January's Daily Weather, Gleðilegt nýtt ár! Happy New Year!

If I were counting blessings,
I know just what I'd do,
I'd start the list most certainly
With everyone of you!

We gather here almost daily
And post both winds and dew
We share our dogs and children
our joys and sorrows too.

We have many great pictures
Worth tousands to say
How well our gardens grow
How pretty the skies in May

So from the bottom of my heart,
From Ohio, New Jersey, PA
And anywhere I wonder
Your with me everyday

And I thank you for every word and image!

Please post often with allyour great pictures.
Where I am it's 26.9 °F / -2.8 °C
Clear-Flat- Bright and Sunny!
Humidity: 80%
Dew Point: 22 °F / -6 °C
Wind: 2.0 mph / 3.2 km/h
I am going to visit Tamara Faye at Fritch today.
We'll take many pictures I'm sure.
Here's a Jax nightscape.........very pretty when the bridge is lit up.
Much love to all,
Sidney

Wow! Sidney! Thanx for the great poem! You do really well! I'm convinced this Is the best place to be! :D
Love the "nightscape" photo of Jax. Gorgeous!

Joey

Thanks Sidney!
I rang in the New Year w/ Grapefruit and Oranges (well another ingredient there too! lol) Freshly picked and delivered from JAX!

From OH!
Happy New Year!

Ric

Hi everyone and Happy New Year!
I had to work today, so was up at the crack of dawn. Looked outside – not one window was lit! This is the problem with working in vacation rentals; everyone else is on vacation! I’ve got to find a job that recognizes federal holidays.
We hit the hay at 10:30, couldn’t stay up. Heard to fireworks go off, rolled over and went back to sleep!
Sidney – Great poem!
Rann – Thank you for staying up and taking the photos, they’re awesome. Looks like Selma Run and Kiki have become fast friends.
We’ve been overcast most of the day, the sun was trying to break thirough this morning, but it just wasn’t happening!
We're at 70 now - a dreary day for the Gator Bowl.

Rest Of Today...Mostly cloudy. Showers likely with isolated thunderstorms possible in the afternoon. Highs 71 to 75. Breezy with southwest winds 15 to 20 mph with gusts to 25 mph at Times. Chance of rain 60 percent.

Sunrise this morning

Happy New Year! I managed to make it to midnight, but only just! Thank for the fireworks, Rann. Our neighborhood sounded like a war zone last night, but we didn't get to see any in the sky.
And Sharon, thanks for the sunrise. I definitely slept through it! :)
It's New Year's Day, and the a/c is running. What's wrong with this picture?! I'm seriously considering putting the plants back outside.
72*, humid and overcast.
Cannas are putting up shoots. Very odd.
Deb

Happy New Year!! It's a funny thing.. I had never even heard of fireworks on New Year's Eve until I moved to Texas - and here you folks do them all over the world! Who knew?!? LOL

As for us, well, we're pretty much ignoring most of the traditions, as usual. LOL We stay up well past midnight routinely, so last night was no exception. Charles and I were working on the musical picture slideshow that we burn onto DVDs every year and mail out instead of a Christmas card. (Yes, we're just a bit late this year! LOL) The bunnies were in their room by midnight, but weren't asleep yet.

This morning we all slept in. Charles and Katie woke up first and watched the Rose Bowl parade on one of the Spanish-speaking channels (they actually show the floats instead of the celebrities who are just supposed to be introducing them - what a novel concept!) Joy and I joined them before the parade was over.

In the meantime, Charles is out in the back yard playing with the bunnies and I'm watching football. That's one New Year's day tradition that I do keep well!! I love college football and basketball. Charles and I had brats for lunch in honor of the Wisconsin Badgers' playing in the "Capitol One" Bowl. I lived in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Ohio before Charles rescued me and I came down here to Texas, so I tend to vote for whatever Big Ten team is playing. :-) We're going to have Santa Fe chicken on tortillas for dinner. It's in the crock pot now.

Rann, those are the best fireworks photographs I have EVER seen!!! Fantastic..

Observation for Houston, TX (KSGR) as of 2:53pm CST (35 min ago)
Temperature 55 °F 13 °C
Dew Point 32 °F 0 °C
Humidity 41%
Pressure 30.27 in 1025.2 mb
Wind Speed 8 MPH 7 kts
Wind Dir WNW 300°
Ceiling Unlimited Unlimited
Visibility 10 mi 16.1 km
Current Conditions Clear
Remarks 6 hour min temperature ending 11:53am CST : 37.9°F / 3.3°C

It is in the 40s with a brsik wind here. But the sun is shining so bright it hurts to look at the sky.

Here in Northwestern Missouri we ended the year with snow, wind, ice, and by mid evening no electricity!! It was a local problem and the outage was scattered. My wife played Scrabble by candlelight with the kids to hold down there boredom then they all went up to there grandparents for a while. Around midnight we had electricity back on and this was a nice way to ring in the new year!
Today it's a gorgeous sunny but cool day. We just have'nt had much winter here in our part of Missouri. Others around us have had major storms so we're very lucky.
Happy New Year to each of you. Sidney your poem is super as is your weather thread..........
Cuckoo

Hiya Cuckoo!! It's great to see fellow Missourian on here!! We haven't had much winter here either. Just that major snowstorm back in Nov. I really miss real winters here. I can't believe you got that snow up there. I was hoping majority of it would hit us. LOL. But at least your electricity came back on within 24 hrs. I remember when we had the ice storm in '02, we were without power for 9 days. Had to go to our school to take hot showers or go across the street to our neighbor. Not fun at all.

Saw this hawk at work today. He let me walk close about 4' from him and snap pics. He finally looked at me like I was dinner, so I decided to thank him for his time and walk away!
He's a beauty

another shot

the clouds started rolling in and the rains began...taken while standing on the rear parking lot after my photo session with the hawk.

Your hawk looks like a Red-shouldered Hawk...very nice pic!

Well New Years Day was cloudy, windy and 26 F. Could be worse for my area. I only have 3" of snow on the ground when normally we would have 1-2 feet by now, so I count my blessings! Suppose to rain tomorrow so that's even better!

Good Evening....
Glad to hear that the day went well for you guys.
Sharon, those are really Close pix of the hawk! I think he was just posing for ya...not wanting to Eat you! :D
Cuckoo, glad you had some of the white stuff! We're supposed to have rain & Maybe some snow, but I doubt it.

It's still really warm @ 41* w/the rain already here....Way too warm to snow. Maybe we'll get some the end of the month.

Ric? What in the world would you have w/ your Oranges & Grapefruits? :D I prefer Lime! ;)

Well, gotta puzzle to finish....Wishing every one Well for this New Year...

Joey

I missed this thread so I'll repost here - not that it's that exciting, but here it is.

Black-eyed peas are a Southern tradition. In my family, we had pork roast and sauerkraut on New Year's Day. One year I made pork roast, sauerkraut, and black-eyed peas on New Year's. Sixteen days later was the nasty Northridge Earthquake. I never made that combination again. I just have something pork on New Year's . We had Italian sausages today.


Very windy and dry again today.


Coast live oak with lichens.

Evening all, well just tonight and tomorrow night and I fly back to my home.
I spent 3 hours with TamaraFaye this afternoon. Her hard drive is cooked, so she sends greetings to all. I was able to take some organic seeds off her hands and got to help her gather eggs. Pulled about 5 from under one chidken, they all have names. She has about a dozen Ginnys and one hen, Blondy, rounds-up and herds the ginnys for her. They really run to Tamara when she calls them. She is 6 months along with a new pregnancy and it's going to be a boy.
We had a great visit.
Great shots Sharon, too bad about the rain for the game, but great for my garden.
33 °F / 1 °C
Clear- Dark with Moon
Humidity: 61%
Dew Point: 21 °F / -6 °C
Wind: 10 mph / 17 km/h / 4.6 m/s from the South
Sidney

Love the Oak Kelli.
;)

What a great shot Sharon. Whay size lens were you using?
Looks like he's 10' away!

TamaraFaye?! Man how nice a way to spend a day Sidney!
I've missed seeing her around!

It's 34° outside and WAY Dark. 104° in the Hot Tub. Just got back inside a few minutes ago.
It started Snowing for a few minutes while we were in there.
50° tomorrow! Go figure..........

Ric

A mostly clear moonlit night led to yet another overcast day here with a few scattered rain showers. We still are having temps much warmer then usual and are expecting low 50's here for the next few days.

Sharona........nice hawk pics!

Kelli.........love the oak photo!

Well, in a few months I'll be able to get back out and photograph those foggy sunrises and dewy insects. Here's my friend Bob on a perfect morning.

early_bloomer

Hope all's had a Happy New Year's beginning...this was DH's birthday so it's been a good day all around.
It's 9pm, snowing, 10 degrees and beautiful.
Sidney - loved your poem and hope you have a good trip home.
Rann - the fireworks photos were so good - thanks for sharing.
Joey, did you get the puzzle finished?
Photos here are always so good and such a wonderful glimpse of other places.
This was taken today as we went to my daughter's home, a mile/half from our home. 10 degrees;snowing w/some fog
kiska

Joey – What kind of puzzle is that? That’s gorgeous~
Kelli – that live oak is beautiful, I love trees, especially old ones, they have so much character. I wish I could send you some rain.
Ric – I took the pic with my canon, some of the pics were taken at more of a distance when I first saw him.
E-B – nice pic – Bob looks like he’s having a good time!
Kiska – I got the shivers just looking at the picture, so cold, so much snow and so pretty.

I have no complaints about the rain. We need it, so we started the year on the plus side of rain. According to our family tradition, black-eyed peas are for luck, any green veggie is for wealth, cornbread is for gold and a meat, we had pork roast.

Our cool front finally came in - it's 40 now, high today is 65 - my kind of weather!
Today...Partly cloudy. Cooler. Highs in the mid 60s. Northeast winds 10 to 15 mph.

I was almost under him in this pic. I hope he'll put another appearance in today. He's a great model!

Helluu! Ya'll! Well, we got a little rain last night (again) & the temps still hangin at 41*. When I went to bed at 11:00 last night the temp here was 41* & in Beckley (70 miles away) it was 18*! It was supposed to get colder, but didn't.
Sharon, that's not the puzzle I've been working on, just something different. That puzzle is not even close to beong finished. Emily has even been trying to help. It's a pic of an old water mill with plenty of water (:D), but very difficult. the pieces are large, but some are not interlocking. I had a puzzle once (a Rembrandt) that I worked on for 3 months! I'm so stubborn, it took me 3 months to figure out that I wasn't going to be able to work it. It was 2500 pieces & Huge!
E_B, that is a marvelous morning shot! Great color & tones....
Kelli, old oaks are grand ol' trees. And you have found a dandy! Great shot!
Kiska, Happy Birthday! to DH (again;) I want snow! (whining) I love all that white stuff!
Sidney, have a safe trip. :)

Gotta go make some coffee! I can't believe that I've been sitting here without any! :D

Joey

(one more pic of "smiling" Callie)

Sidney - that is a great poem ! Thanks !
It's still fairly calm, cloudy and 37°F. Two more days until Selma Rún starts back at school and in that time we need to turn things around so she'll fall asleep at a decent hour tomorrow night.

We went outside after dinner last night to light the remaining sparklies and Selma Rún ventured out for a little bit .... there was still the odd firework going off here and there so it wasn't quite safe yet according to her.

Here are two links to yesterday's news:

the first one discusses the thick cloud of smoke from the fireworks around midnight. It was like fog and is the thickest smog EVER measured here - if it had lasted longer than the three hours it did it would have been very dangerous. There have never been more fireworks fired on one night ..........

http://dagskra.ruv.is/streaming/sjonvarpid/?file=4337960/1

The second discusses the celebration in several places. ( You can fastforward over the anchor's introduction - it's a bit lengthy). Thousands of tourists were here to take it all in. The weather was perfect all over the country. The first bonfire pictured was in Kópavogur (second largest town, adjacent to Reykjavík)and there was a fireworks exhibition there. The bonfires are held after dinner around 8 or 9 pm. About 10.000 people attended the bonfire in Kópavogur. Then there is footage from the fireworks at midnight in Reykjavik (at the Pearl) - a few Swedish tourists were interviewed who were all astounded by the craziness - but enjoyed it nonetheless. Then a interview with an icelander who gave a chemical analysis of the colors in the fireworks and after that, footage from Mt. Esja overlooking the fireworks in Reykjavik. Then there's footage from a bonfire and fireworks in a town called Egilsstaðir which is the largest town in the eastern part of the country. The bonfire there was at an unusual time, 5 pm .... a few interviews with locals and a bit more fireworks :-)
http://dagskra.ruv.is/streaming/sjonvarpid/?file=4337960/2

Hope you all have a great day! I guess it's back to work now - and time to get back to gardening now that most of the festivities are over. The 13th is on Saturday so then people get a chance to fire some more fireworks - for those who didn't get enough on New Year's Eve.

Thanks Marylyn and Kiska - glad you enjoyed the photos :-)
Here's another one from New Year's Eve - looking towards Reykjavik and Garðabær.

Sharon the photos of the hawk are great - must have been great to get so close to it!! It's a beautiful bird :-)

EB - wonderful morning photo!

Kelli - that is a grand looking tree! Great photo!

Cuckoo - sorry you were without power - no fireworks to keep you occupied?? A good thing it came back on so soon :-)

Here's one from last night :-) DH there holding the red flare ;-)

We have had a mild winter here. New Year's Eve morning we got our first big blizzard and it was beautiful! It had rained all day the previous day (which shouldn't be happening in Dec!)

The blizzard quit around 11 PM and the stars were out. But we still didn't get to have our fireworks display here on the lake. It takes 6 hours to set them up and it couldn't be done during the snow storm.

They are saying they may do them on Super Bowl Sunday.

That's would be Great TLC! Save more for later! :D It would be nice to have them spread out like that. In the state of WV, if you are not lisenced, it's illegal to have them. :( ~ But I Do love looking at everyone elses! Some people put off a few (& risk it), but if I did it I would (for sure) be the on to get caught & fined.! :)
Rann, Thanx for the links & the Great pix! (very entertaining, even in a different language) Hildur & Selma seemed to be totally mezmerized! :D
Joey

early_bloomer that is a Perfect Morning shot!
Joey I put wedges of the fruit in a glass. Pushed them w/ a muller and added Ice and Vodka. Ahhhhh....
BTW Callie has Personality +
rannveig it's been a real thrill living the Holidays thru your eyes.
Love that Flare shot. You too have a great 'Eye' for a picture setup!

OK You've all heard and seen those Stupid Law sites.
Like in Kentucky:
One may not dye a duckling blue and offer it for sale unless more than six are for sale at once.

Well in Ohio it's legal to buy Fireworks...
Firecrackers, bottle rockets, Roman candles, skyrockets, fountains, and missiles are examples of 1.4G fireworks.

But.....
When purchasing these items, the buyer must sign an affidavit stating that they will be taken to a designated out-of-state address.
After the items are purchased, Ohio residents must take these fireworks out of Ohio within 48 hours and out-of-state residents must do so within 72 hours.

And...
No one can legally discharge these fireworks in Ohio.

So...We can buy about anything under a 2 1/2" diameter firework. But we can't shot them off. (yeah right)
When you go to buy them you sign a paper saying you will take them out of State to shot them off. (yeah right)

Well it's 30° Not a Cloud in the Sky!
Dewpoint: 30° Wind: Calm Humidity: 100% Pressure: 30.48 in Hg
Average: High 39° Low 22°
Record: High 64° (2006) Low -3° (1928)
Today's Sunrise: 7:58AM Today's Sunset: 5:28PM
(09:30 hours of sunlight)

Going to 48°
Tomorrow 58° and Sunny!

Here's our Arabis alpina and Muscari

Ric

Happy New Year!

It was a nice mid-40's day yesterday and today is sunny and should be close to 50...things are sprouting and starting to wake up here too....I found daffodils with buds on them! Will post the pic later...but there they were....my hyacinths are breaking ground too...and my dormant daylilies never did die back...hope things don't get bit with a hard freeze....it won't kill them, but it sure will set them back.

Soon we'll be looking at this.....

Ric

Oooo Melody! Much too soon! :-O After reading your post I will have to check somemore on my things. My Day Lilies do die back & I would hate to see them come up Now!

Ric, The only place you can buy them around here is at Wally-World & it's the little stuff. If you want the Big stuff, you have to go to SC. And you would be suprised at how many folks go all the way down there to buy them!
Nice Arabis alpina and Muscari! The combo of hot-tub & a soothing drink sounds so relaxing...
Oooo Ric, What is that!?

Only up to 42* * overcast.

This message was edited Jan 2, 2007 10:07 AM

Fireworks are illegal in Iowa except by license; my neighbor here on the lake has "Flashing Thunder", a professional fireworks company.

He does our annual fireworks show every 4th of July co-ordinated with patriotic music played by the local radio station. Everyone goes all out with lights on the lakeside - like decorating for Christmas, only red/white/blue. There is a decorating contest as well as a boat parade.

When you watch the fireworks and the patriotic music is blaring . . . it makes chills run up and down your spine. Our little lake is in the country. But the night of the 4th, the road around the lake is lined on both sides with cars as well as all the little country roads nearby. When the fireworks are over, the State Highway Patrol is here to control traffic.
In the 26 years I lived in California, I have never seen such a good display as we have here.

My neighbor is in his 70's and shoots shows all over the MidWest in the summer. I tell him he is a pyromaniac! He says when he dies and is cremated, 1/3 of his cremains will be buried on his farm, 1/3 will be scatterer in the lake and the other 1/3 will go in a fireworks . . he's going out with a boom! LOL

This message was edited Jan 3, 2007 3:34 PM

TLC ~ LOL!! That is Great! What an arrangement! On the 4th you'll have to get pix & give us a visual! :D I want cold chill! too!
Joey

Joey,

I have never figured out how to take pictures of fireworks; that will be a good goal for this year.

However, he provides me with a DVD every year with the entire show on it.

TLC ~ Wow! Now that sounds really neat! He sounds as if he's a very generous man...a good neighbor. :) If you practice enough & get good at it, would you be willing to share? Please? Maybe Rann could give you a few pointers!
Joey

I certainly would share; I come by that naturally having come from a large family. He is a peach! After all, he gives me a plot at his farm to grow tomatoes every summer!
He even tills it for me. He pokes great fun at me when I am out there on my hands and knees putting down weed block paper between the rows so my feet won't get muddy when I go out to pick. He knows I'm a big sissy! I don't like getting dirty and I don't like bugs.

I would appreciate any suggestions from Ran. I have several digital cameras and although I did take a photography class many years ago, I don't remember now how to do the settings.
GardenWife had pointed out an online camera course that was free several years ago but I never got to it and now don't know how to find it.

Regards,

Morning all! A little "cooler" here today, expecting a high of 'only' 59* and a low in the upper 30s tonight. Birght blue clear day. The rest of the week though..back up to near 70 daytime and upper 40s night. I've decided to just expect spring weather because we're having one real typical winter day in 10 right now.

I was sitting in my back yard today stalking the bird feeder for pictures and looked up. The birds weren't cooperating so...Here's that.
Deb

Late moening to you all. I am really ready to fly back to Flprida tomorrow.
Rann, I really enjoy your fireworks shots too and would love some pointers too. I hopr the words of yours I copied and pasted in this threads title are really Happy New Year.
We caved early here, but I could faintly here the party music from some house near by.
Here it's 38 °F / 3 °C
Clear
Humidity: 60%
Dew Point: 25 °F / -4 °C
Wind: 6 mph / 9 km/h / 2.6 m/s from the SW
Windchill: 34 °F / 1 °C

Well we are off to a great start with many really good pictures. I enjoy all of them even if I don't go back and mention each one.
TWC, great to see you stopping in here.
Sidney

I always thought that was a really weird law, too, Ric.

Have a great trip home, Sidney! :-)

Deb, the hawk pictures are great!

It's a cool day here. The highs are "only" going to be in the 50's today and tomorrow. Tomorrow afternoon a warm front is moving through and it is going to rain through Thursday; and then on Friday it will be sunny and in the mid 70's. I love Texas! LOL

Observation for Houston, TX (KSGR) as of 11:53am CST (14 min ago)
Temperature 51 °F 11 °C
Dew Point 35 °F 2 °C
Humidity 54%
Pressure 30.38 in 1028.7 mb
Wind Speed 5 MPH 4 kts
Wind Dir ENE 70°
Ceiling Unlimited Unlimited
Visibility 10 mi 16.1 km
Current Conditions Clear
Remarks 6 hour min temperature ending 11:53am CST : 33.1°F / 0.6°C
6 hour max temperature ending 11:53am CST : 52.0°F / 11.1°C

marylyn: though I'd love to take credit for the hawk, he belongs to Sharon! I dream of getting that close to one of them! ;>

Deb

57.4°(F) porch, "no transmission" shed, - Very Bright, 53%

I wounder if stompping on the shed sensor would fix it or just make me feel better?

Ok moved the sensor from shed to porch, moved the sensor from the porch to the shed, now have readings on both indicators (it will be interesting to see how long they take to stabilize).

Was going to make this movement last week but forgot to (ain't getting old grand?).

Darn I just realized the the labels on the indicators are now incorrect and I will have to make more labels.

Maybe I should just give up and move to someplace where the wx never changes.

This message was edited Jan 2, 2007 2:48 PM