Sunny Sunday???

Sun has been hidden behind low cloud cover for days.  It's cold but not MN type cold.  It's all relative.  Here we consider it cold below 50.  We're sitting at around 36. I saw four of five hawks sitting in trees or on power lines on the way to the store.    

I saw a dog that looked like Rex's twin brother on my way home from the grocery store.  I called the house to make sure he hadn't somehow gotten out.  Nope, he was home curled up on the couch with the other dogs.  

Split pea soup for lunch and a pork loin roast for dinner with sweet potatoes.   I made some cornbread yesterday from a Trader Joe's mix.  Way way too sweet.  It tasted like cake and not very good cake at that.  I hate to throw it out but don't know what I can do with it.   That'll teach me to try a mix when it's so easy to make homemade cornbread.  

Stay warm everybody .  

Update:  Harley is actually a Northern Goshawk.  Still shopping for lunch, still sitting quietly on an exposed branch.  

I didn't mention temperature because it isn't cold enough to zip up the jacket yet.

An oldie but goodie:

60 above zero:

Floridians turn on the heat.

People in Minnesota plant gardens.

50 above zero:

Californians shiver uncontrollably.

People in Duluth sunbathe.

40 above zero:

Italian & English cars won't start.

People in Minnesota drive with the windows down.

32 above zero:

Distilled water freezes.

The water in Bemidji gets thicker.

20 above zero:

Floridians don coats, thermal underwear, gloves, wool hats.

People in Minnesota throw on a flannel shirt.

15 above zero:

New York landlords finally turn up the heat.

People in Minnesota have the last cookout before it gets cold.

Zero:

People in Miami all die.

Minnesotans close the windows.

10 below zero:

Californians fly away to Mexico .

People in Minnesota get out their winter coats.

25 below zero:

Hollywood disintegrates.

The Girl Scouts in Minnesota are selling cookies door to door.

40 below zero:

Washington DC runs out of hot air.

People in Minnesota let the dogs sleep indoors.

100 below zero:

Santa Claus abandons the North Pole.

Minnesotans get upset because they can't start the Mini-Van.

460 below zero:

ALL atomic motion stops (absolute zero on the Kelvin scale.)

People in Minnesota start saying..."Cold 'nuff fer ya?"

500 below zero:

Hell freezes over.

Minnesota public schools will open 2 hours late.

Jackie?  Would the birds maybe appreciate it?

Very gloomy here today and cold.  Damp feeling.  It's 25, so not MN cold here either, but we do have some nasty stuff moving in this evening....snow, sleet, freezing rain, snow and more snow.  Friday's "storm" was only a couple inches so hopefully todays won't amount to much.  It's supposed to continue most of the day tomorrow, and tomorrow I have to go to South County first thing and the roads down there are simply back roads.

I bought lights Friday night for our two outside "Christmas" trees and picked up a couple other odds and ends yesterday.  Dug through the attic for other stuff I'd need, then told DH I couldn't figure out how to program said lights....one, the clicker thing didn't change anything, and the other, none of the blue lights worked.  He couldn't make them work either so had to take them back and am just now getting ready to start the outside decorating.

I'm feeling more and more like Scrooge every day, but will do this for DH and also for Mike, who so loved Christmas, and the decorating and all our traditions.

Glenda, that's a bummer the new lights didn't work.  I'm checking the weather in the MA and CT areas because my sister is supposed to be driving to my Mom's today so they can go to a Bryan Adams concert tonight.  If weather messes up their plan, my Mom especially will be very disappointed.  Hopefully the sleet and such holds off until the middle of the night.

Doug, I've heard that MN cold tolerance comparison before, and I'm sure the first few descriptions are relatively accurate!  As for the bird watching here, the hummingbird gets on the feeder as fast as we can swap out a thawed one.  The other birds are trying to pick what they can from remaining berries on a couple shrubs.  Local birds are just as unaccustomed to this cold as local humans are!

I thought I'd have to cancel my social plans for last night since I was afraid to face the roads near our neighborhood, but my friends were nice enough to come pick me up, so we were able to go to the light display and Christmas market at the Oregon Garden.  Temps in the 20s are a bit cold for an outdoor market, but we bundled up and had a good time.  We even had our picture taken with a young reindeer named Cupid!

Today I'm going with another friend to a local historical house to see their decorations.  I'm not sure I'll get the spirit to put up decorations at home, but at least I'll enjoy some other displays and maybe feel a bit more festive by Christmas!

We have a hawk who visits our bird feeding area for his/her dinner. I'm not sure what kind it is--I'll have to pay better attention.

We're supposed to get snow and then ice/sleet early tomorrow so  driving should be a real treat tomorrow morning (not!) .  Your mom and sister should be OK going to the concert, because I think the weather isn't going to start here until well into the night. I'm not sure about CT, but I think they'll be OK. Nothing's falling here yet!

I love the MN cold chart thing-I've seen it before, and it makes me smile!

I finally plugged in my indoor icicle lights and they are working. That's about the extent of my decorating until the semester's over.