Now that's a squirrel for you!

I would prefer to be in P.S. today. The weather is better. It is about 15 F. right now in Hornell and we never saw 20 F. today. Light bands of snow came our way, which was OK with me, but we had a nasty wind all day up until now. The temp. is about the same in P.S. and no wind to speak of. And lots of lovely snow. There are a lot of fun things going on up there on the ice. We really don't have any ice.

The chief wonk is watching.

22 F. and light snow in Hornell. _13 C. and clear in P.S. But there was a good snow up there earlier today. Looks beautiful from here. We have to enjoy snow vicariously.

Some of our new equipment for water quality sampling was just delivered. We are ready to go.

Winter did get here. about a week ago. A few days of near zero weather. not too many though, and no snow to speak of. Less total snow for the season than we saw for January 2005. And that wasn't a very snowy month. It is 33 degrees F. here, at the moment. Parry Sound on the other hand has see more typical winter weather this February. Plenty of -15 or -20 degree C. temps. And steady light snow. The big sound has about 5 inches of good ice and a good snow cover in general, My sources tell me that it is ideal snowmobiling there. Very heavy winds here the weekend before last. lots of damage with 75+ mph gusts. not as bad in P.S. it was reassuring to see. There was a water level fluctuation of about 18 inches. Not enough to break up the ice too much. Wind driven ice is the worst.

The SCA executive had a teleconference last Saturday. The main purpose was for planning for 2006 and it was quite productive. Lots of things ready to come off the back burner.

Channel Man Stan

It's a sunny morning, more sun in PS than here, but PS is at-12 C. while we are basking in 28 F. temp. In any event winter did get here. The question now is, how long will oOld Man Winter hang around. The areas around the lakes really got hammered over the last two or three days. Plenty of snow, but with a bad, bad wind.

Another non-winters day. At least for us. 37 F. and light rain. PS -3 C. and light snow. But it has been snowing for some time now and there is a snow cover once more. Snow on the streets,etc. Looks lovely from here. And it looks as though the colder weather will hold for a while as will the light snow.

A survey of groundhog watching comes out 34 percent say 6 more weeks of winter, 64 percent say an early spring. We can barely wait.

Sunny and 61 F. here (16 C.). Unbeleavable. PS is at 3 C. and overcast. This is the place to be. The coast and new England are getting ready for a big snow storm, but not us. January 2006 weas tha warmest january in about 140 years.

The groundhog saw his shaddow this morning, meaning 6 more weeks of winter. If this is winter we'll take it. I wonder how many recognise that we will have 6 more weeks of winter in any event, Groundhog Day being the midpoint of winter, and was celebated as such long befor the woodchuck came along. On the downslope, so to speak.

All of this gives a bleak outlook for 2006 water levels.

Only a hint of winter here, 35 F. and only the slightest trace of snow on the ground. PS is at -5 C. and has had light snow for the past seveal days. But that is still not winter in my book.
Not for this time of year.

Tax bill came yesterday and the increase will have folks yelling again, but from my perspecive property taxes are very low there. Here we pay more than three times as much for a much lower valued property. Its whose ox...