Yep, Joey, I keep thinking about the fact that spring will come soon! Tomorrow will be 18 secs longer than today. :) After tonight, we get back to "normal", e.g. no freezes, at least for a few days. Yay!
Messin' around with the camera outside my office today. This is the big pecan tree behind out building.
Bundle up, y'all!
Deb
Deb - that's a pretty photo and a nice looking tree! Do you get pecans off it??? I love them! :-)
So many great pics! Been lurking, feeling a better thanks to NyQuil and DayQuil Cough!
We've gotten cooler and drier, hopefully will get to do something with the slab and birdbath this weekend. Skies are clear - taken this afternoon
Rann: Yes, we get pecans - lots of them. The tree is h-u-g-e.
Deb
Sharona, good to hear you're feeling better. Those blue skies sure look a lot more inviting than the tornado weather Florida was having a few days ago.
Deb, When my wife's grandparents were alive they spent some time in Florida each winter and always returned with the car packed full of citrus and pecans which they passed out to the family.
early_bloomer
E_B: Having pecan trees is a blessing and curse. It's great to have all the pecans, but the trees leave a mess.
The one in my photo is on county property surrounded on three sides by various municipal and law enforcement agencies. When the pecans start to drop you can see all sorts of folks darting around trying to scoop up treasure. :) And the squirrels seem to be fond of the spot as well.
Deb
Happy Birthday Blooms!!! How did I miss this earlier? Hope it's a great one.
Well folks I once again wrote a long post and it was cyber-ate.
I am here until the 3rd;
Borger, Texas
Elevation: 3054 ft / 931 m
60 °F / 16 °C
Clear
Humidity: 25%
Dew Point: 24 °F / -4 °C
Wind: 13 mph / 20 km/h / 5.7 m/s from the SW
Here in the FLAT panhandle of Texas it's 60º outside and at my home in Florida it's
44.8 °F / 7.1 °C
Clear
Humidity: 80%
Dew Point: 39 °F / 4 °C
Wind: Calm
What's the deal here?
Lisa, glad you dropped in and I believe wool keeps you warm even when wet.
I have a whole vat of micro-fiber for the times I work in the Tundra, (Anywhere North of the Mason-Dixon line). I also got some boot/shoe liners with a shiny mylar bottom that relect my body heat back into my feet. Shop at a good hunting store and they will fix you right up.
Well it's 'Dyson Dark' now and it was 'Blooms Bright' all day today.
They say that the visability was 10 miles today, but I think 25 miles is more like it. Did I mention it's flat?
Here is me and several cousins I hadn't seen in 20+ years. My DB is on the left end.
Sidney
Sidney - what a nice looking group - getting together, especially this time of year, is so nice.
nearly 8pm, the temperature has risen from minus 10 this morning to 20 degrees above..it's now very windy with blizzard conditions as all this snow is being blown to Anchorage ---
Before the wind came..
kiska
Happy Birthday Blooms - a day slow, but hope you had a great day!
Great picture Sidney - looks like you are having a great time together.
Kiska - all that snow and wind! Brrrr!!
We're at the beginning of a slight warming trend. This will last until early next week. We're at 39 right now.
Today...Sunny in the morning then becoming partly cloudy. Areas of frost and patchy fog inland early in the morning. Highs in the upper 60s. Northeast winds 10 to 15 mph.
No clouds in the sky yesterday, not the best picture! Looks warm, but we only got to 57 and the coastal breeze made it much cooler!
Good Morning! All! It's 30* outside with a heavy frost. It's supposed to get up to 50* again today, but we'll see.
Deb, did ya get any frost?
Sharon, I hope you continue to feel better, just keep drinkin' that stuff! :)) (although I tend to push the chicken soup)
E_B, You're making me feel old...I used to go to Fla. for visits & would come back with grapefruits, oranges & we'd stop at an aunts house in Columbia, SC. to visit somemore & leave there with the pecans. Yep, those were the good ole days. :D (we got lots o' snow back then, too)... Thanx for the trip! ;)
Sidney! What a handsome looking bunch! I'm sure you all have had a "hoot"!
Kiska, it's not all blowing away, is it? :( Will you get somemore of the "marshmallow" snow? If I can't have any myself ~ at least I can look at yours.:D
Lisa, Hope you have gotten warmed up!
Blooms? are ya feeling better? Did ya try the chicken soup?
Have a Great Day All! :D
Joey
Good morning!
A happy birthday wish for Blooms from me too.
It's 37 and sunny at the moment heading for a high in the low 50's. No wind to speak of, so it's quite pleasant even at the moment. Tomorrow should be warmer, but there's another storm brewing in the Rockies, so we may get some nasty weather by the weekend.
Here's a frosty picture...just too good a shot to pass up. This is in the little road ditch by our office...the school busses come right by there to the nearby school. I was laying on a big piece of cardboard right in the ditch when they were bringing the kids to school one morning....folks who know me aren't usually surprised at where they find me...but the kids sure got a laugh.
36° (Wind Chill 32°) Dewpoint: 30° Wind: SW 4 MPH
Humidity: 79% Pressure: 30.33 in Hg
Average: High 40° Low 23°
Record: High 67° (1984) Low -3° (1924)
Today's Sunrise: 7:57AM Today's Sunset: 5:24PM
(09:27 hours of sunlight)
Going to 55 today! We're at least 15° higher than average....
Another minute of Daylight too! What to do............. hmmmmmmmmmmmm........ lol
Blooms ........... HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Sidney what a great Family shot.
How nice that you all got back together again!
Love all the shots! Melody those crystals are perfect!
I did get out yesterday and get a few pictures.
I was extremely surprised by the Winter growth here.
I'm afraid the plants will be paying for it soon enough though.
Here's the Cow Parsley yesterday.
The first shot was about 2 weeks old.
Notice the new growth is now above the Black Foliage.
Ric
Thanks, I'm in the middle up there. Well here it's
47 °F / 8 °C
Scattered Clouds
Humidity: 56%
Dew Point: 32 °F / 0 °C
Wind: 7 mph / 11 km/h / 3.1 m/s from the ESE
Pressure: 29.64 in / 1004 hPa
Windchill: 44 °F / 6 °C
We have Winter Storm Watch in effect from Friday evening through
Saturday afternoon. Expecting about 4 " of the white stuff.
I am taking DB back to airport this morning. Did I mention he got me a GPS for Christmas?
That means I will no more be in Philly seeing the Sunoco Refinery, but not being able to get to it.
Where we are staying it is in the broken areas like they used to show in the old western movies.
There will be miles of Mesquite sprinkled praries, then arroyas with a creek and rolling little hills.
Yes this is where I came from and many of my heart strings are here.
I however will be here until next Wednesday and I am somewhat ready for FLORIDA!!! LOL
Sidney
Wow! Ric! That is a lot of new growth! I hope that those extra leaves will be enough insulation to protect them thru Jan. & Feb....
Melody ~ you actually layed on the ground? Course I guess the cardboard kept you from getting cold & wet! (doh) Do you carry cardboard around with you for taking pix? I can actually see the look on the kids faces (mouths agape in amazement & then laughter!) :D Thanx for sharing!
Joey
Sidney! That's really neat ~ growing up in the "Wild, Wild, West"! Sounds cool, to me, anyway. And I suppose you are really gonna get cooler if it's gonna snow! down there (again!). And you may never get "lost" again! Yippee!
Joey
Ric is that parsley tasty? and have you ever made Taboli with it? It is very pretty.
Melody those tiny frost spikes always amaze me.
Sharon, were you in the water when you took yours? LOL
Kiska as usual your shot is awesome.
And Joey good clouds and sky are always inspiring to me.
Sidney
Good afternoon!
It's a bit blustery here today, wet and 49°F.
A happy beleated birthday to you Blooms - hope you had a wonderful day :-)
Sidney - looks like a nice reunion! Must be nice meeting up after all these years :-)
Sharon - glad you're feeling a bit better. Hildur Eva has a pretty bad cold and was running a fever last night. She's feeling better today fortunately although the cold's still pretty bad. I'll be taking olive leaves in hopes of not catching it too ;-)
Kiska - pretty photo - are those birch trees with the light colored bark?
Melody - lovely frost crystals
Ric - you sound like an icelander - everytime we get a warm spell during winter we really can't enjoy it since we're too worried about the potentially damaging cold that will (inevitably) follow! lol It does look like spring growth :-) It is a really pretty plant.
Joey - very nice sky pic! Love the sun peeking through :-)
Hope you all have a wonderful day!
rannveig
This message was edited Dec 28, 2006 3:51 PM
The sun is out today, but yesterday was rainy and cold. Snow fell in low elevations and closed a lot of roads. The No-So central valley artery I-5 is closed due to snow and mudslides. This means if you want to get to LA, you go either through the desert or take the 101 coast route (both out of the way for us here in the middle of the valley). I'm glad I'm not planning a southward sojourne in the next week or two, but I know a lot of folks are heading down there for the Rose Parade and Bowl in Pasadena on the first.
Observed at: Fresno, California
Elevation: 335 ft / 102 m
36 °F / 2 °C
Partly Cloudy
Humidity: 70%
Dew Point: 27 °F / -3 °C
Wind: Calm
Pressure: 30.09 in / 1019 hPa
Visibility: 10.0 miles /
CALTRANS REPORT
http://www.dot.ca.gov/cgi-bin/roads.cgi
I-5 IS CLOSED FROM 4 MI NORTH OF THE JCT OF SR 126 /AT LAKE HUGHES RD/
(LOS ANGELES CO) TO 25 MI SOUTH OF BAKERSFIELD /AT LAVAL RD/ (KERN CO) /THE
GRAPEVINE/ - DUE TO SNOW - MOTORISTS ARE ADVISED TO USE AN ALTERNATE ROUTE
A frosty rose for all of you this sunny morning. Have a safe holiday! 8-) Janet
Janet -that rose is so pretty! What's its name??
rann. . .I should know it, but will have to look at the tag when I go to work in the garden again, probably next week.
We planted 6 of these small bushes along a driveway and they have continued to bloom up into Dec. I took this last week during the 3 or 4 days we had down in the upper 20°s.
The same cultivar, only fully open. I love the color.
It's very pretty! Must be nice to have roses flowering at this time of year!! :-) Thanks for sharing it with those of us who can only dream of roses at this time of year :-)
Joey: Gorgeous sky. Looks like something's about to happen. We did get frost, but it was "scattered" as predicted. I had the plants covered so, no damage..so far so good. They even had frost in Fla, right Sharon?
Melody: I admire your high embarrassment threshold! LOL! Love the result.
Right now it very bright and 61* and only going into the mid 40s tonight. No more frost for at least a week. Tomorrow, upper 60's.
Deb
Around here, no one is surprised at where they may find me...or what I'm doing...and yes, I carry cardboard, a bucket, pruners, a broom handle with a nail driven in for a 'hook', a small step stool, a couple of containers for bugs, leather gloves and an assortment of small gadgets that help me get to plants and insects that aren't easily accessible from the roadside. All of the county deputies know me, as I'm likely to be pulled off on the side of the road just about anywhere, to collect or photograph, native plants, animals and insects.
Well we ended up with about 2.5" of snow then a little bit of glitter. Today was sunny and although windy, the bit of glitter kept the snow from falling off the branches. We never got above 25 F today...coldest day so far this winter. The windchill was only 5 F...I went for a walk to enjoy the sun but boy, was it cold! Suppose to stay this way until next week, then the temp is suppose to rise to just above freezing again. Most of you people have winter that is more like my May month!...50's-60's would be good May weather around here.
Joey – I do chicken soup as well, but the ‘Quils get me through the day and night! LOL!! Love the sky pic
Melody – funny story and great pic!
Sidney – Jacksonville can’t wait to get you back! You’ve been missed!
Rann - Hildur Eva & I have the same “bug”, leaves you feeling just awful. Hope she’s feels better really soon. What do you do with the olive leaves?
Janet – that’s a beautiful rose
Deb – East of Jax did get frosty, more of the inland areas (no coast). A friend (Debbie) in Bryceville (50 mins east) she got some, said she “froze to death last night”!! LOL!!
Todd – One word – Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!! LOL!! :P
Melody – Wow, I thought I was doing good carrying around my pruners, snips and baggies! Guess I need to stock up on supplies except for the “bug-age” stuff – I don’t do bugs!!!!
Well, we made it to 67 (sorry Todd!) made for a lovely day. We’ve got a bunch of people in town for the Gator Bowl game this weekend, staying home away form the crazies!!
This message was edited Dec 28, 2006 6:35 PM
Sky today when I went out for lunch. I thought it might make those still in the gray zones feel a bit cheerier! Just blow it up real big and pretend your on a picnic...in June!
Deb
Sharon - I take 2 capsules every 4 hours of olive leave extract if I can remember to take them - I mostly take less since I'm very forgetful ;-) lol It works if you start taking them soon enough - I'm afraid I was a bit late since I was out of them when Hildur Eva got sick - so I've been feeling a bit under the weather today - still not as bad as her though. It works as well if she gets the stomach flu - I always used to get sick too (which is the worst!!) but since I started taking the olive leaves I get away with just feeling a bit queesy for a day ......
Todd - 50-60's would be a very nice May day here too! Even a very decent day in June ..... or July ..... or August for that matter!! LOL Enjoy the snow! We call that kind of weather when the sun is shining and it looks really pretty outside, but then when you get outside there's this bone-chilling wind that ruins it - "Window weather" (Gluggaveður)! We get a lot of that ! lol I got the rock gardening books for Christmas and started reading the Rock Garden Design and Construction - and there's one of your photos in it!! (at least! I haven't finished it yet!) I thought that was so cool - I could brag to DH that someone I "know" has a photo in that book :-) LOL!
Still very windy - I'm guessing that it's some of that stormy weather coming up from NL! ;-)
To update the progress of the oil cleanup in the stranded ship - they started pumping oil out of the tanks yesterday. At least half of the oil has leaked out already, but because of the very stormy weather it was kind of "whipped" into the ocean so not much damage - no oil has come ashore and not much has been spotted floating on the ocean ..... which I guess is good.
This message was edited Dec 28, 2006 11:47 PM
Debi - that is a beautiful blue sky! :-)
Good Evening all! :D It's 47* & droppin' like a rock! About 1 1/2 hr. ago it was 55*! But it's gonna be even warmer tomorrow... :P. With it being so warm now, we may be in for it come mid-January. Oh well, Ces La Vie!
Get well soon, Sharon & Blooms & Hildur Eva!
Rann, Hope you don't get it!
Hey Todd! Ya wanna swap? I'll give you the frost (& the high temps) for the snow! :D
Melody, you certainly get into it (& that's a good thing), just like I get into baseball. I carry 2 chairs, rubber cloves, TW car wash, sponges, a pillow to sit on, a blanket, a rain coat, & an umberella. The car wash & stuff is what I do when I'm waiting. But I do think your pic is really neat! A different perspective! :D
Well, Shoot! I meant to go outside & look to see if there was anything "sprouting"! Oh well, tomorrow will be better for that kind of thing. It's supposed to get up to 60*.
Janet that is the prettiest Rose. A real Beauty! :D
Sharon, that looks like a very secluded place! Is that where you go to hide from folks? :D
Deb, it Does look like picnic weather!
Well, Wally world is calling to Garrett & I'm need to tag along..
Have a Great Evening!
Joey
My friend's "babies" ~ aren't they cute?
This message was edited Dec 28, 2006 6:54 PM
LOL - Joey! They're adorable!
I hadn't even marked this thread to watch. now I'm working my way down the posts.
Last one first - Todd that is a great way to phrase that bit of frosts that seals the fluffy to the branches
Melody I love both the photo and the description of laying on cardboard in a ditch to get it.
We would have a great time together. My friend who goes out with me on photo treks has taken a coupla shots of me laying in ditches to get the perfect angle on a flower. Hafta admit my ditches have no water in them. Usually. I randomly collect wildflower seeds but not insects.
Everybody was so wonderful with birthday wishes yesterday. I was quite overwhelmed and also still amongst the missing. Thank you all. This cold has resulted in a four foot cube for a head. I am trying the liquids, am sipping chicken soup as I write. slept until noon thiry today after a restless night. Not to worry this is only temporary. According to all reports I have 2 days more to go. Everyone who has had it around here have it for 9 days. Weird.
Hi - 46 Lo - 31 Hum 58% grey skies two days now, we are on the fringe of another storm headed for Denver. again no precip for us.
Thanks for being here whenever i look. ~Blooms
48.9°(F) 86% - porch, 56.3°(F) 78% -shed and once again dark,
I did get out to the patch while it was still light enough and pull a couple of carrots to go into the beef stew my DSIL was making.
I'm still waiting for the DW to bring me a plate.
Have a good night all.
Just to show you how messed up my head is, I started writing the above post about 20 minutes after Todd posted. I'm never gonna catch up I'm off to look at all the pics tho.
Blooms - I sure hope you'll be feeling better soon!!
Wind, wind, and more wind, and then even more wind.
Updated: 4:51 PM PST on December 28, 2006
Observed at: Van Nuys, California
Elevation: 797 ft / 243 m
59 °F / 15 °C
Clear
Humidity: 16%
Dew Point: 12 °F / -11 °C
Wind: 15 mph / 24 km/h / 6.7 m/s from the North
A High Wind Warning remains in effect until 12 PM PST Friday.
North winds 35 to 45 mph with local damaging gusts to 70 mph will
persist through and below passes and canyons of the San Fernando and
Santa Clarita valleys. Winds will become northeast in the
afternoon through tonight... but remain potentially damaging
through Friday morning.
Late today getting to the computer - it's 6pm, dark, quiet, and 20 degrees...the winds died down so getting out was much easier...the drifting/blowing snow is a pain to drive in.
The photo of the trees were birch and willow with the large, spruce nearly down. It's been hanging for years, a real widow maker for sure.
I've read and loved the accompanying photos; time to fix dinner so will come back later, or in the morning.
kelli - the ocean must sound fantastic with those crashing waves.
kiska
Beautiful day! It hit 56 and was pretty much sunny all day....they seem to have canceled the potential snow for the weekend...we'll see...
Good afternoon! It's a bit windy, wet and 46°F so we're still in a "heatwave"! lol Too bad it's always rainy when it's this warm this time of year.
Kelli - that is some view of the ocean you have! Wow! Don't like the sounds of those winds at all ....'
Kiska - glad the blizzard conditions are over!
Good Morning! It's a cool 30* with frost that looks like snow!! (sounds like a Christmas song! :D)
Melody, are they calling for rain for you too? They changed ours as well.
Kiska, glad the wind has died down. Snow drifts can be a real pain in the patootie.
Kelli, that pic is so nice. It makes me want to take a nap as I listen. :) Hope the wind dies down for you soon.
Blooms I hope your head gets straightened out soon. Poor thing.:(
Rann, those pups are so cute. I hope she sends me somemore pix....they are really like her babies.
Well Have A Great Day! Everybody! :D
Joey
(My Big Baby)
Good Morning All! It’s a lovely day here, a tad warm for the New Year weekend, but I can’t complain too loudly (or the natives will find me)!!!
Joey – those babies are adorable! And your baby is beautiful! I took the picture at Peters Point Beach yesterday, very quiet during the "winter months".
Dyson – how was that stew? Sounds yummy!! How do you know when carrots are ready?
Kelli – glad to hear from you, was getting a little concerned. Pretty ocean pic! Hope the winds die down soon.
Kiska – glad the weather has cleared up for you.
Today...Partly cloudy and breezy. Highs in the mid 70s. Northeast winds increasing to 15 to 20 mph. 20% chance of rain.
Line of clouds forming to the west yestreday.
