| December 1st |
All the leaves are brown
and the sky is grey I went for a walk on a winter's day I'd be safe and warm if I was in L.A. California dreamin' on such a winter's day. -- The Mamas and The Papas (1965) Well.......it's not really winter yet, but it IS December so it's close to winter. And although the weather is mild for winter (and for December as well), the trees are bare, the sky is cloudy, the weather is dreary, and there's ice on the lake.......so it feels like winter. It's times like this that make one think about the pleasures of warmer climes. |
| December 2nd |
Now there's a rarity that you don't see very often. -- Mike Shannon, Saint Louis Cardinals announcer (1989) It's a rarity all right; in fact, this is the first time it has happened in all my years at LBLR.......Autumn ice damage. As mentioned in late November, the lake completely froze over and then some of it opened up a few days later (see the entry for November 29th). It was windy at the time and part of the ice sheet must have loosened up enough to move around, causing the damage. Oh well, there's nothing a person can do about it until Spring. Click HERE. |
| December 3rd | The hole in the ice that opened up on November 29th reclosed yesterday (December 2nd). To indicate that, an asterisk has been added to the "LBL Freeze/Thaw Dates" page. Click HERE. |
| December 4th | Happy 71st Birthday to my old buddy Stover!!!!!! I hope it's a good one. |
| December 5th | The weatherman is up to his usual wintertime standards. Two days ago he predicted 5 to 7 inches of snow for last night, then yesterday morning he changed it to 2 to 4 inches. Last night it was changed to less than an inch.......and what we really got was a dusting. That's a regular occurrence; do you think that our weatherman is into sensationalism as much as meteorology? |
| December 6th | A sure-fire way to prevent snowfall is to hire someone to plow your driveway for a fixed monthly rate. |
| December 7th |
For another early morning view of the ice from Cabin 6, click HERE. Since the temperature has been near zero the last two nights with highs in the teens, I believe it would be safe to skate on now.......although I wouldn't recommend it. And since there's only a wisp of snow on it, the lake is 160 acre skating rink. PS: It's Pearl Harbor Day. |
| December 8th | !!! |
| December 9th | Click HERE. |
| December 10th | I don't know when this was taken but it's a nice picture, isn't it? Click HERE. |
| December 11th |
[In winter] the earth awakens to the cold touch of itself. Snow knows no other recourse except this falling, this sudden letting go over the small gnomed bushes, all the emptying trees. Snow puts beauty back into the withered and malnourished, into the death-wish of nature and the deliberate way winter insists on nothing less than deference. Waiting all its life, snow says, Let me cover you. -- Laura Lush (1977) SNOW!!!! It's less than an inch but it looks nice. Click HERE. PS: I know nothing about Laura Lush other the fact that she's a Canadian, she was born in 1959, and she has tons and tons of Education in English and Creative Writing. I hope she doesn't mind that I changed the first line of her lovely poem. |
| December 12th | The first LBL fish house went out on the lake a couple days ago. The Hawk is out.......it's 5 below zero this morning. |
| December 13th | Happy Ides of December! |
| December 14th | There's not much snow up here yet but we seem to get a "dusting" of it everyday. Since it's too cold for it to melt it's building up very very slowly. It looks nice but it's not yet to the point where it's good for anything. How much snow do you down-staters have? (By the way, when used by the people up in this neck of the woods, the terms 612-ers and cityots are considered to be derogatory, but the term down-staters is not.) |
| December 15th |
When Prohibition was introduced, I hoped that it would be widely supported by public opinion and the day would soon come when the evil effects of alcohol would be recognized. I have slowly and reluctantly come to believe that this has not been the result. Instead, drinking has generally increased; the speakeasy has replaced the saloon; a vast army of lawbreakers has appeared; many of our best citizens have openly ignored Prohibition; respect for the law has been greatly lessened; and crime has increased to a level never seen before. -- John D. Rockefeller, Jr. (1932) In 1933 (84 years ago today) the 21st Amendment to the Constitution was passed ending 14 years of Prohibition and making the US a much happier country. |
| December 16th | Little by little by little the snow continues to build up. If this keeps going we may be able to ski in a month or so. Well actually, I think a person could ski on the lake right now if a person was inclined to trust the ice. |
| December 17th | Do you realize that the length of daylight will begin increasing next Friday, and that's only five days from now!?!? |
| December 18th | Even though less than an inch was predicted, we finally got a few inches of snow all on the same day. Click HERE. |
| December 19th | On this penultimate day of Autumn, let us always remember and let us never forget that winter forms our character and brings out our best. (Tom Allen said that.......but which Tom Allen? I have no idea.) |
| December 20th |
There's still only one ice fishing house on the lake. Maybe that's all there'll be this year.
By the way, at sunset this afternoon (the 2nd day of the month of Tevet) Hanukkah ended. |
| December 21st |
So the shortest day came, and the year died, And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world Came people singing, dancing, To drive the dark away. -- Susan Cooper (circa 1975) Happy Winter Solstice!!! |
| December 22nd | It's 7 below zero this morning; beware the pogonip! |
| December 23rd | As per my Dear Daughter Teri (in San Francisco), they had two more seconds of daylight yesterday than they did the day before.......and they enjoyed both of them. Today they'll get six more seconds. |
| Christmas Eve |
T'was the night before Christmas, when all through the house, Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. -- Clement Clarke Moore (1823) |
| Christmas Day | Merry Christmas!!!! And for a memory of a Christmas Past, click HERE. It was 2008, by the way. |
| Boxing Day | It's getting colder. Brrrr....... |
| December 27th | And it's still getting a little colder. This picture was taken an hour or two after sun rise this morning, so I suspect that the low last night was a tad colder than this picture indicates. Click HERE. |
| December 28th | It's all fun and games until the beer runs out. |
| December 29th | I have nothing to say (of course, I didn't have anything to say yesterday either). |
| December 30th |
He who breaks a resolution is a weakling; he who makes one is a fool.
-- F.M. Knowles (circa 1890) Remember that advice from Mister Knowles when you start thinking about resolutions for the new year. |
| New Year's Eve |
Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and auld lang syne? For auld lang syne, my jo, for auld lang syne. We'll tak' a cup o' kindness yet, for auld lang syne. -- Rabbie Burns (1788) Click HERE. |
