Christmas Day

A light dusting of snow on the garden.

Snow flurries Christmas morning, but they didn't end up amounting to much -- just a light dusting of snow. 


Jo and I drove over to Yellville, AR, and enjoyed a delicious (and bountiful) Christmas meal with friends.

Joe Doster slicing the ham.

.

Christmas Day

Feeding the Birds

Jo's replacing the feeder she filled with a pseudo-suet mixture (cornmeal, peanut butter, lard). A light snow is falling while the temperature hovers right at the freezing mark. No accumulation is forecast.

(I just checked our forecast again.  Now NOAA says we could get an inch of snow today and another half inch this evening.  We're still not likely to get snowed in.)

Feeding the Birds

Journal: Monday, 12/01/08

►  A very light dusting of snow is being blown around by a gusty north wind.  29ºF/-1ºC @ 1:30  AM.

►  Time to throw a couple more logs into the wood stove and then go to bed.  (28ºF/-2ºC @ 4:45 AM)

►  Blog Post on Nature in the Ozarks:  Buck Deer in the Garden


►  So far today is much better than yesterday -- and better than today's forecast too. (Partly cloudy, blustery north wind and 40ºF/4ºC @ noon)

►  Unfortunately, the weather seems to be coming into compliance with our forecast. Clouds are moving in and we appear to be heading toward overcast. (40ºF/4ºC @ 1 PM)

►  Jo made a run into town.  She had some orders to mail plus routine grocery shopping, etc.  Jo said the line at the post office was long, but she'd used Click-N-Ship and her packages were ready to be mailed.  All she had to do was hand them to the clerk, which is exactly what she did.  Some of the other people in line acted as if they did not appreciate her jumping to the front of the line, but she really didn't.  She stacked her packages on the counter in front of a closed clerk's window.  She didn't take up any of the one working clerk's time.  And, anyone who wants to spend the time online can use the Click-N-Ship service.

►  Jo also bought some "extra" food.  When we do Christmas Showcase down in Little Rock, we stay with a friend.  A couple of other artist also stay.  Everyone brings food and we have potluck meals in the evening after the show.  Jo is making King Ranch Chicken.

►  Spent several minutes looking for my knit cap before heading outside. Only when I gave up looking and decided to put on a ball cap instead did I discover the knit cap on my head. Nap time? (Still 40ºF/4ºC @ 3 PM)


►  Back from our afternoon walk. Can't believe I found a violet blooming.  (Varying between partly and mostly cloudy, moderate north wind and 35ºF/1ºC @ 5 PM.)

►  After alternating between partly and mostly cloudy all day, our skies finally cleared around sunset.  We got a good look at the conjunction of the moon, Venus and Jupiter.

►  Jo is loading her kiln for the last glaze firing before our last art fair of the season.  Not all the glazed pots will fit.  Which pots go into the kiln and which stay behind?  What are we going to sell this weekend?  (Mostly clear, light north wind and 30ºF/-1ºC @ 8 PM)

►  Last pre-show glaze firing underway. 29ºF/-1ºC @ 11 PM



.

Journal: Monday, 12/01/08

Journal: Sunday, 11/30/08

►  Keep seeing stars overhead although it's supposed to be cloudy.  A chance of snow in our forecast for later today.  (40ºF/4ºC @ 2 AM)

►  Time to call it a day.  (38ºF/3ºC @ 4 AM)


►  Awoke around eight o'clock.  38ºF/3ºC and sleeting.  Went back to bed.  It was too early for me to get up anyway.

►  Still 38ºF/3ºC and a mixture of drizzle and snow is falling from the sky. The weather is not improving after my returns to sleep, so I decided to go ahead and start my Sunday. Coffee consumption underway.

►  Alternating between drizzle, sleet and snow.  The temperature is still 38ºF/3ºC @ 1 PM.

►  Afternoon walk: Not very pleasant in wet snow shower, but we made the regular trip to the gate and back. One of those times when Jo and I would not have been motivated to get the exercise were it not for the dogs. (36ºF/2ºC @ 4:45 PM)



►  I don't care if the thermometer does say it's 35ºF/1ºC; there's ice on the porch steps. (Methinks, the pick up bulb for the thermometer is too close to the house.)

►  The temperature fell into the upper twenties overnight.  Skies remained cloudy but the precipitation stopped around sunset.  We ended up with a light dusting of snow here and there by day's end.  I guess this event qualities as our first snow of the season, but just barely.





.

Journal: Sunday, 11/30/08

Camera Critters: Bucket and Rusty

Bucket and Rusty

Taken by Jo after our last significant snowfall in early March. Jo took Bucket (Boo-kay) and Rusty for a walk up the road while I remained at home trying to finish up some project before it got dark. Jo said she had no idea why both dogs were staring up the road so intently. Perhaps they were anticipating an SPCA rescue party.

Shortly after this photo was taken, Jo put Rusty back on his leash because he was expressing too much interest in something going on out in the woods. A little while after that, Jo decided to take more photos. She had Russ sit, but left Bucket free to roam. Boo quickly got bored with the photo session. (She usually does.) When Jo looked up from the camera, not only was Bucket already heading home, she'd picked up Rusty's leash and was leading him back to the house as well.

To participate in Camera Critters, please visit Misty's blog.
Many thanks to Misty for hosting Camera Critters.

Camera Critters: Bucket and Rusty