The scurs were on target with the Thursday/Friday precipitation events but failed miserably to predict the New Year’s Eve. Oh well, at least they got the New Year’s Day flurries right. Will we continue on our warm streak? Starting Wednesday, mostly clear with highs of 35 and lows of 25. Thursday, mostly sunny with highs of 40 – 45 and lows around 30. Partly cloudy Friday and warmer with highs of 45 and lows dropping to 25. Partly cloudy and cooler on Saturday with highs of 30 - 35 and lows near 20. Sunday, partly cloudy with highs of 25 – 30 and lows near 20. Partly cloudy on Monday with highs around 35 and lows near 15. Tuesday, cloudy with a chance of snow developing. Highs of 35 – 40 and lows of 10 – 15. The normal high for January 9th is 23 and the normal low is 5. On January 4th we will be back over 9 hours of daylight, having gained a whole 7 minutes since the winter solstice. We’ll keep gaining about a minute a day until about the 15th. The scurs will be putting out that patio furniture before you know it, the stuff that didn’t blow away last fall that is.
The Full Moon for the month of January falls on the 9th and is known by several names. Most popular among them is probably the Full Wolf Moon, due to the wolves that could be heard howling outside the Indian winter encampments. It has also been known as the Old Moon or The Moon after the Yule. The Ojibwe called this the Great Spirit Moon and the Sioux by several names, including the Moon of Strong Cold, Moon When Wolves Run Together and the Moon When Frost is in the Teepee. Am guessing the frost in the teepee didn’t have anything to do with being out carousing with their little fat buddies in those days.
Speaking of the little fat buddies, a special thank you to all of those who supplied extra Christmas goodies at the Mall for Men. They were so numerous it’s tough to remember who brought what in but were most appreciated by all of us. With all the slippery conditions and high wind warnings (both inside and out) there’s no question we needed all the additional ballast we could get.
What a confusing holiday season we’ve just been through. With Christmas and New Year’s Day both on Sunday, it was difficult to tell what to do on Monday. Since banks, the Post Office and many other businesses were closed, it didn’t make a lot of sense to go into work. However, it always makes for guilty feelings that you really should be there, NOT! Given the amount of leftover stuff to be done after both holidays, those days were reserved to play catch up and to visit with family. It still seems strange to see bowl games played after New Year’s Day. Used to be that day was reserved for the major bowls and the national champion was decided. Now it stretches on for weeks and without some heavy duty channel surfing, one never knows what is on when anymore. Guess what? If you thought the 2011 holiday season was screwed up, wait until December. With 2012 being a leap year, Christmas and New Year’s will be on Tuesday. Oh goody!
The goldfinches are becoming more faithful at the bird feeders once again. The strong winds had them holed up somewhere but once they subsided, the little olive birds were back after sunflower and thistle seed. There are still a few of the regulars such as juncos, blue jays, nuthatches, downies and hairies but the chickadees are AWOL again. The squirrels appear content to clean up under the feeders and ignore the ear corn set out for them. Rather than face Ruby’s wrath, they drag ears from the field up in the yard. Others have mentioned similar goings on at and around their feeders. Perhaps with a little consistent snow cover we’d see a resurgence in bird numbers and variety.
The lack of snow has also impacted something one wouldn’t think of: the sheep. Since there is no automatic waterer, only a large water tank with a heater in it, one knows approximately how much water they go through on a daily basis. With our brood ewe numbers down from last year one would think the water consumption would be down as well. Wrong-O! Apparently they were eating a fair amount of snow last year so the tank only needed to be filled about every three days. This year filling the tank and draining the hose is an every-other-day occurrence.
Since the days are getting longer it was time to take a look at some of those garden catalogs that arrived. There are a few new items that caught my interest although nothing really new in the winter squash department. There are some new gourds that could be fun to grow. Because they are so competitive, producing gourds is a little growing weeds; the level of management required is pretty low. In honor of all the seed catalogs arriving, I decided on New Year’s Day to plant the amaryllis bulb Mrs. Cheviot had given me for Christmas before it popped its head out of the box. It’s amazing how that coconut growth medium expands to fill a container after adding warm water. Once planted, the amaryllis was placed in the south-facing living room. After a night of celebratory respiration in the newfound moisture, the sprout began showing signs of phototropism the next day, attracted to the morning light. This is a live one and will need to be turned regularly.
Mrs. Cheviot and several other acquaintances have contacted the alien once again. With the amount of barking she was doing though, I was debating about hauling her down to Little Jerusalem to see Ruby’s veterinarian. It’s easy to get run down this time of year and even easier to not eat right. There are so many sweets and high carb foods around without much for fruit and veggies typically. Oh well, after a week or so of me doing it all she’s starting to come around. When Ruby does her hot potato impression and sleeps on Mrs. Cheviot’s lap, it helps keep the veterinarian away.
See you next week…real good then.