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Saturday, November 17, 2018

Early winter update


Winter is setting in now and the temperatures are staying below freezing most of the time. There is a rumor that El Nino will be contributing to a warmer winter for us which is a mixed blessing. The brutal cold tends to be less often, but it sometimes warms up enough to rain which is awful. The ground is frozen and so are the roads and when you put water on them you get a lovely sheet of ice that tends to stay until spring. No one is making a long term prediction for snow.

 The alpine ski hills in Minnesota are open as it has been cold enough to make snow so they are already up and running or will be for Thanksgiving in a few days. We do have a flat trail or two for Nordic skiing up here that are open. Those have to wait for natural snow as they are more about distance than elevation. I hope to get out soon if we get a little more snow without extreme cold. I have turned into a fair weather skier in my later years and don’t like going out when the temperatures are much colder than about 15F, or about -10C for you all in the rest of the entire planet. Since I usually go alone I need to be a little more careful.

Here are a few pics of life. A ship on the lake. Click to embiggen.


Here are some deer at midday on the second Saturday of deer season. Some people say there aren’t enough deer because the wolves ate them all. I beg to differ.



A little more snow as of today.



Those of you wanting to know about Vinny the cat will be pleased to see that he has adapted well to domestic life.



Here is one from a few days ago while he was on my lap. He is sleeping next to me as I write this and keeping one part of my leg warm.  It  shows better why I named him after Mr. Van Gogh.


33 comments:

  1. well hello handsome vinnie! we had 3" of snow on thursday, now mostly melted. too early for snow here, and we set a new record for early snowfall. our city records go back to 1884.

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    1. I remember back around 1963 e got about 4 inches and it shut down schools for three days!

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  2. Handsome cat! Our winter is when the temp drops down to 20c :)

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    1. That is about the ideal temperature for me!

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  3. Vinnie is a beauty. Thank you so much for giving him a home.
    Love your snow scenes - and am glad to hear you are taking care of yourself.
    And yes, in answer to your question on my blog, we DO have a heap of public art. For which I am very grateful.

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    1. He is a deserving cat. I never thought of Australia as having a lot of public art, but your area certainly does. Is it like that in other cities and towns?

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    2. It varies. Some years back we had an inspirational Chief Minister who was committed to public art. He is gone, but his legacy is with us.

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  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  5. Vinnie definitely has personality.

    I hope your winter finds that happy medium.

    (Sorry about deleting above - I can't stomach typos!)

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    1. I understand about the typos. I try not to let them in, but sometimes they just happen.

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  6. I was thinking of Vinnie because of the snow storm on the East coast. He looks so much better with all the outside fur gone. He is such a beautiful cat. I am so happy he is indoor cat now. That last photo is fabulous.
    We have two very spoiled black (sister and brother) cats that son adopted when they were 11.

    cheers, parsnip and badger

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    1. angryparsnip, I have adopted older cats and dogs on more than a few occasions. It is a very rewarding thing to do. Vinnie has gotten to be quite a calm and warm indoors.

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    2. I am surprised we don't have more cats and dogs here. It is hard not to do when you volunteer at the shelter. I wanted to adopt "Captain Cookie Jar" A very big (huge) white cat with a few blonde spots. Our newest gud dug is starting to mellow in now.

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  7. brrr....15F is where I just sip a hot toddy and view the beauty from inside.

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    1. It started out at zero this morning, but rumor has it that we might get a little above freezing by the end of the week!

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  8. Aww... thanks for the Vinnie photo, Jon. I needed that. Brisbane is humid. Looking forward to getting back to the tundra. xoxo A.K.

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    1. The Tundra is looking forward to getting you back, too!

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  9. I had some cross country skis, but hardly ever went out on them so I think they were sold in a garage sale. Very early snow here too, the nearest ski hill opened yesterday to much cheering from the skiers. I prefer to watch the snow from a warm room. I never learned to skate or ski as I grew up where there was no snow, and I'm far too fragile to learn now. Vinnie definitely is a lucky little kitty.

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    1. I could skate when I was a kid, but as an adult it was like this: They pushed me out on the ice and that is where I stood for about an hour before the pushed me back off the ice. Vinny is lucky, but I feel lucky to have him, too.

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  10. I didn't realize that Vinny has such gorgeous black socks! He has truly landed in a soft place; what a happy story.

    Yes, be careful skiing alone.

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  11. Aw, Vinnie is such a cutie! Your winter photos are beautiful, but I don't envy you. I've decided I prefer to look at snow rather than live in it. We'll likely get a bit this winter, but hopefully it won't stick around. I was out weeding the garden yesterday, and it's supposed to be +10C and sunny today so I'll put up the Christmas lights. It's SO nice not to have to wrestle winter-stiff light strings with half-frozen fingers!

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    1. Weeding!?!? +10C!? I think I could learn to like that a lot!!

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    2. I love it! Although maybe the novelty will wear off in a few years and I'll be cursing the fact that it's November and the weeds are still coming up... ;-)

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    3. There are always trade-offs, eh?

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  12. It took nearly a year for him to be comfortable on my lap. Come to think of it, it takes everyone about that long to be comfortable on my lap! He knows what I'm thinking before I do.

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  13. Well, two things...first...how do you function in 15C weather? My vocabulary would be limited because I'd be mostly saying bad words a lot.
    And secondly...I owe you a huge apology. I wondered why I wasn't getting notices that you'd posted, but according to Wordpress, I'm not following you. Well, I took care of that in a NewYork minute, but I apologize for missing what's been going on in your corner of the world
    And thirdly (I know I said two, but I think of more things as I write). I'm sorry you're fighting the cancer. Fingers crossed, prayers said, and healing wishes are coming your way. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

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    1. Well, this morning it was -3F when I went out to feed the horses.
      I started out on Wordpress, but had issues so I switched to Blogger. I think they both have issues, but not being much of a techie I just go with whichever I ca navigate easiest.
      I got past prostate cancer about 7 years ago and am still fine with that one and the skin thing is really not much more than an annoyance, but I have to stay aware of it. Thanks for your concern, though. There is always research going on and we have made great strides in my lifetime. Prostate cancer killed my Icelandic grandfather, the lovable but stubborn old goat, and caught up to my father after a 20 year hiatus. I monitor everything annually.

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  14. Sorry. That was me above. Now I remember about the commenting thing...Blogger wasn't letting me use a Wordpress sign in. So I have to be "Anonymous"
    Barb Froman

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    1. I figured it was you! Thanks for stopping by!

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  15. Nice photos. We just got back from SC to see some remnants of the Northeaast snow storm here in PA. I think I prefer to see snow on the weather channel, from the comfort of my living room.

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  16. At least the Pennsylvania winters are relatively short and mild. They do have their occasional fits of nasty, however.

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