Barn icicles

Here are a few of today's icicle photos. These icicles are on my barn.

In several photos you can see one icicle that looks like a snake's head. In the photo to the right, the snake head is the icicle on the left middle side.

The temperature didn't get as cold as the weather forecast predicted. Our predicted low was near -10 F. We never got below +5 F. I am glad. Colder is not better.

Yesterday I spent part of the day uptown on errands. Therefore I didn't have my wood stove going. The temperature inside my house was 44 F when I got home. A bit chilly! I was able to warm the house up to 65 F before bedtime.

This morning my temperature was 48 F. As I was home all day - except for a 3 mile bicycle ride - I was able to warm up the house to 70 F. Toasty warm.

New farmer in the U.S. Senate

Montana elected Democratic Jon Tester to the U.S. Senate earlier this month. A little background info on him can be found here.

I was surprised to learn Tester will only be the 18th farmer/rancher elected to the U.S. Senate since 1900. Many of the previous farmer/ranchers also had other occupations while Tester is a farmer first and foremost.

I think it will do the Senate good to have a farmer - the last thing we need is another lawyer.

Cactus flower

Even with this recent cold weather, my indoor cactus is flowering. Why is it doing so the end of November? No matter, it looks nice.

Snow and wind

Starting yesterday afternoon the snow started falling heavily and the cold air spilled over the Continental Divide and mountain passes to come roaring down into the Valley. It snowed, and wind blew all night.

Today the snow stopped but the wind kept blowing. The snow blew into snow drifts. I felt like I was back in North Dakota or Minnesota with the wind and cold. Our high temperature today was only 10 F. Brrrr...!! Especially with the wind and wind chill which made it feel like it was well below zero. We have a wind chill warning in effect until tomorrow.

Sue Ann told me the storm blew over a dead birch tree at 4 am this morning. The tree fell onto the roof of the 100 year old cabin next to the house she is renting. The tree also blocks her driveway.

With the wind and cold my screen door frosted over.


The wind blew my wind chimes down, and also my U.S. flag. But my icicles survived the wind.



My neighbor John came over with his pickup and plow and plowed my driveway for me. I had to shovel the snow in front of my garage myself. I also shoveled part of the front drive as, under the snow, John couldn't tell where my driveway was. I decided to shovel the snow off the one track rather than drive with one wheel on my yard.

You can see the snow is gone from the barn roof. It had been melting the other day and sliding down the roof but the wind must have blown the rest away.



Swan Mountain range today and snow drifts.



Another beautiful sunset... but cold!



Then back inside to my wood stove and warmth!

Snow, apple pie, and The Haunting

A quieter day as winter is settling in. We had a dusting of snow overnight. No shoveling was required, though I did use the broom to sweep off the front patio and the short sections of sidewalk I have.

The weather service claimed we had 1.5 inches of snow over night. Now their claim of 3.2 inches the previous day seemed low, and now the 1.5 inches seems high. No way did I have half as much snow overnight as the previous night.

Otherwise I spent much of the day indoors. Kept the wood stove going and baked another apple pie.

When getting my mail I rode my bicycle carefully up and down the road a short distance on the slippery snow covered road. Bob and Jan were outside and I learned the snow from the snowplow yesterday knocked their mailbox off its post. They had a thick sturdy plastic mailbox and post so it was a little surprising that this happened.

I forgot to check if the snow pile around my mailbox post had hardened. Today was not as nice as yesterday as we didn't see as much sun and the temperature only reached 28 F. This is supposed to be as warm as it gets for a while.


I watched an old movie tonight. "The Haunting". This is a black & white horror/thriller movie from 1963.

"Dr. Markway, doing research to prove the existence of ghosts, investigates Hill House, a large, eerie mansion with a lurid history of violent death and insanity. With him are the skeptical young Luke, who stands to inherit the house, the mysterious and clairvoyant Theodora and the insecure Eleanor, whose psychic abilities make her feel somehow attuned to whatever spirits inhabit the old mansion. As time goes by it becomes obvious that they have gotten more than they bargained for as the ghostly presence in the house manifests itself in horrific and deadly ways."

Theodora: "Haven't you noticed how nothing in this house seems to move until you look away and then you just... catch something out of the corner of your eye?"

Normally I don't care for horror movies as I don't care for the blood and gore. A few horror movies are more a psychological horror movie, and encourage you to use your imagination, and this is one of them. As the movie goes on you wonder if the events are real or in Eleanor's mind. Modern audiences accustomed to today's gorefests and special effects probably will be bored by the movie as it conveys the horror through lighting, shadows, sound, camera angles, the odd and creepy house, and the character's reactions. I think it works. I enjoyed the movie.

Also interesting was the character subplot where Luke liked Theodora, who liked Eleanor, who liked Dr. Markway, who had a wife who showed up later in the movie to drive the story forward. These interactions were understated and did not overshadow the haunted house spookiness. But one could pick up on the characters' interests towards one another from the dialogue; and once the characters realized who-liked-who in the movie their actions towards one another changed slightly.

From what I read online the remake in 1999 was bad.

Snow in the valley

The view when I got up this morning and looked outside.

It snowed overnight. The weather service said 3.2 inches. I think maybe an inch or two more at my place.

I am glad I dug my garden's beets and onions and covered my carrots. No repeat of last year.

I also am glad I split and picked up the small logs and branches before the snow hid some of them till Spring.

I think this snow will last all winter, especially as the forecast says the high temperature next week will be in the single digits F above zero and the overnight lows well below 0 F.

But first, before the temperature dropped from the mid 30s F, it was time to shovel the snow before it froze and hardened. That is what I did most of today: shoveled snow (and took pictures of it.)

The snow was perfect for making a snowman, but my day was taken up with shoveling - by hand - the snow off my driveway and back yard. Once I finished shoveling in the late afternoonI didn't have the uumph to make a snowman.



The birds haven't been out yet to have some food.


The front driveway. The sunshine brought color back to the world.



The "back 40" in the morning and later in the afternoon when the sun came out.





My little red barn.


It looks as if the pile of snow on the fence posts tipped over. I think they are that way because part of time the snow didn't fall straight down and fell as an angle instead. *shrug*



Good thing I split and picked up the small pieces of wood before the snow fell.


Snow on my patio trees.



In the following two photos you can see the snow falling from the tree branches as I took the photos.



Views of the Big Mountain ski resort during the afternoon and near sunset. Big Mountain tries to open on Thanksgiving Day each year. This year the lack of snow (until last night) means they won't open until Dec 2 (I believe).



Swan Mountain range as seen from my front yard.


Swan range at sunset.


My mailbox post is getting wobbly from the mailbox getting hit by wet snow as the snowplow passes by. To support the post I piled snow around it. Once it gets colder hopefully the snow will solidify and help hold the post upright until next year when I can replace it. (The posts on each side of the mailbox is to prevent people from bashing my mailbox as they drive by. It has worked so far.)


What I shoveled of the back driveway.


Icicles on my porch's roof at sunset.



Once I was done shoveling the snow outside I came inside and lay down by my wood stove - both to warm up and also to relax. I could use a massage now to help my sore muscles. A girlfriend would be nice right about now.


As I was waiting for the last photo to upload I went outside to check the weather at this late hour of the morning. It appears the snow has altered the light as the lights from the commercial areas towards Kalispell and Columbia Falls relect an orangish color on the clouds instead of the usual pale white color. Interesting.