Farmer's Almanac and Weather Predicitons

When I was growing up, my father planted the garden by the Farmer's Almanac.  He would buy a new one every year and I remember many nights of him pouring over each word and planning his garden.  Did I mention we always had an acre+ garden??  Not so fun as a child working in the summer heat in the garden, but that is another post!  

Anyway, I decided to check the Farmer's Almanac after the last snow we had and see what it had to say about this winter.  It had successfully predicted the two previous snows.  

This is what I found for February:

FEBRUARY 2014: temperature 41° (5° below avg.); precipitation 4" (avg.); Feb 1-6: Rain, then sunny, cold; Feb 7-14: Periods of rain and snow, then sunny, cold; Feb 15-20: Rain, then sunny, cold; Feb 21-26: Rain to snow, then sunny, cold; Feb 27-28: Rainy, cool.

Hmm, looks like snow is in our forecast again!  I am not surprised since the snow stayed on the ground for 3 days, waiting for another snow.  I grew up with that saying and then to confirm that saying, we had another sign of snow to follow - a thunderstorm in winter means snow will come 7-10 days.  There you go!  Two sayings about snow and the Farmer's Almanac prediction - better buy that bread in milk today!!

Winter Wonderland

This is what our front yard looks like this morning.  ICE on everything...

 BEAUTIFUL

Trees are weighted down with the ice.  I sure hope we do not lose electricity!

I might also add that Dennis won't let me off the front porch because he is afraid I will fall!  :)

Snowboys!

 

No school for the whole week!  We hopefully will return to "normal" on Tuesday, Jan 18th.  Monday is a holiday and we were scheduled to be off anyway.  I can't tell that much has melted in our yard.  It's all ice over the snow.

The boys go in and out throughout the day.  Wet jeans + wet socks + wet boots + cold hands = happy boys!

Frosty, the snowman, has arrived

The boys are very proud of their snowman. As you can tell, we did not have very much snow. It was, however, enough to satisfy that primal urge in the boys to build a snowman!

Baby It's Cold Outside

Baby, it's cold outside is not joke today! This morning when I got up it was 18 degrees outside. On the way to work. Dennis said it was 14 degrees! That is just too cold for us. The wind chill made it feel like -4 degrees!! We are just not used to such cold weather. I think they are calling for snow flurries on Friday. Yikes! One flake of snow here and we close things down, roll up the sidewalk, and wait for warmer days! There will be the customary run on milk and bread - all the stores will sell out of these items. And those folks from other places who moved here, will laugh at us and make fun of us for staying at home. Yet, we have no car accidents or fatalities due to snow because we are smart enough to stay inside all toasty and warm! So, who's laughing now?!

Oh, and Dean Martin and Doris Day, still rock in my book!

No School Today

School was called off today due to snow although we have no snow. It snowed for about 30 minutes and that was it. It was a beautiful snow while it was falling. However, just a few miles away, they had LOTS of snow - no fair!!! I suspect we will go back to school tomorrow and everything will return to normal.

Snow and my brother

This is my brother who lives in North Dakota. He sent me these pictures on the 12th of this month. His little town has been hit hard with snow. No snow for us in the South. So, I just live through his experiences!

Warm Sweater Wednesday

We had snow flurries here yesterday. There was no accumulation and we had at least 50 flakes that fell!! I felt like a kid watching it snow. I even called my husband to tell him that it was snowing while I was driving. Tonight's forecast: Clear, with a low around 16. *shiver* All of our kitty cats are snuggled inside tonight. I made the boys wear pajamas (which they didn't want to do! They like to be like their daddy and sleep in their boxers! Well, that's more information than you wanted, isn't it?!!!)


Isn't this a cute picture? Click on it to take you to the site where it is sold. Today is Warm Sweater Wednesday. "Try turning down the thermostat 5 to 10 degrees at night, and then turn it up again in the morning when the coffee is brewing. If you can get used to that, you’ll save 5 to 10 percent of your heating bill. Once common myth is that when you reduce the thermostat for only a few hours it will take more heat to bring your home back up to the desired temperature. This is not so. You will save money and fuel because your heating system will not have to keep your home so warm. You will use less energy overall even when you warm up your house from a cooler temperature." Adapted from 547 Ways to be Fuel Smart, by Roger Albright. I am convinced that a cooler house makes for healthier people.

Sleet, Ice, Snow - Oh My!!

Dennis and I woke up this morning to sleet and snow falling! It was so pretty. I woke the boys up to look at the snow falling. Nikolai (having lived in Russia) was not impressed and went back to sleep. Deniska (who loves any excuse to get up) was excited! We had no accumulation and we were all disappointed. It was fun to see it falling and dreaming of a white January! (Nikolai is still mad that we left his green sled in Russia!)

SNOW??!!!!

Today has been a day of surprises - snowflakes!! Yesterday, it was cold and rainy. Did I mention cold? Oh, I see that I did. This morning it was 41 degrees when I left the house and by the time I arrived at work (25 minutes later) it was 39. The weather forecast called for rain, with snow mixed in for good measure. Now, being in the South, we do take snow seriously. At work, it was the common consensus that it was not going to snow, it was too warm. We all looked at the sky and various people talked about their knees hurting, the cats playing, the Farmer's Almanac, and my hair. (My hair curls with lots of precipitation in the air.) It made for interesting talk before work, but then we moved on with our duties. Besides, no one smelled snow in the air. (We have a few folks who claim to be able to do that.)

I, along with my co-worker Gail, have the privilege (cough-cough) of having outside lunch duty. This is normally a duty that I love but in 39 degree weather with a strong wind, it is not my favorite thing. However, I had my soup and winter coat and I was good to go. We endured the cold for 25 minutes and then decided to move the few brave students who were outside in to the cafeteria. (Silly teenagers outside with short sleeves and shorts! Geez!)

An hour later, we started to have snow flurries. Forget about class - I took my whole class out to stand in the few snow flakes that was falling. Now, for you winter states with lots of snow, a few flakes is not a big deal. But for us in the South, snow flakes are a very BIG deal. We flock to the grocery store and buy milk and bread. We call off school if there is ANY accumulation (ice or snow). We bake cookies to celebrate. We call everyone to make sure that all needs are being met. We hunker down and stay put until it all goes away. (This is very irritating to those Northerners who have moved in and have tried to change us!) They (the Northerners) talk about how stupid we are to stay home, but no one ever gets hurt on the road if you are at home. We are not the ones out trying to drive in a wet snow (of which they are not used to and always have accidents.) OK, enough of that! We just chalk it up to the source and shake our heads.

Anyway, the snow came, it fell, and now it is all gone. It was fun to watch the 50 or 100 flakes to fall and to dream of a White Christmas!

SNOW, SNOW, SNOW

What a wonderful surprise we received on Wednesday night - it snowed! The boys loved the snow. They wanted to stay out Wednesday night and play in the snow - silly boys! They were so excited. We had probably 3 inches of snow and it was all gone by Friday afternoon. NOAA says we will get more snow tomorrow. I doubt it but we will see.

On a not so fun note, I have dealt with insurance companies all day today. One company, Monumental Life, did not pay the full amount of the life insurance policy on my mom because the birth date on their policy did not correspond with the birth date on her death certificate. I feel sure the mistake was on their part but to fight it would have been more than the policy was worth. I would not recommend having any policies with them. What a crock to claim that they could not pay the full amount. All the other companies that I have dealt with have been very professional and courteous.

I called Charter to cancel Mom's cable service. The lady said that I was not on the approved list to make such a decision. I assured her that Mom couldn't call her since she was dead. Charter said I had fax them a copy of the death certificate or the obituary. Now, of course, I understand that just anybody can call up and claim to be the person but honestly you would think that they would believe me - who is going to lie about their mother dying?!

An hour was spent on the phone calling various companies and making appointments to come by and discontinue services or different things. Did I mention that I HATE make appointment and talking on the phone to strangers over such things?

How I hate doing all of these things. I still have several places to call and I need to take a death certificate by the bank - I forgot to do that today - drats! Oh well, I need something to do next week!