Brown Christmas

Turned out we officially had a brown Christmas this year. It's our first since 2006. Photo taken in front of a neighborhood Lutheran church.

New Year's Eve

We were supposed to have a high of 40 today. As you can see in the picture there is still no snow on the ground. Pretty odd for New Year's Eve.

The Day After Christmas

50 degrees today. Yikes. It was beautiful but this is kind of scary for December. We're actually beginning to increase in daylight. 8 hours and 48 minutes today. With it being so warm I decided to drain the hose which is something I meant to do last month.

Christmas Morning

Today is a very sunny and brown Christmas. Total daylight is still 8 hours and 47 minutes.

Daylight

I checked the newspaper and it looks like we've got 8 hours and 47 minutes of daylight for both yesterday and today. The photo shows the evening sky looking west from the side of our house.

Longest Night

Winter arrives at 11:30 tonight. This will be the longest night of the year.

The Work of Squirrels?

Some of the garland on the winter greenery is coming undone. The work of squirrels?

Got Home Early

Unusually warm for December. Got home a bit earlier than usual so I snapped a photo being it was still light. Photo taken at 4:42 p.m.

Raking the Roof

First time raking the roof this season. Dale snapped these photos of me.

Snow Yesterday

Got about 3 inches.

Holiday Greenery

1st Day of Meteorological Winter

The backyard on Dec. 1.

Snow! How appropriate for the first day of winter! We'll see how meteorological winter turns out. Meteorological fall was dry and warm and I've heard we're almost 6 inches behind normal rainfall.

Thanksgiving 2011

Unseasonably warm today. Got into the 50s. The snow is mostly gone.

Winter Greenery

I bought some winter greenery from Missy at work and it arrived Monday. Her kids are selling it for a fundraiser.

The Garden In Winter - The Lion

The Garden In Winter - Rabbit Tracks

Just reminded of the amount of snow that fell last winter season as the paper this morning pointed out we had 86.6 inches. We've got quite a ways to go if we're going to beat that record. This photo shows some bunny tracks in the snow after our most recent snow.

The Garden In Winter

First shot of this view with actual snow on the ground since last season but still no snowmound.

More Snow

This photo taken at 4:45 p.m. The first accumulated snow of the season.

Snow

First signs of snow today. The top photo was taken at 9:55 a.m. and the bottom phot0 taken at 11:57 a.m. How long until there's a snowmound? Time'll tell...

November Evening Sky

Took this on a walk yesterday.

Cloudy November

I just read in the Paul Douglas column that in November it is sunny only 39% of daylight hours as compared to 72% in July. It helps to have Thanksgiving to look forward to. Never-the-less, it looks like sun is forecasted for this week.

More Yard Work

I pulled up a lot of annuals this afternoon. I put together this arrangement of some of the few things left that do okay in the cold.

Yard Work - 300th Post

Did a little yard work today. We've had drought conditions for a while and since I haven't watered for a bit I figured I better do just that.

November Full Moon

The full moon this month fell yesterday, Thursday November 10. Too bad it wasn't today, 11-11-11, as that woulda been kinda cool. According to the Farmer's Almanac, the November full moon is the Full Beaver Moon. The Almanac says: "This was the time to set beaver traps before the swamps froze, to ensure a supply of warm winter furs. Another interpretation suggests that the name Full Beaver Moon comes from the fact that the beavers are now actively preparing for winter. It is sometimes also referred to as the Frosty Moon."

Snow

First sightings of snow at the airport on Wednesday. Nothing accumulated. They say it's about 3 weeks later than usual.

5:01 p.m.

Here's what it looked like today at 5:01 p.m.

10 Hours Daylight

Yesterday we hit 10 hours and 00 minutes of daylight. Last night we fell back and hour and went back to Central Standard Time.

Caught in the Act!

More Damage

Halloween 2011

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the infamous Halloween snowstorm that dropped 28.4 inches of snow on Minneapolis-St. Paul. I remember I left my wallet at work and was stuck without any access to cash and credit for a few days. The lesson I learned? Don't carry all of your credit cards in your wallet.

Zapped In the Front Yard Too

The hard frost got the impatiens and sweet potato vines that have held on the longest because they are closest to the house.

Zapped

A couple nights ago we had a hard frost and the impatiens are pretty much done in. The pot you see here is pretty close to the house and the flowers closest to the house look okay and the ones on the outer edge of the pot are gone. All the other impatiens in the yard are dead.

Pretty Fall Leaves

Took this photo a few days ago on one of my walks. This shrub is on a neighbor's blooming boulevard and I found the leaves to be very unique looking.

A little bit of rain last night. Would be nice to get a little more. Thankfully I've been really good about watering this fall.

Jim and Megan's Silver Maple

Jim and Megan's silver maple is pictured on top. Compare it to ours on bottom. Theirs always hold onto its leaves longer.

Watering

While Dale raked I worked on watering. I think this is the best I've ever done as far as keeping the gardens moist before the first heavy frost. Dale suggested keeping the trees watered as well. Above is our backyard pine getting a soaking.

Bagged More Leaves Today

Dale did some more raking and I helped with some of the bagging. We filled up four more bags today.

Our Silver Maple

Our front yard silver maple. Most of the leaves are off.

Those Wicked, Wicked Squirrels

They're lucky they're cute.