Sun bathing anyone?

35 degrees doesn't sound warm but with the weather we have had this winter..... get out the shorts and T-Shirts baby! I was outside cutting some wood today and boy did the sun and warm weather feel good. It felt more like 60 degrees. See ya later I have to go find my shorts....

Jon

Dusting

We got a little snow yesterday and last night. Not much maybe and inch at most. It was nice though because we haven't had any snow in a while so it was nice to cover everything in pure white again. It has been a little bit warmer too so that's nice.

Jon

Back to the deep freeze

Well we got to enjoy a few days out of the deep freeze and they got many of the roads scrapped down to bare pavement again while the snow was softer and the salt would actually melt some ice.... so that's a good thing a lot less ice to drive on. It was in the -20's last night and a stiff breeze brought the wind chills to about -40. I don't think it made it across the zero mark today but the wind calmed a little bit. Forecast of -20's tonight again, oh the joy!

Everything was frosted this morning with the temperature change. The frost sure makes the trees quite a site and helps to make you forget the cold temps.

Take Care.

Jon

Talk-in-bout a Heat Wave

Sunny and 24 today! Yea! They are saying in might get in the mid to upper 30's tomorrow. Feels like summer out "almost" its hard to believe that 24 can feel so warm. We have to enjoy it because normal January weather is forecast again for the weekend.... oh well enjoy it while its here! See ya for now I have to go find my sunglasses.... with the sun reflecting off the snow it sure is bright.

Take care

Jon

Square Tires Anyone?

Well I have talked of the many different things winter can bring but an interesting one happened this morning. Those of you that live in a extreme cold climate or have ever lived in one and don't park your car in a garage will know what I am talking about. Square tires, well technically not square but a flat spot on the side that they were on when the car was PARKED OVERNIGHT IN -37 DEGREES! Whew got that off my chest. I pulled over twice this morning to look at my back tires because I was positive one was flat with the bumping and thumping the car was doing this morning but sure enough the tires weren't flat just a flat spot on one spot. After about 8 bone jarring miles the tires must have warmed up enough to straighten out er well i mean round out.....

The forecast is for near 30 degree temps on Saturday, well I will take 67 degrees warmer right now and the car will be much happier. Take care and have a great weekend.

Jon

-Cold Enough

I wonder if the schools are getting soft? 2 hours late again today and it was ONLY -18..... kids 2 schools 0. Have a great day.

Jon

Water Explodes

Ever seen water explode? Well it did on the shore of Lake Gilmore this morning. Okay it didn't really explode but it froze so fast it made a loud popping noise. Here is how it works:

Take one super cold day (This morning worked it was -36)
Fill glass of water with 1 cup hot water.
Go outside into said super cold day.
Toss water into air.
Water freezes instantly with a pop and turns to ice crystals and falls to ground!

Welcome to January 13th at 7:30 AM on Lake Gilmore! Man I love winter (see that positive attitude?) Cant wait to see if -36 is the low for the winter, bring it on old man winter! We can take it.

Plugged the car in last night so he he he it started no problem! Electric company 1 consumers 0. Cant wait for the January bill.

One positive of -36 with a windchill below -40 the kids got to sleep in a couple extra hours, school was 2 hours late. Kids 1 School 0.

Jon

Cutting wood

Since the winter has been so much colder than average already, our wood pile is going to be short. Today I started cutting the dead trees on my property and let me tell you the snow is deep in the woods. I would say on average 3 feet. I got a good workout cutting one 4-wheeler trailer of wood yesterday!

I cant help but think the deer are really going to have a hard time making it through this winter unless we don't get much more snow or it warms up enough to do some serious melting...... Next years hunting season might be a little tough. The good thing about that is any deer in the TB zone that are sick should not make it this winter and hopefully we will come away with a TB free deer heard by spring. I think new hunters that have never hunted before the light winters of 2000 - 2006 will be in for a real surprise. I know there are many hunters that haven't had to hunt in a buck only zone or lottery only zone. Management tags and intensive harvest permits might be scarce next fall.....

Jon

Fire not

Okay false alarm yesterday. It wasn't a fire that had all the fire trucks and cop cars on main street yesterday. What happened is Park Salon on Main street had a bad natural gas leak and it was near explosive levels when it was detected. Fortunately it never ignited or there would be at least one less building on Main........

Jon

Fire

Somehow -9 doesnt feel that cold anymore, that was the temp this moring when I started the car for work. Hmmm must be finally aclimating to this cold winter.



I didnt see it when I came to work this morning because I use the south bypass and dont go through town but people at work are saying there is a fire downtown this morning. Not sure on the details yet but I will let you all know when I get the details.



Take care.



Jon

4 wheeler thawed

I haven't been on here for almost a week so a quick update. We have had about another 8 inches of snow since New Years Eve. Yesterday and today were in the single digits to the low teens but before that it was below zero from the evening of New years day until yesterday with some lows around -30.

We tried to get the 4-wheeler on Gilmore and check out some different fishing spots but still too much slush. We checked out some other lakes around and found that Upper Bottle had a road plowed so we took the 4-wheeler out and did some fishing New Years day. The wind was fblowing and the road drifted in so it took about an hour of going 10 feet and digging the 4-wheeler out to get off the lake so I AM DONE fishing til spring, its just not worth it!

I had to use the little propane torch for about an hour to get the plow back on the 4-wheeler (too much ice underneath). I put it in the heated shop and it took 2 full days to melt all the ice off it. It was so cold that it was bringing the temp in the shop down about 15 degrees........

Take care.

Jon