Overnight we got 4" and waiting for another 8" by tomorrow!

Happy New Year

I had a quiet Christmas and New Years. Deb's colleague Kris visited for a few days between the holidays. We had the chance to go snowshoeing and do some site seeing. It was a really enjoyable visit.

New Years Eve was spent with Deb and her sister Dana, in Saranac Lake's for their First Night celebration. For a $10 pass, they had a number of venues featuring a wide variety of music. We saw a local madrigal group and a local Celtic band. Denise and I had see the Celtic band at McDougal's pub (only 5 miles away from Bleak House, at the Hungry Trout Restaurant). By 9:00 pm it was -2º so we made it an early night.

I listen to WUMB radio a lot. It's an (almost) 24/7 "folk music" station operated by U. Mass. -Boston. I get it through streaming audio on the web and run it into my stereo. Last sunday some one mentioned this quote from President and Five Star General Dwight D. Eisenhower:

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. The world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children....
This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense.
Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from an iron cross."

Be well my friends.

I had the chance to do some snowshoeing over the weekend. We got about a total 16" of snow in two storms. I was over at Denise's for two nights while my driveway was being plowed. There are acres of woods behind her house most of which are owned by the Nature Conservancy. It's GREAT place to snowshoe. There is a quarry back there and on top you can see across Lake Champlain to Vermont and sometimes all the way to the Green Mountains. Be sure to check out Denise's blog for some great pic from our snowshoeing excursions. Look for "Dog Daz" to the right ->.


Deb will be driving up on the 24th and we'll be at Denise's for Christmas day. We're planning on lots of snowshoeing during her 8 day visit.

The driveway was plowed and sanded a second time this morning. Then unexpectedly the propane truck showed up. So I've got a full 400 gallons of fuel to keep us warm.
I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and New Years.
Be well my friends.

We got the first real snow of the year last night. After predicting 5"-8" we got 11". Since it was cold during the storm, it's a very very light fluffy snow. The little shoveling I have to do, weighed next to nothing. But we expect a much bigger storm on Sunday!!

I know it's not to every ones liking, but for me the novelty of living in a place with real snow hasn't worn off. I'll be out snowshoeing around noontime today.


Checkout the forecast for the week: http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/USNY0727_f.html

I'm little under the weather right now. Seems I picked up a cold while visiting in Southern New Jersey last week. I'm not a pleasant person when I'm sick. Since it doesn't happen often I'm not used to it. Denise and I had hoped to drive over to Burlington, VT on Sunday to see a performance of the Metropolitan Opera broadcast live to a movie theater in High Definition. But if my head doesn't clear by then we'll have to try it some other time. I've been wanting to try this for while. You can see where you might catch this is your area:
http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/broadcast/hd_events_next.aspx

It's been plenty cold this week. The rivers are starting freeze where the current is slow. This is the East Branch of the AuSable River near the house. These rapids don't freeze completely but much of the river up and down stream from them does. It's very pretty.

We're expecting 3"-5" of snow tonight and then real snow on Sunday, maybe 12" more. They are very good at predicting the snow falls here but only 24 hours in advance. So we'll have to see. We'll definitely have a white Christmas here.

Burrr

Last night it was -4°F (-20°C) and windy, which is VERY unusual. This morning, it's as clear as can be. I'm looking forward to bundling-up and going out in the first really cold Adirondack day this winter.

Winter time and living is easy

Just a quick peek at the latest snow at Bleak House. We're in that season of at least flurries everyday. We won't have many days with the temperature above freezing, until maybe the, not uncommon, January thaw. The temperature is predicted to be 2°F (-17°C) tonight and 6°F (-14°C) tomorrow. Time to break-out the Calvados.