Month: December 2015

This isn’t the first year we’ve not had a white Christmas.  But usually it’s because we had a thaw a few days before, not because it hasn’t snowed at all.

This year it was mud and more mud and green grass.  Seriously green grass.  Which is a little disconcerting to look at when it’s Christmas and you’re headed to dinner with the family.  Christmas Eve it hit 68 degrees out.

Over all though it was a good Christmas.  Dinner was great.  And not even ruined by the fact that my (Husband’s) niece is 12 going on 17 and managed to push her dad into an epic argument in the middle of it all.  Knowing the two of them I doubt it was the first time its happened, and it sure won’t be the last.

Before we headed to my Inlaw’s for dinner we took the time to do a proper round of the property lines.  We’ve been lazy about it recently.  In the process discovered some interesting wildlife tracks.

(Ok, this first one was actually taken a few days earlier and I forgot to post) This must have been a BIG White-tail checking out the fruit trees.  Rumor has it that a big 16 pointer has been seen in the area (always in non-hunt-able areas), makes me wonder if this is him:

If you look close there’s a (comparatively) tiny print in the top left corner.

Then right along the back line I found these:

Racoon:

 

Coyote:

 

But then I also found these, and I’m a bit baffled:

Not significantly bigger than the coyote tracks, but wider, the pad marks are wider and slightly differently shaped, and there’s no claw marks.  In mud that soft there ought to be claw marks if it was a canine, even if they were well worn claws.  The NY DEC insists that we don’t have big cat here, but I’m almost wondering if thats what these are from.  I moved our one surviving trail camera from the trail by the stream to a spot where it can watch this trail.  Hopefully my scent all over as I muddled over the tracks won’t scare off the wildlife……

Speaking of the weather, it looks like mother nature is going to try for a winter after all:

Tuesday morning’s work commute ought to be “interesting”……

I don’t do alot of traditional Christmas music these days.  Not because I don’t appreciate it, but because after working retail for most of my life I’ve heard more horrid versions of it than I can count.  And trying to sort out the good from the bad to listen to just isn’t something I want to go through.

But some songs just belong, especially on Christmas Eve.

Course, then you have to find someone singing it who doesn’t murder it.  Turns out more than half the folks who’ve done this song professionally have “played” with it.  Made it fancy.  Added vocal trills.

Simple is good folks.  This is a simple song.

If you’re on social media you may have already seen this.  But I’m sharing it anyway.

While it doesn’t beat out the original, its a damn good re-make.

If you ever get the chance, ground buffalo meat makes awesome tacos.  One of these days I’ll get around to making up my own seasoning mix!

Its been an incredibly mild fall and winter so far.  Scarily so.  We had a couple nights dip towards 20 degrees (F) but thats the coldest its gotten so far.  The ground isn’t frozen.  We had the barest dusting of snow, once.

Which has me a little worried about what January and February are going to bring.  Even if it stays comparatively warm out.  All this warm means that the Great Lakes aren’t freezing over.  This means that storms coming over them are still picking up massive amounts of water that is then dropped on us folks here in Upstate NY.  So far that’s all come down as rain.  Which isn’t my idea of fun, especially with the mud it creates, but it could be ever so much worse.

If the “right” storm comes over, it could all drop as snow.  And that would be bad.  Anyone remember the storm that hit Buffalo NY last year in Nov?  The one that dropped 6ft of snow in about 24hrs?  Yah, thats what happens when the “right” storm hits the Great Lakes before they freeze.  But at this rate they’re not going to freeze at all this year…..