Looks like another 6 month winter here in MN. Fortunately, since I'm still learning the keyboard, this gives me lots of time to sit inside out of the cold and try to learn something.

I wonder if we're in a mini ice age or something? Maybe it's that global warming that Al Gore was warning us about?

Anyway, I put my keyboard up to the window and have this view to look at while I struggle to become more than a beginner on the keyboard.

http://westernminnguy.smugmug.com/Flowers-landscape/i-ntJQc2w/0/L/5D7A1300-L.jpg

Happy winter everyone.

That's beautiful. We're having winter here too. Thank goodness it will pass in a couple of days!

Donny would feel right at home with all that snow. For me, palm trees, sugar white sand, turquoise colored water and nothing under 65 degrees is just about the kind of winter I want to become accustomed to.



And, of course, there's no better way to enjoy an ice cold brew than sitting in the cockpit of the sailboat in the shade of the Bimini.



Cheers,

Gary

What's this winter thing????? LOL




charley from sunny FL!!

oh baby nice and snug by the fireplace with a Hot Toddy!!

OH MAN ... here we go and it's only NOVEMBER!!! ...c'mon, fellas, it called WINTER! ...

Haven't seen any freezing temperatures in Germany yet. It's supposed to be due next week. Eastern wind from Moscow... probably 27F at night then.

Charlie, I'll be down to see you in January.

Gary

Overhere in Holland we had summer till last week.. With temperatures above 20 celsius... Now its getting colder

For some of you, it will be a long, cold winter.

Gary

We've already told folks we're not playing out Jan/Feb...too cold.

We figured it wouldn't be all that bad Nov/Dec. But now, we're thinking of running our gigging season like April - Oct since it's getting so cold in Nov. now.

12 degrees here this morning...new record cold temperature.

Gary

So Gary, any requirement to winterize the boat? If so, did you get it done in time? This cold snap caught us all by surprise, but luckily I got my motorhome done just days before the cold snap (@ $200.00 at Camping world). I'll have to de-winterize and re-winterize if I want to make a planned trip to South Florida in January. What a royal PITA. Waiting for a insulated hanger to open up at the airport. Expensive, but worth it. Hate cold weather. Never should have left Hawaii (or Florida), even for the grandkids. I would've been perfectly happy with just pictures of them .

chas

I winterized the boat last week. I do it myself. I completely drain the freshwater system, then flush it with two gallons of pink antifreeze until antifreeze flows out all the spigots and shower head. The the heat pump gets the same treatment, but it only takes about a quart to do that one.

The engine is a different deal. It has a heat exchanger, which requires about 1.5 gallons of pink antifreeze, then each spark plug is removed, fogging oil is injected into each cylinder, then the engine is turned over a couple times to make sure the cylinder walls and valves are coated with fogging oil. This is followed by an oil change.

The sails, bimini top, console cover and all other canvas has been removed and stored in my office. The batteries, all five of them, are connected to a solar charger, which keeps them topped off, therefore I no longer have to remove them from the boat. Those babies tip the scales at 105-pounds each, and I'm too damned old to pull them out, and lower them to the dock.

The last thing I have to do is put on the winter tarps, one over the boom, and another over a line stretched across the foredeck. They get tied down to the boat's toe rail with bungee cords.

It's a lot of work, but when spring arrives, the only thing I will have to do is install new spark plugs, polish the points, and fire up the engine. April seems like a long way off, at least to me.

Cheers,

Gary

It gets a bit nippy up here, too, but the show must go on.

I drained the water from the lower end of my bass boat, in case in gets cold enough to freeze. Temperature today is going back up to around 60 though. BRRRRR!

Gary ... be happy you don't live in Buffalo:

http://www.startribune.com/nation/283155881.html

Just talked with a friend of mine there. He had to climb out his attic window so he could shovel out his front door and garage door. It took him most of the day to do that, and I heard there is another 3 to 4 feet of snow coming tonight. How's the weather in your neck of the woods, Tony?

Gary

Just cold ... In the mid 30's today ... 40's tomorrow ...

We're supposed to be 24 at 8 a.m. and 43 by 3 p.m.. By Monday, the bottom is supposed to fall out again.

Gary

I had to wear a light jacket at noon when we teed off, but was able to finish the round in short sleeves. Should be a little warmer tomorrow though.

Thats a lot odf Snow !!!

50 to 60 here, Monday through Wednesday ...

Teeing off at noon tomorrow (Thursday) ... the light windbreaker will be the third or fourth layer ...

First freezing temperature this fall occurred in my region last night: 30F. On Sunday it will go up to 59F again. (remember, I'm on the same degree of latitude as Calgary).

T'was 0 Celsius here in Cape Breton at 6:00 AM...first day at freeze point, strange because around 11:30 PM last night we had a thunderstorm with rain.

We also had some flurries early this morning, but nothing stayed on the ground.

Ian

Weird in Edmonton, too, Ian. +5C and rain last night. Hey, I'll take it. This time last week I was in Perth, Oz at +36C.

124. what would you expect in Perth this time of year - it's early summer there!

Gary

Oh, it was exactly what I expected, and it's why I wasn't there in December/January. They're welcome to +42 and +44 in those months. What was really weird though, was seeing Christmas decorations downtown on blistering hot days. Even my Aussie friends said they have difficulty getting their head around it.

Didn't even need a jacket in Buffalo today!!!!!!!

This past Thursday I played golf with the usual crew - 12 noon tee time... at 7:30AM there was not a whisper of a breeze ... as I was finishing the crossword puzzle at 10AM I looked outside and leaves were being blown around ... we played in a heavy wind all day ... I think it was the first time I couldn't wait to get off a golf course on a dry day...
Tuesday is looking good - mid 50's - can't wait to see how it gets loused up !!! ...

Supposed to hit 69 today, then the bottom will fall out - gonna get real nasty again.

Gary

Again close to all-time-high temperatures in Germany: 63F (17.6C) measured 20 miles east of Dortmund. Just one night of slight freeze yet this autumn... Maybe the same pattern as last winter - warm in Europe, cold in North America? Let's see...

Still tanning here: 91~93F/33~34C

Love freezing weather as well. Proper clothing and footwear is all one needs to feel comfy. It's just that I love seeing butterflies all year round. Less humidity would be perfect, though.

Sunny and 79F here in North Louisiana. I played golf yesterday but took the day off today!

A winter storm will impact the entire I-95 corridor from DC to Boston right before Thanksgiving impacting millions who are traveling. Model guidance is coming to a consensus for a coastal low pressure disturbance to ride up the east coast in the Wednesday-Thursday time frame. There is still a slight margin in possible storm track which will have more affect on coastal and SENJ (rain vs snow) but again, the I-95 corridor is looking at travel problems starting as early as Wednesday during the day.

As far as timing goes, precipitation could start as early as Wednesday afternoon and clear out as late as Thanksgiving morning. The next few days of model guidance should help establish a more accurate window.

In English: Expect a coastal storm to bring wintry precipitation to New Jersey. For many it should start as rain and change over to snow. That changeover will happen earlier for interior New Jersey and later for coastal and SE New Jersey. While everyone should end as snow, final accumulations should be higher inland than for coastal regions. Tomorrow�s map will feature expected accumulations in inches. Be safe!

I'm on the edge of the all snow area.

Gary

Reasonable temps here on the island...a rainy 8 C tomorrow (46 F) and a balmy 16 C (61 F) on Tuesday, with sunshine. Some snow expected Thursday, amount unknown, but Friday and Saturday are above freezing, so it may not stay down for long.

Hopefully this winter won't be a repeat of the last one, which was a bit more snow than usual.

And, thankfully, my living space has free snow removal...no shoveling...yeah!!!!

On the arranger keyboard front...no change expected.

Ian

I have snow removal as well - ME!



Damned I hate winter here!

Gary

I donated my old snow shovel to the poor.

It was the least I could do.

Ian

I am with rosetree, 17 C yesterday, never had such lovely autumn weather this late in November.. I think we mightbset a reccordnagain for warmest November month ever..

We had ha long walk to enjoy the sun...

Gary ... DAMMIT!!! ... let's remember how OLD we ARE, and hire somebody to do that stuff ... besides, you are not going to be around for most of the Winter anyway, so it won't cost THAT MUCH ...

How do you like some of the vultures at work in Buffalo? Fly-by-nights charging as much as $500 to clear a driveway with their bobcat, according to CBC News last night.

Supply and demand trumps "Love thy neighbor as thyself" unfortunately ...
I believe in making a good days pay, but gouging people in a time of emergency is sad ...

But then, I don't know what the profit margin on running a bobcat for an hour is either ...

Here on the island, last winter, the average price for getting a reasonably sized driveway plowed, by 4-wheel drive pickup with plow, was between $25 and $50, depending on the snow situation.

Ian

Ian ... what is a 'reasonably sized' driveway up your way? ... mine is about 80 feet and I pay $30 here in RI ...

After a balmy(by MN standards..36 degrees and no wind)weekend, the cold is back.

40 mph wind gusts, blowing snow and 10 degrees...whatever the wind chill is???

I dug out pictures from my youth in the late 1960's. Got pictures of snowdrifts that reach to the roofs of houses. I don't ever remember snow around here that deep since.

In any case, I don't care how good the economy gets around this part of the country(MN, ND, SD)...and I understand we are the richest area in the nation now with the ND oil, the population growth is still going to be where it's warmer...$$$ or not.

About 30-80 ft is considered reasonable...also if the driveway is on a corner lot and has two entrances, like my old place, I sometimes paid only $25 as it was easier to plow...mine would have been around 50 ft. It also paid to shop around, as some guys charged more fairly than others. There were a few gougers, taking advantage of some seniors, but it eventually caught up to them...being in a small town has its advantages.

Where I live now, in a really nice Seniors Apartment Complex, all snow removal, including walkways and steps, is included in the rent and covered by Regional Housing...they do an excellent job, and we are usually the first to be plowed, especially important for ambulance access. We also have an outside communal propane powered generator which gives each resident one live outlet in their apartment, plus it powers the main lounge which has a fully functional heated kitchen, so they do have things well covered.

Best thing I ever did was sell the old 100 year old house, which was very costly to maintain (my monthly winter oil bill alone was as much as what I pay for rent per month here), and move into the complex.

Ian

The price to have my driveway plowed by a guy with a 4WD pickup and a snow plow on the front is $100 and to be honest, he does a lousy job. And, that doesn't include my 160d-foot sidewalk. That's another $50 for the kid that comes with him. Now you know why I do it myself. If I want a crappy job, I hire someone. If I want something done right, I do it myself.

Cheers,

Gary

I don't envy you one tiny bit, Gary...all it takes, at our age, is one little wrong twist or movement, and back problems can become one's worst nightmare.

Plus, since it's a type of work that we so seldom do, it puts quite a strain on all the muscles, including the heart.

Ian

Ian, you must lead an entirely different life than I do. I do a lot of physical work, built my own home, installed my own hotwater baseboard heating system including the furnace and oil tank, built 7 rock gardens, built my own sidewalk and patio out of bricks (5,000 of them), sail a 33-foot sailboat single handed, and I do all this with a bad back. Hey, you only go around once my friend, so I just do it all till I'm dead and buried. There's not a Hell of a lot that I haven't done in my 74 years on the planet, and I figure if I keep doing what I do, maybe I've live a lot longer. But, then again, maybe I'll die tomorrow. But, if I do die tomorrow, it has been one Hell of a ride, Cowboy!

Gary

Ride on Cowboy, if that's what makes you happy...I just want to be on the range for as long as possible...and, I don't want to have to be riding it in a wheelchair or a powered scooter.

I've done a lot of physical work too, Gary, not just in building houses (which I have done), but building two recording studios, working on and restoring classic cars (especially my old 1949 Caddy Coup DeVille) plus many years of martial arts training including a year as an instructor. Of course, there's all those many years of giggin' and working for Yamaha.

So, like you, I have no regrets. However, due to my years of martial arts, I also pay attention to what my body tells me, and I'm also very much aware that most injuries at my age (younger than you at 65) mean a longer recovery than when I was in my 40's or 50's...and, I just like to err on the side of caution.

So, my exercises today consist of lots of walking, swimming, and doing what I love most, which is playing music. Nowaday, it's mostly recording and no live work, that latter of which I miss a lot less than I thought I would. I like to think of it as being healthily selfish.

And, definitely no high risk, and generally unnecessary, activities like snow shoveling.

But, we all make our choices, and as long as you feel yours is right for you, keep ridin', Cowboy...but maybe think about gettin' a seatbelt for that saddle and put an airbag in the saddle horn.

Ian