No, those are not betting odds! That is the temperature swing we had between yesterday morning and this morning. Yesterday morning it was 50 degrees F and pouring rain with fog. Very strange. Throughout the day the temperature kept dropping. Here is a photo I took of the ice melting on the pool cover because I loved the reflection.

And here it is about one hour later: frozen!

A very strange day. This morning our weather station registered 1.2 degrees F with a minus wind chill. I think it’s about 8 degrees F outside right now at 2:30 p.m. Up and down — a weather yo-yo.

Hailey did not like the freezing rain we had the night before last. She stayed covered up in the towel I used to dry her off when she came in.

I can’t believe it’s really been a whole week since I last blogged. I am really falling down on the job here. I will try to do better in the weeks to come. Promise!

Last night just after dark something magical happened. It snowed. Not for long, but ever so prettily. The flakes were huge and plentiful. We turned on all the outside lights and just watched it fall. Unfortunately after about 15 minutes it was all over but it left everything with a covering of white. The perfect Christmas present.

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas, white or not.

Cabin Christmas 2003 

Last night we had a visit from Santa. He didn’t arrive in quite the usual way. You see, all our lovely snow melted and he had no choice but to arrange something else. So, he got a little help from the local fire department. His sleigh was borne in fine style on a flatbed trailer pulled by the fire department instead of the usual reindeer. As he went by the fire engine sounded the siren and had all the whirling lights going. Quite the entrance for the dear old man.

In case you think I jest, I do not. You remember Fire Truck Santa from years past, right? This time we have a new fire department covering our area and instead of sitting on the front bumper of the fire truck as he usually does, this Santa had his own sleigh. So darned cute! Sorry, it was dark when he arrived and I could not get a photo of the little parade. Trust me when I tell you it was magical. It made my day. 

We saw the light from the living room first, then when we realized what was happening we quick ran to the door to turn on the outside lights (which we had yet to do), opened the front door and stood in the doorway. As he went past he yelled “Merry Christmas.” They turned around in our cul-de-sac and started back our way. We both had our slippers on but mine are sturdier with a good sole, so Rick handed me a $20 bill and I took off jogging up the driveway. They stopped for me and rolled down the window of the truck that was pulling Santa and I handed them the money. They thanked me very graciously and continued down our road very slowly, hoping for more donations.

It’s a lovely custom and I can only say that had Santa come by my house when I was a child I would have been over the moon! Heck, it still makes me feel like a child again. Silly, but true.

Today has been dark and rainy. I am not surprised anymore by this kind of weather at Christmas. If I look back in my archives of the blog, or even just over on the sidebar under “On This Day” I was always lamenting about the lack of snow, and most years since we’ve lived here it has rained. At least we had some snow last week, and tomorrow night there is even a chance of an evening snow shower in the forecast. I won’t be holding my breath though. At least it will feel more like Christmas with temperatures in the 30’s instead of the 50’s.

We got about 3 inches of snow yesterday. For a while the snow came down fast and furious to the point where I could barely see my neighbor’s house across the street. It was beautiful. But like I said, it’s supposed to warm up (60 degrees on Sunday!) and rain so most of it will wash away and we are in for a slushy not-so-white Christmas. I feel another song  coming on …

I changed the view of the weather cam to point to where I feed the birds. I changed it yesterday so that Rick could see the turkeys too while he was at work. You might see them too! Or you might see the fox visit. For those of you who don’t know, just click on the “Weather” tab at the top of the page and it will take you directly to the cam. It takes a new picture every two minutes or so.

Yesterday I made beef barley soup while it snowed outside. There is something comforting about the smell of browning meat. I put my favorite Christmas album on the iPod (Michael Martin Murphey’s Cowboy Christmas) and danced around the kitchen in-between cooking. At first the dogs didn’t know what to think. What is mommy doing?  What’s wrong with her? But finally Bella joined me and we four-stepped (instead of two-stepped) around the kitchen island. Not that I really know how to do the two-step, but hey, we had fun. Hailey watched us and barked along to the music.

That music takes me back to the few Christmases that we were able to spend at the cabin. One year we were even industrious enough to make our own garland for the tree by popping popcorn and stringing it with cranberries. Here is a photo of one of our cabin Christmases.

I’ve been watching the Hallmark channel quite a bit. They are playing sappy Christmas movies pretty much non-stop. Some are good and very heart-warming, while others can be downright stupid. But mostly they make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside and in the spirit of the season. I think it’s a good thing.

I am working on another Lacy Leaf scarf (remember?) but I made a big mistake and I am having a hard time figuring out how to fix it without taking out any more rows. I might just have to take it down to the knitting shop in Wycoff for help. Bummer. It was coming along so well. This time I am making it in gray.

Last night I got up in the middle of the night and the moon was so bright. I looked out the window to see moon shadows of the trees on the newly fallen snow. Magical. Have you ever seen moon shadows?

 (Sing to the tune of “It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas”)

and yes, I made up the lyrics

This pretty much sums up our weather lately. On Saturday/Saturday night we got about 8 inches of snow, the last inch or so of that was a nice layer of ice from the freezing rain. Right now as I type it’s snowing again outside! I wish the snow would stick around (no pun intended) until Christmas but we are supposed to be warming up to temperatures in the 50’s with rain, so it might all wash away in a big pile of slush. Boohoo. Hopefully some of it will remain. At least it looks Christmas-y outside right now. 

These scenes are from Green Turtle Pond that I took yesterday on my little walk. The shadows were so blue.

While snowplowing the drive with Johnny Saturday, Rick went over the edge of the driveway by mistake and got stuck in the snow. We had to get the Surburban and hook up a tow rope to Johnny. Rick got on Johnny and I got in the truck and slowly backed up. It worked! Fun and games in the winter weather, and it isn’t even officially winter yet by the calendar.

Like I said, today it is snowing and I am being lazy around the wood stove. Remember just the other day I was remarking how we never see the turkeys anymore? Well, lo and behold, when I looked out the front window a little while ago, there they were! Twelve of them! I was so happy to see them!

I was thinking I could revise my little made-up lyrics yet again. Bear with me and maybe I can make you smile today. Here we go …

Okay, maybe I’m being a little bit silly today. Did I get you to sing along?