I know many people think I am nuts for moving back from Southern California after 21 years, but I love the change of seasons. We are in the middle of a winter snowstorm here, and I love it. I'll be ready to escape around February (off to Florida and a visit with Terry.) But this is perfect for the week before Christmas. I never quite got used to looking at the Christmas tree with the birds of paradise blooming outside. Here are the trees outside my office at home.
Very Christmassy. We're expecting it to hit us this evening/overnight, big winter storm advisories on the news now for Detroit and area. With any luck we'll just be on the the other side of the outer edge as it plows thru and over to Buffalo and Toronto etc. Right now we've got less than a 1/4 inch but I have my snowblower positioned inside the garage door just in case LOL
Fred that picture is just beautiful!!! It was 82 here today. After living in the midwest all my life it is hard to believe it is Christmas with these temps. I can just see the fire in your fireplace, what a fun way to spend an evening. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for sharing those wintery scenes. It's making me feel a little homesick for Alaska. I agree, even after all these years in California, it's a little strange not to have snow for Christmas.
And, no, the robin's egg blue trailer is mine. Greg's is the double wide to the right. Things are slow, so I had to give up the cable. But, I put up this big antenna so I wouldn't miss Judge Judy (no more Court TV for now). It should hold up until the next big twister comes through. Wish me luck. And, Greg, would you turn down that stereo. I can't hear myself think. Myrtle has a heck of a cough tonight. (She's in the trailer on the left.) Her daughter and three grandkids are coming from Albuquerque on Wednesday. I hope to have the truck running by then. I'm supposed to pick them up at the Greyhound station.
Happy Holidays,
Alicia
Post# 27252-12/16/2007-02:12 ||| hoover1060(Roselle, IL USA)
this is michael..........
fred, greg, and mike...... YOU GUYS ARE KILLING ME!!!! LOL and i just want to go on record saying that I H A T E W I N T E R !!!!!!!!! I H A T E S N O W!!!! I H A T E C O L D !!!!! I H A T E E V E R Y T H I N G T H A T W I N T E R S T A N D S F O R !!!!! MAN I WISH I WAS IN PS...............!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
sorry to be the bahhumbug in your parade!!!!!
Post# 27253-12/16/2007-02:14 ||| hoover1060(Roselle, IL USA)
STILL MICHAEL
wow!!! the message doesn't read like you type it!!! no spaces at all..............what's up with that?
Jeff, not sure about PS but talked to Roger last night and he said it was just plain cold there in Tucson. They were calling for frost last night. Here is a picture of winter in Florida. 75 right now. Terry
Shhh, Michael, everything's going to be allright. You have someone to keep you warm. Terry, is that a Crepe Myrtle in your backyard? I have one, but it's not blooming right now. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!
Oh Fred your pictures are just beautiful, winter is my most favorite time of year with the crisp cold air on the outside and nice warm and dry radiator heat on the inside. After growing up near New York City, I went to high school down in south Florida, but after three years I couldn't live without winter anymore so I went from Fort Lauderdale to Fargo (for college) to escape and I loved it. After college I went back to NYC and winters there were warm and rainy which wasn't winter to me anymore so I moved back to real winter country and I love it here.
Greg love your new neighborhood! Can't want to see that basement.
I H A T E W I N T E R !!!!!!!!! I H A T E S N O W!!!! I don't get that Michael, in the USA we have some of the most varied climate choices in the world, why don't you guys move to Florida or Southern California? Why live in a climate you don't like? Just like I won't live in a true season free climate, you should live in a climate that suits you as well.
Terry your backyard (and entire home) is just beautiful, it was so nice sitting out on your porch having coffee in the morning. I can't wait to do it again in February!
Well unfortunately the protective bubble over Sarnia failed overnight. Just came in from snowblowing the driveway and the neighbors, it's still coming down and drifting so more fun later on. Actually I enjoy it. I bought the snowblower about 12 years ago when we moved to the country outside Calgary and I only got to use it maybe 3 or 4 times
Parker and Ben absolutely love the snow, it's amazing how excited they get. Here's Ben slowed down when he went to race across the neighbors front yard
My friend Patrick in Chatham proudly talks about the balmy 'bannana belt' down Windsor way. But no more - he got 6" overnight.
As you know, out here in flat prairies land there's nothing to to keep the snow in place for long - it just blows sideways into Ontario & Wisconsin. :-)
Also means tho that the winds freeze things rock solid. All the side streets and most of the main roads have a layer of ice for the duration.
When I left Moose Jaw on Saturday there was ground fog so thick you couldn't see 50 feet. Any speed above 50 mph defeated the defroster and froze a layer of fog to the windsheild. This lasted all the way to the other side of Regina. As whiteknuckle harrowing as the first 2 hours drive was it was still darn purty with the sun out full blast lending a cheery eerie glow to the whiteout desolation. Thank gawd for the divided TransCanada Hiway. I don't want to remember the sight of a transport truck jacknifing through a red light on skating rink ice and taking out a dozen cars like so many bowling pins. Fortuntely I was far enough back in the pack and at such a distance that the Subaru AWD & ice tires eased me safely over to the shoulder and around the carnage while a second pileup was in progress behind me. By the time the traffic came to a stopped the place was swarming with Police cars & helicopters & ambulances. Whew, my personal Guardian Angel was working overtime. From Regina on the fog lifted, the sun was blazing and the landscapes breathtaking with frosted trees in the unrelenting flatness of it all. Unfortunatly, the camera battery was dead by then. :-(
This morning in Winnipeg there's not a cloud to be seen nor many expected in the week ahead.
The last year I lived in cold weather was 1980, in Annapolis Maryland. At the time I worked for the County Water Works as a meter reader. When freezing weather hit and people's water lines started freezing (mostly in older neighborhoods), the entire force of the Water Dept. was on call to go out in the middle of the night to thaw out water meters -- with blow torches. Mostly this was with residential lines because of the shallow depth they were planted in the ground, but occasioonally even large commercial lines froze.
So anyway, one night I got called at 2 in the morning to go out on a thaw call. It was at a huge industrial plant up near Baltimore. Me and the other guys had to heave up a 4-ft.-in-diameter manhole made of cast iron and 2 inches thick. It was frozen tight. We blasted it with blow torches, pounded on it with sledge hammers, it would not give. Finally six of us started prying at the corners with picks. Well all of a sudden, the end I was pulling on flew up and off of the manhole. I lost my footing o the slippery ice, and down into the manhole I went. And into waist-high freezing muck.
It was at that moment that I vowed to never spend another winter in cold climate and so far, Thank God, I have not had to. On December 27, a buddy and I packed our stuff and drove cross-country to California.
We crossed the California border in what I thought was the middle of the night. But then we came upon one of those electronic Freeway Condition Signs on Interstate 10. The message: "HAPPY NEW YEAR!" We had crossed the California border nearly at the stroke of Midnight, January 1, 1980.
The snow pictures are wonderful. Terry, thanks. There is a large bougainvillia on the street facing the east end of my street. My Crepe Myrtle was planted for my father, after he died in June '87. It got to a certain point, then quit. Blooms nicely though. Dave, glad you got safely to your destination. I have never driven in snow.
pictures from our Luminary Evening in Galena IL. This is the home of our friends Roth and Brad. It was a perfect night, snowing, and the entire city lit up with luminaries. Roth and Brad had 160 bags out this year.
Post# 27315-12/16/2007-21:11 ||| badata(Joliet, IL)
Why live in a climate you don't like?
Robert......It isn't easy to just pick up and go. I'd love to go to S. Cal!!!! It would never benefit me to leave my job and go elsewhere. I might make the same money, possibly even more but I get 6 weeks of vacation a year and NOBODY would ever give me that. I've been working for the same company for 20 years. maybe someday.
