out of the road in three separate spots. So I guess they didn't have a lot of choice on fixing it quickly. lol!
Evidently our are was furthest into the line so got fixed first.
They dug an 8' deep hole in the street right in front of Jon's house.
Guess they'll be back tomorrow morning to work on up his street.

Lovely Hawk!

Ric

Yes, the kestrel seems to be a regular visitor these days. We had a water main break out in the road the night we moved in our house. The only reason we knew was the water bubbling out of the road, too. Sitting on the porch Darrell says, "What's that in the street?"

When we lived up on Beechmont Ave, a main drag here in East Cincy, they were just doing heavy development in the area.
Restaurants, Shopping Centers, Housing Developments ...... all took their toll.
We had main breaks at least once a week for months it seemed.
They were jack hammering and digging w/ heavy equipment at all hours.
Finally they just dug up the whole street, widened it and replaced everything.

We have almost all of the room sanded.
Had to go back and patch a few spots but all in all it looks pretty good.
Hopefully we'll have it done and the primer up this weekend.
Then we'll start on the trim....

Ric

Heh heh heh

LOL!

I remember the first time we were out there.
Robyn's DB had an appointment in Burbank.
We went along and hung out in the parking lot.
There was a Lime tree overhanging part of it.
The Guard told us to load up!
He was tired of people complaining about the mess.
We filled Bobbie's trunk!
I made a bunch of Daiquiri's that year!

Ric

Good morning!

It's raining, 37°F /3°C (feels like 29°F /-2°C) ... wind from E at 19 mph / 23 km/h. Humidity 87%. Sunrise 10:53, sunset 4:23

Kelli - wow! That is one loaded tangerine tree! Lucky you :-) Hope you get an ample amount of rain but not enough to cause mudslides :-)

Mau - sounds like a perfect day :-) It's so much fun to see some signs of life when it warms up! You're right she turned 7 ..... and there are actually 7 candles on the cake .... 3 are lined up so the one in the middle is hard to spot ;-)

Ric - glad the fish are OK! :-) Good thing they fixed the waterpipes quickly.

Celia - that kestrel is a handsome bird ... Great photo! :-)

Joey - Hildur Eva will be getting more than two parties actually ...... I'll be throwing a party for her class (girls only) next week and her father will also have a party for his side of the family .......

Now I need to finish the cakes and get the house cleaned for tomorrow's small birthday party ... it'll just be mom, dad my siblings and their kids. Really nice and uncrowded :-)

Have a good day!

Rann

Good Morning all! It's 26º and Dyson Dark! I usually sit in my kitchen and watch for the magical moment of twillight. I love being up before the sun. If winter goes on with a low in the twenties at night, and a high in the thirties during the day, as it will be all week, winter will be just fine!

Rann, what a wonderful birthday she had! Yum on the cake! Her hair is so pretty. I love the ringlets. Has it ever been cut?

Joey, I love bridges big and small! Watching water sort of rocks my brain in a good way. I went to your link. Wow, it's beautiful there!! I commented, so your thread will also be bumped :o)

Beautiful combo Mau!

Celia, dee deee dee's are one of my favorite winter birds. They are small enough to get in the wren house, but have never nested in one.

Adina, yum, yum, yum!

Rain for Kelly! I hope it soaks in as soon as it hits. Questions for Kelly :o) Is this an unusual amount, or does it rain like this once in a while? Are the tangerines edible? If so, how lucky! I love to eat fruit right off the tree and bushes. The red berries make a nice color mix. What are they? (Got the answer to the tangerine tree. Lucky you!!) We see tree monitors around here all the time. They check for different pests.

Marylyn, glad you're not flooding. We get rain in January sometimes and have to get out the pump so the garage doesn't flood.

Ric, do you keep emergancy water in the house? Ever since the straight line wind knocked our power out for three days. we invested in 7 gallon water jugs that we fill at DD's. Her water system is new and tested safe. (Ours has Atrazine in it.)
Iin the next town, it borders the Mississippi, there are natural springs that keep spots in the highway wet all year long. Not running, but seeping. Glad they got your's fixed in a day. A trunk full of limes!

Rann, I never thought about your parents living there too :o) How far from you are they?

bp we have 4 @ 5 gallon jugs of water that we ran thru the Brita Filter.
We added sterilizer tabs from our back packing days to them and sealed them.
Those are strictly for emergency...
As for toilet flushing use.... we have a 1000 gallon pond out back we can draw water from....
plus 300 gallons of rainwater...
When we lived in 'creek we were on a well... we had to be prepared for power outages.

It was 34° when I got up and is 36° currently.
We're heading for 50°!
Looks like low/mid 40's all week for highs. Lows right around freezing.
So 10° higher than average for the lows and 5° higher during the day.
THAT's easy to take.

The Cardinals are singing up a storm this morning.
It's Territory Staking time!

Ric

Sally - thanks :-) I had her hair cut about a year and a half ago ....... she has refused to go since because she wants to grow it REALLY long! lol She really needs one though, just to cut the ends ...... I've almost managed to convince her ..... it's starting to tangle more so those ends really need a trimming ;-) My parents live on the other side of town and my brother and sister both live close to their house .... so they're all about 5 min away ;-)

Ric - it must be nice to wake up to cardinals singing ....... I really miss them from my Florida days :-)

Here's a weather update ..... it's stopped raining and calmed down. Now mostly cloudy, rain showers in the vicinity though ..... 39°F / 3°C and feels like it :-) Slight breeze at 3 mph / 2 km/h ......

Here's a photo of the girls with their new haircuts .... this was june 2008 ;-) As you can see Hildur Eva's hair was cut pretty short .....

Rann

Ric, I forgot about our 6, five gallon buckets for flushing. Four serve as legs for the table I made using the top of an old dishwasher. It also rests on speakers for the other legs. Wow, you must have a good Britta. I have a 1 1/2 quart with the charcoal filter. The pond is a bonus! In the winter we would nave to put the pitcher pump on to get water, but in the summer, it's very handy. So good to be prepared!

Rann, tell her my hair is to my waist and I cut two inches off by myself last week. I was getting split ends and tangling too. Now it looks so sleek. Tell her her hair will grow better with a tiny trim, just like her fingernails. When I was young I was just like her. I wanted to save every millimeter. Our family is about the same distance. My Dad lives 5 blocks straight down the road from me, on a major highway. My brother lives across the road, catty corner from him and Dad's brother lives just opposite and is my brothers neighbor. My family has been here since 1849, so I'm grandfathered in, LOL! Oh my gosh, they look so young. I see she has natural waves. No wonder the ringlets.

This was in 2007 and I should have taken another inch off. I didn't get a picture of this haircut yet, but it's a straighter line and a bit shorter.

Sally, wow! Beautiful hair!
Ric, you and Robyn are amazing, taking care of everything by yourself! Is the pipe fixed yet?
Kelli, thanks for the tour of the submarine! So funny about the tangerines and Celia!LOL
Rann, that's a great picture of yiur 2 girls!
Mau, such high temps at your place! My tulips are starting to grow, they just popped up...I hope this is a sign of spring!
Joey, thanks for the clearing about DO. Is it well for the fishes now?
I vacuumed and cooked, also did a batch of laundry, maybe I'll do another one until I go to bed tonight.
The wind has started to blow and it's cold.
I'm posting a few pics from the Village Museum I we visited a week ago.
First, a few old houses from the countryside.
Adina

Another one.

One more.

Some covered with straw. The smaller one is the place where they kept the chickens.

Some gates made in the northern regions of our country.

Same kind of gate.

Close-up of the patterns.

More patterns.

A fountain and underground homes in the back.

This is where they used to make the wine.

A wind mill.

A water mill for making wool threads.

Another watewr mill used for making threads.

This is a fixture used for making oil out of oil seeds, such as pumpkin, wallnuts and sunflower.

The pictures are beautiful.
I just got back from the LA area less then 2 weeks ago. I drove by the area where The Station Fire was. Its amazing how large an area burned, that being said, it didn't look like there was near enough vegetation to stop landslides. I didn't realize that much rain was forcast, sounds like TX a drought interuppted by floods or is it a flood interupted by droughts? We got about 2.5" of rain but today it is beautiful.
50*
38% humidity
clear and sunny

Sally no, no raise is no good, but whatcha gonna do? I just got a $2.50 raise last June. I'm still way underpaid for my degree but at least I know I'm not the reason I'm not getting a raise.

Good video Ric! I've been to San Diego Zoo too back in 1998 I believe and I don't remember the people movers either, but I don't remember a lot, need to go back I guess. I remember more of the Wild Animal Park than I do the zoo.

Adina those are neat pics, and the detail of the fences... wow Thanks for sharing!

We went out this morning and put new mulch on one of the flower beds, then came back in, fixed breakfast consisting of fried red potatoes with eggs and sweet potato hash browns, and now it's raining.

gggoooooOOOOOO Saints!!!!

47.1 °F
Light Rain Mist
Windchill: 47 °F
Humidity: 77%
Dew Point: 40 °F
Wind: Calm
Wind Gust: 0.9 mph
Pressure: 29.88 in (Falling)
Visibility: 4.0 miles
UV: 1 out of 16
Clouds:
Overcast 4000 ft
(Above Ground Level)

This Afternoon
Cloudy. A chance of rain. Highs in the lower 50s. North winds 5 to 10 mph. The chance of precipitation 50 percent. Average rainfall less than 1/10 inch.

Tonight
Cloudy. A chance of rain. Lows in the upper 30s. Northwest winds 5 to 10 mph. The chance of precipitation 50 percent. Average rainfall 1/10 to 1/4 inch.

The SD Zoo is a bit overwhelming the first time through.
The WA Park is much easier to get a grip on...lol!

We hit 50° again today!
Pond id about 1/2 ice free... fish look fine!

Adina I love that Village!
Far cry style-wise from your new place eh? lol!

Ric

I'm keeping up but no time to comment. MOnty has a vet appt. Take care, everyone!

It's frosty out today.

27.2 °F with 32º for the high.
Overcast
Windchill: 27 °F
Humidity: 84%
Dew Point: 23 °F
Wind: Calm
Wind Gust: 2.0 mph
Pressure: 30.15 in (Falling)
Visibility: 2.0 miles
UV: 1 out of 16
Clouds: Scattered Clouds 600 ft
Overcast 14000 ft
(Above Ground Level)
Elevation: 4383 ft

Thank you Adina, I've always liked long hair. Spring popping up somewhere would be nice! I'm ready for fresh ourdoor blooms. I did dishes and a load of laundry. Now I need to vacuum. We're never done are we? What a great place to spend the afternoon! I love the woven fences and the patterns!

Crissyr, isn't it sad to be overqualified for your pay. Yeah, what can you do? You hang on to what you got! Your breakfast sounds better than my oatmeal with wheatgerm :o)

Have a good one Monty. Hope it's nothing but a check-up. Is that a flicker? He doesn't quite look like mine, but he's gorgeous!

We melted a bit with 34º and had heavy cloud cover all day again.

Ever realize that all these years you've spelled a word wrong? I now know how to spell vacuum. Now to learn linoleum. I got it!!

We have barely gotten past the freezing point the last few days. We have also had very thick fog that freezes overnight.

Last night I went to a hockey game and watched the Missouri Mavericks trounce the Mississippi Riverkings 6-2. It was a fun game though neither team was in top form. lol