The cold has returned. It was -23 F. this morning, but I am sure it will warm when the sun comes up. Fur Rondy starts in Anchorage today and goes until the start of the Iditarod. It is a festival that started in the 1920s as a fur marketing meeting for trappers. It has grown into a kind of winter carnival, with snow sculptures and beard and mustache contests, and all that kind of stuff. I have been to it once many years ago to see the snow sculptures, but I found the ice sculptures in Fairbanks to be much more impressive. The Iron Dog started a week ago, and is the longest snowmobile race in the world. It goes over much of the Iditarod Trail into Nome, then turns east and ends in Fairbanks. It covers about twice the distance of the Iditarod in a little over half the time. The Junior Iditarod starts tomorrow. It is a sled dog race for kids between 13 and 17 years of age, and is only 150 miles with a ten-hour layover at the half-way point. Three of my kids ran that, and one ran it twice. The Iditarod starts on the first weekend of March. Another beautiful day! I hope you all have a delightful weekend!!
Afternoon all... We had a gloriously sunny day yesterday (Saturday)... so we went out for a light lunch al fresco at the small Village pub and met up with a few friends we'd not seen for a while, it was like a gorgeous spring day rather than our usual grey wet February.. . later I took a walk onto my neighbours paddock and had a bit of interaction with her horses and ponies.. they always get so relaxed when I go and chat to them, and make a fuss of them.. the paddock looked dry so I walked over in my trainers (sneakers0... instead of my boots..big mistake.. I got half way across and sunk in the quagmire and lost one of my shoes.. LOL>.. I was up to my ankles in mud and sludge Spotted this little guy enjoying the sun as well.. It's another Glorious sunny day today... so we're going out shortly down to the boat to ensure everything is ok since we closed it up before winter set in... Have a good day folks...
Good morning. Still cold today, but spring is less than a month away! It won't really be spring here, but with the longer days and the bright sunshine, it brightens the world. I spent yesterday transplanting leeks, onions, peppers, celery and celeriac into large containers. I will start tomatoes in a week or so, as they get too big too fast, and I don't yet want to start heating greenhouses. Enjoy your day!
Drying out from all the rain we have had here. So far this month, we've had 13" of rain, a new record for February. Sun is out and it's due to hit 65° F, so hope to get back to normal weather.
That is what we are doing as well. It has rained (downpours !) for the whole last week, plus freezing one morning. We were so happy to see the sun coming back out again today, and ready for it to start looking more like spring. We are almost finished with February, and then it should start looking a lot nicer next month, plus we get daylight savings time back in a few more weeks, making the days seem longer.
Late this afternoon we went to the pub in the next village , for late lunch, it was so warm that many people had sleeveless tops on, and in fact a couple of guys had no shirts on at all.... I took this pic about an hour before sundown , when the temps dropped quite drastically...
Afternoon all... Another glorious day here, blue Mediterranean skies, and temps at 68 degs... This from yesterday... I've been sitting out in the garden cleaning all the muddy shoes from the last few days, it's so hot it feels like summer... people are mowing their grass which just never happens in February... sadly the forecast reports that we'll be going back to normal feb temps by Thursday and even rain... Oh well we've enjoyed it while it lasted... hopefully we won't get snow in March!!
Good Morning all... It's another gloriously sunny day today..temps expected to be up in the high 60's..and as a I have a south west facing garden (yard to you all)... so it gets all the sun and it's really warm out there. I've been sweeping up leaves, and cutting back some Ivy... yesterdays' pics I've got the washing and drying and loads of other chores done . I handed back the Hire car my hubs has had for the last 2 weeks while his own car is being repaired after he was shunted up the rear a few weeks ago , and which he's now going to sell when he gets it back .. So it's been a busy morning and it's only 11.30am This afternoon I have to take delivery of his brand new High end car... he's so excited..lol ( boys and their toys) In the meantime my daughter found this in her garden....*yikes*.... It's a horseshoe whipsnake relatively harmless unless annoyed .. she sometimes finds them swimming in her poool...*yuk*.. the only danger is , that the dogs may go after them and then get bitten... Have a good day folks....
Good Morning! As most of you know I'm back home from my long Birthday weekend at the beach with my sisters and SIL...a very nice time was had by all of us. I wish I could have packed up the beach and brought it home with me but since that is not possible I will just have to find time this year to make more trips to the beach when the weather is warmer. We did experience a really weird "sea fog" upon our arrival in the town of our beach condo. It was 3:30 in the afternoon when we got into town and the picture I found below is basically how it looked all around us. I have seen dense fog in the morning and late evening...but never in the middle of the afternoon....and at first I thought maybe we were entering the "Twilight Zone". Once we settled in the Condo and went out on the balcony to see the ocean....we could not see it at all...only hear the waves breaking on shore. This sea fog stayed until late in the morning the next day. And of course the morning we were all headed back home was the prettiest morning of all at the beach. This was definitely my strangest trip to the beach but still it was good to have some time with my sisters. Our next get together should be at our Saturday before Easter Family Reunion Crawfish boil which is just around the corner. Have a blessed day everyone.
@Holly Saunders ,loved the pictures. A good snake is a dead snake-end of story.Except I did whack off a small snake here at the apts. yesterday. @Babs Hunt - that is awesome picture! I am a tad jealous-unless I drive off somewhere I could only send picture of the concrete jungle here. There is the lake close by, but not majestic or anything special-that I know of .
LOL @Gloria Mitchell . I agree with you about the snakes.. unfortunately this one is very much alive.... My daughter isn't phased them at all... in fact she photographed this young one climbing out of her pool...