The best part of winter is...

[retiredwith4acres]

We are like some others in that we try to get caught up with those things we don't have time to do in the summer. We have crossed off a couple things on the list but have lots to do. BUT, there are longer periods of coffee in the morning, earlier to bed at night, sleeping in at daybreak, basket weaving to do , crocheting to do, and I am going to learn to knit this winter. I too love the snow even though it doesn't come like it did when I was a kid. In the 50's and 60's we would get several 6-10 inch snows each year and sometimes we get none now. We do have a hog pen and pasture fenced in for getting meat animals in the spring to raise, the garage and basement still have to be cleaned out, and several other things but at a slower pace. I am getting seed catalogs but haven't taken the time to look, plan and dream until the Christmas season is gone. Too much cooking and cleaning to do for family for a couple more weeks.

 

[vfem]

Yeah, in 2 weeks I get to sit around on my couch and look at seed catalogs!!!

As soon as the hassle of the holiday is gone, I can rest.... and like you guys, finally start planning the spring gardening. I can't wait until I can start the early sprouting and start tilling....

I'm already getting excited for MARCH and its only DEC!!! UGH

 

[Smart Red]

NOT a snow lover here! As I get older snow gets less appealing.

Actually, I remember three years ago waking morning after morning to a winter fairy land. Beautiful white covering everything and the trees and shrubs twinkling in the sunlight. The next winter we had fewer but heavier snows that were heavy and hard to shovel, crummy to drive in. Then last year I was spoiled with the warmth of nearly a zone 7 winter. What little snow we had failed to sparkle and quickly became muddy.

I dislike the whole thought of cold and snow knowing that I will be traipsing through it to care for my fowl friends.

And yet, I spent some time yesterday out among my singing trees. I dearly love to walk in them at night while the snow falls softly and the wind blows lightly. Oh! The beautiful songs this small grove of pin oak sing - cloaked in their dark red leaves - during a time of year when most of the trees stand cold and silent. It's my special place.

Love, Smart Red

 

[catjac1975]

Snow does not come as deeply as when I was a kid. I remember it being up to my chin!. Oh wait -I was 3 feet tall then.Hahahahaha

We are like some others in that we try to get caught up with those things we don't have time to do in the summer. We have crossed off a couple things on the list but have lots to do. BUT, there are longer periods of coffee in the morning, earlier to bed at night, sleeping in at daybreak, basket weaving to do , crocheting to do, and I am going to learn to knit this winter. I too love the snow even though it doesn't come like it did when I was a kid. In the 50's and 60's we would get several 6-10 inch snows each year and sometimes we get none now. We do have a hog pen and pasture fenced in for getting meat animals in the spring to raise, the garage and basement still have to be cleaned out, and several other things but at a slower pace. I am getting seed catalogs but haven't taken the time to look, plan and dream until the Christmas season is gone. Too much cooking and cleaning to do for family for a couple more weeks.

 

[digitS']

I am becoming a not-a-fan of the Weather Channel. Good Heavens, if you'd watched 2 days ago and yesterday, you'd have thought that a terrible storm was continuing to hammer the Pacific NorthWest! And . . . it is bearing down on the rest of the country!!!

I checked the government website, went to the Canadians and looked at the radar map there . . . I couldn't find any terrible storms! It looks like there will be some snow in North Dakota & northern Minnesota today.

After a lot of rain several days ago, what came thru here yesterday was a little bit of snow & rain. It was almost trivial! I'm still looking forward to a nice blanket of snow again. The wind and such make the outdoors a little unpleasant here but that's about it today. Here is what I think is a nice snow gif for those of you also waiting for snow:

Steve

 

[thistlebloom]

You don't have to go far for some real snow Steve. I set a pile aside for you!
It started snowing in earnest yesterday afternoon, stopped for the night and began again this morning. I shoveled the snow off the walkway this a.m. before my husband left for work, then I did some outside chores for a few hours, and now that I'm in, looking out, I bet we got another inch and a half.

It's clean and white and very pretty out there! Gonna do some Christmas decorating today .

 

[curly_kate]

Send some of that our way! Nothing but RAIN the next few days. I'm not a huge fan of winter, but I like some cold to get into the Christmas spirit.

 

[digitS']

Here, I think the snow level is about 2,300 feet.

There is supposed to be sunshine tomorrow, Thistle'. It should be real pretty 360! That isn't temperature but looking in every direction.

Windy, tho'! Maybe even, Real Windy! I don't suppose that we are likely to catch a break until we pass the 2am of the year - also know as February!

Steve

 

[nachoqtpie]

It was super cold here day before yesterday and the day before that... of course... super cold for me is anything below 50...

We're hoping that it's warm here over Christmas and New Years so we can get some grass seed laid down. The whole debacle of not having a mower for half the season left our back yard with some bare spots... and of course the chickens free ranging back there don't really help that situation much... :/ We have the neighbor girl coming down to take care of the dogs and chickens and ducks for us for almost 2 weeks while we go to Texas to visit my momma for Christmas and New Years/Monks 14th birthday ( ) Then of course, hubs wants to order MORE ducks for spring. We're thinking of putting one of our drakes in the freezer because he's being quite aggressive towards little Gretchen (who I'm thinking is actually a Greg... :/) and Lame Duck Lilly. He pins Lily down but doesn't even attempt to mount her. Sometimes he just chases her down and grabs her, sometimes he mounts her. She's missing most of the feathers on the back of her head and neck, and some on the side of her face as well! Poor thing.

If I do put Midna in the freezer, then I will be able to get an additional buff drake when we order our Campbells and Buffs for spring. Which would mean 1 Pekin, Runner, and Buff drake and 2 Pekin, 4 Campbell, and 3 buff ducks. I'm thinking of selling some duck eggs to our local organic store.

 

[digitS']

It will feel very odd if we have a warm Christmas.

It does happen but very seldom. This place is known for Chinook winds which are strong, warm winds off the Pacific that reach far inland. The effect on the other side of the Rockies in Montana can be dramatic, even catastrophic - with flooding from snow melt. Anyway, the Weather Service is already backing off on its prediction of winds today. It wasn't supposed to be a warm wind, anyway. We've got 17 days until Christmas. Yikes!!

I had the good or bad fortune to come north in 1968. There are still local records from that winter. I thought it might be normal - I mean, once you are house-bound by blizzard conditions and temperatures more than 20 below zeroF, it is difficult to find out what the oldtimers think of the weather .

It is a little disturbing to look back at the records for this or that and realize that I was here . I've been reading a little history of the location. It is interesting how the people with money, the so-called "developers" (I wonder what the Indians would have thought of that term :/) came and went like some kind of whirlwind. Lawyers turned investors. I just followed one family from one side of the continent to the other and back again, twice. Lawyers and investment bankers everyone: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 generations. The rest of us just showed up and gave those guys all of our money just so that we could get them the heck outta town! I guess.

And so, the West was settled.

Steve